Instant watching is a great concept BUT......

[Movieobsessive]

As far as I am concerned instant watching is the future of Netlfix and the industry. Why wait for disks by "snail mail" when you can stream in real-time. However there is one small problem Netlfix seems to have discovered a special place which sells only the worst movies ever made and they are are: 1) all included in watching instantly and 2) Netflix has stopped adding almost any even half-way watchable movies or TV programs. Seriously folks this is not the way to get customers hooked on watched instantly by only giving us the option to watch rubbish. This is a particular shame because Roku (essentially a streaming DVD player) is a wonderful invention that makes watching streaming videos incredibly easy,

[ediemash]

our family has noticed the same thing, it seems since they came out with the boxes they slowed down the amount of stuff on instant watch and then for a while they started to just put a lot of crappy stuff like a garmin guide and weve notice its come to a complete stop, they havent put a thing in there in days and before that it was just a couple things.kids ask me if netflix put anything new out and im tired of telling them netflix hasnt put a thing out. i guess im one of the few that have gone through all of their stuff and awaiting for something new

on the upside come this fall the boxes are suppose to be able to stream other things besides just netflix and at the rate netflix is going its definitely going to be needed.

ive noticed that most of the stuff on the instant side you can get just about anywhere you can stream free stuff.

[Rosette]

Remember the WRITERS STRIKE....well I am sure that getting all the permissions to maintain the low netflix fees has something to do with it...Other sites do streaming for monthly fees but I don't want that...I don't want to be charged more

[Biff]

If they want to stop sending dvds and only have WI then they need to fix a few things. 1) they need closed captions. 2) they need complete dvd content, like extras and chapter selection. 3) they need more options for getting the feeds, besides Roku. Which they are working on. I just wish that the Xbox 360 option wasn't tied into having a Live account, they could make it available on 360 without the middle man (Microsoft) sticking out their grubby paw.

[Spindaddydad]

New releases aren't available but there are plenty of good titles available on Instant Watch. And there are groups here dedicated to helping members find them.

Of course, as it is now, there is no extra charge to watch IW titles above and beyond the standard Netflix "by mail" service. Just my opinion but I think the day Netflix begins to add new release titles to IW will be the same day that they change Instant Watch to a premium service. Something like a per rental fee, purchase fee, or monthly increase for IW'ers would be how I see them doing it, just like many of the other services are currently offering it.

[ediemash]

netflix has a descent collection its just lately it has almost slowed down to a stop to what they add. i actually have 487 in my list, stuff for the kiddies, documentaries for the hubby, and then of course his type of movie and then a bunch of tv series, netflix is pretty good about tv series, and then a bunch of various movies.

[Spindaddydad]

I had not noticed it either, in fact a few pretty good ones came out this week - Magnum Force, Indecent Proposal, Blink, Snow White and the Three Stooges

I guess, as with all things, it depends on individual prefs

[RJP]

Well I disagree with your comment about "adding almost any even half-way watchable movies." Practically everyday I find some title in my queue that is now available as Watch Instantly. The selection of Indie, Foreign, or generally off-beat, titles in my opinion is excellent. I Guess currently it's all a matter of your movie tastes.

I agree Watch Instantly doesn't have those recent, Hollywood type, Blockbusters titles - however, I'd as soon rent the Blu-ray DVD to see those titles anyway. And I do agree Watch Instantly has a lot of really poorly made titles - however, you have to take the "Bad" with the "Good."

Clearly the Netflix strategy is to get something out there in the way of a catalog, so they can then negotiate with the Studios (who are quite irrational IMO) to incrementally license more "popular" titles. You've got to take baby steps first before you get up to full speed.

[Spindaddydad]

Brilliant analysis RJP!

[Joe Mizera]

The current selection for WI is pretty dissapointing. I'm sure it's more to do with the movie studios when your talking about films, but I wonder why TV shows like "Mad Men" are excluded? This isn't even aired on a premium channel.

The Roku box was of passing interest, but without better content, I'm not sure if it's worth crowding the A/V cabinet. The news that more functionality would be added to this box might just change that. If it could play music and video from a Windows share, I'd take one!

[Movieobsessive]

I fully understand that Netflix is doing us a favor by not currently charging for Watch Instantly. Personally I would like to see an option that one has a new choice of: 1) current snailmail membership for full data base access and the current limited Watch Instantly list for those who are happy with the way things are or 2) a new Watch instantly option that includes the full data base; I have no problem paying the same fee (e.g. 18.00 dollars) as a choice for one or othe other. This would not hurt anybody. I also am fairly tech savvy and realize that Rome was not built in a day (see my comment elswhere on cheaply setting up Roku using a monitor-TV cable/VGA converter box [instead of a flat screen TV]). My point in intiating this discussion is to encourage Netflix to move forward and still keep us all happy, admittedly a hard thing to do.
Some background: As noted in several comments by this community things depend a lot on your perspective. I am in a similar situtation to Ediemash with whom I totally agree. His/Her profound comment was "I guess I am one of the few that have gone through all of their stuff and awaiting for something new". I must admit I am bit confused by the second comment by Ediemash which seems to say the opposite ( "I actually have 487 in my Watch Now list"). I (Movieobsessive) have either watched or made what I consider an informed decision (based on reviewer comments) not to watch every movie or TV series) in Watch Instantly. I have also marked (watched or decided not to watch) over 20,000 items in the regular movie selection. There is only one item in my Watch instantly list but appproximately 40 in my regular list. Simple mathematics suggests a major difference in the quality/options of the regular versus Watch instantly data base.

[Bunghole]

I could fully understand problems netflix faces in moving aggressively toward WI. Being rather computer tech savvy, the magnitude of the change is daunting. These files are huge and they take up extremely large chunks of band width to stream out. The botched oracle database update and all the chaos it caused is an example of how delicate and trouble prone changes in computer systems can be.

Finding capital for and purchasing the equipment to stream this stuff would be significant itself. Configuring it to fit into what they already have even more of a challenge.

Then there are the greedy studio's to deal with. Money talks, and . . . . well, you know the saying. I have no idea what the netflix executives have to deal with in negotiating contracts with “them.” But when these movie executives see the money flowing to netflix rather than to box office revenue, or DVD sales, or rentals in the big rental chains . . . then they will start being serious about making their films quickly available.

I think that discrimination as to what one will watch and not watch can enter in . . . and how many movies one has watched in the past. I won't watch just anything . . . I won't watch a big name block buster that was made with a huge budget just for that . . . . I didn't get through “Backdraft” just for that reason. To many explosions, too thin a plot, in my opinion. Additionally, I've watched many, many movies that have got 5 stars on netflix, before netflix existed and don't want to watch them again, a lot of them on WI. I just will not watch a movie to watch something . . . .

As formidable as these problems are I trust and hope netflix is reading this forum and is doing what they can. The speed of broadband is growing rapidly, and the ease of watching WI vs DVD's is indisputable. Whatever their strategy, I can and will be patient as there is really no other alternative . . . netflix is the best there is. I hope they don't just sit still but do some really aggressive stuff and work outside the box to get what is the future of WI there as fast as possible.

I do want to say that I am willing to shell out the bucks to get WI where it should be. I haven't gone to a theater in years . . . . for many reason's but mostly I won't pay $7 per for a movie and then pay $6 for a small bag of popcorn.

I will pay the $ to get good movies to my computer through WI however, and I hope the netflix executives get this loud and clear from this post.

[Spindaddydad]

I will pay the $ to get good movies to my computer through WI however, and I hope the netflix executives get this loud and clear from this post

The price breaks will probably be somewhere in the range of $5.99 to purchase and $2.99 to rent new release/current movies on WI. This is about what all movie download services offer and that's probably what NF will come up with as well. Maybe a little higher or even lower but ballpark anyway. The studios are VERY resistant to offering all you can eat downloading such as is currently available through Netflix Instant Watch. In fact, no one offers it yet on current titles.

I think those are fair prices and I would be willing to pay, especially if they also continue to offer older catalog titles at no extra charge.