"Signing up using Facebook will give Netflix access to your basic Facebook information, including your name, profile picture, gender, user ID, networks, friends list, likes and interests. Unless you choose not to share a particular film or TV programme (using the "unshare" feature available on most devices), Netflix will automatically share everything you have watched, and other Netflix activity, with your Facebook friends, both on Facebook and on Netflix. Netflix may personalise or otherwise enhance your experience based on your Facebook information. Your friends and others who have access to view information about you on Facebook will be able to see that you’re a Netflix member as well as what you’ve watched, rated, added to your Queue, and other information about your use of the Netflix service. You’ll also be able to see similar information from your Facebook friends who are connected with Netflix. You can hide a film or TV programme during playback on most devices using the playback controls while instantly watching the film or TV programme. You can also "unshare" by visiting a film or TV programme's details page on the Netflix website. You can always disconnect Facebook at any time in the Preferences section located under the "Your Account" link. "
I've just been on a 30 minute phone call with them just to find that link.
I've got an adblock for all Facebook rubbish, and the signup without Facebook link is part of the Facebook item being blocked.
Also, if you have noscript enabled, then you won't see the non-Facebook form either.
I have signed up, by using Chrome Dev Tools to go into the HTML and find the <div id="email_registration"> form, changing the visibility from none to block, and then starting the process from there.
Now, I realise... the fact that I've purged Facebook from my view of the internet is partly to blame, but I bet I'm not the only one on HN to have done this.
On the phone call I did say, they really need to give non-Facebook signup equal prominence to the Facebook signup. I've mentioned the GP too, in that I'm not the only one who was deterred by the Facebook only signup.
I never understand when people have NoScript and AdBlock, then complain about a site not working properly without checking if it's broken because they've broken it.
I figure we're at the point on the web where Javascript et al would be expected in your browser, but even if you don't sign up for that belief, at the very least you should understand you're part of a small minority and sometimes have to make concessions.
"I figure we're at the point on the web where Javascript et al would be expected in your browser,"
A browser cannot always recuperate when JavaScript fails to arrive - what should it do at that point? A recent example: the outage of googleapis.com CDN caused problems on many sites using JavaScript hosted there all because OpenDNS blacklisted the domain as a phishing domain.
A browser cannot always recuperate when JavaScript fails to arrive - what should it do at that point? A recent example: the outage of googleapis.com CDN caused problems on many sites using JavaScript hosted there all because OpenDNS blacklisted the domain as a phishing domain.
Well, that's just bad planning on the part of people that are relying on a third party service for a core feature. Always have a backup for remote CDNs.
If you've done that, non-JS functionality is a tiny, tiny edge case. In an ideal world we would all handle it, but I just don't think it's realistic to expect developers to set the time aside for it.
"Now, I realise... the fact that I've purged Facebook from my view of the internet is partly to blame, but I bet I'm not the only one on HN to have done this."
Still, if you happen to not have a Facebook account or don't want to associate yours in any way, good luck!
You're right, it's broken in Chrome. Signup block looks completely different. Also, using IE Tab in Chrome, it goes berserk complaining (dozens of times) about the security certificate, not sure if that's a bug with IE Tab or their website.
I'm in the UK and I'll continue to pay for access to the US Netflix, since it has a much larger instant library. Even though this works out more expensive, at around £10/month (I use a paid proxy called unblockus).
Their homepage says they support AppleTV; has anyone had any success in updating their device to work with Netflix? My AppleTV 2 is currently updating, but I'm told it'll take 346 hours to complete the update.
I tend to use Netflix more as a cable substitute with TV shows than a full movie library. The number of full backlogs of great shows in the U.S. at least (30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Party Down, Breaking Bad, etc.) for 8/month vs. 100/month for cable is an astounding savings for me personally. The movie selection is meh, but I can live with that for what I'm paying.
Watching Instantly Is Not Currently Available For Your Account
Unfortunately your account is restricted to streaming only within the 50 United States and its territories.
You may still access your account, but you will not be able to play any title.
I'm disappointed that as a US based customer with a US billing address and a US credit card, even after this changeover I'm still unable to watch movies I'm paying for while staying in the UK.
I had the same reaction when I saw the titles on the site.
Once I signed up and logged in, I could see a lot more titles that looked interesting. Still not a huge selection, but they seem to have done a poor job of promoting the service with the selection visible just on the public site.
The success of the BBC iPlayer indicates a strong demand in the UK for a video streaming service. If they can get enough content deals in place I think they'll do well.
I hope they get better TV/Movies soon, the ones they are advertising at the moment are terrible. I clicked on 'Thrillers' and there was only a few films i'd even heard of, let alone want to watch them.
£5.99 isnt a bad price if i can get everything (or nearly) i want to watch. But currently theres no chance i'd pay, i dont even want the free trial.
To be fair I signed up for the free month and there are quite a few more movies/tv shows you'd want to watch once you've logged in (quite a few you wouldn't find on lovefilm too). I'm surprised they didn't show a lot more of the popular ones on the sign up page to be honest...
More titles will show up soon (I guess). When it launched here in Brazil it looked worse than the local alternatives, but the library quickly filled up. Now I'm worried I'll never be able to watch everything I want :(
Or TV. For a couple bucks a month you get full back catalogs of a very large number of TV series, including currently airing popular ones. There's more recent TV content than you could get through in months.
> Netflix instant in the US is really only worth it if you like "B movies", or just shit movies.
This really depends on your taste. If you are looking for recent films and blockbusters, Netflix isn't really a great choice. If you are into documentaries, foreign film, silent film, and certain types of television (sci-fi and comedies come to mind), then Netflix has a large amount of content.
Netflix in the US is great for full seasons of TV shows. Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men and a bunch of others. It's also decent for classic movies and documentaries. I wouldn't expect to get the latest hollywood releases or you'll be disappointed. I'd guess that licensing in the UK is totally different and their library my reflect that. Sorry that media companies are dicks about viewing content in different regions.
Don't think they'll gain much market if they keep it this way. Lovefilm is £10, which is a bit more than Netflix (£6), but their collection is infinitely better.
worth noting: LOVEFiLM do have a "streaming only" package hidden away in the "upgrade package" menu[1] .... currently £4.99 but no doubt will be brought inline with netflix' £5.99
We got a LoveFile subscription trial with our new (internet) tv. At first I thought I had a limited set of films because it was a trial, but after some research is seems the streamable set of films are actually really limited.
The functionality is really bad too. I'm not sure if that's Sony or LoveFilm, but the way films are categorised has nothing to do with the actual film.
While lovefilm offer more when it comes to posting you DVDs in the post, Netflix looks like it has a better set of streaming (and netflix is only streaming it seems).
If LoveFilm don't change their package prices it won't be hard... For the same price they give 2 hours of streaming a month; note that most films are over this length.
Edit: Didn't see chrisfarms comment below. Also the new movie selection on Netflix is rather poor.
But what about movies? Netflix has a few target groups:
- People who want to watch TV shows when they are released to DVD
- People who want to watch on-demand movies
The US has Hulu plus ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC all have on-demand online channels. In the same respects they only hold seasons for so long. So the market in the TV area is really no different than iPlayer/4oD/etc.
The top online TV series rental for Lovefilm is Robot Chicken - Star Wars.[1] I've been in the UK long enough to know that there is much more demand for US television series than Robot Chicken. (Modern Family for example, comes to mind)
The real challenge here is if Netflix UK has the same ownership rights as Netflix US. Otherwise they will sit no differently than Lovefilm.
Disclaimer - I'm American, but currently live in the UK.
Edit: thanks for the down votes! But in my defence, the site is broken in Chrome which is why I was unable to see an email only link.