Netflix surpasses Bitorrent in internet saturation!

[wuliheron]

It won't end well because Netflix is too cheap of a subscription price. Netflix is more along the lines of supplemental income to producers, the big money is elsewhere. What won't end well is when the other revenue sources dry up as more people switch to Netflix.

The same basic concept of Netflix & Bittorrent are exactly the same - distribute digital data at extremely low costs.

You have something against cheap? Cheap is good. All my friends recommend cheap.

Your assertion about it not ending well is unfounded speculation. Especially with digital content its the demand that drives the market and price follows. If the content providers don't make their money, they can simply charge Netflix more. In the meantime this is just another way to expand their market just as the invention of DVDs expanded their market.

Instead of selling just a few million copies they can sell a billion at a lower price. Instead of depending on stores or even vending machines to stock old movies, they can sell more copies much cheaper over the internet and reach even the poorest markets.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I wish we could get Netflix here. I'm so sick of having to wait months or even years sometimes to see the same shows that aired in the US or UK. But I doubt torrenting will go away, though. I prefer it to direct download, whenever I want to get a mod, or patches, or linux distros (yeah, someone actually downloads them via torrent) I try find a torrent for it rather than direct download. It's just more convenient.

You have something against cheap? Cheap is good. All my friends recommend cheap.

Let's not go into what other things your friends have recommended that are cheap...

Instead of selling just a few million copies they can sell a billion at a lower price.

But then people invariably start to think 'if we can sell X billion copies for Y price, why can't we sell X billion copies for Yx120% price?

 

[Broheim]

I wish we could get Netflix here. I'm so sick of having to wait months or even years sometimes to see the same shows that aired in the US or UK.

sign up with a VPN service (like this one) and get an american IP, then sign up with netflix using either an american friends adress or fakenamegenerator.com, pay with your own creditcard using your own name (unless you want your CC company to go apeshit) and there you go, netflix outside the US.

 

[wuliheron]

But then people invariably start to think 'if we can sell X billion copies for Y price, why can't we sell X billion copies for Yx120% price?

The problem is the content providers have to compete with each other and pirates. This year video games made about as much money as movies and pirates are cutting into everyone's business more then ever. That's what is driving them to expand their markets as fast as possible and lower their prices.

Its the same for a lot of markets and half the cargo ships in the world today are filled with counterfeit goods. Between the legal and illegal competition prices keep going down and producers keep trying to expand their markets so they can sell more of the same goods at a cheaper price. Cheap enough, an its no longer even worth pirating. With digital content you can even cut out the middle men like the retail stores which easily double the price.

 

[Macamus Prime]

Bahahaha.... how cute. You think they're going to make it cheaper for light users? Hell no. They're know you're going to pay what you're already paying per month so why should they lower your monthly bill? They'll just charge the heavy users more.

I pay $50 for cable internet. I don't do phone or TV (I play tons of console and PC video games).

I could switch to the "light" version - which 1/2 my speed and costs me $30 per month.

Also, yes - I understand they would never follow the "per GB model" because there is only a few who actually "strain" the ISP's network. And, all these caps are there to squeeze more money out of the heavy user, nothing more.

But, I can always hope for a $20 per month high speed internet bill. Hey, I got my mobile phone bill down to $100 a YEAR - I do pay as you go and I still have money left over on the mother fucker.

 

[rudder]

I canceled my Cable TV for Netflix and Hulu. It's only a matter of time before this trend angers the cable gods and they start implementing metered Internet service.

As the Netflix library grows, the cable companies will realize that their on-demand services are becoming less popular as people begin to downgrade cable plans... all the while the customer is using bandwidth streaming netflix.... the cable gods will be getting angry for sure.

 

[shortylickens]

I pay my ISP for internet. It shouldn't matter to them what I use it for. Netflix does have to pay for their own servers including bandwidth.

Its funny you pay for 250Gb a month but god help you if someone actually tries to use it.

Same with cellular providers.

 

[Modelworks]

protected media path and protected video path isn't implemented in in Windows XP, yet netflix supports that just fine.

In xp they use DMRK .

 

[Broheim]

In xp they use DMRK .

link?

 

[wuliheron]

As the Netflix library grows, the cable companies will realize that their on-demand services are becoming less popular as people begin to downgrade cable plans... all the while the customer is using bandwidth streaming netflix.... the cable gods will be getting angry for sure.

Cable and satellite companies have been squeezing content providers for decades and its high time they got a taste of their own medicine.

 

[shortylickens]

Cable and satellite companies have been squeezing content providers for decades and its high time they got a taste of their own medicine.

THIS!
They advertise fantastic bandwidth but they assumed people would only use 10 percent of it with regular TV programming. They never actually wanted anyone to use the internet all day especially with streaming vids and such.
They screw over the content providers and now with modern technology those folks have the serious option to do massive web based programming and cut out cable & satellite TV altogether.

 

[wuliheron]

THIS!
They advertise fantastic bandwidth but they assumed people would only use 10 percent of it with regular TV programming. They never actually wanted anyone to use the internet all day especially with streaming vids and such.
They screw over the content providers and now with modern technology those folks have the serious option to do massive web based programming and cut out cable & satellite TV altogether.

They aren't there yet. The internet infrastructure just isn't developed enough yet to replace cable and satellite, but it is certainly getting there! Putting pressure on the cable and satellite providers will encourage them to innovate instead of relying on ancient technology to continue squeezing the maximum profit from customers and content providers.

 

[shortylickens]

They aren't there yet. The internet infrastructure just isn't developed enough yet to replace cable and satellite, but it is certainly getting there! Putting pressure on the cable and satellite providers will encourage them to innovate instead of relying on ancient technology to continue squeezing the maximum profit from customers and content providers.

No no no no no.
I didnt mean actually replace cable. I meant replace the programming. Just use the internet bandwidth to make and distribute whatever damn television programming they want and ignore the standard 999 channel bullshit. And the cable companies couldnt restrict them cuz if they get caught censoring the internet for mere business reasons they'd lose all their customers.

 

[wuliheron]

No no no no no.
I didnt mean actually replace cable. I meant replace the programming. Just use the internet bandwidth to make and distribute whatever damn television programming they want and ignore the standard 999 channel bullshit. And the cable companies couldnt restrict them cuz if they get caught censoring the internet for mere business reasons they'd lose all their customers.

That's what is happening, but there are bandwidth issues that are turning it into a fight. The internet in most places just doesn't have the capacity to carry all that video to everyone. Currently instead of being able to censor the internet outright, the ISPs tend to throttle your service. That is, if they catch you downloading huge amounts of data they just slow your connection whenever it suits their needs.

Its not as obvious a form of censorship, but it still gets the job done. If you want to use Netflix streaming video you have to be prepared for both a low picture quality and frequent interruptions due to your internet connection slowing.

 

[Modelworks]

link?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc838192(VS.95).aspx

 

[Broheim]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc838192(VS.95).aspx

404 DMRK not found

that's just a very brief summary of PlayReady.

 

[Acanthus]

That's what is happening, but there are bandwidth issues that are turning it into a fight. The internet in most places just doesn't have the capacity to carry all that video to everyone. Currently instead of being able to censor the internet outright, the ISPs tend to throttle your service. That is, if they catch you downloading huge amounts of data they just slow your connection whenever it suits their needs.

Its not as obvious a form of censorship, but it still gets the job done. If you want to use Netflix streaming video you have to be prepared for both a low picture quality and frequent interruptions due to your internet connection slowing.

And everyone thought google was stupid for buying up all that dark fiber

 

[Zebo]

We all love netflix streaming but they have a fucked up business model that relies on ISPs being nice to them (build free pipes, routers, switches, staff for netflix profit?). This won't end well.

:whiste:

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=NFLX+Interactive#symbol=NFLX;range=3m

 

[shortylickens]

:whiste:

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=NFLX+Interactive#symbol=NFLX;range=3m

We already have threads on this.

 

[*kjm]

yeap i did that 9 months ago. Only thing i miss is food network.

Did it 1.5 years ago and have saved a ton of money.... they cap I'll drop Netflix and just do OTA. $160+ for internet and tv is insain with a good down payment that is a monthy car payment and you need that more than Tv and internet....

 

[soccerballtux]

Its the same for a lot of markets and half the cargo ships in the world today are filled with counterfeit goods

lol right.

 

[Lithium381]

This pisses me off to no end, even more so because they allow OSX the ability to run Netflix but not Linux.

And to stay on topic. FU to all the ISP lubbers who's networks are still choking on perfectly legal data from 5-10PM every night.

yep....AT&T dies every evening.... i pay for a 6mb connection and at night i barely get 1.5mb

 

[Acanthus]

yep....AT&T dies every evening.... i pay for a 6mb connection and at night i barely get 1.5mb

You can always switch to roadrunner and have throttled legal torrents, throttled youtube, throttled hulu, and legal threats with no evidence of wrongdoing if you still manage to use too much bandwidth for their liking.

 

[Engineer]

You can always switch to roadrunner and have throttled legal torrents, throttled youtube, throttled hulu, and legal threats with no evidence of wrongdoing if you still manage to use too much bandwidth for their liking.

If true, this makes me sad as Insightbb was just bought by Time Warner Cable (i.e. Roadrunner). *sigh*.