This is an interesting thread, because I just re-signed up for Netflix to try the Instant Queue.
I found it... extremely lacking in titles, to say the least. After going through the entire comedy section, I found five titles I actually wanted to watch, and a couple of them were a stretch.
And now you guys are linking all these awesome movies.
I... I don't know what to think. :P
Like I said earlier, the Instant Viewing service used to be completely and utterly worthless. Without any redeeming qualities what so ever. But with this improvement, I'm actually finding stuff I want to watch and that is actually good and that I've actually heard of before.
Compared to how things used to be, I'm fucking drowning in quality here. But for someone that signed up just for the Xbox compatability, I can see how it would still be extremely disappointing.
A large part of it has to do with Netflix's deal with Starz!. In my opinion, that's when the service really took off.
Yeah, the Starz! deal is when rotating selection was introduced, which I hate...but it also added an order of magnitude more movies I want to watch, so it's a net improvement.
The Netflix instant viewing, though, really works a lot better in conjunction with your normal Netflix queue. Trying to sift through and find something good can be maddening, but building your DVD queue up and then just looking occasionally to see if anything has become available for instant is awesome.
EDIT: I have like 150 movies in my DVD queue, and like 30 or 40 are available for instant...then I've got another 20 or so that I added straight to the instant queue.
This is an interesting thread, because I just re-signed up for Netflix to try the Instant Queue.
I found it... extremely lacking in titles, to say the least. After going through the entire comedy section, I found five titles I actually wanted to watch, and a couple of them were a stretch.
And now you guys are linking all these awesome movies.
I... I don't know what to think. :P
Like I said earlier, the Instant Viewing service used to be completely and utterly worthless. Without any redeeming qualities what so ever. But with this improvement, I'm actually finding stuff I want to watch and that is actually good and that I've actually heard of before.
Compared to how things used to be, I'm fucking drowning in quality here. But for someone that signed up just for the Xbox compatability, I can see how it would still be extremely disappointing.
A large part of it has to do with Netflix's deal with Starz!. In my opinion, that's when the service really took off.
Yeah, the Starz! deal is when rotating selection was introduced, which I hate...but it also added an order of magnitude more movies I want to watch, so it's a net improvement.
The Netflix instant viewing, though, really works a lot better in conjunction with your normal Netflix queue. Trying to sift through and find something good can be maddening, but building your DVD queue up and then just looking occasionally to see if anything has become available for instant is awesome.
EDIT: I have like 150 movies in my DVD queue, and like 30 or 40 are available for instant...then I've got another 20 or so that I added straight to the instant queue.
Wait a sec. Tell me about this rotating selection. It sounds bad.
Wait a sec. Tell me about this rotating selection. It sounds bad.
Some films have a date in which they will no longer be available on Instant, and then new ones become available. The date displays in the queue, so you are encouraged to bump these up to the top of the queue so you get through them before they go back to DVD only.
For example, the top 8 selections in my Instant queue expire between Dec 30th and Jan 1st. The remaining 60-some have no date listed.
Wait a sec. Tell me about this rotating selection. It sounds bad.
Some films have a date in which they will no longer be available on Instant, and then new ones become available. The date displays in the queue, so you are encouraged to bump these up to the top of the queue so you get through them before they go back to DVD only.
For example, the top 8 selections in my Instant queue expire between Dec 30th and Jan 1st. The remaining 60-some have no date listed.
Yeah, it kinda sucks...especially because a lot of the movies I see expiring didn't used to have any sort of expiration date attached. I think like half my instant queue expires over winter break.
It's not a huge deal to me, because I mostly see Instant as something to augment my DVD queue (as in "oh, I don't feel like watching this DVD I just received tonight anymore but I do feel like watching this other one in my queue that's on Instant...cool"), but , and not some kind of standalone service. But when they're trying to shill devices specifically for Instant viewing, they really need to beef up their selection.
I guess it'll really depend, for me, on what titles become newly available when all these ones expire.
EDIT: For clarity, I don't use an Xbox for my Instant viewing, I just use my PC and a set of cables permanently hooked to my entertainment system (optical out, VGA out, and a cheap wireless keyboard/mouse receiver...it all hides really nicely, and my computer is both quiet and relatively small). I'm thinking of dropping about $300 and building a decent little media center PC, something that will largely just pull data off the network (and play shit like Netflix and Hulu). Especially if Netflix ever adds Linux support (or if I buy the wife a new computer with Vista pre-installed freeing up my old retail copy of XP).
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Vargas PrimeKing of NothingJust a ShowRegistered Userregular
edited December 2008
I just recently watched Meet Bill and Fido.
Meet Bill was a fairly standard mid-life crisis tale and I queued it pretty much because of Aaron Eckhart. If you liked him in Thank You For Smoking, I'd recommend this one. It was decently absurd at points, and Eckhart was convincingly awkward and desperate. Also, he punches Timothy Olyphant right in his face.
Fido was good, clean camp about Zombies being tamed and used as household labor. It's a pretty funny movie, and Billy Connelly is pretty awesome as a zombie.
Meet Bill was a fairly standard mid-life crisis tale and I queued it pretty much because of Aaron Eckhart. If you liked him in Thank You For Smoking, I'd recommend this one. It was decently absurd at points, and Eckhart was convincingly awkward and desperate. Also, he punches Timothy Olyphant right in his face.
Fido was good, clean camp about Zombies being tamed and used as household labor. It's a pretty funny movie, and Billy Connelly is pretty awesome as a zombie.
Oh yeah, anybody who hasn't seen Fido should queue it up.
Meet Bill has been sitting towards the top of my queue for months now, I just keep bumping crap past it. I'll get to it eventually. I still haven't even seen Thank You For Smoking
This is my sig.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
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LutExIVThieves Guild ChairmanIn the ShadowsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2008
Hey, for all you Netflix weilders out there:
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
I ask because I have been considering netflix for a while, and I already have an AppleTV, which I can rent and buy indvidual movies in HD if I want. However, renting and buying movies indivdually can be expensive, even though it is still cheaper than Blockbuster. I was looking at this to see if it is a viable alternative.
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
Ten to fifteen seconds. Yes. No. Not sure. It's a really smooth experience and you should try it.
Wait, Netflix movies are in HD on the Xbox? Do they use a different source than on the PC? Because on the PC, unless this shit just changed, they're only up to 480p. You sure it's not just being upscaled? Also to my knowledge they do not include 5.1 audio, just Pro Logic...but I could be wrong.
The quality is based on your connection. It always loads pretty fast. Your equipment needs to be an Xbox. Compy only needed to add stuff to the queueueue.
EliteBattleman on
This is my sig.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
when Harry Met Sally is on there. Anyone who does not see this movie is not alright in my book.
Also has the first 2 evening with kevin smiths, which I dig because I'm a loser sometimes
Hook is another treasure of mine.
Plenty of other stuff, too.
Wait...first 2? You mean there's a third? Where can I get this?!
Seriously, anyone who is a fan of Kevin Smith's brand of humor, stand up comedy(ish), or just beautifully told stories about cocks and zippers, needs to check these out. I may actually get this service just so I can see these again. What is the monthly?
YES. Hearing his rant about the whole Jon Peters/Superman experience is amazing. To my knowledge a third DVD hasn't been released yet, but the first two comprise three lectures total, so maybe that's where the confusion is.
Edit - Nevermind, just saw someone's comment about the third DVD being out already. Hopefully that will be added to stream soon!
Gizmodo had a writeup about HD streaming for the 360 via Netflix. It actually says "Presented in HD" on the screen when you're loading it if it's an HD film. There are something like 300 titles available in HD, but they don't tell you until you're actually loading. Also, you need a connection of 8mbps to get the full-on HD stream, apparently. The reviewer said his connection maxed out around 5mbps, so he was in their "second tier" quality-wise... *shrug*
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LutExIVThieves Guild ChairmanIn the ShadowsRegistered Userregular
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
Ten to fifteen seconds. Yes. No. Not sure. It's a really smooth experience and you should try it.
Sweet, thanks. I guess I'll just have to try it out then. 8-)
I hope they get more TV shows on the instant list. So far I've watched all four seasons of The Office and am currently blasting through 30 Rock. After that, I'm not sure what I'll go for (Heroes maybe), but I wish House was in the instant section. I also saw a couple episodes of Psych and want to watch the first two seasons of that.
Also, I'm getting a PS3 and was interested in Netflix's Blu-Ray selection, until I saw the catch that adding the ability to receive Blu-Ray movies will add another dollar onto the monthly fee. I'm trying to figure out if its going to be worth it.
Omeks on
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SixCaches Tweets in the mainframe cyberhexRegistered Userregular
Also, I'm getting a PS3 and was interested in Netflix's Blu-Ray selection, until I saw the catch that adding the ability to receive Blu-Ray movies will add another dollar onto the monthly fee. I'm trying to figure out if its going to be worth it.
If you have a tv that's 50" or bigger, it is.
Below that, it's questionable. A good upscaling DVD player (which the ps3 is) will likely do a better job of scaling than your TV will, and produce a great picture from a DVD. At less than 50", the difference between that and bluray isn't huge. At below 42", it becomes very difficult to see a difference.
Gizmodo had a writeup about HD streaming for the 360 via Netflix. It actually says "Presented in HD" on the screen when you're loading it if it's an HD film. There are something like 300 titles available in HD, but they don't tell you until you're actually loading. Also, you need a connection of 8mbps to get the full-on HD stream, apparently. The reviewer said his connection maxed out around 5mbps, so he was in their "second tier" quality-wise... *shrug*
I've managed to get a full 4 bar HD stream for a few episodes of 30 Rock, but I always lost it within the first couple of minutes.
Not all movies are available in HD. As far as I can tell, there's no way to tell which ones are or are not until you actually start the stream.
The HD quality is decent but not great.
Ah. Well I guess old information is old. I'll note that either this is an Xbox-only thing, or they simply haven't updated their FAQ, because the Instant FAQ still lists max quality at 3mbps and "DVD quality" (which is to say 480p).
EDIT: Doesn't affect me, because we can't maintain 8mbps on our connection anyway. I really don't care much about upscaling the picture, I expect no better than DVD quality over the interwebs...but I'd kill for fucking 5.1 surround sound, which would only add like 300kbps to the stream.
Also, I'm getting a PS3 and was interested in Netflix's Blu-Ray selection, until I saw the catch that adding the ability to receive Blu-Ray movies will add another dollar onto the monthly fee. I'm trying to figure out if its going to be worth it.
It's a fucking dollar. What plan are you on? We're on the 3 out plan, so you figure 17$ to 18$ is no big difference. Even on our 37", the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray on a well-mastered movie is pretty noticeable (and we're only at 1080i). On a poorly mastered movie (like many older titles) less so. Still, I recommend it.
If nothing else, it can be turned off or on at any time. Spend a dollar, check a couple out, and decide.
For those wondering about how to tell what titles are available in HD -- if you select the "Watch Instantly" tab and look under Genres, there's an HD category. Not much help for things already in your queue, but if you're looking for new movies to watch it's a starting point. Everything I've watched that's available in HD has played quite nicely for me.
Basically, because LATER in the movie as we view it they start backstabbing each other by going back in time (earlier than the 4 hours or so they used to do it), and the way time travel is structured in the movie, the scene where Abe approaches Aaron and Aaron claims to be listening to the basketball game the first time - that's really like Aaron #5 or something. He's listening to the previous conversation, which is why when he keeps going back to that moment to document what happens (as he uses that moment to start the chain of events that will lead to him being a hero at the party), and Abe is all fucked up from also travelling, Aaron spouts off responses that don't make any sense - he's reciting lines, but the script has changed.
This EXTREMELY detailed chart is massive, but seems to be pretty accurate.
I'd love to talk specifics, but am being vague because I don't want to de-rail the thread, and Primer could most likely get it's own thread. But the most interesting thing I read about the one part that stuck out most as not making sense (the scene where that guy goes into a coma, presumabley from them getting too close and fucking up time) was that the intent was to put the viewer in the place of Abe and Aaron. You don't understand why he collapsed? Neither do they. You don't get why that would cause a coma? Neither do they. The writer said that because no one has time travelled, he tried to make thier theories and ideas come from what the viewer would be thinking. Did they NEED to hold up in a hotel to make sure they didn't interfere with the duplicates? Who knows? But would YOU risk it?
All in all, I really found the movie to be very very interesting.
mxmarks on
PSN: mxmarks - WiiU: mxmarks - twitter: @ MikesPS4 - twitch.tv/mxmarks - "Yes, mxmarks is the King of Queens" - Unbreakable Vow
Meet Bill was a fairly standard mid-life crisis tale and I queued it pretty much because of Aaron Eckhart. If you liked him in Thank You For Smoking, I'd recommend this one. It was decently absurd at points, and Eckhart was convincingly awkward and desperate. Also, he punches Timothy Olyphant right in his face.
Fido was good, clean camp about Zombies being tamed and used as household labor. It's a pretty funny movie, and Billy Connelly is pretty awesome as a zombie.
Oh yeah, anybody who hasn't seen Fido should queue it up.
Meet Bill has been sitting towards the top of my queue for months now, I just keep bumping crap past it. I'll get to it eventually. I still haven't even seen Thank You For Smoking
Oh god, you seriously need to see Thank You for Smoking. It. Is. Fantastic.
Within five minute of pressing play, my wife and I had decided we needed to own it.
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
I ask because I have been considering netflix for a while, and I already have an AppleTV, which I can rent and buy indvidual movies in HD if I want. However, renting and buying movies indivdually can be expensive, even though it is still cheaper than Blockbuster. I was looking at this to see if it is a viable alternative.
Somethings steam HD, some SD. I haven't found a way to distinguish between the two short of actually playing them, though. And the only thing I've found in HD so far is 30 Rock.
As for time to play, I'm on Comcast cable internet, and if I'm not currently downloading anything, total time to from pressing play to streaming is about 20-30 seconds.
Basically, because LATER in the movie as we view it they start backstabbing each other by going back in time (earlier than the 4 hours or so they used to do it), and the way time travel is structured in the movie, the scene where Abe approaches Aaron and Aaron claims to be listening to the basketball game the first time - that's really like Aaron #5 or something. He's listening to the previous conversation, which is why when he keeps going back to that moment to document what happens (as he uses that moment to start the chain of events that will lead to him being a hero at the party), and Abe is all fucked up from also travelling, Aaron spouts off responses that don't make any sense - he's reciting lines, but the script has changed.
This EXTREMELY detailed chart is massive, but seems to be pretty accurate.
I'd love to talk specifics, but am being vague because I don't want to de-rail the thread, and Primer could most likely get it's own thread. But the most interesting thing I read about the one part that stuck out most as not making sense (the scene where that guy goes into a coma, presumabley from them getting too close and fucking up time) was that the intent was to put the viewer in the place of Abe and Aaron. You don't understand why he collapsed? Neither do they. You don't get why that would cause a coma? Neither do they. The writer said that because no one has time travelled, he tried to make thier theories and ideas come from what the viewer would be thinking. Did they NEED to hold up in a hotel to make sure they didn't interfere with the duplicates? Who knows? But would YOU risk it?
All in all, I really found the movie to be very very interesting.
Thanks, that actually helps a lot and makes a lot of sense. Seems I had the right idea for the most part but missed some of the intricate details. Both of those images helped kind of put everything together.
With that said, I don't want to derail the thread either so the last point I'll make is to agree with the other recommendations for you all to watch this movie. It's only 77 minutes anyway so what the heck?
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
I ask because I have been considering netflix for a while, and I already have an AppleTV, which I can rent and buy indvidual movies in HD if I want. However, renting and buying movies indivdually can be expensive, even though it is still cheaper than Blockbuster. I was looking at this to see if it is a viable alternative.
Somethings steam HD, some SD. I haven't found a way to distinguish between the two short of actually playing them, though. And the only thing I've found in HD so far is 30 Rock.
I've found The Office and 30 Rock to both be in HD. Strangely enough, The Office would always start in HD but scale down less than 30 seconds in. Sometimes it would scale down so bad that it looked like you installed Youtube on the 360 and full-screened the video. 30 Rock almost never scales down, though, and has never looked as bad as The Office did.
Omeks on
Online Info (Click Spoiler for More): |Xbox Live Tag: Omeks |PSN Tag:Omeks_R7 |Rock Band:Profile|DLC Collection
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
I ask because I have been considering netflix for a while, and I already have an AppleTV, which I can rent and buy indvidual movies in HD if I want. However, renting and buying movies indivdually can be expensive, even though it is still cheaper than Blockbuster. I was looking at this to see if it is a viable alternative.
Somethings steam HD, some SD. I haven't found a way to distinguish between the two short of actually playing them, though. And the only thing I've found in HD so far is 30 Rock.
I've found The Office and 30 Rock to both be in HD. Strangely enough, The Office would always start in HD but scale down less than 30 seconds in. Sometimes it would scale down so bad that it looked like you installed Youtube on the 360 and full-screened the video. 30 Rock almost never scales down, though, and has never looked as bad as The Office did.
Weird, I've been plowing through episodes of The Office and haven't experienced this yet. I read someone post something about their servers getting hammered with the introduction of the TiVo service - maybe that's the cause? I haven't been watching them in "prime hours" exactly.
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
I ask because I have been considering netflix for a while, and I already have an AppleTV, which I can rent and buy indvidual movies in HD if I want. However, renting and buying movies indivdually can be expensive, even though it is still cheaper than Blockbuster. I was looking at this to see if it is a viable alternative.
Somethings steam HD, some SD. I haven't found a way to distinguish between the two short of actually playing them, though. And the only thing I've found in HD so far is 30 Rock.
I've found The Office and 30 Rock to both be in HD. Strangely enough, The Office would always start in HD but scale down less than 30 seconds in. Sometimes it would scale down so bad that it looked like you installed Youtube on the 360 and full-screened the video. 30 Rock almost never scales down, though, and has never looked as bad as The Office did.
I've had one or two episodes of 30 Rock look so bad that when the camera angle was wide enough to fit multiple people into a scene or conversation, you couldn't use their faces to tell who they were.
I'm pretty sure it was awesome, but...what the hell did I just watch? Can anyone summarize? I want to make sure I understood what was going on right.
You're not supposed to understand Primer the first time you see it. You just get caught up in it. Second time you see it, you'll pick up on things you missed.
Also,
while I usually hate time-travel as a plot device, the way this film does it at least sticks a little more closely to the loophole in special relativity that leaves the door open ever so slightly to the notion of going back in time. That is, you can only go back as far as the date the time-machine became operational, no further.
Zoku Gojira on
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
30 Rock is really great once you get about 6 episodes in. It's solid until then, but unspectacular except for Baldwin who is always great. I say this about the show even though I almost completely hate Tracey Morgan.
War, Inc. is not that bad. Don't get me wrong. It's not great. It's got a lot of problems. Lots. But it's got a lot of weird goodness, too. I wouldn't say you go out of your way to watch it, but if you have time and don't mind catching a flawed flick for about an hour and half, it's worth that. Plus, Cusack is always great. Speaking of Cusack being great...Grosse Point Blank. It's Instant View. If you haven't seen it, you are a fool. A damn fool. Still as great as it was in '97. Fuck yeah! Watch it! Or I'll fuck your brain hole!
Severance - It's not near as funny as it thinks it is, but other than that, it's a damn fine horror flick. My favorite thing about it is that the characters react like real people and not just objects waiting to be bleed and carved.
For fans of MST3k:
Two of The Film Crew movies are on there. So far I've only watched Killers from Space which was pretty funny. It was exactly what you would expect. Could do without the sketches but whatever. I like it better than Cinematic Titanic but it's not as fun as seeing new movies get the treatment - I think Rifftrax has spoiled me.
PatboyX on
"lenny bruce is not afraid..."
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freakish lightbutterdick jonesand his heavenly asshole machineRegistered Userregular
War, Inc. is not that bad. Don't get me wrong. It's not great. It's got a lot of problems. Lots. But it's got a lot of weird goodness, too. I wouldn't say you go out of your way to watch it, but if you have time and don't mind catching a flawed flick for about an hour and half, it's worth that. Plus, Cusack is always great. Speaking of Cusack being great...Grosse Point Blank. It's Instant View. If you haven't seen it, you are a fool. A damn fool. Still as great as it was in '97. Fuck yeah! Watch it! Or I'll fuck your brain hole!
High Fidelity, too. It's also on Instant.
Vintage record store owner Rob Gordon (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), because he hasn't changed since they met. In an attempt to figure out where things went wrong, Rob revisits his top five breakups of all time. As he seeks out his former lovers to find out why they dumped him, he continues his efforts to win Laura back. Based on the Nick Hornby novel, the film is a clever, funny tribute to the music scene.
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Yeah, the Starz! deal is when rotating selection was introduced, which I hate...but it also added an order of magnitude more movies I want to watch, so it's a net improvement.
The Netflix instant viewing, though, really works a lot better in conjunction with your normal Netflix queue. Trying to sift through and find something good can be maddening, but building your DVD queue up and then just looking occasionally to see if anything has become available for instant is awesome.
EDIT: I have like 150 movies in my DVD queue, and like 30 or 40 are available for instant...then I've got another 20 or so that I added straight to the instant queue.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
It'll show up in the Instant column, with a Play button.
Ahh, missed that column, since nothing I have in the DVD queue is available on Instant.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Wait a sec. Tell me about this rotating selection. It sounds bad.
Some films have a date in which they will no longer be available on Instant, and then new ones become available. The date displays in the queue, so you are encouraged to bump these up to the top of the queue so you get through them before they go back to DVD only.
For example, the top 8 selections in my Instant queue expire between Dec 30th and Jan 1st. The remaining 60-some have no date listed.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Yeah, it kinda sucks...especially because a lot of the movies I see expiring didn't used to have any sort of expiration date attached. I think like half my instant queue expires over winter break.
It's not a huge deal to me, because I mostly see Instant as something to augment my DVD queue (as in "oh, I don't feel like watching this DVD I just received tonight anymore but I do feel like watching this other one in my queue that's on Instant...cool"), but , and not some kind of standalone service. But when they're trying to shill devices specifically for Instant viewing, they really need to beef up their selection.
I guess it'll really depend, for me, on what titles become newly available when all these ones expire.
EDIT: For clarity, I don't use an Xbox for my Instant viewing, I just use my PC and a set of cables permanently hooked to my entertainment system (optical out, VGA out, and a cheap wireless keyboard/mouse receiver...it all hides really nicely, and my computer is both quiet and relatively small). I'm thinking of dropping about $300 and building a decent little media center PC, something that will largely just pull data off the network (and play shit like Netflix and Hulu). Especially if Netflix ever adds Linux support (or if I buy the wife a new computer with Vista pre-installed freeing up my old retail copy of XP).
Meet Bill was a fairly standard mid-life crisis tale and I queued it pretty much because of Aaron Eckhart. If you liked him in Thank You For Smoking, I'd recommend this one. It was decently absurd at points, and Eckhart was convincingly awkward and desperate. Also, he punches Timothy Olyphant right in his face.
Fido was good, clean camp about Zombies being tamed and used as household labor. It's a pretty funny movie, and Billy Connelly is pretty awesome as a zombie.
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
Oh yeah, anybody who hasn't seen Fido should queue it up.
Meet Bill has been sitting towards the top of my queue for months now, I just keep bumping crap past it. I'll get to it eventually. I still haven't even seen Thank You For Smoking
Avoid it. Seriously bad.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
How long does the instant movies take to load on the Xbox? Are they in HD? Does your equipment need to be HDCP compatible? Is there support for 5.1 etc...
I ask because I have been considering netflix for a while, and I already have an AppleTV, which I can rent and buy indvidual movies in HD if I want. However, renting and buying movies indivdually can be expensive, even though it is still cheaper than Blockbuster. I was looking at this to see if it is a viable alternative.
Steam/PSN/XBox Live:LutExIV
Ten to fifteen seconds. Yes. No. Not sure. It's a really smooth experience and you should try it.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
YES. Hearing his rant about the whole Jon Peters/Superman experience is amazing. To my knowledge a third DVD hasn't been released yet, but the first two comprise three lectures total, so maybe that's where the confusion is.
Edit - Nevermind, just saw someone's comment about the third DVD being out already. Hopefully that will be added to stream soon!
XBL/PSN-Polaris314/Twitter/DJ P0LARI5
The HD quality is decent but not great.
Sweet, thanks. I guess I'll just have to try it out then. 8-)
Steam/PSN/XBox Live:LutExIV
Also, I'm getting a PS3 and was interested in Netflix's Blu-Ray selection, until I saw the catch that adding the ability to receive Blu-Ray movies will add another dollar onto the monthly fee. I'm trying to figure out if its going to be worth it.
|Xbox Live Tag: Omeks
|PSN Tag: Omeks_R7
|Rock Band: Profile|DLC Collection
If you have a tv that's 50" or bigger, it is.
Below that, it's questionable. A good upscaling DVD player (which the ps3 is) will likely do a better job of scaling than your TV will, and produce a great picture from a DVD. At less than 50", the difference between that and bluray isn't huge. At below 42", it becomes very difficult to see a difference.
I've managed to get a full 4 bar HD stream for a few episodes of 30 Rock, but I always lost it within the first couple of minutes.
Ah. Well I guess old information is old. I'll note that either this is an Xbox-only thing, or they simply haven't updated their FAQ, because the Instant FAQ still lists max quality at 3mbps and "DVD quality" (which is to say 480p).
EDIT: Doesn't affect me, because we can't maintain 8mbps on our connection anyway. I really don't care much about upscaling the picture, I expect no better than DVD quality over the interwebs...but I'd kill for fucking 5.1 surround sound, which would only add like 300kbps to the stream.
It's a fucking dollar. What plan are you on? We're on the 3 out plan, so you figure 17$ to 18$ is no big difference. Even on our 37", the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray on a well-mastered movie is pretty noticeable (and we're only at 1080i). On a poorly mastered movie (like many older titles) less so. Still, I recommend it.
If nothing else, it can be turned off or on at any time. Spend a dollar, check a couple out, and decide.
So I'm starting to see this less as a movie rental service, and more like having on-demand cable.
Which isn't exactly a bad thing, but I think I kind of needed to wrap my head around it before I understood the value.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
I'm pretty sure it was awesome, but...what the hell did I just watch? Can anyone summarize? I want to make sure I understood what was going on right.
Ill try...
This is the most confusing movie ever, but I really loved figuring it out, and found this graphic to help me understand the movie immensely.
Dammit, I cant get the picture to embed. It's here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Time_Travel_Method-2.svg
Basically, because LATER in the movie as we view it they start backstabbing each other by going back in time (earlier than the 4 hours or so they used to do it), and the way time travel is structured in the movie, the scene where Abe approaches Aaron and Aaron claims to be listening to the basketball game the first time - that's really like Aaron #5 or something. He's listening to the previous conversation, which is why when he keeps going back to that moment to document what happens (as he uses that moment to start the chain of events that will lead to him being a hero at the party), and Abe is all fucked up from also travelling, Aaron spouts off responses that don't make any sense - he's reciting lines, but the script has changed.
This EXTREMELY detailed chart is massive, but seems to be pretty accurate.
http://www.terminally-incoherent.com.nyud.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/primer_timeline.jpg
I'd love to talk specifics, but am being vague because I don't want to de-rail the thread, and Primer could most likely get it's own thread. But the most interesting thing I read about the one part that stuck out most as not making sense (the scene where that guy goes into a coma, presumabley from them getting too close and fucking up time) was that the intent was to put the viewer in the place of Abe and Aaron. You don't understand why he collapsed? Neither do they. You don't get why that would cause a coma? Neither do they. The writer said that because no one has time travelled, he tried to make thier theories and ideas come from what the viewer would be thinking. Did they NEED to hold up in a hotel to make sure they didn't interfere with the duplicates? Who knows? But would YOU risk it?
All in all, I really found the movie to be very very interesting.
Oh god, you seriously need to see Thank You for Smoking. It. Is. Fantastic.
Within five minute of pressing play, my wife and I had decided we needed to own it.
Somethings steam HD, some SD. I haven't found a way to distinguish between the two short of actually playing them, though. And the only thing I've found in HD so far is 30 Rock.
As for time to play, I'm on Comcast cable internet, and if I'm not currently downloading anything, total time to from pressing play to streaming is about 20-30 seconds.
30 Rock looks to be about 720p.
Thanks, that actually helps a lot and makes a lot of sense. Seems I had the right idea for the most part but missed some of the intricate details. Both of those images helped kind of put everything together.
With that said, I don't want to derail the thread either so the last point I'll make is to agree with the other recommendations for you all to watch this movie. It's only 77 minutes anyway so what the heck?
I've found The Office and 30 Rock to both be in HD. Strangely enough, The Office would always start in HD but scale down less than 30 seconds in. Sometimes it would scale down so bad that it looked like you installed Youtube on the 360 and full-screened the video. 30 Rock almost never scales down, though, and has never looked as bad as The Office did.
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Weird, I've been plowing through episodes of The Office and haven't experienced this yet. I read someone post something about their servers getting hammered with the introduction of the TiVo service - maybe that's the cause? I haven't been watching them in "prime hours" exactly.
I've had one or two episodes of 30 Rock look so bad that when the camera angle was wide enough to fit multiple people into a scene or conversation, you couldn't use their faces to tell who they were.
You're not supposed to understand Primer the first time you see it. You just get caught up in it. Second time you see it, you'll pick up on things you missed.
Also,
War, Inc. is not that bad. Don't get me wrong. It's not great. It's got a lot of problems. Lots. But it's got a lot of weird goodness, too. I wouldn't say you go out of your way to watch it, but if you have time and don't mind catching a flawed flick for about an hour and half, it's worth that. Plus, Cusack is always great. Speaking of Cusack being great...Grosse Point Blank. It's Instant View. If you haven't seen it, you are a fool. A damn fool. Still as great as it was in '97. Fuck yeah! Watch it! Or I'll fuck your brain hole!
Severance - It's not near as funny as it thinks it is, but other than that, it's a damn fine horror flick. My favorite thing about it is that the characters react like real people and not just objects waiting to be bleed and carved.
Two of The Film Crew movies are on there. So far I've only watched Killers from Space which was pretty funny. It was exactly what you would expect. Could do without the sketches but whatever. I like it better than Cinematic Titanic but it's not as fun as seeing new movies get the treatment - I think Rifftrax has spoiled me.
High Fidelity, too. It's also on Instant.
Vintage record store owner Rob Gordon (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), because he hasn't changed since they met. In an attempt to figure out where things went wrong, Rob revisits his top five breakups of all time. As he seeks out his former lovers to find out why they dumped him, he continues his efforts to win Laura back. Based on the Nick Hornby novel, the film is a clever, funny tribute to the music scene.
Also a decent pre-huge fame Jack Black role.
Heroes fans, see if you can recognize Malcolm McDowell. Hell, Fallout 3 fans too.