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The Netflix (and everything streaming) Thread: Unlimited timekilling for pennies a day

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    Captain TragedyCaptain Tragedy Registered User regular
    I feel like Friday Night Lights deserves full attention (well maybe not S2, but that's another discussion). I mean, it's not overly complex or anything, but I feel like the performances and everything are worth a full watch.

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    DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    mcdermott wrote: »
    LostNinja wrote: »
    Eddy wrote: »
    I think that's deliberate, so people subscribe to both services. maybe in a few years when we all have sweet Google fiber?

    It always has the opposite effect on me. Instead of considering upping my subscription, everytime it happens I always consider switching to a different service like amazon, but then I look through my watch list and remember why that wont be happening...

    I have Prime. It's not much better. Perhaps the particular shows you enjoy happen to be available for Prime streaming, but overall their selection is...honestly, it's not that much weaker anymore, but it's certainly not better.

    Prime's biggest failing is the interface... whether you're watching on the PC or on any device with Amazon Prime streaming, the interface is so bad it's kind of offensive.

    It's funny because on my Roku it feels the exact opposite. Though this is mainly because I watch a bunch of series and right on the control in Prime is "Next Episode" while in fucking Netflix it's "Next series/movie/shit you don't want".

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
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    LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    I feel like Friday Night Lights deserves full attention (well maybe not S2, but that's another discussion). I mean, it's not overly complex or anything, but I feel like the performances and everything are worth a full watch.

    Ugh, I almost quit watching season 2 got so bad with the
    Laundry murder plot line
    , take out that one plot line and it wasn't so bad.

    The rest of the series is fantastic though

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    mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    I feel like Friday Night Lights deserves full attention (well maybe not S2, but that's another discussion). I mean, it's not overly complex or anything, but I feel like the performances and everything are worth a full watch.

    Oh, shit, yeah Season 2 is a "read the synopsis on wikipedia" sort of season. I mean, you can do worse things with your time, but if you find it hard to keep going on just read the summary and skip that shit, it gets better.

    And I could definitely see it being a show worthy of full attention. But I kinda feel like most shows are. Like, I can't think of many shows that fall perfectly into the category of "not shitty, so I want to kinda watch it, but not that good either so I'm okay halfassing it."

    Or, rather, most shows kinda fit that. Just pick a show you think you might be kinda interested in, and go with it? Lie to Me, Suits, Bones, Supernatural, Burn Notice, The Office, hell even shit like L&O or CSI or any number of shitty procedurals. Note that some of those are shows I love and gave full attention to, I'm just saying pretty much any show that's reasonably popular is probably decent enough as background entertainment.

    Or maybe I'm just not understanding the criteria here?

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    LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    mcdermott wrote: »
    I feel like Friday Night Lights deserves full attention (well maybe not S2, but that's another discussion). I mean, it's not overly complex or anything, but I feel like the performances and everything are worth a full watch.

    Oh, shit, yeah Season 2 is a "read the synopsis on wikipedia" sort of season. I mean, you can do worse things with your time, but if you find it hard to keep going on just read the summary and skip that shit, it gets better.

    And I could definitely see it being a show worthy of full attention. But I kinda feel like most shows are. Like, I can't think of many shows that fall perfectly into the category of "not shitty, so I want to kinda watch it, but not that good either so I'm okay halfassing it."

    Or, rather, most shows kinda fit that. Just pick a show you think you might be kinda interested in, and go with it? Lie to Me, Suits, Bones, Supernatural, Burn Notice, The Office, hell even shit like L&O or CSI or any number of shitty procedurals. Note that some of those are shows I love and gave full attention to, I'm just saying pretty much any show that's reasonably popular is probably decent enough as background entertainment.

    Or maybe I'm just not understanding the criteria here?

    I think Suits is a full attention show just because the back and forth dialog is great.

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    TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    This is why Netflix needs to scoop up all those TGIF comedies instead of crap like Accidentally on Purpose or Til Death.

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    mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    LostNinja wrote: »
    mcdermott wrote: »
    I feel like Friday Night Lights deserves full attention (well maybe not S2, but that's another discussion). I mean, it's not overly complex or anything, but I feel like the performances and everything are worth a full watch.

    Oh, shit, yeah Season 2 is a "read the synopsis on wikipedia" sort of season. I mean, you can do worse things with your time, but if you find it hard to keep going on just read the summary and skip that shit, it gets better.

    And I could definitely see it being a show worthy of full attention. But I kinda feel like most shows are. Like, I can't think of many shows that fall perfectly into the category of "not shitty, so I want to kinda watch it, but not that good either so I'm okay halfassing it."

    Or, rather, most shows kinda fit that. Just pick a show you think you might be kinda interested in, and go with it? Lie to Me, Suits, Bones, Supernatural, Burn Notice, The Office, hell even shit like L&O or CSI or any number of shitty procedurals. Note that some of those are shows I love and gave full attention to, I'm just saying pretty much any show that's reasonably popular is probably decent enough as background entertainment.

    Or maybe I'm just not understanding the criteria here?

    I think Suits is a full attention show just because the back and forth dialog is great.

    I think it depends entirely on taste and how much free time you have. I didn't start Suits until like a month ago, because I simply didn't have time and had plenty of other equally good shows to watch. But yeah, love it.

    Pretty much everything I just listed I've given my full attention to...I think Lie to Me, L&O, and CSI are the only exceptions (even those last two I watched in the past, at least for a time).

    I mean, maybe I'm weird in that in general I kinda feel like anything worth watching is worth giving full attention to...I can't think of any shows that are just mediocre enough to be worth kinda watching. That's why Always Sunny was my Diablo-grindin' show. It's a great show, and worth full attention, but it had also been perennially pushed down on my list of shit to watch, so I figured I was never gonna get around to "properly" watching it. So better to halfway watch a great show than to halfway watch a mediocre show (and never watch that great show at all).

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    VariableVariable Mouth Congress Stroke Me Lady FameRegistered User regular
    emp123 wrote: »
    I could rewatch Its Always Sunny, but I feel bad not giving it my full attention. Friday Night Lights is in my queue, how soap opera/romancy is it?

    if you rewatch it enough times it's okay if you don't give it 100% every time :P

    BNet-Vari#1998 | Switch-SW 6960 6688 8388 | Steam | Twitch
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    JibbaJibba Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    emp123 wrote: »
    I could rewatch Its Always Sunny, but I feel bad not giving it my full attention. Friday Night Lights is in my queue, how soap opera/romancy is it?

    FNL is sports soap opera-y but the drama isn't that artificial, at least not anymore than it is with actual over dramatic teenagers.

    I dare say Eric and Tammy Taylor are the best tv couple ever. Seriously.

    Oh, I forgot about s2. Yeah, that was terrible.I believe that was during the writer strike.

    Jibba on
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    JibbaJibba Registered User regular
    And there are some terrific parts in s2, but fast forward through that one dumb sub plot.

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    Captain TragedyCaptain Tragedy Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    The season was shortened due to the writer's strike (22 episodes to 15), but that really didn't have anything with that plot or anything else wrong with S2, since that plot was written well before the strike. It was just a bad idea that didn't fit the show and should have never happened in the first place.

    I will say that, despite the terribleness of that one plot-line, the performances by the two actors involved were still pretty good.

    Captain Tragedy on
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    JibbaJibba Registered User regular
    Fair enough.

    S2 still has the
    episodes with Matt and his father and the scene in the shower (don't worry, it's not bad at all)
    so still worth watching.

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    JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    Friday Night Lights is freaking fantastic, and I can't believe it was a network TV drama to be honest after having watched it. Season 2 was definitely the low point, but I didn't hate it, it just wasn't as good as the rest.

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    ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA mod
    I no longer use Netflix's Xbox app. Whoever made the decision to make it autoplay on first press for TV shows is an asshole. I have a Roku and a PS3, so I use them instead. Preferably the Roku, because while the PS3 lets you pick an episode first, it continues autoplay after that.

    smCQ5WE.jpg
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    KrieghundKrieghund Registered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    mcdermott wrote: »
    LostNinja wrote: »
    Eddy wrote: »
    I think that's deliberate, so people subscribe to both services. maybe in a few years when we all have sweet Google fiber?

    It always has the opposite effect on me. Instead of considering upping my subscription, everytime it happens I always consider switching to a different service like amazon, but then I look through my watch list and remember why that wont be happening...

    I have Prime. It's not much better. Perhaps the particular shows you enjoy happen to be available for Prime streaming, but overall their selection is...honestly, it's not that much weaker anymore, but it's certainly not better.

    Prime's biggest failing is the interface... whether you're watching on the PC or on any device with Amazon Prime streaming, the interface is so bad it's kind of offensive.

    It's funny because on my Roku it feels the exact opposite. Though this is mainly because I watch a bunch of series and right on the control in Prime is "Next Episode" while in fucking Netflix it's "Next series/movie/shit you don't want".

    That's odd. The Netflix interface on my PS3 has a "Next Episode" button. I've been watching Cosmos lately and it will even automatically go to the next episode if you aren't paying attention when the current episode ends. It will only do that a couple times before it asks you if you're still awake, though.

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    ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Elki wrote: »
    I no longer use Netflix's Xbox app. Whoever made the decision to make it autoplay on first press for TV shows is an asshole. I have a Roku and a PS3, so I use them instead. Preferably the Roku, because while the PS3 lets you pick an episode first, it continues autoplay after that.

    It is a relatively simple process to stop it from autoplaying, but it's a bit annoying. If only because shows like Dirty Jobs continue after what Netflix assumes is the "end" with more humor.

    Then, I could never get our Roku to work right. The streaming quality on it was always terrible.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
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    Romero ZombieRomero Zombie Registered User regular
    Ahh Netflix - how I love thee. Some gems of mine.

    Tucker and Dale VS Evil - Watched this on a whim one day and loved it. Quite funny
    Doctor Who - Have 2005+ as well as the classics. I just recently started watching this and it's a riot.
    Battlestar Galactica - This was a show when it was out, I wanted to watch but because of scheduling, I could never get to it.
    High School of the Dead - Anime, so lot's of T&A and all that comes with an anime, but a fun show with zombies and kids.
    Justice League/Unlimited - both really damn good. I would catch a show from time to time when it was on with my son but the story lines are pretty impressive and I found myself hushing my son (4 years old) while watching it.

    Lot's of others, but those are some of the ones I've really enjoyed

    steam_sig.png
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    jefe414jefe414 "My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter" Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered User regular
    Elki wrote: »
    I no longer use Netflix's Xbox app. Whoever made the decision to make it autoplay on first press for TV shows is an asshole. I have a Roku and a PS3, so I use them instead. Preferably the Roku, because while the PS3 lets you pick an episode first, it continues autoplay after that.

    The XBox netflix app was so good when it was first introduced. I now never use it (or their other apps) and simply plug my laptop into my TV through HDMI.



    Xbox Live: Jefe414
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    LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    I prefer the ps3 app the most, it is a lot easier to skip ahead and to back up to specific parts in a show or movie

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    TommattTommatt Registered User regular
    I know people are always looking for new shows, and somebody was looking for something they can have running in th background. I'll often choose futurama for background, but a show I recently discovered and fell in love with is warehouse 13. It's a scyfy original and 3 seasons are on Netflix.

    To me it's like a cross between the old Friday the 13th tv show and NCIS. 2 secret service agents are tasked with tracking down dangerous artifacts, objects from history imbued with special powers related to their owner. Sometimes great inventors, others dangerous people. Some episodes are light hearts and silly, while others can be quite dark and brutal.

    It's mostly monster of the week type stuff, with certain reoccurring plot lines thorought the season. I also really love th chemistry between the two main characters, the female ss agent is pretty attractive in a certain way, and they introduce this hacker girl to th cast that is pretty awesome as well.

    I'd recommend checking it out. I'm waiting for S4. Scyfy and USA suck how they put shows up on Hulu, I have to wait till Netflix gets S4

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    ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA mod
    I've posted this before, elsewhere. While searching to find Netflix's 4K streaming timeline, I found this quote from their product officer.
    [Question]: If you were talking to the Hollywood film studios and TV networks now, what would you tell them?

    The message is that we need to get better quality sources, closer to the original, but mostly they need to do a better job of managing and tracking the assets. We have a ridiculous 30 percent reject rate of assets delivered to us. I can't imagine any other industry surviving when they misdeliver three out of ten different assets. We get the wrong episode, or we get a soundtrack that doesn't match the content, or it has a giant drop-out, or the ads haven't been stripped out. There are lots of problems that have to deal with tracking and management. We need a digital asset-management system that is shared across the industry, a standard or format. A couple decades ago Walmart pushed very hard on EDI [electronic data interchange, the systems used by big companies to send and track orders] and working with their suppliers to get robust, on-time delivery. We need to go through that process with delivery of digital assets.

    Then what we need is a high quality digital mezzanine — the industry term for the transfer of assets. We generally now get at least full 1080p high bitrate video from most suppliers. We're pretty agnostic in terms of format, whether it's MPEG-2 or H.264 at a high bitrate. Some of it comes in a professional-encoding standard that's lightly compressed. We get maybe 50 or 100Mbits a second and that's okay, although we'd be happy with formats even closer to the original, if available. We have plenty of storage in the cloud. We can handle that stuff. The format it comes in is less important than making sure it's the right thing with the right amount of lead in, that doesn't truncate at the end, that the audio matches the video where the subtitles match the audio. It can be a big pain.

    http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/14/4098896/netflix-chief-product-officer-neil-hunt-expect-4k-streaming-within-a-year-or-two

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    nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding

    we'll see once this gets widespread usage

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    mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    ....the old Friday the 13th tv show...

    Ha, there's one I haven't thought about in forever. Remember staying up late as a kid to watch it.


    And that was interesting, Elki. I definitely notice that some sources are much, much worse than others. I get it if a studio doesn't want a given film available in HD, that's fine. But for heaven's sake, give it to them in a high enough quality that they can at least make a decent SD stream out of it...I run into films that look like they ripped from early-era DVDs by amateurs, and compressed as hard as possible for sending out over the gnutellas.

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    TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    It really doesn't surprise me that 30% of what they get is the wrong stuff. Hollywood, where delivering only 70% of our product to the license holder is a triumph! /Jay Sherman

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    ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA mod
    Do you guys use Instawatcher?

    http://instantwatcher.com/titles/visual

    I don't use it for discovering new things, but it makes it easy to quickly check for new stuff that I've wanted to watch.

    smCQ5WE.jpg
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    gundam470gundam470 Drunk Gorilla CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    I recently found out that The House I Live In has been added. Has anyone seen it yet? It's supposed to be really good.

    gorillaSig.jpg
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    JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    gundam470 wrote: »
    I recently found out that The House I Live In has been added. Has anyone seen it yet? It's supposed to be really good.

    My wife and I watched it last week. It's very good, albeit a bit depressing as shows about failed policies that ruin lives can be. If while watching The Wire you had a huge desire to go help end the war on drugs, prepare to get a big sign out and get ready to march because this movie will make you want to.

    The day after we watched it was when Eric Holder announced that they were going to stop using mandatory minimum sentencing laws against those charged with drug crimes if they were nonviolent and had no ties to gangs/cartels, so there was that bright spot that was conveniently timed for us.

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    jefe414jefe414 "My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter" Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered User regular
    Tommatt wrote: »
    I know people are always looking for new shows, and somebody was looking for something they can have running in th background. I'll often choose futurama for background, but a show I recently discovered and fell in love with is warehouse 13. It's a scyfy original and 3 seasons are on Netflix.

    To me it's like a cross between the old Friday the 13th tv show and NCIS. 2 secret service agents are tasked with tracking down dangerous artifacts, objects from history imbued with special powers related to their owner. Sometimes great inventors, others dangerous people. Some episodes are light hearts and silly, while others can be quite dark and brutal.

    It's mostly monster of the week type stuff, with certain reoccurring plot lines thorought the season. I also really love th chemistry between the two main characters, the female ss agent is pretty attractive in a certain way, and they introduce this hacker girl to th cast that is pretty awesome as well.

    I'd recommend checking it out. I'm waiting for S4. Scyfy and USA suck how they put shows up on Hulu, I have to wait till Netflix gets S4

    It got my attention when it was first announced. It looked to me like we get to see what happens at the warehouse where they stored the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

    TOP MEN.

    Xbox Live: Jefe414
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    DeadfallDeadfall I don't think you realize just how rich he is. In fact, I should put on a monocle.Registered User regular
    I absolutely adore Warehouse 13. It's just the right mix of sci fi and silliness.

    7ivi73p71dgy.png
    xbl - HowYouGetAnts
    steam - WeAreAllGeth
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    JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    TexiKen wrote: »
    Variable wrote: »
    TexiKen wrote: »
    The main character isn't a Mary Sue like Nancy was on Weeds is she? Because in later seasons of that show it got ridiculous.

    does that term really apply to nancy botwin?

    She was this uber in control sexpot who had men falling in line just to be around her, and any negative repercussions of her actions weren't shown.
    any attempts to show how a housewife would be out of her league in dealing with drug trafficking and even going to prison were almost handwaved away, and then in the end she's a mega millionaire and Andy comes back to her.

    She was fine in seasons 1-3 because you had her freak out with things like getting shot at for the first time or trying to find that weed for U-Turn, then her plot armor gets ramped up a whole lot in later seasons.

    that's just bad writing, not a "mary sue," though

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    SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    Gnizmo wrote: »
    emp123 wrote: »
    Darlan wrote: »
    It looks like Amazon Prime is about to lose the Star Trek shows. :( I was really enjoying watching TNG for the first time, but only made it to Season 4.

    Good news, all the episodes are available on Netflix.


    Does anyone have a suggestion for a tv show I can half watch while I play video games? Ive watched Lost (holy fuck that ending was dumb, and completely unnecessary), Alphas, and am currently watching MacGyver (well, Ive watched the first episode, but Im not super sure Im into it). It needs to be something I can enjoy by only half paying attention to, so stuff like Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The West Wing, etc are out.

    EDIT: I was going to watch Quantum Leap, but its missing episodes and it probably end up in the same category as MacGyver). Can I half watch Fringe and not miss much? What about Caprica?

    Stargate is always a fun choice if it is back on Netflix right now. I know it is on Amazon Prime if you have that. Cheesy scifi at its best if you ask me. Fringe I have taken to half watching with my wife and I tend to miss a lot. Sometimes to my benefit as I get pissed when they screw up the basic science. Sliders is another fun one up until Season 3. Season 4 is tolerable. Season 5 is... probably a war crime honestly. Eureka is also pretty amazingly fun. It is a light hearted version of Fringe really that works well as a background show. Especially after Season 2 when they drop a lot of the drama in favor of humor.

    100% agreed on Sliders. I ground through season 5 just to say I watched the whole show

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    ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    While we're discussing series, the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones is on Netflix. It's much better than you might think.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
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    MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    Really?

    For some reason I just imagine it being the first part of Last Crusade, but a series.

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    jefe414jefe414 "My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter" Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered User regular
    There were two actors who played Young Indiana Jones (since the stories came from two different parts of his life). The first was a young boy ( and I don't remember liking those episodes). The other was played by Sean Patrick Flanery (of Boondock Saints fame) and those I recall enjoying quite a bit.

    Xbox Live: Jefe414
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    DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    Yeah, Young Indiana Jones was different than the movies, but I thought they were good when I saw them (first broadcast, so... back in the day). It mostly revolved around Indy knowing a pile of languages and solving mysteries with some adventure mixed in, not fighting Nazis on the backs of tanks.

    The reason it got cancelled wasn't due to quality, it's that it cost a ludicrous amount of money to make (period sets & costumes are serious business).

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    TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Elki wrote: »
    I no longer use Netflix's Xbox app. Whoever made the decision to make it autoplay on first press for TV shows is an asshole. I have a Roku and a PS3, so I use them instead. Preferably the Roku, because while the PS3 lets you pick an episode first, it continues autoplay after that.

    I tried to watch Hetalia on the XBOX player for Netflix a year or so ago before they added auto continue to it. Having to go back to the episode list to start the next episode every time on a show with 4 minute episodes was totally not worth it. So glad they fixed that.

    steam_sig.png
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    OldSlackerOldSlacker Registered User regular
    Yeah, Young Indiana Jones was different than the movies, but I thought they were good when I saw them (first broadcast, so... back in the day). It mostly revolved around Indy knowing a pile of languages and solving mysteries with some adventure mixed in, not fighting Nazis on the backs of tanks.

    The reason it got cancelled wasn't due to quality, it's that it cost a ludicrous amount of money to make (period sets & costumes are serious business).
    I tried watching it because I recall liking some episodes back when they aired on TV, but I really missed the framework of old Indy narrating the whole thing.

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    ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA mod
    Elki wrote: »
    I no longer use Netflix's Xbox app. Whoever made the decision to make it autoplay on first press for TV shows is an asshole. I have a Roku and a PS3, so I use them instead. Preferably the Roku, because while the PS3 lets you pick an episode first, it continues autoplay after that.

    I tried to watch Hetalia on the XBOX player for Netflix a year or so ago before they added auto continue to it. Having to go back to the episode list to start the next episode every time on a show with 4 minute episodes was totally not worth it. So glad they fixed that.

    The other apps highlight the next episode for you. You can just hit play if you want, or go into the list to switch to a different season/episode.

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    ThomamelasThomamelas Only one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered User regular
    Elki wrote: »
    Do you guys use Instawatcher?

    http://instantwatcher.com/titles/visual

    I don't use it for discovering new things, but it makes it easy to quickly check for new stuff that I've wanted to watch.

    I just use it for what's new. Or sometimes sorting stuff by RT score.

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    DarlanDarlan Registered User regular
    emp123 wrote: »
    Darlan wrote: »
    It looks like Amazon Prime is about to lose the Star Trek shows. :( I was really enjoying watching TNG for the first time, but only made it to Season 4.

    Good news, all the episodes are available on Netflix.
    Looks like they're still there, I'm 8 dollars richer, hooray. (They had a "2 days remaining" warning on them...must have been a mistake.)

    I do hate how out of the way Amazon goes to hide the "your watchlist" option on their site in the most tiny, out of the way place. It should be a honking button up there for Prime subscribers.


This discussion has been closed.