Netflix slowly phasing out DVDs by mail? P*ssed off customer comments...

[Skip Intro]

Hi there, it’s Jamie Odell, director of product management at Netflix, with an update for members who add DVDs to their Queue from the device they use to watch instantly. We’re removing the “Add to DVD Queue” option from streaming devices. We’re doing this so we can concentrate on offering you the titles that are available to watch instantly. Further, providing the option to add a DVD to your Queue from a streaming device complicates the instant watching experience and ties up resources that are better used to improve the overall streaming functionality. This change does not impact the
Netflix Web site, where most members manage their DVD Queues.

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/01/removing-add-to-dvd-queue-from.html

read the comments

[AsahinaKimi]

1. Not sure but

Doesn't this bring down the quality of the movie you are watching? Watching a streaming movie is not as good as from a DVD.. seems to me. I don't use their service, for some reason, my computer isn't compatible enough with their player program.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. There was an article on this last night...

...what they seem to be attempting is to divert your attention away from the fact that the titles available for "streaming only" are pathetic, a miniscule subset of what's available on DVD. It has nothing to do with phasing out DVDs. It has everything to do with getting people to pay eight bucks a month (or whatever it is) to get limited...very limited...access to their catalog via streaming only.

[triguy46]

7. That is a fact.

[elocs]

8. Please visit the DU Netflix Streaming Videos & DVDs group where many of us are very happy

with the selection available. Maybe you would become more knowledgeable about what DUers who actually use and enjoy the service feel about it. Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=441

It is my opinion that Netflix streaming videos give me the best value for the entertainment buck that I've ever gotten. I have over 300 videos in my instant viewing queue that I can watch at any time and as often as I like. I have so much to watch that I sometimes have to work hard to bother to find a physical dvd to be mailed to my house.

[Godhumor]

11. Pathetic? The library grows more robust by the week and with a wide variety of choices

I've been on a foreign kick lately and have watched instantly "Ip Man", "Oldboy" and rewatched "Tokyo Sonata" in the past week or so. This weekend I plan on watching "The Korean".

Love how they're building it. Much prefer the variety to the Red Box "20 new releases and that's it" method.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. I have 176 titles in my streaming queue

There are some real treasures that you've never heard of if you're willing to venture beyond what plays at your megaplex.

Here are the first 25 items in my Instant Queue:

La Vie en Rose
Heading South
Noise
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
OSS117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Be With Me
The Bothersome Man
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
Let the Right One In (the only well-known film on the list)
Cherry Blossoms
Fear and Tremblimg
Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor
Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampire
Ballerina
Silent Light
Kabei: Our Mother
Still Walking
The Road to Guantanamo
Peter Gunn (1950s film noir-ish TV series)
Troubled Water
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me
Green for Danger
Rembrandt's J'Accuse
Departures
Amarcord

And there are 151 more, mostly foreign films, documentaries, and old TV shows.

I don't like to watch movies on my computer either, but since I bought a Roku for $69, I can watch them on my TV.

[CBGLuthier]

3. Reading Comprehension

All this is about is if you are using a device, like Roku, or a mobile, then they will no longer show links to non-streaming content and let you add to the DVD queue from the device itself.

Makes sense. These devices are about instant viewing.

[eyepaddle]

5. I don't know....a lot of the peple commenting make pretty sound arguments

as to why they manage their DVD lists from their streaming devices as well as use them to stream instantly.

We'll see if Netflix cares to comprehend what their customers are saying.

ETA: I do not stream content from any source on any regular basis--and I do not have a Netflix subscription (a few years ago I had a blockbuster DVD through the mail subscritption, but then I got married and dropped that as I watch a lot less TV/media in any form these days.)

[cbdo2007]

4. I see how this makes sense - if I'm watching on my Wii...

then I'm not just browsing titles, I'm looking for something to watch right then. I don't need my selections all cluttered up with stuff that I have to order through the mail, I just want to see what i can watch right then.

On the other hand....we seem to be MORE than 2 years away from a truly "only streaming" model for most users, because there just aren't that many new releases available for the instant Queue yet. Basically any large movie released on DVD in the last 9 months is still only available on physical DVD, so until they change this and make this available instantly, they're still going to have many many more users on the DVD plans than the "streaming only" plans.

There is even new stuff like The Social Network that is availalbe at Redbox but still NOT available as a DVD or anything on Netflix. This is a problem. They need to get the movies available asap for us.

[old mark]

6. We get Netflix all the time-this sucks. I really don't want to lose this source of great older and

less popular movies. I guess we will have to look elsewhere.


mark

[Threedifferentones]

14. Think you have misunderstood what is happening mark

And it's because the article isn't very clear.

Netflix has now separated the lists of movies that can be streamed, and those which can only be seen by sending for the DVD. So, if you are browsing the list on say, your XBOX, you will only see those movies you can watch right then and there on the XBOX. If you want to see the whole list to send away for your next DVD, you will have to use your computer.

Really not a big deal at all.

[elocs]

9. I manage my queues, dvd and instant, on my computer from the Netflix web site.

Pretty simple. I'm happy and satisfied with it. No complaints from me.

[alphafemale]

10. I've still got to set up our new BluRay to watch instantly

I'll get to it.

Or get my talented son to do it the next time he visits with a craving for some Mom food.

[orleans]

12. i never understood why someone would want to watch a movie on

their computer.

cuddling up in the living room, on the couch, in front of the tv is simply wonderful. sitting on a chair in front of the computer--it's hard to suspend your sense of disbelief. besides, my computer streams video like crap.

[Frank Cannon]

13. Netflix streams on game consoles hooked up to your TV, as well.

The experience is the generally the same as it normally would be.

One thing I like about the Netflix streaming experience is that you can bail on a movie and come back to at any time at exactly where you left off. For those of us that are constantly interrupted, that is a handy feature.

[Threedifferentones]

15. Do you understand that computers can easily be connected to modern TVs?

Or that the new playstations and xboxs have apps to stream netflix to your TV for you? Or maybe you live in a tiny place and have money for a nice comp OR a nice TV, but not both...

[JonLP24]

19. I did that once

Crashed my whole computer, I lost Windows forever. Now I use Puppy. Never again will I try something like that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. And a Roku can be hooked up to any TV, even an older one

as long as you have broadband.

That's my arrangement.

[OwnedByFerrets]

16. Booooooooo Hoooooooooooooo

Poor babies can't add dvds to their Queue via their streaming device. Let me get out my smallest violin. I guess they would slit their collective wrists if they had to rewind a vhs before turning it back in to Blockbuster. Imagine the horror of not being able to immediately navigate to their favorite scene in Transformers II....oh wait, there IS NOT favorite scene in that piece of junk.
Netflix is a wonderful service. We are just a supremely spoiled society.