Netflix offers three streaming video plans, plus you can still
order DVD and Blu-ray discs in the mail.
The most basic plan
allows one user at a time and is shown in standard definition, which is equivalent to the old,
pre-HD (720) televisions. The standard streaming plan allows
you to watch on two screens at a time in high definition
(1080) (HD), like newer, but non-4K TVs. The premium plan
allows you to watch on four screens at once and you can watch
programs in HD or 4K Ultra HD.
What amazed me is that
it is still offering the old 720 standard television, until I
realized how much of its business is overseas and how millions
of users around the world use PCs, pads, and phones to watch and
which require 720 or less for adequate pictures.
Incidentally,
Netflix still makes 30 million US dollars a month on DVD and
Blu-ray rentals.
Showing posts with label Netflix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netflix. Show all posts
Nov 30, 2019
Sep 13, 2019
Overpaying for Fast Broadband
Recently, 53 reporters worked with Stanford
and another major University to develop custom software and high
end routers to monitor speed at the router level as opposed to
most speed tests that are done at the device level (such as your
TV or PC).
They found that even trying to stream video to more than 7 devices at the same time, most people were never able to use more than on average 18 Mbps. Startup times for Netflix and other streaming services were within .6 seconds regardless of if you had a 15 mbps connection or a 500mbps connection. Ironically one of the few ways you are able to fill your full bandwidth is running a speed test. The test sends a large file and tests how long it takes to transmit it.
One of the few times having a super fast connection is useful is if you are downloading really big files, like movies. Most often, we just watch movies and do not download them.
For one or two TVs, 25mbps up and down is good, including Netflix, Prime and any other service. For families with many devices, children playing online games and multiple TVs being used at the same time, 50mbps up and down is more than sufficient. For most people, any speeds past these provide no benefit and are a waste of money.
They found that even trying to stream video to more than 7 devices at the same time, most people were never able to use more than on average 18 Mbps. Startup times for Netflix and other streaming services were within .6 seconds regardless of if you had a 15 mbps connection or a 500mbps connection. Ironically one of the few ways you are able to fill your full bandwidth is running a speed test. The test sends a large file and tests how long it takes to transmit it.
One of the few times having a super fast connection is useful is if you are downloading really big files, like movies. Most often, we just watch movies and do not download them.
For one or two TVs, 25mbps up and down is good, including Netflix, Prime and any other service. For families with many devices, children playing online games and multiple TVs being used at the same time, 50mbps up and down is more than sufficient. For most people, any speeds past these provide no benefit and are a waste of money.
Jan 25, 2019
Cable vs. Netflix Cost
The average cable price in 2017 was US $100.98. Nielsen says
the average American adult watches four hours and 23 minutes of
live TV a day, plus 33 minutes of DVR content. So, that is four
hours and 56 minutes of pay TV a day. During the course of a year
a typical cable customer watches about 1,800.67 hours of live and
time-shifted TV (including commercials), and pays about $1,210.80
for the privilege. That comes out to 67.2 cents per hour of cable.
An average Netflix user pays about $11.66 a month or $139.96 per year. An average Netflix user is streaming 3.21 hours of content. That amounts to watching 1,171.65 hours of Netflix a year. This is a worldwide number and most non-US users spend less time watching than the average American. That comes out to 11.95 cents per hour of Netflix watched.
An average Netflix user pays about $11.66 a month or $139.96 per year. An average Netflix user is streaming 3.21 hours of content. That amounts to watching 1,171.65 hours of Netflix a year. This is a worldwide number and most non-US users spend less time watching than the average American. That comes out to 11.95 cents per hour of Netflix watched.
Jul 20, 2018
Six Netflix Facts
Netflix is one year older than Google, 1997 vs. 1998.
In 2016, Netflix reported it was available in 190 countries and had more than 74 million subscribers.
About two billion hours of Netflix content gets streamed around the world every month.
Netflix has about 33 million subscribers in the country, outpacing regular old cable.
During 2017, Netflix spent six billion dollars on original content. During 2018, it plans to spend eight billion dollars.
According to the website CordCutting.com, a Netflix subscriber will get an extra 158 hours of content during the same watch time by having no commercials.
In 2016, Netflix reported it was available in 190 countries and had more than 74 million subscribers.
About two billion hours of Netflix content gets streamed around the world every month.
Netflix has about 33 million subscribers in the country, outpacing regular old cable.
During 2017, Netflix spent six billion dollars on original content. During 2018, it plans to spend eight billion dollars.
According to the website CordCutting.com, a Netflix subscriber will get an extra 158 hours of content during the same watch time by having no commercials.
Jun 29, 2018
Netflix Tidbits
Have you noticed that movies and shows from Netflix look bad
for a few seconds? That is because Netflix will start playing a
stream sooner than it can be played at its full quality and
buffers for the full-resolution version as it is ready then the
stream will be displayed at full resolution.
If your bandwidth slows down (like when sharing WiFi), video resolution will drop until the full-res stream is sufficiently buffered again. Netflix does this to keep the load times short so you see less buffering circles instead of the show. This is effective use of technology others might do well to emulate.
If your bandwidth slows down (like when sharing WiFi), video resolution will drop until the full-res stream is sufficiently buffered again. Netflix does this to keep the load times short so you see less buffering circles instead of the show. This is effective use of technology others might do well to emulate.
Jun 2, 2017
Netflix
Netflix can take up almost half of US bandwidth during peak
hours. Sandvine reports that Netflix accounts for over 35% of
web traffic in North America, followed by YouTube at 17.5%, and
Amazon Video at 4.3%. On average, Netflix customers consume 125
million hours a day. On a big day, single-day viewership hours
have approached 250 million. The study concluded that viewers
consume over 800,000 minutes of internet video per second each
day. Netflix now has 50 million US customers and 93 million
subscribers worldwide.
May 2, 2014
Netflix Facts and Numbers
What is better with
pizza than a movie? Netflix was founded in 1997 in Scotts Valley,
California by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, who previously had
worked together. Randolph was a co-founder of a computer mail order
company and later was employed by Borland International as
vice-president of marketing. Hastings, once a math teacher, had
founded Pure Software, which he had recently sold for $700 million.
Hastings invested $2.5 million in start up cash for Netflix.
The idea of Netflix came to Hastings when he was forced to pay $40 in overdue fines after returning a rented movie well past its due date.
The Netflix website was launched on August 29, 1997 with only 30 employees and 925 works available for rent and brought a more traditional, online pay-per-rental model (late fees applied). The company offers unlimited vacation time for salaried workers and allows employees to take any amount of their paychecks in stock options.
Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the single-rental model in 2000. Since that time the company has built its reputation on the business model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees, or per title rental fees.
Netflix was offered to Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000, but Blockbuster declined.
In 2005, Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs every day.
In February 2007, the company delivered its billionth DVD and began to move away from its original core business model of mailing DVDs by introducing video-on-demand via the Internet.
By 2010, Netflix's streaming business had grown to 14 million subscribers and shifted from the fastest-growing customer of the United States Postal Service's first-class mail service to the largest source of Internet traffic in North America. In November of that year it began offering a standalone streaming service separate from DVD rentals. It launched internationally in 2011.
On January 26, 2012, the company announced it had 24.4 million US subscribers.
Disney and Marvel TV said they will provide Netflix with live action series, beginning in 2015, featuring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries about the Defenders.
Netflix signed an agreement in 2014 with a US Cable company to offer it as a channel on the TV lineup. Users can click on the channel, like any other channel, and have all the Netflix options.
The idea of Netflix came to Hastings when he was forced to pay $40 in overdue fines after returning a rented movie well past its due date.
The Netflix website was launched on August 29, 1997 with only 30 employees and 925 works available for rent and brought a more traditional, online pay-per-rental model (late fees applied). The company offers unlimited vacation time for salaried workers and allows employees to take any amount of their paychecks in stock options.
Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the single-rental model in 2000. Since that time the company has built its reputation on the business model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees, or per title rental fees.
Netflix was offered to Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000, but Blockbuster declined.
In 2005, Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs every day.
In February 2007, the company delivered its billionth DVD and began to move away from its original core business model of mailing DVDs by introducing video-on-demand via the Internet.
By 2010, Netflix's streaming business had grown to 14 million subscribers and shifted from the fastest-growing customer of the United States Postal Service's first-class mail service to the largest source of Internet traffic in North America. In November of that year it began offering a standalone streaming service separate from DVD rentals. It launched internationally in 2011.
On January 26, 2012, the company announced it had 24.4 million US subscribers.
Disney and Marvel TV said they will provide Netflix with live action series, beginning in 2015, featuring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries about the Defenders.
Netflix signed an agreement in 2014 with a US Cable company to offer it as a channel on the TV lineup. Users can click on the channel, like any other channel, and have all the Netflix options.
Nov 22, 2011
Buying Technology
As we approach the buying season, here are a few tips to remember when buying technology. Memory (RAM) is more important than speed. Most do not use the full capacity of their computer, so getting more memory actually translates to more speed than chip speed.
Texting is more expensive than voice time, so watch your contract for cost of messages.
Buy the best components, and the cheapest cables, because all those claims about gold cables, ultra cables are almost meaningless.
When looking at cable plans, buy speed, not channels, because hundreds of those channels have nothing worth watching. Plus if cable internet is fast enough, you can watch more TV and videos on your PC for free. You can do like my brother and hook up your laptop to TV for Netflix movies. Wouldn't you like a 50 inch monitor to surf the net?
When it comes to TVs, remember that size really does matter. A larger screen is more enjoyable to watch than paying for faster refresh rate. Technology has come a long way and refresh rate is way less important than it used to be. Also, LED LCD is much better than LCD alone.
3D TV is an immature technology waiting for an audience, which will not likely happen until at least the next one or two generations. Save your money and wait.
Camera lenses are more important than the camera and most lenses can be re-used on next year's wizbang camera model.
Texting is more expensive than voice time, so watch your contract for cost of messages.
Buy the best components, and the cheapest cables, because all those claims about gold cables, ultra cables are almost meaningless.
When looking at cable plans, buy speed, not channels, because hundreds of those channels have nothing worth watching. Plus if cable internet is fast enough, you can watch more TV and videos on your PC for free. You can do like my brother and hook up your laptop to TV for Netflix movies. Wouldn't you like a 50 inch monitor to surf the net?
When it comes to TVs, remember that size really does matter. A larger screen is more enjoyable to watch than paying for faster refresh rate. Technology has come a long way and refresh rate is way less important than it used to be. Also, LED LCD is much better than LCD alone.
3D TV is an immature technology waiting for an audience, which will not likely happen until at least the next one or two generations. Save your money and wait.
Camera lenses are more important than the camera and most lenses can be re-used on next year's wizbang camera model.
Sep 25, 2009
Wizard of Oz
If you have access to the Internet you can see "The Wizard of Oz" for free next month. Netflix is making the free showings available for the 70th anniversary of the film throughout the US for 24 hours beginning at 9 a.m. EDT Oct. 3.
It will be available here or in High Def on your TV if you have the service. As the Wizard said, I have to "confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards".
It will be available here or in High Def on your TV if you have the service. As the Wizard said, I have to "confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards".
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