Netflix question by newbie.

[techs]

I just started using Netflix. I was wondering if new movies that were coming out soon, but were not yet out, would be listed so I searched for them on Netflix. And yes, a movie coming out tomorrow, The Day the Earth Stood Still was listed. I added it to my queue and was surprised to see it was shipping today for delivery tomorrow, the day the movie is released.

My questions is, should I put upcoming movies that are not yet released into my queue as early as possible so it gets me to the head of the list? Seems to be what happened with todays movie.

 

[effowe]

You can, but with popular movies you are going to be put at the end of the list. If more people put the movie in their queue than they have copies, then you will end up waiting.

 

[xSauronx]

^
also, netflix has a system where high volume users get put at the end of the waiting list for pretty much anything. if youre a slack user, you get priority on the waiting lists, if you turn around movies all the time, youre gonna wait a while. i used to turn in 2 or 3 movies a week and had to wait weeks behind everyone else to get new releases or more popular stuff

i still love netflix, but i dont turn around the movies as often as i used to

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: xSauronx
^
also, netflix has a system where high volume users get put at the end of the waiting list for pretty much anything. if youre a slack user, you get priority on the waiting lists, if you turn around movies all the time, youre gonna wait a while. i used to turn in 2 or 3 movies a week and had to wait weeks behind everyone else to get new releases or more popular stuff

i still love netflix, but i dont turn around the movies as often as i used to

This happened to us a ton. The wife and I used to each have our own Netflix accounts. I had a 4 at a time and she had a 4 at a time. She'd go through anime like you could not possibly believe, typically sending an entire batch of 4 back the next day. After a few weeks she started seeing "short wait" on some of her titles. After a month or two she began noticing that ALL the titles in her queue were "short wait" with some listed as "long wait" and maybe 1-2 listed as available "now".

Curious at this situation, we did a control test and took three of her "short wait" and one of her "long wait" titles and added them to the top of my queue, which for the past six months had been doing random batches of comedy/action, typically only returning 1-2 a week. Amusingly, all 4 titles shipped immediately and arrived the next day, while still being listed in her queue as "short wait" and "long wait". We have the same address listed on our accounts.

For our second test, we closed my account and upgraded hers from 4 at a time to 8 at a time. Immediately all titles were available instantly, and she has continued her rapid pace of anime/drama/sappy black and white movies (mixed with various movies/anime I want) ever since for the past 1.5 years without experiencing any throttling since.

What does this prove? Netflix throttles users based on their turnaround and their subscription setting. However, feel free to upgrade to their $50/m 8 at a time plan to remove all such limitations immediately.

 

[techs]

Hmmm. Seems that if you keep the movies for a short length of time you would not be penalized. If you tended to keep movies say a week or more, they would not want you to be the first to get new releases.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Originally posted by: techs
Hmmm. Seems that if you keep the movies for a short length of time you would not be penalized. If you tended to keep movies say a week or more, they would not want you to be the first to get new releases.

They want you to keep the movies for long periods of time. Less postage paid by them, and less processing means lower costs which means more profit.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn

Originally posted by: techs
Hmmm. Seems that if you keep the movies for a short length of time you would not be penalized. If you tended to keep movies say a week or more, they would not want you to be the first to get new releases.

They want you to keep the movies for long periods of time. Less postage paid by them, and less processing means lower costs which means more profit.

I didn't think of that. I thought they would want new releases turned over as fast as possible to get them into the hands of as many customers as possible, to keep the customers subscribing. However, I DO see your point. They must hate me since I tend to rent old tv shows and watch them a furious pace.

 

[Queasy]

Netflix starts shipping new movies out every week on Monday. I figured this out a few weeks ago. If you want a new movie that is coming out, you need to put it at the top of your queue by Sunday night. It helps if you don't have a bunch of other stuff in your queue that is available. You aren't guaranteed to get a new movie but it sure as heck increases your odds.

I've been doing that the last few weeks and I've suddenly been getting the new releases. Before, these movies just sat in my queue in Short Wait to Very Long Wait status.

 

[eplebnista]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Netflix starts shipping new movies out every week on Monday. I figured this out a few weeks ago. If you want a new movie that is coming out, you need to put it at the top of your queue by Sunday night. It helps if you don't have a bunch of other stuff in your queue that is available. You aren't guaranteed to get a new movie but it sure as heck increases your odds.

I've been doing that the last few weeks and I've suddenly been getting the new releases. Before, these movies just sat in my queue in Short Wait to Very Long Wait status.

info. :beer:

 

[0roo0roo]

movies not released are put into your saved queue.

its better than forgetting i guess.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/con...tflix-mailing-facility

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Netflix starts shipping new movies out every week on Monday. I figured this out a few weeks ago. If you want a new movie that is coming out, you need to put it at the top of your queue by Sunday night. It helps if you don't have a bunch of other stuff in your queue that is available. You aren't guaranteed to get a new movie but it sure as heck increases your odds.

I've been doing that the last few weeks and I've suddenly been getting the new releases. Before, these movies just sat in my queue in Short Wait to Very Long Wait status.

could be you have a better local distributor?

the two close distributors I've had (Chicago and SF area) have always been piss-poor with new releases for me. leave them at the top, well before release, and never see them

....but something is certainly going on. very long wait can suddenly become available, whereas long wait or even short wait will stretch out for months.

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn

Originally posted by: techs
Hmmm. Seems that if you keep the movies for a short length of time you would not be penalized. If you tended to keep movies say a week or more, they would not want you to be the first to get new releases.

They want you to keep the movies for long periods of time. Less postage paid by them, and less processing means lower costs which means more profit.

While I general I agree, I would think with brand new movies they would want the fast turnovers to get them first so they can make their way around faster. Why put all the new movies in the hands of people who are going to sit on them a week? That is just going to piss people off.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
movies not released are put into your saved queue.

its better than forgetting i guess.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/con...tflix-mailing-facility

Not very automated.
I am pretty sure if I had to do that job for the rest of my life I would go postal.