IFP teams up with Netflix to distribute Independent Spirit Awards nominees

Via the LA Times [subscription required] and Hacking Netflix, Netflix is partnering with the Independent Feature Project/Los Angeles. The partnership allows the 9000 IFP members free access to Netflix in order to see movies nominated for the annual Independent Spirit Awards, strictly for the purpose of voting on the offbeat alternative to the Oscars. They won't be able to get other movies without paying. Netflix will require all copies of the movies to be returned. They will have their own special limited-access page on Netflix.com. This means that independent movies, which couldn't be distributed otherwise, will be able to find an audience, hopefully.

Damaged discs in Greensboro

Patrick Eakes is a fellow blogger and Netflix subscriber who receives his discs from the same Greensboro, NC distribution center as I do, but he's having a big problem with damaged discs. This is what he says:

I have noticed that over the past three or four months, a large number of the DVDs I have received from Netflix are scratched and will not play properly. I would guess that about 1/3 of the discs have been damaged in this way.

Because of the recent problems, we clean every disc before playing. The problem discs we are receiving have visible scratches or gouges in the playing surface. Just to be sure, we even took the disc to my in-laws' player to confirm the problem, since it was unplayable past the 80-minute mark. The other player confirmed the defect.

In the case of Lost in Translation, I received the disc on the release date, so presumably I got a brand new disc. It had a gouge in the back so large that it looked like it had been struck with a screwdriver or similar object.

I always report the problems both at the web site and on the white sleeve. So far, Lost in Translation is the only disc that I have had them ship a replacement copy. We just lived with poor play performance or missing a few minutes of the other movies.

He has been very patient, I think. I think Netflix and the USPS should investigate. What are your comments on this issue?

Next generation of DVDs on track to replace today's version

Next generation of DVDs on track to replace today's version: "A pessimist might say that right about the time the last person on the planet buys a DVD player, the popular digital video system will be made obsolete by new technology that uses blue lasers."
But an optimist might reply that people worldwide bought DVD players mainly because they made movies look better than videotape. And, within the next few years, blue-laser technology will make further improvements over today's DVDs.

HDTV owners are boosting sales of progressive-scan DVD players because they get the best possible image out of a DVD when played on a digital TV, Kishore said.

Progressive-scan DVD players display twice as much information from each frame of a DVD as do standard, or interlaced, DVD players.

Missed a Netflix giveaway at Mervyn's?

Too bad I missed this! Mervyn's, a west coast department store, gave away Netflix gift cards on November 26 with purchases of $100 or more. If you hear about anything like this happening again, let me know, so I can post it here for you before it's too late to take advantage of the offer. Read more

Death of VHS

via CNET News.com

Because a big retailer in Britain has stopped selling VHS tapes, people everywhere are interpreting this as the beginning of the end for VHS. The world is going digital, whether you like it or not. A major indicator is that "Blockbuster reports that over 80 percent of its rentals are DVDs." No wonder. My local Blockbuster has completely removed VHS tapes from its shelves. Read more

Bought a movie from Netflix?

I've finally bought a movie from Netflix. They say you're not supposed to do it, but it was an accident. I was carrying a copy of Only Angels Have Wings in my jacket pocket. I forgot it was there. When I buckled my seatbelt over it, I discovered DVDs don't fold; they crack. I'm thankful the offical Netflix Web site has the option to "buy this disc" when you're willing to admit you're the one who's responsible. They charged my account $20+tax. I had it reshipped to me. I'm being extra careful with this one. (It's a great movie; I highly recommend it).

The Netflix Workout

Tuttle has discovered a practical use for Netflix: "I've still got the bike trainer set up in the attic, which I don't mind, except for the incredibly freaking boring aspect. I finally remembered that I could take the PowerBook up with me and watch movies while I ride. So I set up a Netflix account and so far, it's working out quite well." Read the rest.

My Netflix Ratings by Kevin Elliott

Kevin Elliott -- Software Engineering, Tinkering

Over the last couple of years, I have done my best to rate as many movies as I have seen in my life on my Netflix account. On November 17th, 2004, I put together a script that screen scrapes my Netflix account to retrieve all movie ratings that I have made.


I have seen the following movies, and they are rated from best to worst, 5.0 to 1.0. Movies with the same rating are in alphabetical order, not most preferred. This list is incomplete, because I have only rated movies that I could remember, or were presented as recommendations by Netflix and I had already seen them. Once I get some more time to clean up the scripts, I will release them for public consumption.

See them

Octopodial Chrome

Bob, who blogs at Octopodial Chrome, says "Man, I’ve watched a lot of films since getting a Netflix subscription: in two and a third years, I’ve seen 677 movies—over 5½ a week! For most of that time, I’ve been on the 8-at-a-time plan, and thus have paid a bit less than $1,200, averaging $1.76 per movie. It’s amazingly cheap."

Jimmy O's Top One-Hundred Most Influential Movies

Jimmy O of Filmsnobs.com has made his list of what he thinks are the 100 most influential movies. After looking at his list, I'd conclude that "influential" doesn't include "great". The list.

Post Number Eight, or how I joined Netflix and decided that it was really cool

StudioGlyphic has a nice positive review of Netflix.

Old TV favorites turning up on DVD

By ANDREW GUY JR.
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

"You know how you go to a convention, and there's these old, obscure celebrities that people have barely heard of, and yet there's a crowd of people who want their autograph?" asked Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, which rents videos online. "That's how this DVD evolution is. Even the most obscure shows have followings."

"Netflix -- which mails rentals to customers' homes -- ships more than 3 million discs a week. Of those rentals, about 15 percent are television shows, Sarandos said."

"For retailers, stocking up on shows like Seinfeld and The Sopranos are "no-brainers," said Netflix's Sarandos, because the series have huge followings.

"Older shows are a bit more tricky. Netflix, for example, scoured the Internet and found a following for Pink Lady . . . and Jeff, which had only five aired episodes with guests such as Donny Osmond, Alice Cooper and Hugh Hefner. It stocks Pink Lady even though fewer than 1,000 of its more than 2 million customers have requested it. "

Meanwhile Netflix is gearing up for Seinfeld. Expecting high demand, the company is treating it like a major theatrical release. Sarandos said Seinfeld is its largest commercial purchase ever. He didn't elaborate on numbers.

Sarandos said he expects Netflix to continue to increase its television inventory over the years.

"We see no signs that this is going to slow down," he said.

Napster and Blockbuster Online in Co-Marketing Deal

Via Clickz.com:

"Napster and Blockbuster Online entered a co-marketing deal to package their music and movie services together in a 'Digital Duo' gift card. The card, which will be available in time for the holidays, costs $20 and is available at RadioShack retail outlets.

Card holders get unlimited access to Napster's music library and two free track downloads from that service, as well as a month of free movie rentals from Blockbuster's DVD-by-mail offering.
The Digital Duo card offers 32 percent savings off what consumers would pay by purchasing the same digital entertainment packages separately. Ordinarily, the Blockbuster Online membership is $17.49 per month and a month of Napster access costs $9.95. "

Read the rest of the article

Netflix Tracker: Turnaround Time by Center

Turnaround time isn't my problem; it's finding time to watch them all. For those of you concerned with getting the most movies for your money, Listology's Netflix Tracker has a great feature where you can check your turnaround time according to your distribution center, as reported by users of Listology. You can see that turnaround time from the Greensboro distribution center averaged 2.43 days for the last 21 rentals. This data contradicts the idea that Netflix is slowing down deliveries for heavy users. You can see other reports, too, like per-person monthly average, or turnaround time by monthly plan. You can sign up and track your own turnaround time for free, with nothing but a pick-your-own anonymous user name and password.

Where are those new releases?

via The Paul Wall: "Users of the rental service will notice that new releases hardly ever pop up in their 'recommendations' list. The reason, Hastings told me, is that Netflix doesn't want everybody rushing for the same DVD title at once. Makes sense, but it's a potential vulnerability." Read more

macteens reviews Netflix Freak from LittleAppFactory

via macteens.com:

"After being a Netflix subscriber for little over a month, I was handed a nifty little application named Netflix Freak. It makes life easy for Netflix users by allowing the user to manage their account without going through the web site. This Macintosh only software is so easy to use, confining everything needed into a nice compact window."

Read more

Netflix Site Redesign *updated

Dan at wooba.com has an interesting screencap of a Netflix site redesign. I've never actually seen this when I go to Netflix.com. Have you? It has a search box on the queue page, as well as arrows for each movie, enabling you to move it up or down in your queue with a click. Is it real, or Photoshop?

*Updated Friday PM: I guess I just had to believe harder before I could see it. As Mike commented, it might have been buggy last night, which could have been why they pulled it. Now that I've seen it, it's real. What do you think?

Try scratching this DVD

via CNETAsia

Researchers at electronics giant TDK have developed a tough new coating that promises to make scratched DVDs a thing of the past and that will help usher in an emerging data storage format with 10 times the capacity of the current DVD standard.

In a test conducted by CNET News.com, a DVD treated with TDK's coating survived a determined attack with a screwdriver and a Sharpie permanent marker with no effect on playability--a remarkable feat considering how easily standard DVDs can be damaged, for example, by children.

'Wow, every family with a young boy could really use that,' quipped Elizabeth Berry, a Berkeley, Calif., resident and one-time Netflix DVD-by-mail subscriber, when told of the scratch-resistant coating. 'My 3-year-old must have destroyed half my DVD collection.'

Already one of the most popular technologies in history, the DVD is poised for further greatness as companies tinker with improvements such as better durability and increased storage."

The article goes on to discuss how this development will improve the high-capacity Blu-Ray disc format. Read the rest.

AFI's 100 YEARS...100 MOVIE QUOTES

via AFI Online:

"LOS ANGELES, November 17, 2004-The American Film Institute (AFI) today announced that AFI's 100 Years . . . 100 Movie Quotes will be the theme for AFI's eighth annual celebration of 100 years of American movies.
AFI'S 100 Years . . . 100 Movie Quotes: America's Greatest Quips, Comebacks and Catchphrases will count down America's 100 greatest lines of dialogue spoken in the movies, as chosen by experts of the motion picture community, in a three-hour television event on the CBS Television Network in June 2005."

Read all about it.

Netflix Updates Q4 Guidance

Netflix Updates Q4 Guidance: "Netflix CEO and Co-founder Reed Hastings commented, 'We're impressed with the demand for our service at our new price points. Although it is still early in the quarter, subscriber growth is exceeding our earlier expectations, churn appears to be heading toward historical lows, and U.S. SAC should be in the neighborhood of last quarter. The strategy of rapid subscriber growth we announced last month is working.' "