Netflix upping sound quality

[svart-hvitt]

Netflix talk only about the stream quality of their multichannel offering.

And when they talk about 640 and 768 kbps, I guess it’s spread across all the channels? Am I correct?

Does anyone know the bitrate of their stereo offering?

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Amazing how some here are more than willing to throw the data rate for multich on the sacrificial alter of "Good Enough".
No thanks, I don't think you'd be happy with that attitude for your 2 channel. We can do so much better
Here's hoping BD and 4K BD with lossless Dolby, DTS, and Auro survive long enough for folks to come to their senses.

Is 4K better on a black and white TV?

 

[Old Listener]

I struggle every month when I see the bill not to cancel. It's been quite a while since I felt I was getting value for my money when it came to the offerings I viewed each month. They add more and move new internally made garbage that gets worse and worse with time.

What other offerings from Netflix do you want to View?

 

[DuxServit]

What other offerings from Netflix do you want to View?

I’d love to see more good recordings (audio & video) of live music concerts on Netflix.

 

[Sal1950]

Is 4K better on a black and white TV?

You be amazed at how good some old b&w's look upsampled to 4k on my 75" Sony.

 

[Sal1950]

What other offerings from Netflix do you want to View?

More theatrical releases. IE if it comes out on BD it should be on netflix. If they quit spending all that money on making those garbage inhouse movies they'd might be able to license more.

 

[Blumlein 88]

More theatrical releases. IE if it comes out on BD it should be on netflix. If they quit spending all that money on making those garbage inhouse movies they'd might be able to license more.

I agree with your sentiment. However, I think the truth is the various owners are trying to balkanize the field of movies. They aren't going to license their wares to Netflix at any reasonable price. I think Netflix spending more on in house content was looking ahead to combat that problem and protect their business.

I don't know that they've spent wisely on their in house shows/movies. They seem almost good enough. Not really satisfying. And leave the impression with some, "this could have been a really good movie, but wasn't quite up to par". I'm not sure how long I'll keep them either, but I've been thinking that for about a year.

I had hoped by now theatrical movie releases would stream from some source the same time they are released at theaters or a very short time like one month later. With large TVs and good sound at home, going to the theater isn't very attractive. This would work most efficiently if some company or small number were clearing houses for this to happen. Netflix was well positioned for that. I think it would leverage their advertising for new releases so it could drive additional sales that are being left on the table. Of course stodgy greedy media companies will be slow to come around if they ever do.

 

[Soniclife]

However, I think the truth is the various owners are trying to balkanize the field of movies. They aren't going to license their wares to Netflix at any reasonable price.

That's my impression too, Hollywood is crapping itself about where this might end up, and is trying to hold onto control for as long as possible. I'm not impressed with a lot of Netflix films currently, I see it mainly as a TV company testing the waters with film, I expect it to either get a lot better, or give up. Not competing in film production might help it negotiate film rights.

 

[Soniclife]

I had hoped by now theatrical movie releases would stream from some source the same time they are released at theaters or a very short time like one month later.

I keep hoping for the same thing, but I don't see it happening before the almost total collapse of the physical disk market, which might not be far in the future if sales keep falling.

 

[Sal1950]

I agree with your sentiment. However, I think the truth is the various owners are trying to balkanize the field of movies. They aren't going to license their wares to Netflix at any reasonable price. I think Netflix spending more on in house content was looking ahead to combat that problem and protect their business.

I don't know that they've spent wisely on their in house shows/movies. They seem almost good enough. Not really satisfying. And leave the impression with some, "this could have been a really good movie, but wasn't quite up to par". I'm not sure how long I'll keep them either, but I've been thinking that for about a year.

I had hoped by now theatrical movie releases would stream from some source the same time they are released at theaters or a very short time like one month later. With large TVs and good sound at home, going to the theater isn't very attractive. This would work most efficiently if some company or small number were clearing houses for this to happen. Netflix was well positioned for that. I think it would leverage their advertising for new releases so it could drive additional sales that are being left on the table. Of course stodgy greedy media companies will be slow to come around if they ever do.

Yes your on the right track here. My statements were more of a hopeful nature than realistic.. Xfinity On-Demand offers some relief though at high costs and questionable video and sound quality. That's why I worry over Redbox, BD rentals at $2.00 a night is very reasonable and offers near SOTA quality, with 4k rentals on a experimental basis at outlets around the country for like $2.50 a night.
My paranoid side has me thinking about the various streaming outlets and seeing what looks to be conspiratorial planning. Sometimes looks like they sit around with the available movies like a deck of cards, dealing them out between the outlets so interested customers must subscribe to the multiple suppliers to get reasonably large access. Hummmmm.

 

[Old Listener]

My paranoid side has me thinking about the various streaming outlets and seeing what looks to be conspiratorial planning. Sometimes looks like they sit around with the available movies like a deck of cards, dealing them out between the outlets so interested customers must subscribe to the multiple suppliers to get reasonably large access. Hummmmm.

I think the situation is simpler and more understandable if you look at things from the point of view of a content owner (TV channel like CBS or HBO) or a content distributor (Netflix or Amazon).

Content owners want to keep control of the content that they own and maximize revenue from that content. Distributors like Netflix (or a cable company) don't want to be at the mercy of the content owners. They want a bigger slice of the pie. Creating some content of their own gives them more control of their future too.

As a consumer of streaming video, I want to know what content a service has to make me want to sign up. And what it will cost me. I've learned that no service has everything I want to see. I focus on finding things that I might want to watch in each service that I use.

Nirvana isn't here yet but I find my new world of Netflix, Viki, Amazon Prime and sometimes AsianCrush and Vudu to be cheaper and vastly better than regular cable TV ever was.

 

[Sal1950]

but I find my new world of Netflix, Viki, Amazon Prime and sometimes AsianCrush and Vudu

That's a lot of monthly media bills? I'm lucky in that my HOA fee includes free basic cable connection with XFinity and only pay a $19 monthly upgrade for DVR and HD service. Basic Netflix is 13.63 and maybe soon to be kicked to the curb for lack of value.

 

[Old Listener]

That's a lot of monthly media bills? I'm lucky in that my HOA fee includes free basic cable connection with XFinity and only pay a $19 monthly upgrade for DVR and HD service. Basic Netflix is 13.63 and maybe soon to be kicked to the curb for lack of value.

I have no HOA. I'm sure that your HOA is much more expensive than my cost for Netflix ($ 14/mo. and, Viki (~ $ 4/mo). I'll be paying maybe $ 12-14/mo. after my year long free trial on Amazon Prime ends. AsianCrush and Vudu are free. I have not paid anything for rentals on any of my streaming services.

I was paying about $ 80/mo. for basic cable+ and getting very little for my money. The cost would be $ 10-20/mo. higher now.

If you like renting movies, a service like Prime or Vudu would seem to be a better fit for you.

 

[svart-hvitt]

Netflix talk only about the stream quality of their multichannel offering.

And when they talk about 640 and 768 kbps, I guess it’s spread across all the channels? Am I correct?

Does anyone know the bitrate of their stereo offering?

BUMP...

 

[amirm]

640 is not enough and 768 is not either, we are talking 6 or 8 channels that share the bandwidth. Those 768kbit are divided between 6? channels. 768/6 = 128kbit/ channel (Not sure about the specs) and Dolby TrueHD is 8 channels with up to 18Mbit total bandwidth.

The available bitrate budget is pooled rather than partitioned. As such if the rear channels don't have much going on, much less bandwidth is allocated to them than the fronts.

The TrueHD rates are very high because they are a higher bit depth and sample rate which makes lossless compression less efficient, hence the high data rates.

 

[Tks]

I have only one additional request: decent movies rather than this commercial drivel.

I got a better request.. stop canceling good original series..

The prick of a CEO they had said something along the lines of "we should actually be canceling more shows!"