Netflix & WB have reached a deal that will delay your ability to rent DVD's they day they become available @ retailers for an aditional 28 days, but will allow Netflix to bring more content to their streaming service. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-06/netflix-warner-bros-end-dispute-reach-deal-on-dvds-update3-.html

Great - now if only my streaming NetFlix worked worth a damn!

A month's delay on new movies releases in exchange for more streaming content is an exchange I'd make in a hearteat. I'm actually amazed by the video quality I get from streaming. I've only got a 3.0mbps connection and most of the time I can't distiguish between streaming and DVD. It ain't Blu-ray, or even OTA HD, but it's very watchable. I'm also impressed with how well rewind and fast-forward work.

i have a 1.5Mb connection and streaming netflix, along w/ hulu and internet TV, works perfectly on my machine.

brantmacga

... works perfectly on my machine.

 

same here. i wish it were HD quality, but until that time comes it is certainly watchable.

 In my experience, NetFlix is better quality than Hulu.    Could be Sliverlight vs Flash....

Well, and I have bitched about this in the Comcast Houston forums until I am blue in the face, and had half a dozen Comcast truck rolls, I cannot get consistent streaming, even though my download speed constantly measures 6-10MBs! It is driving me crazy, and I don't know where to look - even hooking my PC directly to the cable modem, still get constant hesitations, on 2 different PCs! Are there any throughput tweaks I could try? I have had my cable modem replaced TWICE, so I don't think that is it.

 Are any of you that post great streaming results on Comcast Houston?

According to other articles, the "more content" is actually triple the current WB offerings. Not bad.

Actually, I think I've noticed Hulu getting worse lately.    I wouldn't put it past Comcast to be throttling the streams to drive customers back to the cablebox PPV.  

Have you tried adjusting the resolution as described here?    I haven't had to do this for NetFlix, but it's been reported to help with Hulu.

mpatnode76

Actually, I think I've noticed Hulu getting worse lately.    I wouldn't put it past Comcast to be throttling the streams to drive customers back to the cablebox PPV.  

Have you tried adjusting the resolution as described here?    I haven't had to do this for NetFlix, but it's been reported to help with Hulu.

i've noticed the quality of hulu dropping also. i have the quality setting in hulu desktop on "high" (which i think is 480p), and while the picture is great, it drops a lot of frames. i pause to let the buffer get full and it never pauses throughout the movie or TV show. the frame dropping is getting really annoying though.

mmatheny

Are any of you that post great streaming results on Comcast Houston?

Not here. I'm using ATT DSL. Perhaps the symmetricallity of DSL connections helps with streaming video even though the downput of cable is greater.

Yeah, I'm thinking real hard about giving up the fast download speeds of cable for the much better streaming of DSL. Next time Verizon sends me a trial package, I think I'll jump on it.

It could be that the akaimi (sp?) server that is serving the video to you is over loaded...

I noticed that my hulu video streams would change hosts about 1 - 2 min into the show.  I found out via dns lookups and checking open network sockets, that the stream started out in the Internet world, and then transferred to an akaimi server in my ISP's network (ping times from internet work in the 80 ms, to 10 ms when on my ISP network).  You would think that would be good, however in my case the locally served content wasn't coming in fast enough.  I suspect that the ISP was throtling the traffic to the Akaimi server, or the akaimi server was doing that due to some licensing...

 You might try to use non comcast DNS servers to try and change the akaimi server that you stream from...  (I don't really know how akaimi detects where you are, but local DNS hooks sound the easiest).  IP source could also be an option, which would be difficult to change.

 BTW, my Hulu slow downs where happening when I could download at about 15 Mbps from other locations going through my ISP...

Good Luck.

I'm using Google DNS now.

Is the Google DNS better or worse than your local ISP?