Agreed and also the caps imposed by providers for total monthly usage can be prohibitive too.

Here we go again. Another big international player takes interest in little Ireland, and complaining begins…

Standard definition movie won’t require more than 2 Mbps to be streamed in the real-time. And even though providers generally won’t give you 100% of what’s advertised , if you’re paying for “up to 25Mbps” for example, but not getting even 2, maybe it’s time to change the provider… No provider in the world will “guarantee” speed, for the same reason mobile phone network can’t guarantee availability or coverage. Not to the individual clients anyway.

User with slow internet connection isn’t “screwed”. You can let video “buffer” the same way as you do in youtube, and start watching let’s say in 10 minutes. While you watch, movie continues to download in the background.

It’s like saying that postal DVD renting services are bad, because if someone doesn’t have DVD player – is screwed…

1. It’s free to try this for a month, so you’ll know plenty in advance of paying any money whether it’s going to be usable for you.

2. It’s technically impossible to “guarantee” an internet speed. There are far too many factors at play to be able to do so. Much in the same way a car company cannot guarantee you will get exactly the specifications they advertise.

Surely its possible to AT LEAST guarantee minimum speeds at anyone time a person can receive!

…And if some service providers have speeds that are up and down irrationally all day, every day (I could name a few), its impossible to be 100% sure that as your watching something (even with buffering) that following up behind it, is the rest of your film waiting for you!

If your paying for a service – you should be able to get it or not at all.

When you buy pints of milk in a shop, would you be happy with just been given 2 instead but still charged for three?

No provider can take responsibility for download speed from anywhere outside of their own network, it’s as simple as that.

Hard to blame Netflix if your Download speed sucks. This product won’t be suitable for everyone. If you are on Eircom broadband in the sticks then you’ll probably find even RTE player works slowly so don’t expect Netflix to work well either. If you are in an urban area then you are in with a better chance of having high speed broadband that is suited for Netflix.

I’m in the sticks and have ‘up to’ 3mb Eircom broadband but I’m able to stream HD content from my US Netflix and Hulu accounts no problem. I don’t think people will have many problems with Netflix here.

Excellent point relating to this article.

Fie, Fie, Fie on your Gael sir! :D

You’re dead cool, Ian. So l33t

@cpm: Well that’s nice that you think so but you’re too kind. Don’t tell me you’ve never streamed or downloaded a film from a free site.

To quote a t-shirt I saw yesterday, “Legal downloading is killing piracy” :D

But to answer your question, yes, I still pay for movies in DVD/Blu-ray form, and am definitely considering signing up for Netflix. I already use a monthly subscription-based music service (Spotify) and find it great.

aaron try 8 track of you haven’t already. You can search by artist, tag or description and it comes back with all the mixes uploaded that include that artist, you can also upload ur own mix.

Dude. It is, like, sooooo inaccurate to call something a film when there is no longer any ‘film’ involved, you know. Just like we call association football ‘saaawwwker’ t distinguish from the gaelic game.

I guess it’s those pesky Americanisms creeping in… I do try to avoid them but I slipped up there ;)

It’s ‘fillums’ not films!

You can’t get good speeds from anyone except UPC, I’ve tried.
For the same price as I pay for 4mb/s with Vodafone (piggybacking on Eircoms rubbish network) I could get 25mb/s from UPC. Unfortunately it’s not available to me at present. This affects me daily.

@Aydo. Have a look at Digiweb.. Used to be on a crappy 6MB/512kb eircom asdl with very slow pings.
Now at 10MB/2MB with pings of 20ms.. Yes, I wish upc was in the area = it would only cost me a 3rd of the price of the Digiweb..

But could not be more happy.

I haven’t rented from Xtra Vision in years. Their prices are a disgrace and they can’t compete with unlimited rentals that netflix offer.
While the netflix selection is lacking in comparison, the library will only grow.

Liam, I agree Xtra Vision is a total rip off and needed updating their offering and Itunes are also a joke with their 5 euro rental price where their costs must be very little as they are just downloads… but still, paying 6 euro to sit in and watch Patch Adams is not the answer. Have you signed up yet and looked at what they have on the site?

I’m looking at a movie right now. I love my movies, so I am more than aware that the current offerings are not comparable to existing services. But, that’s going to change very quickly. Netflix is huge in the US and it’s going to be just as big here.
Give the service a chance. There are some good movies on it. The newer ones are a 50/50 in terms of qualtiy.

I’m not going to dismiss a service after less than a day. Also, while we wait for new releases; there are alternatives to renting from xtra vision.

Your looking at a movie right now? Amazing!! Listen, relax. If they have better movies why would they not be there from the outset? Everyone is gonna sign up for the month long trial and if the good stuff is not there they aint gonna stay. Just don’t understand why they would hold back on the juicy just out of cinema new releases… Anyway Liam, stop writing here and get back to your movie.

its not just the movies somegood documentaries and tv series signed up for the month to see already watched a couple of doctor who other stufff there as well

yes free app for tablets and some smart phones

Yes, there is an Android app (tested on 2.3 & 3.2)
The Journal has been very Apple biased once again, I’m surprised they didn’t mention that it’s also compatable with iPod touch, MacBook Air, Mac Mini and iMac.

Pmsl

Xanax tablets are far better

Can you watch Toy Story 3, Mad Men or Parks and Recreation on Irish version. I can on US subscription through a VPN.

Try it Natalia, you will be sorely disappointed… unless you love ten year old films that is. The most “recent” film I could find on the site was The Expendables.

There are films on there from 2009/2010.

Meet your brother

Just had a crack there. Video quality is rubbish. You can’t select what quality or defintition you want. It will vary depending on your connection speed. I have 10mb wireless and its streaming in High HD and it looks awful, every now and then it will drop down to medium and low which is youtube. Can I not just buffer half the film and have consistant quality?

Wireless streaming Tommy… Your first mistake

Paul, care to share which VPN supplier you are using?

I really hope that sort of viewing behaviour doesn’t catch on. If the masses start watching “tv” through their broadband connection then the whole thing will grind to halt fairly quick.

Really Rossa?.. REALLY!!!