Difference between revisions of "Netflix"
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For an additional monthly fee, Netflix users can add the "1 DVD out-at-a-time" plan to their subscription. Once subscribed, the user can create a list of desired movies or programs. Netflix mails the first 1-3 titles on the list, depending on the service desired, and as the client returns the movies in a prepaid envelope, subsequent titles are mailed in order. Customers with a good return record can upgrade plans to up to 8 discs at a time. Blu-ray discs are also available for an additional cost. In an attempt to help studios sell more physical media at retail outlets, Netflix reached an agreement with Warner Brothers Pictures, Universal Studios, and Twentieth Century Fox to delay renting new releases for 28 days from their retail release. | For an additional monthly fee, Netflix users can add the "1 DVD out-at-a-time" plan to their subscription. Once subscribed, the user can create a list of desired movies or programs. Netflix mails the first 1-3 titles on the list, depending on the service desired, and as the client returns the movies in a prepaid envelope, subsequent titles are mailed in order. Customers with a good return record can upgrade plans to up to 8 discs at a time. Blu-ray discs are also available for an additional cost. In an attempt to help studios sell more physical media at retail outlets, Netflix reached an agreement with Warner Brothers Pictures, Universal Studios, and Twentieth Century Fox to delay renting new releases for 28 days from their retail release. | ||
| − | ==== | + | ==== Qwikster ==== |
| − | In October of 2011, Netflix attempted to put their DVD rental services under the name | + | In October of 2011, Netflix attempted to put their DVD rental services under the name Qwikster. This required customers to access a different website with a different account and password in order to rent DVDs. Qwikster would offer a new feature, the ability to rent video games, which was previously not available from Netflix. However, due to negative feedback from customers, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that the DVD-by-mail service would remain a part of Netflix, rather than becoming a separate entity. |
=== Free Trial and Cancellation === | === Free Trial and Cancellation === | ||
| − | New clients of Netflix can qualify for a 1 month free offer. If the subscription is cancelled within the month, no charges will be charged. However, if | + | New clients of Netflix can qualify for a 1 month free offer. If the subscription is cancelled within the month, no charges will be charged. However, if membership is not removed within one month, the regular monthly fee will be charged. Subscriptions can be cancelled at anytime online with no termination fee. There is no refunds or credits for partial months. |
== "Netflix Prize" == | == "Netflix Prize" == | ||
Revision as of 04:13, 25 October 2012
Netflix, Inc. is an American online movie rental service that offers a flat-fee subscription plan for both DVD and Blu-ray disc rentals. In addition to disc rentals, Netflix also provides online streaming directly to TV. Netflix was founded on August 29, 1997 in Scotts Valley, California by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Reed and Randolph had previously worked together at Pure Software, a company that provided Purify, a debugging tool for Unix/C engineers. The idea started when Hastings was charged a late fee when returning a DVD after the due date. Since then, the Netflix business model is built on flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees, or per title rental fees and has grown to more than 27 million streaming members across the United States, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Contents
Services
Netflix subscribers are able to watch unlimited movies and TV episodes for a monthly flat-rate. Users can choose to opt-in to renting unlimited DVDs by mail for an additional monthly fee. In 2011, Netflix split its service pricing such that customers must decide whether to pay for online streaming, mail order DVD rentals, or both. In a 2011 report by Sandvine, Netflix is the biggest source of North American web traffic, accounting for 24.71% of the total traffic.
Online Streaming
Netflix has a "Watch Instantly" feature that allows thousands of movies and TV shows to be instantly streamed to your TV via a PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, or any device that allows streaming. Films can be paused and restarted at will. Netflix's content library is encoded into three bandwidth levels. The lowest tier requires a continuous downstream bandwidth of 1.5 Mbit/s, with stereo audio and video quality comparable to that of a DVD. The second tier requires 3 Mbit/s and offers "better than DVD quality." The highest tier requires 5Mbit/s and offers 720p HD with surround sound audio. Several devices such has the PlayStation3 and Roku 2 can stream Netflix content at 1080p, but it is unclear what 1080 content, if any, is delivered.
DVD Rental
For an additional monthly fee, Netflix users can add the "1 DVD out-at-a-time" plan to their subscription. Once subscribed, the user can create a list of desired movies or programs. Netflix mails the first 1-3 titles on the list, depending on the service desired, and as the client returns the movies in a prepaid envelope, subsequent titles are mailed in order. Customers with a good return record can upgrade plans to up to 8 discs at a time. Blu-ray discs are also available for an additional cost. In an attempt to help studios sell more physical media at retail outlets, Netflix reached an agreement with Warner Brothers Pictures, Universal Studios, and Twentieth Century Fox to delay renting new releases for 28 days from their retail release.
Qwikster
In October of 2011, Netflix attempted to put their DVD rental services under the name Qwikster. This required customers to access a different website with a different account and password in order to rent DVDs. Qwikster would offer a new feature, the ability to rent video games, which was previously not available from Netflix. However, due to negative feedback from customers, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that the DVD-by-mail service would remain a part of Netflix, rather than becoming a separate entity.
Free Trial and Cancellation
New clients of Netflix can qualify for a 1 month free offer. If the subscription is cancelled within the month, no charges will be charged. However, if membership is not removed within one month, the regular monthly fee will be charged. Subscriptions can be cancelled at anytime online with no termination fee. There is no refunds or credits for partial months.
"Netflix Prize"
The Netflix Prize was launched in 2006 as an open competition to substantially improve the accuracy of user ratings for films. The competition was open to anybody who was not connected to Netflix (current and former employees, agents, close relatives of Netflix employees, etc.) or a resident of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, or Sudan. Prizes were based on improvement over Cinematch, Netflix's own algorithm. If no team won the grand prize, a progress prize of $50,000 was awarded each year to the team with the best result thus far, given that the algorithm improved the root mean squared error (RMSE) on the quiz set by at least 1% over the previous progress prize winner. A team could attempt as many submissions as they wished. Submissions could be made once a day where the team's best submission so far counted as their current submission. If a team managed to improve the RMSE more than 10%, the jury would allow all teams 30 days to send in their last submissions. Then, the team with the best submission was asked for their algorithm description, source code, and non-exclusive license. And finally, after a successful verification, a grand prize winner is chosen. The On September 21, 2009, the grand prize of $1,000,000 was rewarded to BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos team which beat Netflix's own algorithm for predicting ratings by 10.06%.
Pairing with Facebook
In 2011, Netflix integrated its video streaming service with Facebook in 44 countries except the United States. This new pairing allows users to watch videos on either site and to see what people on their friends lists are viewing. A 1988 video rental privacy law came about after a D.C. area video store gave a Washington City Paper reporter the rental records of U.S. District Judge Robert Bork. Bork's 1987 nomination to the Supreme Court was rejected by the Senate. The 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act prohibits the disclosure of video sales or rental records. Michael Drobac, the government affairs director of Netflix, urged users to write in support of an amendment that would allow Netflix to get user information and share it through the Internet. Later that year, the House of Representatives passed HR 2471, a bill that amends VPPA. Consumers now have the choice to decide whether or not Netflix can access and share their rental history.
References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
- ↑ https://signup.netflix.com/MediaCenter?id=5380
- ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/19/netflix-spins-dvd-by-mail-service-off-into-qwikster-says-its/
- ↑ http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/07/marc-randolph-bookrenter/
- ↑ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57530609-93/new-book-reminds-us-why-we-loved-netflix/
- ↑ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/01/warner-bros-netflix-deal-includes-delay-in-queues.html
- ↑ http://blog.netflix.com/2011/10/dvds-will-be-staying-at-netflixcom.html
- ↑ http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/17/netflix-north-america-traffi/
- ↑ http://www.netflixprize.com/
- ↑ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428867/why-there-wont-be-a-netflix-prize-sequel/
- ↑ http://www.reelseo.com/netflix-on-facebook-app/
- ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/netflix-pairs-with-facebook-except-in-us/2011/09/22/gIQAHKQFpK_blog.html
