#“My requisite Netflix Ireland & UK linkbait post”
It’s been over 36 hours and I haven’t blogged about Netflix launching on this side of the pond yet. Twitter was non-stop about it yesterday and rightly so. I’ve seen every extreme of opinion expressed there so I thought I’d lash down a few thoughts and findings.
We are probably the perfect target demographic for Netflix. We cut the cord on Sky back in September after we got sick of paying for a pile of old crap we never watched. Since then we’ve used FreeSat and Saorview backed-up by Amazon Unbox downloads for US TV Shows (which requires a horrendous amount of messing so that you can give people your money) and some RTE Player, Hulu, TV3 Player and iPlayer. We adults have been happy enough but the kids have hated losing all their fave shows and struggle to live with just CBeebies, CBBC, CITV and RTEjr (and WTF is RTE doing with only showing RTEjr Mon-Fri? What is this, 1974?).
I’ve been massively looking forward to Netflix over here so that I could get all our fave US shows without paying the Rupert tax or messing with VPNs. The reality turned out a bit differently. There is almost nothing I could find in the TV section that was up to date. Damages was 2 seasons old. Ditto Weeds, Californication etc etc. I have to assume the existing buyers over here (RTE, Sky, BBC, ITV) have deals preventing Netflix from showing anything more up to date. I can only hope that they kick some serious arsein this space in the coming years and particularly block RTE from buying up shows that they never broadcast or only broadcast at stupid times.
Once I got over the disappointment I realised I still liked it. Firstly, they have a huge back catalogue. So even if they don’t have the latest and greatest, you can find lots of stuff you’ve never seen, particularly Indie movies or shows like Breaking Bad which I keep meaning to start watching. But more importantly for us, with 5 kids, the amount of kids TV is great. Lots and lots of stuff to keep them amused for months. Hopefully they’ll add more Disney and Disney XD shows like Wizards of Waverly Place that some of our gang love.
For those reasons I think 6.99 a month is a bargain and I’m pretty sure we’ll keep the subscription after the trial month.
Now for the techie bits. I’ve installed (or attempted to install) Netflix on the following:
- HTC Sensation running pre-release Android Ice Cream Sandwich - Perfect. Installed straight from Android Market.
- iPad - Had to turn on US VPN to get Netflix to even show up in App Store. Installed fine and runs beautifully. Presumably the usual App Store approval nonsense held that up?
- Nintendo Wii - Installed on two Wiis via the Wii Store. Works shockingly well, even if it's very slow to start up. This is the platform that the kids are using. Wiimote is the perfect remote control for it!
- XBMC on Windows - The XBMC Flicks pluginis currently not working for Ireland/UK but the community is working on it and it looks like a quick fix.
- Windows Media Center - Surprise surprise, won't install. Massive forum threads out there about US version problems so I'm not surprised it doesn't work for us either. The thing about Media Center is that it's almost a brilliant app. Its DVB-S and DVB-T integration with full UK/Ireland TV Programme Guide is awesome but then it can't play AVIs in sync or show you your media in a simple folder list! Come on Microsoft, you should be at the centre of TV!
- XBMC on XBOX - Unknown. Not even sure if supported for US version. I'll check in the next few days
UPDATE: Just discovered that two Wiis cannot play simultaneously, which strikes me as a bizarre limitation given that iPad/Android was fine. We’ll just have to get XBMC or Media Center working sooner!
My biggest complaint, and it’s a major one, is the complete lack of fine-grained access controls. You can set an overall rating on your account from Show Everything down to Show Only G-Rating but that’s it. I want to enable Everything on the PC whilst having the Wiis set to 12A or General. It’s impossible. Netflix really needs to fix this. Right now I have the entire account set to 12A so if I want to watch Breaking Bad, I’ll first have to change the parental setting online, then watch the show and then switch it back again. Netflix needs to either have sub-accounts with different access levels or just settings per device.
But it’s actually worse than I originally thought because even if you set 12A, it still displays all shows of all ratings in Browse/Search but just prevents you from playing them. Let’s hope they don’t offer Debbie Does Dallas for streaming. “Daaaaaaad, who'’s Debbie and what is she doing in Dallas?”
Apart from that huge hole, I’m a fan. If all Netflix does is disrupt the incumbents, it’s a good outcome for consumers.