I have a half-hour commute on CalTrain and most mornings I watch either a third of a movie or a TV show on my iPhone.
Sounds to me like you have issues with your internet connection. You should not attempt to extrapolate your poor experience. Anecdotal evidence is not evidence.
I'm not talking about watching a 1/3 of a movie...neither is Netflix. Watching a full, non-stop 1.5+ hour movie on a 4" diagonal screen over a wireless internet connection (when you have the connection) is not going to appeal to the masses...on many levels...and I summed this up earlier and not about to write a novel on the topic. Wanna watch a 24 minute tv show like Seinfeld on the tiny iPhone? Sure. Most people can tolerate that much time staring at the small screen.
Um, no. My connection is just fine thanks. I routinely pull at 18Mbs and higher via decent websites (Adobe or MS for downloads) and NNTP and other internet protocols. Don't be so quick to judge. There are plenty of forums that talk about Netflix's poor streaming from a technical point of view as well as their not-so-great selection in movies. And remember, not everyone has 20Mbit downstream...most people in the USA are probably at 5-10Mbit...and that's PEAK...your ISP is not giving you the promised downstream 100% of the time (for a bazillion reasons). Need more bandwidth than 5-10Mbit downstream (which is very likely for Netflix streaming)?...now ya gotta pay for it (if you can get it) from your ISP for an additional $10-$15/month. And let's not forget that you are NOT the only one on that WIFI network (unless maybe it's your house)...that's the big hole in this theory that 10 people will be sitting around Dunkin Donuts watching movies/shows over a free wireless 10Mbit downstream internet connection with 0 connectivity/buffering problems. Yeah, call me when that day comes.
The beautiful streaming video vision that Cox painted 10 years ago (do you remember all the tv commercials?...I do...) will...some day...be a reality for the masses. I don't see this Netflix endeavor being very reliable/viable/fun for 5+ years for the masses.
Just because you (like myself) have had some successes with new technology adoption doesn't mean it will be viable in the very immediate future for the average Joe Consumer to have access to, pay for, use, and enjoy.
In theory, Netflix's endeavor may be attractive to customers...hence the survey before spending hundreds of millions of dollars on technology, copyrights, marketing, and other stuff.
-Eric
I'm not talking about watching a 1/3 of a movie...neither is Netflix. Watching a full, non-stop 1.5+ hour movie on a 4" diagonal screen over a wireless internet connection (when you have the connection) is not going to appeal to the masses...on many levels...and I summed this up earlier and not about to write a novel on the topic. Wanna watch a 24 minute tv show like Seinfeld on the tiny iPhone? Sure. Most people can tolerate that much time staring at the small screen.
Um, no. My connection is just fine thanks. I routinely pull at 18Mbs and higher via decent websites (Adobe or MS for downloads) and NNTP and other internet protocols. Don't be so quick to judge. There are plenty of forums that talk about Netflix's poor streaming from a technical point of view as well as their not-so-great selection in movies. And remember, not everyone has 20Mbit downstream...most people in the USA are probably at 5-10Mbit...and that's PEAK...your ISP is not giving you the promised downstream 100% of the time (for a bazillion reasons). Need more bandwidth than 5-10Mbit downstream (which is very likely for Netflix streaming)?...now ya gotta pay for it (if you can get it) from your ISP for an additional $10-$15/month. And let's not forget that you are NOT the only one on that WIFI network (unless maybe it's your house)...that's the big hole in this theory that 10 people will be sitting around Dunkin Donuts watching movies/shows over a free wireless 10Mbit downstream internet connection with 0 connectivity/buffering problems. Yeah, call me when that day comes.
The beautiful streaming video vision that Cox painted 10 years ago (do you remember all the tv commercials?...I do...) will...some day...be a reality for the masses. I don't see this Netflix endeavor being very reliable/viable/fun for 5+ years for the masses.
Just because you (like myself) have had some successes with new technology adoption doesn't mean it will be viable in the very immediate future for the average Joe Consumer to have access to, pay for, use, and enjoy.
In theory, Netflix's endeavor may be attractive to customers...hence the survey before spending hundreds of millions of dollars on technology, copyrights, marketing, and other stuff.
-Eric
are you on comcast/cox?
Another yes to Netflix, please. These are fun times.
I sound like a broken record, I'd cancel my cable in a minute.
I have to agree with the othe poster you do have some connection issue. It may not be with your ISP per se, perhaps the connections between netflix and your ISP OR maybe your ISP throttles netflix (many do and it's something to consider) because netflix works flawlessly even with a 760k dsl connection so if you truly have 20meg line there's no way you should have any problem with netflix, it should buffer in under a minute and play non stop through till the end. Many ISP's are sneaky about their throttling, temporary connections get passed through just fine, but known high bandwidth consumers such as netflix get throttled down to nothing, this makes the user think it's the service instead of the ISP and they drop the service, thus the ISP doens't have to deal with it drawing on them in the long run. Comcast was caught doing this with netflix and with p2p networks, I'm sure they're not the only ones doing it.
No, I want Netflix on my iPad. Cable is using precious money that I could redirect to subscriptions, books and entertainment of my choice using my iPad.Do you currently watch cable on your iPhone?
100% here.
I love netflix streaming, and would be all for it on iphone/ipad.
The iPad has nothing to do with bringing the future of streaming any closer.
The iPad has nothing to do with bringing the future of streaming any closer.
You actually think it doesn't?
The amount of content that will be consumed on the iPad will be astronomical. Content providers (who implement streaming features) will certainly want to take advantage of the platform that everyone will be a) using and b) wanting to use.
From here on on, the iPad will play a role in nearly every major tech-related decision made by content providers.
The question will not be: what are you offering? But rather: what are you offering for the iPad and Apple devices?
So Flash is essential for the "true" internet experience is it.
We've already realised that most flash games/interfaces won't work, even in the presence the (flakey, resource hogging, battery draining) plug-in as a touch device can't distinguish between mouseOver and onClick, so that's out of the window anyway.
We have Youtube and BBC iPlayer with flash alternatives already in place and Hulu, Vimeo and Netflix developing them. Along with the New York times providing alternative content to flash and Associated Press announcing the availability of their publications for the iPad, again before launch.
So it seems the future is very rosy for streaming video content and a 'full' internet experience on the 'pad - the big guns are already changing their delivery method and the device isn't even on the high street yet.
Good times.
Yep, I actually think so.
Internet streaming will move forward regardless of the success or failure of the iPad. The iPad is nice for some use purposes, but it is anything but the holy grail of streaming video consumption devices.
Get real, it's a 9.7" 4:3 display. Like that's really gonna drive people to stream video.
On the other hand, building in high quality streaming to every television, DVR, DVD/BluRay player, etc and outputting it onto a big beautiful 16:9 40"+ HDTV display at a cost that is less than the cable companies are providing and streaming makes sense.
This. In 2010 and beyond, if your content doesn't play well with Apple devices you're not playing the game right.
Simply not true. This device in homes will increase demand. We live in a supply and demand economic model. The iPhone and iPod Touch have almost single-handedly created the desire for hand held media streaming and true mobile internet, the 'Pad will do the same again, the difference being that this time the content providers don't want to be left out in the cold, or playing catch-up.
The difference here is that this device will be available without a contract, activation or credit check and is priced (here in the UK at least) at less than the iPhone, with it's limited choice of network providers.
Streaming is the future, and by the looks of it, it's already here. Thanks to the possibilities the iPad brings to the table.
No one is saying it is the perfect streaming device, some 'holy grail' - the point is that the device will increase demand. Where there is demand, there is supply and the iPad will continue to increase that demand.