Netflix CEO predicts significant declines in packaged media rentals by 2018
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jun 24th 2009 8:29AM
posted Jun 24th 2009 8:29AM
posted Jun 24th 2009 8:29AM
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Hey Netflix CEO .. Your streaming will not ever look as good as a physical Disc at this rate .. There should be a law against calling something HD when its compressed to hell w/ no decent surround sound .. And yeah by 2018 maybe you will have it figured out but by then Bluray will be DVD and something new will be out that you will to plat catch up to
I wish company's would stop trying to force watered down HD down our throats .. On demand or not its still crap .. What is wrong with owning a disc anyway ? so you have to get off you fat ass and put it in the player .. People will flail around to hit a ball in Wii but have issues with putting in a Disc ..
And that is what really grinds my gears ..
Sorry Jon, most people don't care about any perceptable difference between streaming media and discs. I've watched many HD streams for Netflix and most look damn good. Face it, DVDs and BluRay are a dead format walking..er spinning.
Netflix HD Damn good ? Maybe on a black and white or 20" tv .. At 60" + the difference is hardly a toss up ..
But you are right that is where we are heading .. Booo : )
I didn't say it was as good. Only good enough for most people. It's certainly good enough for me and my 50" Plasma. I've seen Blu-Ray movies at my neighbors, it's nice, but hardly worth the extra cost for me.
92" 1080p here and internet Netflix streaming on newer programming looks near up-converted DVD. DVD has a very slight advantage plus additional audio channels.
Don't know about the new quality roku, etc. has.
Blu-ray looks incredible at 92"+.
If something is on Blu-ray forget everything else.
I HIGHLY doubt discs will go away. What happens when 2k or 4k video devices appear? Manufactures need a reason for people to buy them and steaming will not be a good reason.
I bought a ROKU last week and this thing is amazing…. It puts out 720P and looks better then on my PC. This is the future of video in the living room and with HULU hopefully coming soon to a ROKU near you I would jump at getting this device
@jon: you git HD is a very loose term meaning anything from 480p to 4k and beyond.
BTW- stop watching Family Guy on Hulu...try being original...like "that really makes me feel pressure on my colon" I think thats more "up your ally".
And I predict the end of the world in the next 1000 years. 100% certain. Come on netflix, you could predict sooner than that.
its actually only 3 years away bro.
Only 20% of Netflix users stream online cause their library is crap.
Until they improve their selection BY A LOT, "Watch Instantly" won't mean "Watch Often".
So i was going out for a mans night and tried to show the Fiancee Netflix watch it now so she could find something to watch on the Xb360 ..
Needless to say she watched NOTHING .. its all junk .. yea yea there are some ok things but crap we have watched 50 times already
--the name isn't Discflix after all--
Not to mention how easy it would be to mispronounce discflix...ouch.
"only used by 20 percent of Netflix customers"
That's a fairly high percentage. I imagine it's a lesser number that are watching on HDTVs versus regular computer monitors.
I definitely agree that aborting a set-top box has led to their current proliferation in 3rd party devices like LG tvs, XB360, Tivo, etc.
Netflix, listen. Your streaming service is a great idea, that said offer us options. The option to pay a little more and never have to ship a disc again would be fine with me. I would pay up to 20 a month, for your (almost) complete DVD collection stream-able. That would be twice what I am paying now.
The demand is low, because most people still don't stream to their TV, I do so my daughter is now watching damn dora all day over and over... please improve your selection, perhaps you can get into a deal with hulu, hbo, someone... stars was a start, but you need big game changers to make the news. Oh and I'd do the blu-ray to my door more if it was faster, I prefer redbox, and if things don't get better I will do redbox all the time and loose netflix until it gets its act together with the streaming. This is America, we don't want to get our lard buts to the mailbox either...
Sure, "there is no market", but please ignore our growth and outstanding earnings in the meantime!
I wonder if they are traying to make this happen sooner than later by cracking all of their Blu-Ray disks...
This article mentions DVD only. Nowhere does it mention that Bluray rentals will decline in 4-9 years. Oh and if anyone thinks that discs are going anywhere read this:
Show Me the Money: Analysts Sour on Streaming
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/streaming/show-me-money-analysts-sour-streaming-16134
Analysts will get bored before the 4-9 years have past and move on to something else. What will netflix do then with lower stock price??
Do you think that the movie studios and pay channels like HBO who have contracts with the studios are going to let netflix take over as the #1 way to watch movies at home? Don't count on it!
20 percent stream?? I wonder what they consider a streamer?? I have streamed 2 shows from Netflix and thought the quality was crap. Am I included in the 20 percent? There are probably many like me that have been there done that and moved on to other means (Blu Ray).
Maybe if you stream anything even if its only once you are included in the 20 percent?
I don’t see discs being dropping ever. I think something like Netflix will still have the same or more customers by 2018. The reason is because streaming is nice but you can’t stream everything you want and with how rights work for movies/shows no one will be able to provide everything to everyone. I myself would never give up the physical media, it allows me to pick and choose what I want to watch. I love Netflix because I don’t have to leave home to get a movie. I mean it’s nice you can stream movies and pick right away but there isn’t and most likely won’t be every movie available to stream. And I always want control of my content which is why I will always buy physical media.
2018, wow, what a prediction!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even a monkey could have figured that out.
I've streamed quite a bit of Netflix on a 50" plasma. My network connection is pretty good, I usually get all the bars from Netflix (if that's really meaningful). I think the quality of SD content looks as good as DVD; as does the "HD" content. (The remastered version of Star Trek in HD on Netflix certainly looked much better than the broadcast version on my local stations HD channel. Yes I realize it wasn't actually broadcast in HD.)
As for the library, yea I see problems with it. But isn't that due to the studios? I'm sure if Netflix would offer day & date streaming of latest Will Farrel fiasco (I kid) as DVD/Blu-ray, if they could. But studios look to disc sales as much as ticket sales for their bottom lines now.
But for the most part, unless its offered on Blu-ray, I don't mind watching older movies (and there are some recent ones too, although mostly indie), documentaries or some TV shows via streaming.
I think when the infrastructure for real HD streaming comes along, then we'll see a real sea change away from physical media (again with studio approval). But the US has some poor internet speeds compare to, say, Japan right now.
I have the LG BD-390 blu-ray player that has the netflix streaming service integrated....LOVEN IT!
I live in the woods. 5Gig EVDO cap. Keep the discs coming please. (or get unlimited WiMax going...so my opinion hinges on high-speed availability, or more importantly, no caps).
PF
A lot can happen in 10 years but I expect their disc business to still be quite viable in a decade. The United States has been lagging behind on broadband and there are no great indicators pointing to a shift on that front any time soon.