Netflix now has unlimited streaming movies...
 

I wasn't sure what forum to post this in, but I figured it was sorta a bargain...

Netflix just changed their policies on existing (and new) accounts. Anyone with unlimited dvd rentals (as opposed to only 2 rentals a month) now receives unlimited streaming video...i believe the former policy was that you basically got 1 hour of video for every dollar a month your plan cost ($17 plan = 17 hours viewing)...

There is still a pretty small source to choose from (although 6,000 sounds big, I couldn't find too much I wanted to see badly), but the future is getting closer each day...how long before it is all streaming?

for the record, i switched back to netflix after blockbuster jacked their prices on their unlimited dvd in store exchange (doubled the price over a few months)...

tv shows selection aint bad - ill prob get to watching stuff ive never seen all the way through before like quantum leap

Wow, its good,i will definitely plan to watch movies this weekend.Thankyou buddy for sharing this short info with us.

How's the quality of their stuff?

E

glad i could help...

as far as the quality, i have only watched two movies and i was annoyed by the difficulty in fast forwarding and rewinding...i haven't done side by side comparisons (stream vs. dvd) but it newer stuff certainly looks better than old tv shows...i have my computer wired to my 50" HDTV and it held true (I didn't notice any distortions) - i am certainly not a videophile though...i'd be curious to hear what other's thoughts are...

This is sort of off-topic, but can you download these movies to portable devices like ipods? I'm a novice at portable devices, but it might be an interesting option for traveling.

Is their selection any better? I went and checked out their streaming movie collection a while ago, and it was all crap. No big-name titles, no new releases, etc.

i have no idea if you can download/transfer to mp3s, sorry

the selection is fairly poor - from what i can see, they have a lot of tv shows and some more obscure titles...i have noticed that they do occasionally have tv show seasons available to stream when they aren't even available on dvd yet...

no, u cant download or transfer the movie to your harddrive or other devices.
the quality is good if you have the bandwidth.

i agree with fast forwarding. It doesnt work the best.

How did you do that? I used an S-video cable and the browser came up on my TV, but as soon as I started the netflix movie, my TV screen went black. Is there a way around that?

are movies in their original aspect ratio now? when they first launched this, i checked it out and was extremely annoyed to find that the few titles i was interested in were P&S versions of widescreen movies.

Yep, Jeremiah season 2 and most of the follow up seasons of the New Outer Limits are two that come to mind off hand. Personally I think the service is great for watching old shows/trying out more obscure titles w/o having to take up a rental slot. Paradoxically though, going to unlimited might mean I'll use it less in the short term. At 17 hours I always felt like I should try to use them up as opposed to watching my backlog of DVDs that I own. Now since the Netflix option will always be there w/o limit I'll probably try to catch up on the backlog first.

Selection
 

The selection may not be great, but it still has quite a few decent selections. If you're like me and have dozens (or hundreds) of movies in your queue, you're bound to find a few that are available to steam also. It's mostly older movies, but I noticed they had a few recent ones, like Pan's Labyrinth.

I haven't tried watching any yet, but it seems like a no-brainer to give it a try if you already have an unlimited subscription.

If it helps at all, you can tell yourself that this business practice is subject to change without notice, and you could well find yourself with limited streaming options at some future date.

Now if they would add support for Macs I would be able to watch some stuff.

I have my computer connected to my TV with a VGA cable (the same cable most use to connect a laptop to a projector for power point presentation). Make sure that you computer is set to display a 2nd monitor (right click on desktop, go to properties, select the settings tab, and then check the box that says "extend my windows desktop to this monitor")...you may need to play with the settings (resolution)...please note that I am certainly far from an expert in this area.

I have my home theater computer hooked to my 46inch TV via VGA cable, and I can say that the quality, in general, is very good on a high speed connection. The computer is hooked wirelessly to my home network, and I have no problems at all with jumps, skips or stops. The picture is a half-tick lower than DVD, but WAY better than my normal cable signal. I've watched several films lately, and they seem to be OAR. Over the past few weeks, I have been impressed with some of their additions - Letters from Iwo Jima, the Dexter TV series, both Ghostbusters, Close Encounters, etc. I'm happy with it.

awesome!