Netflix Streaming: Pretty Damned Awesome

dclary · May 29, 2009

For those of you who don't know the history of american cinema, you can get an ultra cheap (like $12 a month) education on it at Netflix.com

Netflix allows you to stream unlimited movies to your computer, along with the ones they physically ship to your house. The caveat is that their complete library is not available online.

But right now, they have an *amazing* collection of vintage films from the silent era available instantly on your computeer, including one that is...

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD!

In the course of a weekend, you could watch the 1929 "Nosferatu", Buster Keaton's 1927 "The General"... Even the classic, first major "epic" film: DW Griffith's Klantastic "Birth of a Nation" (1915).

Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera. A ton of Charlie Chaplin, the earliest surviving film of Fritz Lang, "Spiders."

"The Lost World" -- A dinosaur film from 1925!!! (I imagine the CGI is poor in that one, though...)

Valentino's "The Sheik" is available. A collection of DW Griffith films from 1909-1913.

It's truly incredible, and anyone with a fascination for, love of, or interest in filmmaking, cinema, or just the history of movies should make every effort to take this opportunity to see the movies that defined Hollywood, and truly, American media, setting the stepping stones that Spielburg, Jackson, Scorsese, Allen, Hitchcock, and all the others have followed.

Williebee · May 29, 2009

Yup, Netflix live streaming is just freakin' cool.

shawkins · May 29, 2009

If you're not crazy about watching movies on your PC, a couple of Blu-Ray players are now compatible with the Netflix streaming. I know a guy who's got one & saw it in action a couple times. The overall effect was pretty darn impressive. The video wasn't quite HD, but it was perfectly watchable. No stutter, no decompression artifacts or digital static, good sound. My only minor gripe was that the rewind feature was a little cumbersome.

There's also a plugin for the Xbox 360 that'll stream Netflix, but nobody I've talked to can get it to work.

Also, seems like about 5-6 months ago Netflix cut some sort of deal to get more content to download. Up until then there really wasn't a whole lot of interest. Now there's godzillions of cool older things, and not a few recent releases.

AmandaAcidic · May 29, 2009

I have a Xbox 360 and Netflix streaming. It works like a charm. I didn't have any trouble getting it to work. I thought it was very easy to hook up.

alleycat · May 29, 2009

There are a number of sites these days with steaming videos or TV shows and old movies, even YouTube has a few.

I watched To Kill a Mockingbird the other day: http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=958&format=movie&theme=guide

childeroland · May 29, 2009

Yeah, was watching Therese et Isabelle on Youtube the other day, but the quality wasn't that great.

Netflix's streaming silent films, is that part of Warners offering their library online?

Zoombie · May 29, 2009

I hear that despite the fact that it depicts one of the evilest bunch of evil bastards in the history of the United States as heroes, Birth of A Nation is still real good.

Might need to check it out.

shawkins · May 29, 2009

AmandaAcidic said:
I have a Xbox 360 and Netflix streaming. It works like a charm. I didn't have any trouble getting it to work. I thought it was very easy to hook up.

Hmmm. Was this the official sanctioned plugin that runs through Xbox live or one of the hacked ones? The problem I had was with the hacked ones.

Zoombie said:
I hear that despite the fact that it depicts one of the evilest bunch of evil bastards in the history of the United States as heroes, Birth of A Nation is still real good.

Might need to check it out.

Really? I once sat through Triumph of the Will[sup]1[/sup] and it was boring as hell. Since then I've been giving classic racist cinema a pass. But if Birth is supposed to have entertainment value I might take a look.

[sup]1[/sup]Interestingly, though, the final scenes of Conan the Barbarian (the bit with all the hippes with torches) were totally cribbed from the footage of the final Nazi rally at the end of TotW.

Zoombie · May 29, 2009

Well, the difference is...TOW is a propaganda piece, BON is supposed to actually tell a story...

dclary · May 29, 2009

childeroland said:
Yeah, was watching Therese et Isabelle on Youtube the other day, but the quality wasn't that great.

Netflix's streaming silent films, is that part of Warners offering their library online?

Not sure. The DVD covers are diverse enough that it doesn't appear to be any one company's offerings.

AmandaAcidic · May 29, 2009

shawkins said:
Hmmm. Was this the official sanctioned plugin that runs through Xbox live or one of the hacked ones? The problem I had was with the hacked ones.

The real unhacked one.

trishabartle · May 29, 2009

I get most of my Netflix movies through the mail. I like watching traditional DVDs. However, I do sometimes watch them streaming through my Xbox 360, which is awesome. I don't do it on the computer because I don't like watching movies and TV on my computer screen.

PS: My Xbox 360 uses the sanctioned Netflix plugin.

Grrarrgh · May 30, 2009

We have an Xbox 360 that we use for Netflix streaming, but we didn't have to have any kind of plug-in or addition or anything. We just signed up for Netflix, went to the Netflix option on our Xbox Dashboard, and hit play. It's fantastic; I love it. Being able to stream through the Xbox is one of the biggest reasons we decided to go with Netflix.

RickN · May 30, 2009

I use the streaming all the time. Once we finish our remodel, I'm putting in one of Netflix's $99 dohickeys to let the streaming play directly on our big TV.

I'm a movie buff, unlike my wife, so I get tons of use from Netflix. The streaming just makes it a better service.

maestrowork · May 30, 2009

It is great. Their instant watch selection is expanding as well, and the quality is generally good depending on your Internet speed. At high speed it's DVD quality.

Mine is hooked up through the XBOX to the HD TV so it's great. Also, my Tivo HD does the Netflix streaming as well. So I can watch them either way.

If you don't have any of those, you can also get a 3rd party set-top box for about $99.

This is the "future," man -- relatively cheap (or free) entertainment on demand through the Internet, and watch it anywhere, any time.

maestrowork · May 30, 2009

BTW, Hulu Desktop is out now, I think. So that's another great way to catch up with your favorite shows or some movies, for free.

kristin724 · Jun 2, 2009

We have the Roku box for streaming netflix and now Amazon on demand. In addition to movies, we've got over a hundred documentary series and shows. It's so much nicer than hogging the dvd queue with sets and sets of dvds. Right now I'm hogging it with MI-5 viewing!

Writer2011 · Jun 2, 2009

I absolutely LOVE Netflix...We'll keep movies for weeks at a time and just watch them streaming

I love the STARZ Play too...but there are some fantastic older ones on there as well--- I do want to see the D.W. Griffith Films as well.

Pamster · Jun 5, 2009

Oh man oh man I love Netflix streaming content! I watch on my computer though, I don't have a way yet to stream to the HDTV yet. Maybe someday.

Perks · Jun 5, 2009

I've watched a number of movies this way and thinks it's great. I've been a Netflix customer for eight or nine years. Love them.

S.C. Denton · Jun 8, 2009

maestrowork said:
BTW, Hulu Desktop is out now, I think. So that's another great way to catch up with your favorite shows or some movies, for free.

What exactly is Hulu Desktop? I watch Hulu all the time on my laptop but I'm pretty much technologically illiterate so... is that part of the newly added Labs thing?

childeroland · Jun 8, 2009

kristin724 said:
We have the Roku box for streaming netflix and now Amazon on demand. In addition to movies, we've got over a hundred documentary series and shows. It's so much nicer than hogging the dvd queue with sets and sets of dvds. Right now I'm hogging it with MI-5 viewing!

Do you also find yourself watching less shows on the tube now because of the box?

maestrowork · Jun 8, 2009

S.C. Denton said:
What exactly is Hulu Desktop? I watch Hulu all the time on my laptop but I'm pretty much technologically illiterate so... is that part of the newly added Labs thing?

Yes. It's a standalone app for watching and finding Hulu contents without using your web browser.

childeroland · Jun 8, 2009

The app is terrific, and Hulu has a nice anime selection. It'd be nice if they hooked up with Funimation's site.

kristin724 · Jun 14, 2009

I don't watch any current television at all, just movies and documentaries, and The Golden Girls. So, yeah, I usually go through my tv guide and if there's nothing I want to watch, then I just hit the Roku box. I also watch old shows on Hulu from the pc as well.

I don't think its that Roku is better than regular TV, I just think older shows are better. If everything that was available from Netflix or on DVD was still syndicating or rerunning somewhere, I'd be watching the Television. Maybe channels will get with the program and offer their entire libraries. I know some do, but like the stupid Sci Fi Channel, there's a lot of their older programming that I loved, but now I watch it on Hulu.

Netflix Streaming: Pretty Damned Awesome

Unabashed Mercenary

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Ahhh. Sweet.

Good morning beautiful!

Still around

What happened to my LIFE?!

Dragon of the Multiverse

Ahhh. Sweet.

Dragon of the Multiverse

Unabashed Mercenary

Good morning beautiful!

Not so new, not so much a kid

Fear the Death Ray

Fear the Death Ray

Counting Stars

delicate #!&@*#! flower

What happened to my LIFE?!

Fear the Death Ray

What happened to my LIFE?!