Netflix for iOS Updated with New iPad Interface

[D.T.]

I’m disappointed in Netflix’s streaming movie selection (especially compared to their awesome DVD library), but their selection of streaming TV series is another matter. I’m seriously thinking of getting Netflix again for that. It beats a huge cable bill, I can watch any time with no schedule or recording... and no ads!

Yeah, 9/10ths of our Netflix use is for TV series. The back catalog is very good: Madmen, Weeds, L&O:CI, Sons of Anarchy, Doctor Who, etc.

Of course if a series is still running it's generally a season behind, but the "value" vs. purchasing like 6 seasons of a show is stellar.

 

[Tiger8]

You know, libraries typically have those categories of movies, and you already have paid for them in your taxes.

True, but I am a sucker for customized experience. I would have never been inclined to pick a movie called 'Lemon Tree' or 'The Syrian Bride' from my local library, but they showed up in my queue after I watched 'The Stranger' movie on Netflix, based on the fact that the an actress called 'Hiam Abbass' is in all three movies.

I did not even know who that is, let alone try to find her movies.

Great movies btw

 

[azentropy]

Looks nice, but like others I ended up dumping Netflix. Wasn't worth paying $16 for streaming and 1 DVD and there just wasn't enough good content to even justify the $8 a month. Got frustrated with searching for things and finding they didn't stream it.

 

[Mac.World]

Funny, the Netflix app for my Kindle Fire has looked like that since it launched.

Glad to hear it looked like that from the launch 2 weeks ago. Netflix likely ported what they had already created for the iPad for the Fire's launch. Not a big surprise. Unfortunately for you, you're stuck using the Fire to watch Netflix. That's the sad part.

 

[Durendal]

Great. Now they just need to overhaul the app for the iPhone, which is a godawful featureless mess. Really, no narrowing by subgenre? Whoever is in charge of UI design down there should never work in the industry again. That also goes for their crappy website, the redesign of which was a step back in almost every respect.

 

[Yvan256]

I find their selection is good, and I've been using Netflix for 10 months. I honestly have a hard time keeping up with all the new content.

Still no Cheers, Seinfeld, Family Guy, American Dad or even the Simpsons which is now in their 23rd year. That '70s Show is also absent. But they do have the first season of Walking Dead, which is only one year old.

Terminator? Only the second movie. Spaceballs? Nope. Columbo? Not a single title. Mad Max? Only one movie...

Yes, their selection is getting better. But there's still huge holes in the list of titles available. And I'm not talking about just-released titles here, I'm talking about things that are decades old.

And I won't even talk about the low monthly cap of 35GB imposed by the only high-speed ISP in my area which complicates things even further for services like Netflix, cloud services, etc.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Their selection just wasn't worth $8/month to me.
I can rent 2 current movies from iTunes for almost the same price.

So instead of unlimited movies/tv you choose 2 movies.

ROFL

 

[Wicked1]

Too bad 800,000 people won't see it. If they just merge the one DVD a month and the streaming back into one package, I'd come back. OR if they streamed all their movies. The way it is set up now, you HAVE to may 15.00 a month if you want access to the entire library. FAIL.

+1

I was on the streaming 30 day free trial, however it is good if you want to watch TV shows and movies from 10 years ago, and the only thing stopping me from going to mail order is one DVD at a time.

I say bring it all back to streaming, unlimited per month for one flat rate, but now I see Netflix might be looking for a buyer.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/14/netflix/?iid=HP_River

 

[Moyank24]

the kids selection is not only bad, but a lot of times only a few episodes per season

I guess it depends on what your children watch. There are multiple Thomas the Train movies, and Strawberry Shortcake, and Hello Kitty, etc...Not to mention they have a decent selection of Disney movies - maybe your kids aren't like mine---they can watch the same thing over and over and be happy.

But with the amount my kids watch it - it's certainly worth $8 to me.

 

[michaelrjohnson]

Still no Cheers, Seinfeld, Family Guy, American Dad or even the Simpsons which is now in their 23rd year. That '70s Show is also absent...

You should check again.

Cheers: Yes
Seinfeld: No
Family Guy: Yes
American Dad!: Yes
Simpsons: No
That 70's Show: Yes​

My wife and I use Netflix as the primary supplement to our over-the-air broadcast channels, and it has kept us entertained for 2 years now. (No children.)

 

[Yvan256]

You should check again.

Cheers: Yes
Seinfeld: No
Family Guy: Yes
American Dad!: Yes
Simpsons: No
That 70's Show: Yes​

My wife and I use Netflix as the primary supplement to our over-the-air broadcast channels, and it has kept us entertained for 2 years now. (No children.)

You missed the part at the beginning where I say this is about Netflix Canada, or my information on the left where it says "Location: Canada".

What's sad is that you're telling me that Seinfeld and The Simpsons aren't even available for streaming in the USA?

Count yourself lucky, there's not DVD-by-mail Netflix in Canada. Or even over-the-air broadcasts where I live. Literally zero channels.

 

[michaelrjohnson]

You missed the part at the beginning where I say this is about Netflix Canada.

Count yourself lucky, there's not even over-the-air broadcasts where I live. Literally zero channels.

My mistake. I didn't see your original post way up there! ;-)

That is unfortunate. It really is only in the last year and a half that it has been a viable choice for us, but we've been pleased with every new addition—as even the US selection is more sparse than desired. I hope the situation changes for you soon!

 

[Westside guy]

... Terminator? Only the second movie. Spaceballs? Nope. Columbo? Not a single title. Mad Max? Only one movie...

All of the Terminator movies have been available at times, as have all of the Mad Max movies. Movies and TV shows are available for months, then get pulled every so often - which makes me think the problem isn't with Netflix, but with the dinosaurs that still run the big studios.

Now if they would only fix the horrible 360 and PS3 Netflix interfaces.

If you tried Netflix on a Tivo, you'd never complain about the XBox or PS3 interfaces again. Talk about horrible and limited!

Fortunately, the Netflix interface built into my LG television is quite nice.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

I guess it depends on what your children watch. There are multiple Thomas the Train movies, and Strawberry Shortcake, and Hello Kitty, etc...Not to mention they have a decent selection of Disney movies - maybe your kids aren't like mine---they can watch the same thing over and over and be happy.

But with the amount my kids watch it - it's certainly worth $8 to me.

Not to mention the lack of commercials!

 

[kipj77]

Still no Cheers, Seinfeld, Family Guy, American Dad or even the Simpsons which is now in their 23rd year. That '70s Show is also absent. But they do have the first season of Walking Dead, which is only one year old.

Terminator? Only the second movie. Spaceballs? Nope. Columbo? Not a single title. Mad Max? Only one movie...

Yes, their selection is getting better. But there's still huge holes in the list of titles available. And I'm not talking about just-released titles here, I'm talking about things that are decades old.

And I won't even talk about the low monthly cap of 35GB imposed by the only high-speed ISP in my area which complicates things even further for services like Netflix, cloud services, etc.

First of all....I guarantee they will never have Seinfeld. Are you talking about not having the newest Family Guy and American dad? Because they do have them they just need to be updated.

 

[Shrink]

Serious question:

What is the advantage of Netflix or iTunes over Fios (or other) cable service.

I get 50+ HD premium movie stations and several thousand (mostly HD) on-demand free movie titles. And if one wishes to pay for rental, there are also something like 3000+ on-demand pay-per-view titles.

I'm sure there is some advantage since so many people use Netflix, iTunes, etc. - but I don't know what it is.

Just interested...

 

[Yvan256]

Serious question:

What is the advantage of Netflix or iTunes over Fios (or other) cable service.

I get 50+ HD premium movie stations and several thousand (mostly HD) on-demand free movie titles. And if one wishes to pay for rental, there are also something like 3000+ on-demand pay-per-view titles.

I'm sure there is some advantage since so many people use Netflix, iTunes, etc. - but I don't know what it is.

Just interested...

The advantage is price and availability of service.

How much do you pay for all that? Is internet included in your package? What speed, what monthly cap?

And even if you have the money, not everyone lives in an area where they can get all the things you listed. Some media providers are still stuck in the stone age, all over the planet.

 

[Moyank24]

The advantage is price and availability of service.

How much do you pay for all that? Is internet included in your package? What speed, what monthly cap?

And even if you have the money, not everyone lives in an area where they can get all the things you listed. Some media providers are still stuck in the stone age, all over the planet.

There's also the portability. My cable provider (Comcast/X-Finity) does have an app that can be watched on my phone/iPad - but the selection for the kids isn't as good.

I've actually sent the ATV 2 with the kids when they've spent time at the grandparents house (it actually led them to purchasing one)...instant access to the shows and movies they like.

Also - Netlix on the iPad has saved me more than a few times during long waits at restaurants and other situations where the kids (they are 4) tend to get restless.

 

[Shrink]

The advantage is price and availability of service.

How much do you pay for all that? Is internet included in your package? What speed, what monthly cap?

And even if you have the money, not everyone lives in an area where they can get all the things you listed. Some media providers are still stuck in the stone age, all over the planet.

There's also the portability. My cable provider (Comcast/X-Finity) does have an app that can be watched on my phone/iPad - but the selection for the kids isn't as good.

I've actually sent the ATV 2 with the kids when they've spent time at the grandparents house (it actually led them to purchasing one)...instant access to the shows and movies they like.

Also - Netlix on the iPad has saved me more than a few times during long waits at restaurants and other situations where the kids (they are 4) tend to get restless.

Thank, Yvan256 and Moynk24 for your responses - makes good sense.

As for cost of my service - I get home phone, TV, and Internet for $175/month. I should point out it can be much cheaper - but I have every Premium HD movie channel in the known universe. (The guy who installed the service looked at his work order and said he had NEVER seen anyone with so many premium HD channels.)

As for internet speed - if used with ethernet connection one gets 35 up and 35 down. Used wirelessly (as I do) I get between 19 -21 down and 18-20.5 up. No cap.

Not having chidden, I was oblivious to the obvious uses and advantages to those services for children. Sorry, I live in my own little world.

Again - thanks folks.

 

[milo]

So how is the new app? Stable enough for actual playback? Does it finally pay attention to when you label a movie "not interested"? I assume still no management of DVD queue from the mobile app for people who have both?

Funny, the Netflix app for my Kindle Fire has looked like that since it launched.

And how's the output from Kindle to TV working for you?

I’m disappointed in Netflix’s streaming movie selection (especially compared to their awesome DVD library), but their selection of streaming TV series is another matter. I’m seriously thinking of getting Netflix again for that. It beats a huge cable bill, I can watch any time with no schedule or recording... and no ads!

Agreed, the movie selection is pretty weak but there's a decent amount of TV stuff with some nice additions in recent weeks. Sure, the streaming selection is just a tiny fraction of the disk selection but for my family there's more than enough (especially with TV) to justify the eight bucks a month, we do a ton of viewing from the streaming and supplement the missing material with the disk plan.

Of course the streaming selection needs to get much better. But right now does anyone offer better selection, particularly an "all you can eat" plan?

 

[kipj77]

Netflix App

Am I the only one who has a defective 2.0 version of this app?

I updated on all devices today and even checked under the setting for netflix and the version is 2.0 but nothing is different. I wonder.


iPad 2 iPhone 4S iMac 27" Apple TV (Who still owns the old one?)

 

[Raid]

Question for Canadian participants of this thread, can we get this app through the Canadian website, and have you noticed improvement in the Canadian Netflix content?

My parents are interested in getting an TV setup with netflix, my dad in particular would love this app for the ipad.

 

[foxhunter101]

Netflix, anybody still using that after a million+ subscribers dumped them over their 60% price increase, less than a year after another price increase.

Everyone I know (myself included), got rid of the greedy bastards!!!

 

[milo]

This is probably more of a general question but it applies in this situation.

With iOS devices is there a way to keep an earlier version of an app and restore it if an update breaks things? I know you can backup an entire device but is there a way to handle versions of individual apps?

Netflix, anybody still using that

I am, not happy about the price increase but even at the higher price haven't found anything that offers a better selection at that price. If there's a better alternative available I'd love to know.

 

[Wordsmithmac]

I love Netflix it's content is great...i catch up on a lot of my show... Great stuff... I got unlimited data on my phone and it's useful on my phone