Netflix- Grr!

I've been a faithful Netflix subscriber for several years now. I return movies in a timely manner, pay on time, and expect the service I pay for. I occasionally watch movies online through their Instant Viewing selection, which is provided free with my $16.99/month service charge.

I gave up renting Blu-Ray's when they went from free, to charging an additional monthly fee just for having access, whether you rented one or not. Sure, we enjoy the blu-rays, but the movie is the movie, whether it's blu-ray or DVD, so why pay first $1 more per month, then $2.50 more per month, then $4 more per month for it? I cut it off, as I had no interest in a higher bill.

Now, they have reached an agreement with Warner Brothers which forces them to hold Warner Brothers new release movies for 28 days after release. WB is hoping that this, in turn, will force the consummers hand in buying the new releases, or renting them from a brick & mortar store, where they receive a cut per rental, as opposed to a cut over all.

So, here we are, in a crappy economy, where the cost of taking a family to a full priced movie theater can run $40-50, easily, before snacks, Warner Brothers is looking to try and make MORE money off the consumers.

Netflix is currently in talks with nearly every major movie company to reach similar deals.

In return, Netflix will be purchasing the copies of the WB movies at discount, and "passing" the savings on to the consumer by adding more titles to the already mostly dismal titles available in the instant viewing.

They have such "classics" as:

Biggie to Tupac
Thank God It's Friday
Grateful Dawg
Throg
Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur He**
Crazed
Surveillance 24/7
Robin's Hood (no, not Robin Hood. Robin's Hood)
Queer as F**K (a 1/2 star beauty in Independent Films)
Puppets & Demons

Netflix claims 17,000 instant titles available for viewing. They hope to add more- but what is the quality of the movies? Or, what about the quality of video they push? With the plethora of HDTV's found everywhere, the quality that Netflix pushes isn't up to the quality that most TV"s can handle. If you have a large screen, forget it- it's distorted, and fuzzy.

I prefer discs- DVDs to instant, because I can watch it where I want (most of what I rent, I watch in bed before going to sleep at night, or when I take a bath- yes, I have a small TV I use in the bathroom for just such a purpose), and in both instances, Netflix Instant Viewing is of no help to me.

I can watch it on the big TV we have, which more often than not, shows a moderately distorted video quality, or I can watch it on my computer screen, which drives me batty, because I multitask while watching something, and can't if I have to be sitting at teh computer. I can't even look at other screens without missing what's going on.

I'm angry. I feel cheated, and ripped off. I have looked at Blockbuster, and I am considering changing. The cost is the same, and they don't charge extra for Blu-Ray, with the added addition of being able to drop discs off at the local store, which is right in town.

The downside, though, is that I can not do instant viewing at all, which, as I stated above, I do occasionally use. The kids use it more, since there is a large selection of both Nick & Disney TV shows available on Netflix.

-sigh-

I'm really feeling like the quality of service just went down hill. And really, for the money they are saving, are they going to start showing ANY new releases on the instant viewing? Because right now, most movies have been out for at LEAST 6 months IF they show up in Instant at all.

Most of the instant "New Releases" are movies that are 2+ years old. So, my quality of service is down, but my price stays the same. Joy.