Breaking: Netflix Internet TV/Film Delivery Starts This Week January 16, 2007
Read more Home Entertainment , Online , TV
Netflix will begin IP rental of films and television this week. Those with better plans get more hours, from 6 to 48 hours a month. Over time, they plan to expand the service to the livingroom, and beyond. Although limited in selection to about 1,000 titles and available initially to a few subscribers, this is the beginning of Netflix's main business plan to net rent video straight over IP that just wasn't technically feasible back when they started.
Quality depends on the users bandwidth, which can range from 1-3mbits, the higher equating to DVD quality. A stream can be watched in 10-15 seconds. Right now, there's only IE and Windows XP support.
The new service will rollout to about 250k users a month, as they scale up their delivery service to satisfy the entire Netflix user base of 6 million. That should happen, according to the website, by June.
This has always been part of the plan for the company, as its name implies, and as its been chronicled. IP video livingroom solutions by Sony, Apple, Microsoft and all the cable providers are on their way or here. So, we'll see how fast Netflix jumps to the livingroom. Could be time for that Netflix Set Top box we asked for at xmas. –Brian Lam
Netflix [Netflix]
Editor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
That's great. Except that Netflix is ignoring some 30 million potential customers in the United States who have a hearing loss. Or some 10 to 15 million people with severe to profound hearing loss who rely heavily on subtitles or closed captioning to enjoy their shows or movies.
That's a lot of potential money going down the drain in a hurry.
In fact, there is a discussion going on among deaf and hard of hearing readers of DeafDC on this very same subject. And Netflix didn't have the foresight to overlook 30 million potential customers with hearing loss?
http://www.deafdc.com/blog/guest-blogger/2007-01-19/will-the-deaf-be-left-behind/
Oh, please. What else is new? Technology has made it easier nowadays to add subtitles (or even Closed Captioning) in English, Spanish, French and other languages. Alienating even more people who don't use English.
I am one of those 30 million deaf people who depend on closed captions in order to be able to watch videos. Without captions, video becomes useless to me.
Don't forget, deaf and hard of hearing people are not the only people who NEED, or at least benefit from, captions. There are also:
1. Millions of immigrant Americans who are learning English as a second language. Many find it easier to understand English if they can read it while hearing it.
2. Hearing people who want to watch an on-line video in the office, at the library, or some other place where they don't want to disturb other people with the noise their video makes.
As mcconnell points out, it's not that hard or expensive to add subtitles or closed captioning to on-line material, you just have to have the commitment to follow through.
I find it disappointing that Net-flix is asking so many millions of Americans to wait for the same access to the same services that everyone else is able to enjoy today. And I am also very disturbed that Netflix has not already responded to mcconnell's comments above. Please do so -- right here, for all of us to see.
As one of those 30 million deaf and hard of hearing people, I'm not pleased with Netflix's ignorance about the huge pool of users who rely on captioning. I agree about other groups of hearing users who may need this service as I come from a family where English isn't our first language. My parents have perfect hearing but rely on TV captioning as much as me to make it easier for them to understand English.