Is it just me, or is Netflix's selection of streaming movies taking a nosedive?

Their original content seems to be on the rise in terms of quality, but the licensed movies on their streaming service seems to be going in the opposite direction. When I look at what's going to be added in the coming month, it's like 90% garbage now.

What does this mean for the future of media consumption? Fracturing into more services? Are we basically going to end up with "channels" again, only they're all on-demand?

 

Lately I've been having problems streaming Netflix on my Samsung Smart TV.
No problem on the website and the Netflix app on my iPad works fine.
All other streaming works fine (hulu...).
Seems like many people are having this problem.

Darryl

 

I don't think their movie selection in streaming's ever been good, or really anything Id want to watch. We do stream some of the TV series, but keep it for the kids, there's a lot of stuff for them. We do one bluray plan too so I can get some criterions or non streaming series like the Americans.

 

The selection has never been amazing, but I feel like there was a decent amount of gems mixed in with all of the mediocre stuff. Now it seems like the gems are fewer and fewer.

 

I just hope they continue to expand further into blu-ray, which is the only way to experience full hi-def picture and sound quality at home.

 

I've never been impressed with Netflix' streaming movie selection. The quality of offerings are maybe a notch better than Comcast On Demand selections, which are horrible. I mainly have it for the TV shows.

I really wish they'd acquire Qello and have all those music titles available. That would be awesome.

 

Oh, man. You guys have no idea how lucky you have it. Take a look at the Canadian selection some day. We DREAM of your nosedive selection.

Which is probably why I buy as many BluRays now as I did years ago.

 

The pickings are slim after you've gone through the decent movies.

 

They seem to be offering fewer big-name blockbusters and a lot more low budget "B" movies nowadays, but since my taste tends to run more towards "B's" anyway, I'm pretty fine with Netflix the way it is.

 

I'm with the OP. Now that TV shows are all the rage, they seem to be spending the money on those and not so much on other films. Also they have stiff competition with Amazon's streaming service. Most times if I look up a movie I want to watch, it's not on Netflix, but it is on Amazon.

Problems like this are why I own hundreds of DVDs and Blu-Rays. I think you're spot on about it just ending up being another bunch of "channels" to choose from, likely with nothing much that you actually want to watch.

 

It wouldn't be so bad if their search tools weren't so dreadful. I'm having an offline discussion with a member here about Bollywood movies. Netflix has a bunch, but searching for "Bollywood" brings up nothing.

 

I don't even watch many movies, but now it seems like every time I read about one that might be interesting I go look it up on Netflix and it's DVD only.

 

Yeah, every single time I've thought of a movie I'd like to see, I've never once been able to find it for streaming. All the computer pundits are babbling constantly that everyone should dump their DVDs and stream and I have to wonder - what are these people watching? Do they have the worst taste in the world and only watch mid-90s B movies?

 

When Netfix is actually working I searched for movies and TV shows I liked.
If I also had these on DVD I didn't dump my DVDs because I could stream them.
Also...what would I do if my internet service went down?

Darryl

 

It's just background noise underneath the various texts, twits, tindering, and beard-scratching of the millennial lifestyle.

 

I've had Netflix for several years and Amazon for about a year. The movie selection on Netflix streaming does leave a lot to be desired. Amazon has new stuff a lot quicker, but it's an additional fee to watch the new stuff. I probably buy one movie a week, so it doesn't put too big of a dent in my wallet. I'm seriously considering dropping Netflix when my wife and I finish up the Poirot series. It's about the only thing we watch on Netflix anymore.

 

Maybe I am on a different plan. I pay $8.00 Bucks a month.
I get far more than eight dollars worth of movies every month!!

What are you guys expecting them to do for a measly 8 dollars?
You all do realize a Blu-ray at redbox is over 2.00 dollars?

How would they even make money, if they had thousands of recent or blockbuster movies?
Are you guys doing the math?

I could see complaining if it was $25.00 a month or something, but 8 bucks

 

I was just thinking this about the selection going downhill.

 

Just to clarify, I'm not expecting them to get recent, blockbuster titles. It's always been mostly catalog titles, but even within those parameters, it seemed like there used to be a decent amount of good catalog titles available.

 

Actually they are $1.50. At least they are here. Maybe they charge more in other markets?

Yeah. You probably need the disc plan in addition to have access to those. And its not like you can get much in the way of catalog titles at Redbox. You can stream them through Vudu, but that's $5-6 a movie for HD quality.

 

$2.12 including tax where I live!
So to me 8 bucks for Netflix, let alone gas to go get a bluray, Netflix a huge deal!

 

It would take me a LONG time to watch everything I've accumulated in my 'saved' cue in Netflix. As mentioned, for only $8 bucks, it's unquestionably the best bang for yr buck!

 

I understand, but I'm talking about old movies, ones that aren't making much money for the studios anyway. It's weird how the system has delivered two tiers: Netflix, all you can eat, but like a mediocre buffet, you probably wouldn't want to; Digital rental, that charges far more than the old Mom & Pop video shop used to charge to rent an actual, physical disc. The very annoying part is that Netflix has shown that the actual cost of delivering a stream of a movie is some tiny fraction of $8, and the digital rental people are wanting to charge me nearly half a month's Netflix fees for a single movie! I've never digitally rented anything, and never will until recent movies drop down to a more reasonable amount, like $1.

 

It seems like the only way you can find vintage movies is through the DVD mail service, and they shrunk that selection too.

I think TV on the internet is the way the industry wants to go. Why? Cable and satellite services are suffering. People are watching TV on services like Hula a lot more, and they aren't beholden to set programming times.

 

Hollywood now realizes Netflix is a serious threat to the industry's current business model. Hollywood won't be cheaply licensing their premium content anymore to Netflix. That is why Netflix is now mostly failed B-movies and stuff from independent producers.

It's pretty apparent in ten years that we all will be subscribing to about 14 different individual services once the cable monopoly has been destroyed.