Netflix Movie Availability Survey

Cigan is on the 4-out plan and has a total of 21 movies in his queue, but only 6 of the movies are available "Now." The remainder of the queue:

9 are on "Short Wait."

1 is a "Long Wait."

2 are on "Very Long Wait."

3 are upcoming releases.

I added several of his "wait" movies to my queue and they were all available "Now." For reference, I have 314 movies in my queue and all but two are available "Now" (the remaining two will be released tomorrow).

How many movies are in your queue and what percentage are available "Now?" Also, how many movies do you rent per month from Netflix?

Comments

[Morgan]

11 of 195 discs are on wait for me. I usually get about 12 discs a month on the 3 out plan.

[PlungeBob]

I have about 100 films in my queue and six are
"Very Long Wait" and two are "Short Wait".

NF does appear better than BB in this regard,
but I have no new releases in my queue.

[James Shaw]

3 out plan, probably get 10 movies/month

Most of mine were on wait last week, but after adding some older movies and series I have some coming to me:

24 movies:
10 now
1 short wait
2 long wait
2 very long wait
4 not released
5 saved

I have 78 titles, 3 are not released yet, 1 short wait, 1 very long wait. A bunch of others are saved. BTW, Netflix no longer has most of the old James Bond movies any more. Thunderball, Goldfinger, From Russia With Love, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service are missing in action. They also don't have two of the most recent Bond movies - Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough... Pathetic.

[Chris Coyier]

112 Movies in Queue:
Very Long Wait: 2
Long Wait: 1
Short Wait: 16
Waiting for Release: 5

That seems like a lot to me, especially since I'm not huge on adding all the new releases. Some weird things that have waits on my list: The Shield (season 1, disc 3), Rushmore.

Movies / Month:
October: 14
November: 23
December: 25

Netflix doesn't have Diamonds Are Forever now.
It's on "Save" status. How many more titles do
we have to watch vanish forever from Netflix's
"infinite" shelf space? I can rent many movies
they refuse to carry at Hollywood Video and/or
Blockbuster stores. Netflix is not even TRYING
to keep old movies from fading into obscurity.
They're just letting them fade away. What will
they stop buying next? Citizen Kane? Singin'
in the Rain? Gone with the Wind? Wizard of Oz?
Gee, how about anything over 10 years old?!?

[ChicagoGuy]

Well I have 184 in queue but of these 131 are old TV Series and most are available now. e.g. every one of the 43 Twilight Zones, and all 6 seasons of CSI are in the queue. Of the 53 that are movies and or fairly new the breakdown is:

- 18 Now
- 15 short wait
- 10 long wait
- 10 very long wait

I am on the 7 out plan and can get about 35-40 per month as long as I fill the queue with some of the older TV series and not get too worried that the newer releases are always immediately on short to very long wait. For example the waits now include; Brothers Grimm, Cinderella Man, The Cave, Millions, Dirty Love, Dark Water, My Date With Drew, Hit Me, Cry Wolf, Kidnapped, The Great Raid, Cloud Nine, and Murder on the Border.

NetFlix giving preference to 3 out customers guarantees that people on 4-8 will get results like this.

[Dave]

40 year old virgin has been long wait for me about 3 years now! Getting soooo tired of this nonsense. Someone tell Netflix to get a clue and order more copies of the popular movies!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marty McKee]

40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN has been on Very Long Wait for me ever since the day it was released. I'm on the 3-our plan. WEDDING CRASHERS is Long Wait. I see no reason why there should ever be a wait on new releases.

40 year old virgin released in 2005. ?? 3 years?

My queue has 171 movies. 4 haven't been released, 15 short wait, 2 long wait, 1 very long wait. I'm on the 5 out plan and got 16 in the last 30 days. That's because of the holiday--I am visiting my parents and had to hang on to the DVDs while switching my address back and forth :)

"I am on the 7 out plan and can get about 35-40 per month..."

I very much doubt the truth of this. I find myself lucky to get 16 a month on 3-out, and that's if I return everything within a day. Usually it's more like 12-14 a month. I just can't believe people who claim to get 35-40 with a higher plan. I would expect more like 28 a month on the 7-out plan. They seem to limit you to one turn a week per slot.

[hall]

I'm sure Netflix's response to this will be based on each user's distribution center's stock. Maybe it isn't available readily at his, but is at yours (I don't want to sound like a Netflix-fan, just speculating what they'll say).

As for a movie like 40-Year Old Virgin, how popular will that be in 3 years ?? Why should NF buy a crapload of them when the majority will just collect dust in 1-3 years ??

[Manda]

483 titles in the queue
19 have a wait status
8 unreleased

I just switched from 3-out to 4-out yesterday.

I'm on the 5 out plan and I used to get about 10 a week now it slowed down to about5 -7 a week .I usually send them back the next day but they are not "receiving them until 3 days later" hmm.In the beginning they were getting them back the next day. I have about 70 in my queue and all but 2 are available now.

[StL]

Five out would be a total of 20 per month.

[Christian]

304 Movies in Queue:
Very Long Wait: 0
Long Wait: 0
Short Wait: 1
Waiting for Release: 6

I rent between 4 and 6 movies per month on the 2-out-unlimited plan.

I have 123 movies total, all of them are available "Now" with the exception of three that are scheduled to release tomorrow. I have a mixture of television shows (older and fairly recent releases such as West Wing S5), some older movies and some new releases.

I'm sporadic on how many I can get through a month, but I can't remember ever having more three or four movies on any kind of wait at all.

[Y. T.]

During a period when I had lots of time to watch DVDs, I turned over 20+ in a month on 3-out. I've been throttled hard since then, which was many month ago. Now, even though I keep a disc for a couple of weeks, they are still fudging the received dates, and I suspect the 'mailed' dates as well. It took a week for a disc to get to me on several occasions, even though I have a distribution center in my city.

I am on the verge of trying BB online. With the added 2-in-store rentals per month, I may end up with better service in the long run.

[Jeff]

On the 6 out now that my fiancee shares a queue. Of 423 movies in my movie queue, 58 show a wait time. Of 407 in my TV queue, 20 show a wait time.

I wonder how many subscribers they added for the holiday...

[Grza]

I have a 5 dvd account, and there has been an extra day on turnaround for over a month now. There are about 75 movies in queue and about 35 saved (total 110).

Currently:
Short Wait- Havoc, Broken Flowers, Millions, Freaks & Geeks D:1, The Edukators, Dark Water, Down by Law, Into the Blue.

Long Wait- Cry Wolf, Ab-Normal Beauty.

Usually I get around 25 a month, but with this extra unexplained delay, its closer to 20 max. Which really pisses me off since I am paying for 5 and can turn around quick, they just are choosing not to process timely.

[Dirkmaster]

I'm on the 5 out plan. Here's my breakout:
5 Future Releases
27 Short, Long, & Very Long Wait
263 in Que.

I got 20 in Nov and 22 in Dec. Which is, interestingly, the very same as when I was in the 3 out plan a year ago. I'm seriously thinking about rolling back, since moving to the 5 out has not gotten me any more movies/month.

Dirkmaster

[Cigan]

I would like to clarify the reason why initiated this discussion. Strangley, last Thursday my queue availiabilty completely changed from one-day-to-the-next. About 70% of my queue went on wait. My local DC is Northboro, MA.

[Cigan]

I would like to clarify the reason why I initiated this discussion. I noticed last Thursday my queue availiabilty completely changed from one-day-to-the-next. About 70% of my queue went on wait. Most of the films are 90's films. My local DC is Northboro, MA. We're on the 4 plan.

[Wolf]

3-out plan, 71 Movies sitting in my queue:

Short Wait: The Bourne Supremacy, In The Mood For Love, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, All About Eve, Monty Python's Life of Brian, This is Spinal Tap

Very Long wait: The Wild Bunch

64 Available Now.

[E. Craig Crawford]

My movie availability status suddenly changed recently, but nothing radical; 6 or 7 new "short wait." Seems like various movies are moving on & off short wait status.

I'm on a 1 out account with 214 titles in queue.

short wait: 9
long wait: 1

very long wait: 1
awaiting release: 8

[Jarrod A]

498 in Queue
short wait: 25
long wait: 5
very long wait: 3
awaiting release: 81

[whammo]

I have 72 in queue
4 = short wait
1 = very long wait
rest are available now.
I have 3 at a time plan and do about 10 movies a month.
The short wait is for: brothers grimm, old school, shaun of the dead, and hudsucker proxy..the very long wait...of course, 40 year old virgin

"I added several of his "wait" movies to my queue and they were all available "Now." For reference, I have 314 movies in my queue and all but two are available "Now" (the remaining two will be released tomorrow)."

I have 384 movies in my queue, but here's the strange thing.....sometimes I will take a movie that is WAY down on my list, has been down there for many, MANY months (sone of which have been down there since I first signed up with NF!), ALWAYS been listed as "available now", and put it at the top of my queue, only to see the "available" status change to a "wait" status.

"How many movies are in your queue and what percentage are available "Now?"

384 in my queue. 20 are on some sort of wait.(9 are in my "saved" column)

"Also, how many movies do you rent per month from Netflix?"

I am on the 4 out plan. I get about 16 a month. I TRY to get more than that, but Netflix's throttling prevents it. Back when I was on the 3 out plan, I was getting 22-24 a month!

[Ian]

For people wondering about the old James Bond movies, they've been out of print for awhile. I'm sure the reason Netflix doesn't have them is because yet another special edition is on the way.

I'm on the five out, and I get maybe 22 movies a month. I have 369 in my queue, 3 very long wait, 1 long wait, and 10 short wait. I have 19 movies in my "Saved" section.

[Steve]

Queue length: 209
Long wait: 1
Short wait: 9
Very long wait: 0
Awaiting release: 3

I rent approx. 12-15 per month on the 3 out plan

[Rusty Ramrod]

No longer have a NF account but my 3-out BB account is as follows:

Been with BB for 8 months and rented 112 movies

43 currently in queue, no new releases

- Long Wait - 1
- Short Wait - 5
- Releasing 1/24/05 - 1
- DVD Release date unknown - 1
- The balance show Available Now

Speaking of Long Wait, could someone else who has BB please place this movie in your queue and report back the wait time?

Hard Trip

I've had it in mine since almost day one, called 6 times now, and it still shows "Long Wait"

I would sure appreciate it.

[Lucas]

Queue: 490
Long Wait: 0
Short Wait: 23
Very Long Wait: 3
Saved section: 19

For the last 30 days I have rented 17 movies and usually average 15 to 20 rentals a month on the 3 out at a time plan.

[Jen]

I am on the 3-out plan and I guess I get around 12-15 dvds a month. I've been a member for just a few months. Until recently, I never had any short/long waits, but I suppose my netflix status has changed. Of the 185 movies/shows on my queue, 10 have not been released yet, 2 are on long wait (Cinderella Man & 40-year old virgin) and a WHOPPING 38 are on "short wait" The films that end up on short wait seem so random. A sampling: Annie Hall, High Art, The Hudsucker Proxy, In the Mood for love, The Lavender Hill Mob, Say Anything. I mean are people lining up to watch "The Lavender Hill Mob"?? In reality, I don't mind having things on wait too much, I just always want to know what is coming to me and get annoyed when a film that shows available now, is skipped over when it comes time to send my film. THAT annoys me. All in all, I like Netflix and am a happy customer

[shoobe01]

3 out plan. 478 in (the main) queue:

15 awaiting release (all but two "unknown" release date)
18 on wait, seems evenly distributed among short, long and very long.

I never watch new movies as soon as they come up (just can't care that much) but I note that popular new releases tend to be on wait almost always.

[Catalina68]

I'm on the 3 at a time plan, I have 184 in my queue, with:

2 very long wait
6 on short wait
2 awaiting release
6 saved

Last week, I noticed what appeared to be a sudden increase in the number of short waits, although the number seems to have come back down now.

Rental stats for 2005, monthly average of 15.8 for the year, 17.4 for the last 8 months when I was trying to maximize my rentals.
13, 10, 14, 13, 16, 16, 18, 17, 16, 14, 21, 21

The last month and a half, I have started printing out my queue and looking for the movies on Tivo. I've managed to record about 10-15 movies that were on my queue including the original Gone in 60 Seconds which has been very long wait since I first added it to my queue. Is anyone else doing this and having success?

in queue: about 25

100% are available now.

203 in queue. 9 are upcoming releases.

3 very long wait: Madagascar, Old Yeller, Woody Guthrie: This Machine Kills Fascists

Maybe a half dozen that have "short wait" status.

[PlungeBob]

Dirkmaster: this is the sort of "paradox" that many of us experienced:

Good service lead me to raise my membership level, but throttling
counter-acted the improvement.

Anonymous, I would be glad to add "Hard Trip" to my queue, but the
BB service seems down right now.

[Trial]

I just started with the free 2-week trial, and every single movie I added to my queue shows Available Now, including new releases. So far, they have sent me Cinderella Man, 40-Year Virgin, Serenity, Madagascar, etc. with no delay at all. Is this just to sucker me into paying and then they stop sending movies?

[ChicagoGuy]

I find it amusing that someone doubts that I got 35 to 40 on a 7 out plan.. His logic was that he gets 16 on a 3 out..

Hmm lets see.. 16/3 = 5.33333 per month
5.33333 x 7 = 37.3333

Maybe its the new math that is the problem.. LOL. I was the one who originally complained about the 4-8 throttling and number of new releases that immediately show as wait to long wait so trust me I am not a big fan of the way NetFlix manipulates their customers. I have to make sure that the flix are returned immediately after viewing to get the numbers shown. I also will say that it certainly is not the 35 to 40 that are at the top of my queue given the issues that this thread is about.

Regards