Poll: Did you cancel your Netflix account after the Blu-ray exclusive decision?
by Darren Murph, posted Feb 12th 2008 at 11:45AM
In the aftermath of yesterday's blockbuster (ahem) move by Netflix to
only stock Blu-ray titles in the future, we heard quite a bit of ranting that contained words like "finished" and "canceled." Still, we're interested in utilizing our super-duper scientific polling mechanisms to truly get a gauge on how many cancellation e-mails Netflix can expect thanks to its decision. Don't be left out!
Filed under: Industry, Polls, Blu-ray, HD DVD
Tags: blu-ray, blu-ray exclusive, Blu-rayExclusive, exclusive, hd rentals, HdRentals, netflix, poll, polls, rental
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eric @ Feb 12th 2008 11:54AM
Nope, I upped my account to one more disc a month! :-P
David S @ Feb 12th 2008 12:16PM
I did the opposite, downed my queue 1 disc at a time. Going to take the money I save and look for another 1 disc per month plan that will be exclusively HD-DVD.
I'm not sure if I want to drop NetFlix 100% or not. I mean I love their standard DVD service. Just can live without the HD-DVD snub. Since no one really knows when Universal or Paramount will go change sides and I currently have the ability to watch their high def movies... Makes no sense to pay NetFlix for movies they won't carry.
Marshall @ Feb 12th 2008 11:56AM
I think the Netflix decision actually has a bigger impact than the Warner Announcement.
As an HD-DVD owner who raely/never buys moves, I'm disappointed, but I love me some Netflix. I've tried them all (Blockbuster Online, Redbox, local stores) and Netflix is simply the best by far.
The Best Buy thing, I couldn't care less about. They've blindly recommended Sony since I worked there in 2001, so this is business as usual. But Netflix, that's a real coup.
Marshall
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The Real HT Info Podcast
CharlieX @ Feb 12th 2008 12:04PM
I do feel a little bad for early HD-DVD adopters. But that's the price you pay. I think that even though HD-DVD may have some advantages as a format, it's good that the big companies are just throwing in the towel and picking a winner. Good or bad, I want to build a HD library that 1 machine can play back for me.
Student Driver @ Feb 12th 2008 12:08PM
Well, I will probably go back to Netflix since this announcement. Why? Focusing on one technology should mean they will stock more of it, and when I get a PS3 I would rather rent stuff I already own, or back catalog titles, so I can see them in HD. With Netflix, this is cheaper and far more convenient than going to a local rental place.
Lumpmoose @ Feb 12th 2008 11:56AM
I've been using their HD DVDs for months now (and have been a subscriber for years), but have decided to get a PS3 since the January Warner decision. Don't blame Netflix. In fact, commend them and Best Buy for trying to push this debacle to a resolution.
HD Tom @ Feb 12th 2008 12:03PM
Very true. I'm not blaming them at all. Frankly, I wish Toshiba just gave up at CES just to get things overwith.
daschupa @ Feb 12th 2008 12:53PM
Netflix isn't like Best Buy, they don't sell players so they aren't doing this to help the consumer. When people go to rent, they already have an HD player already. If anything they are punishing the people who bought an HD system thinking that it was going to stick around. I can respect Best Buy (a phrase I thought I would never utter) because HD is a sinking ship, but Netflix shouldn't drown the passengers while they are at it.
Wilson @ Feb 12th 2008 3:31PM
I did the exact thing you did. My PS3 arrived last week and I restarted my Netflix account and am now focused on BluRay. I have the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox 360, but after the Warner announcement, I disconnected it and it's now sitting in a closet. I've had it a year and got my money's worth with Netflix rentals.
daaper @ Feb 12th 2008 4:28PM
@ daschupa,
You're right, they don't sell players. However, they are sinking money into new media with the good possibility that only one will be used in the next few years. I might feel differently if I were on the losing side, but I commend them for picking one and moving on. I'd rather a surplus of one media than a shortage of both...
Deadhouseplants @ Feb 12th 2008 11:59AM
Wow, look at all the cool people who don't use Netflix. Anyway, I just hope this move eliminates the long waits in our queues.
anon @ Feb 12th 2008 12:04PM
No kidding. I got so sick of waiting for my Die Hard that I took it off my queue and went to Blockbuster for the first time in 2 years to pick it up.
Patrick @ Feb 12th 2008 6:06PM
LOL...and exactly HOW will this move by Netflix shorten the wait on movies?
For the record, I get both HD DVD's and Blu-rays from Netflix.
Deadhouseplants @ Feb 12th 2008 6:18PM
Sigh. Okay, say Netflix allocates 1 million dollars to buying discs.
Before this decision, Netflix spent...
$500,000 on Blu-Ray = 20,000 discs of Blu-Ray titles
$500,000 on HD-DVD = 20,000 discs of HD-DVD titles
After this decision, Netflix spends...
$1,000,000 on Blu-Ray = 40,000 discs of Blu-Ray titles
$0 on HD-DVD = 0 discs of HD-DVD titles
More money for Blu-Ray, means more discs, which means less queue times.
Yes, I know Netflix spends lots more on disc allocation, I just wanted to go the economics class route and use clean figures.
HD Tom @ Feb 12th 2008 12:02PM
Haven't canceled yet. As soon as I get a Blu-Ray player, I will cancel and switch back to B-buster, so I can get disks from the store as well as quicker turnaround times.
Blake H @ Feb 12th 2008 12:11PM
Canceled within about 5 minutes of reading the news, and I let Mr. Swasey know how I felt about it.
Deadhouseplants @ Feb 12th 2008 12:12PM
Off topic, sort of. I'm just curious to if anyone else has noticed this or not. Go to Netflix, and look up Lost: Season 3. It says it is in both DVD and Blu-Ray. However, it doesn't seem to offer Blu-Ray as an option to rent.
Since this is the internet, I will also interject that yes; I have my Blu-Ray option turned on, and yes; I am a member of Netflix.
kb98121 @ Feb 12th 2008 12:23PM
The first time I added season 3 I did the last 3 discs individually and they came up DVD, I deleted them and added the entire series and they popped up Blu. Not sure why.
Dragnipurake @ Feb 12th 2008 12:13PM
I had not committed to either format, so the Netflix announcement doesn't really impact me directly. Honestly, even if it did...we've tried the other options, and Netflix is just consistently better.
ramii @ Feb 12th 2008 12:17PM
I don't have the service, but i was going to join since i canceled my blockbuster account. Well, now i will definitely not join netflix especially with all the complaints i hear about their wait time being very long!
leland @ Feb 12th 2008 12:21PM
as an HD-DVD xbox owner, I mostly relied on HD-DVD rentals from netflix. Netflix isn't stopping HD-DVD rentals till the end of the year - so, I've moved all the hd-titles I want to see to the front of my queue and will be done long before they stop offering them.
I'll be waiting another year or two till combo players come down in price or warner/paramount/universal have their libraries in blu. At the moment i'm investing time and energy into HD downloads thru bittorrent which stream to my xbox in 720p and 1080p, so I may just avoid it entirely.
I will happily not support Blu as long as possible, at least until they change those ghey blue boxes to something that doesn't look ridiculous on my shelf. and doesn't remind me of the $200 brick on top of my xbox.
I really wish the format bitching would end, this could've gone in HD-DVD's favor just as easily, if toshiba could have sealed the deal with fox before sony got to them. So stop acting like blu is winning because it's a "better format," it was one lucky business move.
Adam @ Feb 12th 2008 12:21PM
I would expect an announcement from Blockbuster very soon too. Currently, you can rent HD-DVD, but I reckon that won't be so for much longer.
Wayne @ Feb 12th 2008 12:22PM
The first poll option should say "irrational" and not "irate".
Cancelling Netflix isn't going to make them suddenly change their mind. Blockbuster isn't going to be any different.
It's the classic case of, "If I can't have it, no one else can", wich only burns the person making irrational decision in the end.
Jake @ Feb 12th 2008 12:55PM
I'm not sure it's irrational to cancel Netflix over this.
A lot of HDM owners (Blu and HD) have relied on Netflix and other rental services to supply them with content, so that they didn't (don't?) have to sink more money into either format before a clear winner was had. Whether that point is upon now or not, if you are an HD-DVD owner who was relying on Netflix for content, it no longer makes sense to stick with them since Blockbuster (for now) still has HD-DVD discs.
In other words, if you are "HD-DVD only" and you rely on renting for content (so as to not throw money away on buying HD-DVD discs) AND you want to make your HD-DVD investment work for as long as possible, switching to Blockbuster is the RATIONAL thing to do, not the irrational.
wreckedchevy @ Feb 12th 2008 5:12PM
exactly why i cancelled nothing personal i only signed up with them in november just for hd-dvd so i cancelled and signed up with block buster
Wayne @ Feb 12th 2008 6:18PM
Thanks for clarifying guys. I guess I assumed that most HD-DVD and Blu-ray owners were already Netflix subscribers.
John B @ Feb 12th 2008 12:29PM
This made no impact for me. With a family of five total, we rent a LOT of different DVDs, especially for kids. I'm the only one who even had an interest in HD DVD, so it doesn't make sense to do anything with the account when we'll all still use it.
No big deal here.
Hell, if anything this means that they'll be liquidating their HD DVD inventory. Hopefully, they'll still be $9.99 or less.
daschupa @ Feb 12th 2008 12:35PM
Yup, canceled it. The main reason with going with netflix was the ability to rent HD-DVDs. This made little sense, if people are renting them and you cant keep them in stock, maybe you should keep renting them. When I get a PS3, I'll just go to Blockbuster since this was the only reason I kept going to Netflix. *crosses fingers for a Netflix HD DVD firesale*
lilpickle @ Feb 12th 2008 12:37PM
I have both HD and Blu players, but only about 10% of my queue is HD or Blu. So it doesn't affect me all that much anyway.
I love my netflix.
Eva @ Feb 12th 2008 12:38PM
99% of the content I rent from Netflix is not in any form of HD, so why would I care?
leland @ Feb 12th 2008 12:42PM
again, this is happening at the END OF THE YEAR, not tomorrow, so who cares.
p @ Feb 12th 2008 12:46PM
I believe they said they won't be stocking any new HD-DVD releases from yesterday. So yes, this is happening now.
vtjman @ Feb 12th 2008 12:48PM
Actually the email I got from Netflix indicated that they would begin to change my HD DVDs in my queue to DVDs at the end of February, that isn't much time to watch the 26 HD-DVD only movies I want to see.
leland @ Feb 12th 2008 1:01PM
"Saved Queue" will be end of Feb. Queue will be end of year.
"Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don't worry, we will contact you before this happens."
h0mi @ Feb 12th 2008 2:19PM
read the article. In the next month or so, any HD-DVD entries in people's queues will be changed to regular DVD. This isnt a change that wont happen till december, this is going on pretty much immediately.
If I were a netflix customer I would be angry- their rationale makes no sense because the marketplace by virtue of HD-DVD losing the format war will "solve" the problem for them.
cheese head @ Feb 12th 2008 2:30PM
Actually you're wrong, so I do care NOW.
"We're Going Blu-ray
Dear
You're receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.
While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.
Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don't worry, we will contact you before this happens.
You can click here to change your format preferences.
We're sorry for any inconvenience. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.
-The Netflix Team"
Greg @ Feb 12th 2008 3:06PM
Umm, the end of February change is for items in your SAVED queue - stuff that they list as releasing in the future, it apears. Not titles they already have in stock. Those go away at the end of the year. That's they way I read it. Think: When a title is not yet released, you cannot ADD it to your queue, you put it in a SAVED queue.
I'm just glad they announced it ahead of time. When blockbuster upped my account costs by almost double in the timespan of two months, they did so abruptly and with not much warning.
shetaan819 @ Feb 12th 2008 12:44PM
hey guys, are you aware that Netflix is continuing to buy and stock HD DVD until the end of the year....why are you guys cancelling...?
vtjman @ Feb 12th 2008 12:50PM
actually my understanding is that they will stop BUYING HD-DVDs at the end of the month and will completely phase out their HD-DVDs by the end of the year. Could be wrongle
Dave @ Feb 12th 2008 12:46PM
Switched from blockbuster to Netflix when I got a 360 and HD DVD drive. Now that they're dumping HD, I'll be switching back. Can't say I blame them, but I'm certainly not thrilled either. But without HD, they offer no advantage in my eyes over Blockbuster. Now if they start offering video game rentals through the same service, I might have to reconsider. But until then, convenience wins.
su6oxone @ Feb 12th 2008 1:00PM
How dumb. Idiots who cancelled their netflix accounts. Where are they going to rent from now? Blockbuster? They already kicked HD DVD in the nutz a year ago when they decided blu was the future, not red. Akin to cutting off your right hand to spite your left hand. And they need somewhere to rent their SD DVDs from.
Jake @ Feb 12th 2008 1:22PM
Hang on, I have a spare clue around here somewhere... oh, found it!
Blockbuster online still rents HD-DVD, dude. ;-)
Ben @ Feb 12th 2008 1:13PM
I'm quite happy. It'll make me take my account off hold if they can focus on Blu-Ray and get better wait times.
andyg8180 @ Feb 12th 2008 1:14PM
im okay... it stung a little, but as i said before, its not like they were in a rush to ship out and keep up with the demand for Blu OR HD...
If HD is truly dead, i must say, i loved the HDDVD experience much more than Blu... Time to put on my sunglasses, cry a little cry, and go back to using my upconvert DVD player...
plozen @ Feb 12th 2008 1:19PM
I'm sure there were plenty of people who watch a lot of movies that are caught up on their Netflix HD DVD queues, so for them it makes sense to cut their losses.
Myself, I still have several movies that I haven't seen so I'm waiting until the cupboard is bare.
As for the process, it breaks down this way:
End of Feb. - All movies in your Saved Queue (read: movies that are not out yet or not on HD DVD yet) will be changed to standard. This only means Netflix will not buy any new releases (American Ganster, Beowulf, etc.).
End of year - All HD DVDs will be phased out by the end of the year. At that time, movies in your queue that you haven't gotten yet will be changed to standard def.
One other thing to note: Netflix also stated they would not be replacing discs either, so if all of their Heroes Season 1 disc 5 discs break or disappear, they will not be replaced.
eleventeen @ Feb 12th 2008 1:37PM
I'm sorry but to me, this smacks of misdirected anger.
This is like people getting upset that Blockbuster didn't carry Betamax at the same time they carried VHS, even though it was clear towards the end of that battle that VHS was going to win.
I would say that this is what early adopters get, but I stood in line for 6 hours and paid 600 bucks for a phone that people could get the next day just by showing up at the store, or get for 400 bucks only a few months later.
MadMike @ Feb 12th 2008 1:37PM
I'm angry because I have both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. But what ticks me off more is that they NEVER have any new-release HD movies in stock. They are almost always "long wait" and "very long wait" and never available.
I was gonna go to blockbuster but they don't carry ANY of their newest releases in HD. It's all BS. That and blockbuster's site is a complete piece of crap to navigate through.
Angel @ Feb 13th 2008 1:14PM
For some reason, I always get HD titles that have a wait. Just this morning, Assassination of Jesse James was listed as #1 in my queue with a Very Long Wait, I just looked at it and it's shipping today. That happens to me all the time....they'll ship it no matter what it says.
andy @ Feb 12th 2008 1:47PM
Why wouldn't I switch?
The same service is offered by two companies for about the same price.
However, one has announced that they will no longer give me HDDVD's. The other still will, plus, they have brick and mortar return stations.
Why wouldn't I switch when offered a better service at a competitive price?
jody @ Feb 12th 2008 2:11PM
What amazes me is that these companies are riding the Blu tide and alienating 1 million + consumers. I will keep my netflix subscription until I can no longer rent HD-DVD and then buy an apple TV and get my HD rentals that way.