Netflix enables downloads for iOS and Andoid

Netflix has begun rolling out the ability to download videos from its streaming service to smartphones and tablets for offline viewing.
Eddy Wu, Netflix director of product innovation: “While many members enjoy watching Netflix at home, we’ve often heard they also want to continue their Stranger Things binge while on airplanes and other places where internet is expensive or limited.”
The feature is available from November 30th on Android and iOS devices, and includes the bulk of the Netflix catalogue including both TV series and movies. The company says that more will be made available soon.

Netflix price rise in May

Prices for Virgin Media's Netflix customers on the original £5.99 deal will be rising as Netflix ends its legacy pricing for long-term subscribers. New pricing takes affect in May.
Currently, Netflix offers three package tiers in the UK for new customers: Basic, Standard, and Premium:

• Basic, at £5.99 per month, allows users to log in on only one screen at a time, and only offers standard definition picture quality. 
• Standard, at £7.49 per month, gets you HD content (up to 1080p), and access on two screens at once. 
• Premium, at £8.99 a month, includes the  4K quality and allows up to four screens to be logged in simultaneously.

Netflix says that VM customers currently enjoying the £5.99 legacy pricing will be rising to the current £7.49 that a new member would pay for Standard – a £1.50 increase. The increase follows a similar move in the US, where long-term customers currently paying $7.99 for the Standard package will be facing a two dollar increase, taking it to $9.99 per month. For Americans, it's the second Netflix price increase since new pricing models and the introduction of the Basic plan were announced in May 2014, which bumped the $7.99 package to $8.99 at the time. But then the American Netflix catalogue is far more extensive than the UK's, although it's recently lost a sizeable chunk of its Hollywood films.
Netflix will suggest that if you want to pay what you currently pay you still can, but you'll only get SD on a single screen.

Netflix Originals in 2016

Fans of the first season on Netflix of Jessica Jones will be pleased to hear that a second series is already in production, whilst the other Marvel show, the excellent Daredevil, returns for a second season on March 18th.

Netflix has also announced the fourth season of House of Cards will arrive on March 4th whilst the superior Orange is the New Black will return on June 17th. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (which for reasons beyond me The Guardian ranked as the number one TV show of 2015 - seriously??) gets its second season on April 15th; the almost unwatchably bad Grace and Frankie returns on May 6th.

New shows are also now scheduled. The Will Arnett comedy Flaked arrives on March 11th, followed by the Ashton Kutcher family drama The Ranch on April 1st. The teen-targeted Lost & Found Music Studios also launches on April 1st, followed by an animated series Kong on April 15th, the French political drama Marseille on May 5th, the Winona Ryder supernatural Stranger Things on July 15th and Baz Luhrmann's The Get Down on August 12th.

The big one for me is the return of Better Call Saul on February 14th. It may not be a 'Netflix Original' is the strictest sense (it's shown on AMC in the US) but it is unique on Netflix in the UK and is one helluva show. 

Netflix says it will clamp down on VPN access

As long as the major media companies still hang on to the archaic territory licensing deals of the analogue world, digital companies will continue to have to be forced to work within regional borders in the supply of licensed content.
The sad fact is that the profit-maximising mentality and content restrictions of the analogue media giants will continue despite global distribution being technically commonplace. And by sticking to twentieth century thinking and restricting content to territories piracy will inevitably continue to thrive.
In the UK, Netflix content is severely restricted by the all-encompassing deals Sky has secured with every major film studio and other major US content holders. If you want the newer Hollywood movies via streaming here and you don't want to pirate you have to use Sky's Now TV service, which is £9.99 a month for 720p movies, a notable cost increase and picture quality compromise from the services from Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. So much for customer choice - where's OFCOM on this?
But there was a way around it, to use a VPN service or browser plug in like MediaHint. But that angers the media giants who Netflix and Amazon rely on for the majority of their content, so it's no real surprise to hear that, in the same month Netflix announces expansion to now cover 190 countries worldwide, that it has also posted the following:

If all of our content were globally available, there wouldn’t be a reason for members to use proxies or “unblockers” to fool our systems into thinking they’re in a different country than they’re actually in. We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere.
Over time, we anticipate being able to do so. For now, given the historic practice of licensing content by geographic territories, the TV shows and movies we offer differ, to varying degrees, by territory. In the meantime, we will continue to respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location.
Some members use proxies or “unblockers” to access titles available outside their territory. To address this, we employ the same or similar measures other firms do. This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it. That means in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are. We are confident this change won’t impact members not using proxies.

How they will actually block VPN/Proxy access is not explained - one can only assume it will be by blocking known IP ranges used by the 3rd party VPN services, a similar Whack-a-Mole game to that used by UK ISPs to block file sharing sites. That can affect legal users as these things often go wrong.
For those who access Netflix solely through TiVo this won't affect you, but if you watch Netflix on a laptop or tablet and access US or other overseas content you may find your access method blocked. One day maybe media companies will wake up and realise that we're now in the twenty first century and there are different ways of doing things, but until then, the customers will continue to be underserved and the pirates will profit.

Happy 2016

Nothing like A Touch Of Evil to kick off the new year! This and details of a handful of other new arrivals to Netflix this month can be found at Vodzilla

Netflix to tweak compression algorithms in 2016

Am I the only one who is a little sceptical about compression advances? Despite Netflixes assurances that their tweaking of the bitrate won't be perceptible I'm more of the opinion that these changes can diminish the quality of picture and sound for the sake of economy.

Large patches of color, like the kind found in children's cartoons, don't actually need a very high bitrate to look really good. What Netflix will do in 2016 and beyond is create specific recipes on a per show basis that will enable some shows with less visual data to use lower bitrates but still come through at 1080p quality. That means going back through its entire backlog of shows and creating new rules for every individual show.
In an example provided by Netflix, the company said that in order to get a crystal-clear 1080p stream in the past might require a bitrate of 5800 kbps. Using the new algorithm, Netflix can achieve the same quality with around a 4640 kbps file, effectively reducing the overall bandwidth needed by 20%. 

[more details on TechRadar]

New in July on Netflix

The Guardian has a useful summary of what's in the pipeline for Netflix this month: http://gu.com/p/4a9et. It includes new TV series and added films, but sadly doesn't say what's leaving (often important to know - check MAFT's blog for that info).
For those who have Amazon's Prime, the Guardian covers that too http://gu.com/p/4a9g3.

New on Netflix

Whatever the price you're paying, Netflix UK is finally getting its act together in telling you what's new on the service. Check out http://www.netflix.com/recentlyAdded for info.
Personally, I still think they should make MAFT's New on Netflix UK site official: how he keeps up with what's being added and, just as importantly, removed, is beyond me.

US tech giant shafts the UK: Netflix price rise for new customers

I got an email this week from Netflix:

In order to continue adding more TV programmes and films, including great Netflix series such as House of Cards and Better Call Saul, we are increasing our price for new members from £6.99 to £7.49 for the 2 screens at a time plan. As a thank you for being a member of Netflix already, your current pricing will remain in effect and we guarantee your price will not change until May 2016. 

Whilst it's comforting to know that my monthly subscription isn't going to rise for a while, I do wonder why they've increased the price for new customers at a time when it's fighting for customers with alternative over-the-top services such as Amazon Prime Video (which has a superior back catalogue of films and TV) and Now TV (which seems to be in much better shape than it was this time last year). Does Netflix believe it has already won the battle? If it does, I think it is seriously mistaken as you should never underestimate the corporate might of Sky or Amazon, especially as they undercut the new pricing (NowTV is £6.99 for a month of Entertainment channels and On Demand, Amazon Prime Instant Video is £5.99 a month or £79 a year if you go for the all-in Amazon Prime). Where does that leave Netflix with its TV oldies-but-goldies and a limited film catalogue when compared with its rivals?
TechRadar gives some perspective on the price hike:

"To continue adding more TV shows and movies, we're modestly raising the price for new members who choose the two-screen plan from £6.99 to £7.49," reads the statement from Netflix. "Pricing on other plans remains unchanged. As a thank you to existing members on the two-screen plan, their current plan and price will not change for one year." So there is to be no change to the pricing on either the basic £5.99 SD package or the uber £8.99 four device 4K package. It does though look like we're alone in this as Netflix has informed us the US and Australian services aren't going to be affected by the price changes.

Another example of UK customers being seen as an easy cash cow for a large US tech company with a currency conversion rate that just galls. The exchange rate as I write is a dollar equals 64p, so the US Netflix HD service should be £5.75 (it's $8.99 in the States). Add in the paucity of UK content (the US site has over twice the content of UK according to MAFT, including a far superior BBC and Channel 4 back catalogue) and I'm starting to feel well and truly mugged.
No wonder a Google Search for Netflix UK shows so many results on how to access the US version and pay just the US price...

Netflix website to undergo major redesign

And hopefully the TiVo app will follow. 

Netflix confirms that it will roll out a new user interface on the web to all users worldwide beginning in June.  The most notable aspect to the new design is that it eliminates the slower, scrolling carousels for content discovery in favour of an updated look with larger thumbnails in each section which can be clicked on in order to expand a detail screen showing additional information about the title in question.

More details on the redesign can be found on TechCrunch.

Netflix in April

A few interesting Netflix additions this month, in addition to the arrival of Marvel's Daredevil:
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Iron Man 3
Begin Again
Sons of Anarchy season 7
And from Auntie: The Trip (both seasons - a great little gem), Call the Midwife, The Wrong Mans and, for those suffering withdrawal, numerous Top Gear things.
Later this month we should see one of last year's best, the horror The Babadook.

Netflix UK customers have a miserable January again

If you're a subscriber to Netflix, you've lost more than you've gained in January 2015. According to the excellent website New to Netflix there were 96 titles added to Netflix this month but a massive 284 removed. That sounds bad, but actually January 2014 was even worse, with 164 additions and a stunning 517 removals.
Over the rest of the year additions outpace removals most months, but the overall catalogue feels like on in decline.
The chart here is from Maft's nifty stats page where you can find other evidence that the service appears to be investing less in its catalogue now that it has a decent user base in the UK. And if you really want an eye opener, click on Maft's US Netflix stats - just under 7,500 titles available every month, albeit with some rotation compared with the UK's 2,700. As anyone with a VPN account will tell you, in the US (where the service is cheaper per month) it's a whole new ball game with loads of new films and series that we don't get a sniff of here.
I wonder where the service in the UK is heading now that Netflix has to compete with Amazon Instant Video and Now TV for film and series rights. Now TV is still overpriced and quality can be poor with live streaming, but Amazon's catalogue is increasingly impressive, and good value if you're a regular shopper on Amazon. So where's the Amazon app for TiVo? It was much talked about but never materialised. I can access it via my Sony TV but playback quality is patchy - even the SD buffers and stutters - but Sony assure me that will be fixed.

Netflix ins and outs this January - UPDATED

Out go Roger Rabbit and the Blues Brothers and over two hundred others, many of which I had in My List, and  in come just a handful of new series and new(ish) films.
Info on what's departing can be found at http://netflix.maft.uk/lastchance
Details of what's arriving at http://vodzilla.co/blog/coming-soon-to-netflix/top-26-new-releases-coming-soon-to-netflix-uk-in-january-2015/
Hopefully there's plenty more additions on the way - to my eyes, the selection looks seriously depleted from what we enjoyed in 2014.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The second film of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy has arrived on Netflix UK this week, which is a welcome addition to the limited number of newer films on the service. As Sky has secured exclusive rights to so many of first-run films, it's good to see that Netflix still has some popular new releases up its sleeve. To the best of my knowledge Sky doesn't have the rights to any of the Hobbit films.

New to Netflix

Keep an eye on the excellent MAFT blog to learn what's arrived on (or departed from) Netflix overnight. Netflix is a funny place - some complain about a second-rate film catalogue but I always find loads of great films and the TV lineup is second to none. What's really great though is they've invested in the infrastructure and the quality of the picture is out of this world. Anyone at Now TV paying attention?
So gone today is the first Hunger Games movie, which didn't strike me as anything special but then I'm not the target audience, but arriving are a couple of classics Pulp Fiction and City of God, whilst Joss Whedon fans not only have Cabin in the Woods and Avengers Assemble but also Much Ado About Nothing too. Having recently watched Ryan Gosling in Drive I was delighted to see last year's Only God Forgives appear, and Terry Gilliam's back catalogue is almost complete now. Throw in Woody Allen's better movies (Annie Hall and Manhattan) and a smattering of Spielberg (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, War of the Worlds, Amistad) and that's me set for the summer. It's not Sky Movies, but then it's not over twenty quid a month either (or whatever the Sky Movies HD add on is these days). For me, Netflix is the future and can only get better. Great TV, a fine selection of movies, all presented in stunning 1080p.

Netflix fixes price for existing customers for two years

"In order to continue adding more films and TV programmes, we are increasing our price from £5.99 to £6.99 for new members. As a thank you for being a member of Netflix already, we guarantee that your plan and price will not change for two years.–The Netflix Team"

Unfortunately The Guardian is reporting that "Netflix will allow subscribers to continue paying £5.99 a month if they opt for a lower-resolution "SD" quality service. It also has a multiple-users service for £8.99 a month which allows four users to view programmes at the same time on a single monthly account. So that's actually a price increase of £2 for the same service (we currently have HD and multi-user access) - not sure how accurate the Grauniad is on this as I can't see any reference to this in any coverage.
Update: Netflix assure me that :
"The quality will not change at all. You will still have the same quality. It is that new members will see an increase in the price, but you will not be affected."

Netflix when abroad

If you're travelling abroad this summer, you may be able to access Netflix on your tech, but don't expect it everywhere unless you have a VPN or an IP masker like MediaHint installed. 

Netflix is available currently in the following nations are served by Netflix: United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland. More details can be found at http://netflix.fromabroad.org

Netflix - behind the new interface

I'm currently on a break in Amsterdam and was delighted to find that if can watch the Dutch Netflix selection of TV and movies in my apartment's TV (courtesy of my iPhone and cable). The Dutch selection is missing a fair bit of Brit TV but makes up for that by having full seasons of Lost and Mad Men, plus recent movies including Monsters University and Avengers Assemble. Which look stunning on the 40in Sony I'm viewing them on.
Anyway, whilst I'm away there's still bugger-all news about anything exciting heading our way on VM, so here's something I read a few weeks back about how Netflix tweaked the store interface recently to improve the whole experience: http://gigaom.com/2014/02/24/a-look-behind-the-curtain-how-netflix-redesigned-and-rebuilt-its-television-experience/.

Netflix 4K Ultra HD hits the UK, but not yet for TiVo

Netflix has begun streaming video in 4K Ultra HD resolution in the UK, launching the service with House of Cards Season 2, but you'll need to have a new 4K TV with the required HEVC codec.

So that's good news if you shelled out as an early adopter for a 4K TV from LG, Samsung or Sony as they have the latest Netflix app, allowing them to stream 4K content, but there is no word yet on a new TiVo app. 

Nor is there going to be masses of 4K content. A Netflix spokesman said "Initially, there will only be a few titles on Netflix available in Ultra HD. We will have House of Cards Season 2 as well as a few nature documentaries. We will add more titles over time, but it will be a slowly expanding offering."

New stuff on Netflix on TiVo

Netflix additions recently will excite those lacking a Sky Movies sub - say hello to Avengers Assemble, Toy Story 3 and a host of other new arrivals. There's a refresh of the BBC archive too by the look of things, with the first two seasons of Sherlock available. Fuller details over at http://netflix.maft.co/.