Hacking NetFlix

Serious Netflix Streaming Outage on Christmas Eve

Update: Netflix on Facebook reports that Netflix streaming should be online again after a serious outage that lasted more than 12 hours. 

NewTeeVee reports that Amazon Prime was still available last night while Netflix Streaming was down, but we're on the East Coast and had trouble accessing Amazon Prime last night to view a movie. I agree with NewTeeVee that there are now alternatives to Amazon Web Services, and after an outage like this Netflix must at least be thinking about service providers that don't compete directly with them. 

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Netflix Streaming was down most of Christmas Eve for many customers, and the first official acknowledgment came from the NetflixHelps Twitter feed at 1pm PST. 

TechCrunch reports that the outage is due to problems with Amazon Web Services, as noted on Twitter by Netflix Cloud Architect Adrian Cockcroft. 

Did you experience a Netflix streaming outage on Christmas Eve? 

Netflix Chief Product Officer Explains Why International Streaming Selections Differ

Neil Hunt, Netflix's Chief Product Officer, explains why the streaming selections vary from country to country on Quora:

Each country notionally has a different catalog, although there is substantial overlap.  Licensing is generally for a region (e.g. Latin America, or Nordics), so countries within the region have very similar (but not identical) catalogs.

Sometimes a shared title is the same media in each country; sometimes the title has been edited (e.g. for ratings compliance, or just to add or removed a channel bumper), in which case it's actually a different media file.  In general, the ID spaces are separate by region.

I'm sure that trying to secure international rights to some titles is probably a nightmare, but as Netflix grows it might get easier.

Netflix's Windows 8 Application: Interesting New User Interface

Netflix customized the streaming application to support the Windows 8 user interface, and put together a video to demo the new app:

Netflix also notes that many Windows 8 devices will come with Netflix pre-installed, a big win for Netflix.

Netflix: "We Do No Have Plans to Support Streaming on Linux."

If you've been waiting for Netflix to support streaming on Linux, Netflix Helps has gone on the record:

Do you want Netflix streaming on Linux?

Watch The Emmy's? Netflix has Many Emmy-Nominated Shows on Streaming

Did you watch the Emmy Awards tonight? Netflix has about 39 nominated shows on streaming, according to the Netflix Blog:

For US members, we’re thrilled to let you know you can stream 39 Emmy-nominated series on Netflix, including a few series you will only find exclusively here: Mad Men, most nominated series of the year with 17 noms (wow!), Breaking Bad (13 noms!), a truly addictive viewing experience, and The Walking Dead, which will scare the life out of you. 

If you’re looking to laugh, we have the most innovative comedies of the year, includingPortlandia, 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, Louie, American Dad, Parks & Rec, and the eternally entertaining Saturday Night Live. If you’re more in the mood for a drama, check out Downton Abbey, Damages, Bones, Sherlock, Parenthood, Luther, and the one that's always hitting a high note, Glee. You can also stream some of the best non-fiction series including Mythbusters, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Deadliest Catch.Finally, for the kids who love to watch Netflix, there are lots of great Emmy-nominated shows including Wizards of Waverly Place, Phineas & Ferb, iCarly, and Good Luck Charlie.

What's your favorite show on streaming?

Netflix CFO at Goldman Sachs: Personalization Improvements "Later This Year"

Netflix CFO David Wells, speaking at the Goldman Sachs 21st Annual Communacopia Conference, said that recommendations would improve, especially in households with multiple people sharing a single Netflix account, "...later this year." I'm wondering if they will enable different user logins when the Netflix app starts, similar to how customers currently select "Just for Kids" or the normal Netflix experience.

Wells said that several things were driving Netflix growth, including "content improvements," "devices" (there are more than 700 Netflix-ready devices and growing), and "previlence, in this sales cycle, of Netflix buttons [on remotes]." He also noted that streaming usage was "up significantly, year over year."

Wells shed some light on the mix of local vs. Hollywood content in markets like South America, which are typically 80% Hollywood vs. 20% local, and markets like China and India that will require a more balanced 50% local content mix.

If you're interested in hearing the entire discussion: http://ir.netflix.com.

Netflix's Sarandos on TV Shows, Competition & The Hunger Games

Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, speaking at the BOA Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference, talked about TV shows vs. movies, the surprising lack of competition, and license windows for content like the Hunger Games.

When asked about the difference between TV shows and movies, Sarandos said, "The great acting and writing is being done on TV." He noted that TV has an "...incredibly high risk model," and that "Some good shows fail because they're in the wrong time slot."

Sarandos said that the most watched episode of Mad men was season 1, episode 1, and that Netflix was still driving new viewers to shows. He also said that 50,000 people watched all episodes of Season 4 of Breaking Bad in 24 hours when they became available the day before the season 5 premier. 

On license windows, Sarandos said that Netflix is the pay TV home for the Hunger Games, but the release windows are: sames day as DVD for latin America, 3 months for Canada, UK 4 months, and the U.S. finally after another 90 days.

On competition: "We never thought that we'd operate without competition. We're surprised it's taken this long."

via Home Media Magazine & Deadline.

Ever Wonder How Much Bandwidth Netflix Streaming Uses?

While camping last week I wondered how much data I would use to watch a movie on Netflix streaming, and Netflix has a support page about data usage, how to change the setting, and what the default setting is for different countries.  

Netflix: Manage Bandwidth Usage

If you are interested in setting a limit on how much data our service will use, you can adjust your video quality setting. Navigate to Netflix.com/VideoQuality to manage the amount of data you use when playing movies and TV shows on Netflix.

There are 3 settings to choose from:

• Good quality (uses up to 0.3 GB per hour)
• Better quality (uses up to 0.7 GB per hour)
• Best quality (uses up to 1 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour if watching HD)

Different regions have different default settings:

• The default setting in the US is “Best”.
• The default setting in Canada is “Good”.
• The default setting in Latin America is “Best,” except in Brazil where it is “Good”.
• The default setting across the UK and Ireland is “Best”.

The "Kids Gate" Menu Eventually Goes Away

NetflixHelps on Twitter said that the "kids gate" menu will eventually go away if you don't select it:

"At this time, there's no way to turn the feature off--the "kids gate" does evenutally go away after so many times not visitng."

Netflix Says Olympics Not Impacting Streaming Traffic

Netflix on Twitter denied reports earlier this week that the Olympics have impacted Netflix streaming usage.

The truth about our streaming traffic during #Olympics? It hasn't changed.

via CNET and Home Media Magazine.