Items tagged with NASDAQ: NFLX
It's not as hard as it once was to procure content that takes full advantage of the latest crop of beautiful 4K televisions (and monitors), but to some, 4K is just half of the equation. The other half, of course, is HDR (high-dynamic range). With HDR, colors gamut coverage is delivered over a much wider area (hence, "range"), and accurate. In effect, colors will pop and, to borrow an old cliche', make the picture "more lifelike" than ever before. Netflix has offered HDR on some platforms for a while now, but has just now rolled it out on the PC. If you've been on the hunt for 4K Netflix in the past on your PC, the solution for HDR content delivery is probably not going to come as a...
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Will the Chinese population ever get to “Netflix and chill”? Not according to Reed Hastings. The Netflix CEO does not believe that his corporation will be able to enter and succeed in the Chinese market. China is currently the most populous country in the world with 1.357 billion people. Its expanding consumer class has led many international companies to invest in the country. The Chinese government, however, has an incredibly tight hold on the media and has blocked numerous major corporations. Hastings noted, “We’re focused on the rest of the world. Disney, who is very good in China, had their movie service shut down. Apple, who is very good in China, had their movie service closed down. It...
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Your mom may think that you spend too much time on the Internet, but Netflix most certainly does not. Netflix has asked the FCC to prohibit data caps, because it claims that caps are unreasonable and noncompetitive. Netflix insists that caps “may impede the ability of some households to watch Internet television in a manner and amount that they would like.” Netflix submitted a filing last week for the FCC’s annual investigation of broadband deployment. This review is required by Congress in Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act and requires the FCC to determine whether all Americans are receiving Internet in a fair and timely manner. The review focuses on availability and speed, however,...
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Much to the chagrin of every major TV network out there, Netflix continues to rise at a solid rate and eat into its wary competition. According to research conducted by Michael Nathanson, of MoffettNathanson, cable TV viewing dropped 3% in 2015, and half of that is directly attributed to Netflix. It's being predicted that by 2020, 14% of household TV viewing will be through Netflix, highlighting that the service's growth isn't about to slow down. Nathanson's research hits on some rather specific stats regarding how much airtime Netflix subscribers give to network giants. During 2015, those subscribed to Netflix watched CBS 42% less than non-subscribers, and it's not just The Big Bang Theory host...
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If your Netflix videos are playing with fewer interruptions, you may have your ISP to thank. Netflix announced that from November of 2013 to November 2014, the average speed for the top 10 ISPs increased to 3.07Mbps. Many users saw a 51% Netflix streaming increase, while people in the Midwest saw a 74% increase. That’s based on the Netflix ISP Speed Index, which measures media streaming performance on ISPs. It’s not meant to be a measure of ISP speeds overall, but it’s a well-known measure of Netflix speeds on ISPs. Image Credit: NetflixNetflix, which is responsible for nearly 35% of bandwidth usage in North America, has an understandable interest in the speeds consumers are receiving from...
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When it comes to downstream internet traffic, the streaming-video service continues to dominate by a large amount. Netflix alone, at the top of the list, accounts for 34.89 percent in North America according to the latest report from broadband networking company Sandvine. In second place is YouTube with 14.04 percent. Netflix has maintained that usage amount for the past six months, with a slight increase from 34.21 percent, with YouTube gaining almost one percent during the same time period. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Instant Video has been growing slowly and accounts for 2.58 percent. It isn’t a lot, but for the company it is good news considering that this number almost doubled over the past 18 months...
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Hackathons are awesome for a number of different reasons, but the big one is that they can sometimes yield really cool inventions. Such is the case of Netflix's Hack Day, which the company held this past week. Not only were there a number of really neat uses of Netflix's technology designed in a mere 24 hours, some of them could prove to be actually useful. The project that first stood out to me is "Netflix Hue", a system that utilizes Philips' popular Hue lightbulbs to change the room's ambient light color based on what's seen on the screen. If background on the screen is dominated with orange, then likewise, the Hue bulbs would turn orange. While cool, this might not be too practical, as constant...
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It only makes sense, really. Netflix has taken over the content world in many ways, even going so far as to fund original programming of its own and buck the usual trend by making entire seasons available at once. That journey has led it to an enviable position, but to date, getting to Netflix still requires something that many American households don't simply have by default. You either need a computer, a tablet, a game console, or a standalone set-top box. We're guessing that executives within Netflix have been asking themselves this question for a long while: "What would happen if Netflix access was built straight into an everyday DVR?" According to a new Wall Street Journal report, that's...
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If you're in charge of figuring out what's popular in a given market, regardless of what topic you're dealing with, you're likely to go to a place where you know you'll easily accomplish that goal. Take for example the latest video games - if you own a store need to gauge how many copies of a particular title you should be bringing in, the amount of hype you see at a specialized gaming site can help with that. Likewise, the same sort of sleuthing could be done by content delivery services to determine what they should seek out. As it appears, Netflix, is far from ignorant about any of this, and perhaps not-so-surprisingly, it knows just where to go to find the information it needs: pirate sites....
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TiVo Mini owners were apparently thrown a bone this weekend, as several of them discovered that they can now (finally) stream Netflix on their devices, a new addition that's been absent for far too long. All is not entirely copacetic, however, as users are complaining of system reboots, an anomaly that may be related to resolution. "I think it has something to do with 1080p," a TiVo Community forum user posted. "I tried a 720p title and played it for a few minutes with no issues. But as soon as I tried a title with a 1080p stream, when it goes to the 1080p bitrate, the Mini reboots." Image Source: TiVo Community user "sbiller" Several others reported seeing the same thing. On the bright side,...
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As a number of companies close in on finding a way to crack open the pay-TV market and pump channels through the Internet as opposed to traditional satellite and cable, Google is talking to media companies about deals, according to the Wall Street Journal. The search giant is trying to license content for an Internet-based pay-TV service that would ostensibly offer similar packages and channels as current pay-TV offerings. (Note that although IPTV is a Real Thing and is technically Internet-based, it’s not the same as a service that would be provided by Google, Intel, Apple, and others that are working to develop Internet-based TV services.) Google TV software baked into an LG Smart TV...
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Chin up kids, it's time to wipe away those tears for the loss of Spongebob, Dora the Explorer, and all the rest of Viacom's entities that skipped ship over to Amazon's Prime Instant Video service. There's still plenty of kid-friendly content on Netflix, especially now that the big daddy of streaming media inked a multi-year deal with DreamWorks, a partnership that's been in the works for several years now. The agreement marks the largest deal for original first-run content in Netflix history, and is also the first time DreamWorks Animation's characters will be introduced into the television market as a branded collected, Netflix says. It includes over 300 hours of new programming, including brand...
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There's little doubt that HTML5 is going to have a huge impact on our Web-surfing, as it's far more capable than previous standards to the point where entire plugins can be replaced. Plugins such as Flash, Silverlight and perhaps even the ever-vulnerable Java. While the Web remains rich with Flash-based content, whether it be video, games, or advertisements, Silverlight's implementation is rather minimal. In my personal experience, the only time I've ever needed it was when trying to watch some sports online. For avid movie-viewers, Netflix has no doubt been the leading reason for an install. The folks at Netflix understand this well, and it considers that to be a downside. As stated in...
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How’s your download speed? Netflix is already offering some new, bandwidth-hungry streams, and its plans for 4K content streaming will blow the roof off the bandwidth limits for many broadband customers. You can expect a higher broadband price when you go 4K, but the real fun will be in buying a 4K TV. Hopefully, we’ll see 4K TV prices drop a bit by then. How does your ISP stack up in Netflix's streaming rankings? Image credit: Netflix Of course, Netflix isn’t waiting around for 4K to attract new customers. The streaming video service announced new streams (Super HD and 3D) earlier this year. Those streams offer better definition and 3D content, but require between 5 and 12Mbps...
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Netflix on Wednesday announced that its subscribers living in the U.S. can link their streaming account to their Facebook profiles. In doing so, Netflix members can see what their friends and family have watched via new "Friends' Favorites" and "Watched by your friends" rows to Netflix. If you link your account, movies and TV shows will automatically be shared within Netflix, and optionally posted to Facebook. "There are few better ways to find a movie or TV series you'll love than hearing about it from your friends," said Tom Willerer , vice president of product innovation at Netflix. "Facebook already makes it easy for our international members to connect with friends over TV shows and movies...
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In the battle for monthly streaming subscribers, the latest weapon is exclusive content. Hulu is launching several new shows under its own brand and Netflix is in the process of doing the same. The Netflix twist: you get the whole season in one go. Today, ‘House of Cards’ launched with not one, but all 13 episodes available to all Netflix subscribers. If you’re not a Netflix user, you can watch the first episode free, but you’ll need to sign up for a paid Netflix account to see what Kevin Spacey’s up to next. Netflix bills 'House of Cards' as "Bad, for the greater good." Image credit: Netflix Dropping an entire season into its subscription service is a big bet: we’re...
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As everyone knows, Netflix is a juggernaut in the TV and movie streaming and DVD rental market, but the company is actually doing even better than expected. After bracing investors for a loss from October-December, Netflix ended up pulling in a net income of $8 million for the quarter with a revenue of $945 million. Further, the company expects to add another 1.7 million streaming subscribers this quarter, in addition to the 2.1 million that jumped on the Netflix bandwagon at the end of last year. All this good news sent Netflix shares through the roof; in after-hours trading yesterday, Netflix’s stock price shot up 35%. The reason for this unexpected profit and subsequent stock price increase?...
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