shake777 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Anyone else finding that their discs are often unplayable, at least in some sections? I love the service and not having to buy discs but with the price (i'm paying about $33 for four discs in bluray) I expect to play every disc almost every time. Think I'm going to the one disc/streaming option. I'll also start buying my own collection since the Sony jukebox and the discs themselves have come down in price. Nic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Nic, Most of the issues that I've seen are with used Netflix DVDs--not their BDs. The reason? Apparently, the BDs have a hard coating on the bottom surface in order to assure disk playability at its reduced optical wavelengths/increased data densities relative to DVDs. Note that there are disk resurfacing machines that work pretty well. Here is one that I use and it works well. Netflix streaming--this is great and cheap: a no-brainer. Unlimited watching all at one monthly price (less than $10/month the last time I looked). However there are caveats: 1) The effective frame rates are way down as compared to BDs and even DVDs - this results in decompression artifacts, especially when there is a complex background movement like a forest/trees in the background across the entire scene. 2) The selection of movies is much different than the typical first-run movies that you get via Post Office disk-mailer channel. I've found many jewels that I would have never watched. Also note the the rating system that they use is excellent - the best I've seen, since it apparently is tailored to your past viewing ratings. Note that HBO has announced that they now view Netflix as a competitor, and will be withdrawing their content from Netflix ("boo, hiss to HBO"...). 3) High-demand periods--there seems to be a brewing economic war with Netflix streaming and the ISPs that want to charge more. Right now, Netflix seems to be winning this, but note that the final battle hasn't been waged yet. I've experienced ISP slow-downs on Sunday evenings if I log out of Netflix then try to log back in, but this seems to be at least a partial function of where I live relative to the optical cable router box (I'm at the tail end of a long run as it turns out). Buying your own--I have 2-3 hundred disks that I own, and I periodically trade-in the ones that I no longer watch. I have found that there are some titles that are worth watching more than once or twice, and having a large collection is nice in that it allows more time to go by before revisiting a particular movie. Most of my purchases are from Amazon marketplace - bottom dollar. I use the disk resurfacing machine to clean up any video disks (and CDs, SACDs, and DVD-As) that come in that are too scuffed for the PS3 Blu-Ray player to handle. The disk resurfacer has paid for itself many times over. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCliff Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I too use NetFlix BluRay and I have never had any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardP Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I have used NF for about 5 years and have the 3-out-at-a-time plan. I have rented hundreds of movies in that time, and my defect/unplayable rate seems to be about 1%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shake777 Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Thanks all for letting me know I'm in the minority. At least with a small sample. I thought it was my machine but I bought a new Pioneer and still have the same problem. I have tried cleaning the discs with minimal success. Thanks Chris for your detailed and thoughtful response. I'll certainly consider your advise. I just wish I knew why I'm having one to four discs per month being problematic when others are not. Nic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uts Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 the only problems we've came across, are broken disks (from USPS), and scratched DVD's. we've never had a problem with Bluray's. As metioned above, the bluray disks have a hard coating. this makes them fairly difficult to damage, when comparing them to regular DVD's . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Could this be a regional thing? Like maybe the NF users in your area tend to be harder on discs? My roommate has been streaming all of his movies and I gotta say the quality is rather surprising. I think it may tailor itself to your connection because I've not noticed any issues with trees/fast action scenes. Or maybe I'm not as picky about video quality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shake777 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Dr, I thought maybe the same thing; since I'm in the NY metro area there is a lot of usage but there probably is in other big metro areas. Since Pioneer has a good rep for disc players I thought that would solve the problem but no. I am finding if I clean the the discs I get better but not always good playing service from them. I'm thinking of buying the Oppo or the Sony mega Blu-ray player but the good one is well over 1500 which is way at the top of my budget and it has a couple of issues that I read in a review. I'm just surprised that I'm having problems and no one else seems to be but thank all of you for putting it into perspective for me. As good as the disc re-surfacing machine sounds it bugs me that I would have to lift a finger after paying over 32 for the four disc service. I think I have no choice but to go to one disc and the streaming albeit a lesser quality. I guess all things considered I just don't want to pay that much. I think its outrageous. Since I always see blu-rays for 10 and since it doesn't bother me to rewatch a disc, except for the worst of them, over and over again, that's the way I'm going to go. Adding to the final analysis, maybe I'm mostly just getting the discs grimy with my fingers and that's the biggest problem. Nic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shake777 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Netflix reminded me to upgrade my firmware which would take care of some of the problems and to make sure the disc is clean. So maybe I will stand corrected yet another time. Better to know than not. They also gave me three free discs for the month. Something better than a kick in the pants. I really would like to be a happy customer like most of you seem to be. Nic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardP Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 "Give Peace A Chance...All You Need Is Love" Quite seriously, Shake, I have considered both phrases for my headstone, maybe with a little image of the earth. They say it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shake777 Posted April 16, 2011 Author Share Posted April 16, 2011 Richard, You gave me some good ideas, Thanks, Nic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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