Netflix comes to Canada

[Benevolance]

Per Netflix media engine.

It's streaming only and it's about time. I think it's mostly to test the viability of whether a streaming-only service is viable in the US, since Canada makes for a nice, small tech-adopting country with comparable demographics to test the waters in. But it's still welcome news to me.

[opt2not]

It is aboot fricken' time. _{Sorry, I'm Canadian and I had to do it before someone else did.}

[Ginsu Victim]

Streaming only? I hope it's cheaper, because there is a lot about the streaming that is lacking.

[Benevolance]

Then hopefully it's lazy text for digital delivery and not solely streaming. And I'm hopeful that the service will be integrated with the Xbox 360.

[Samstag]

Then hopefully it's lazy text for digital delivery and not solely streaming. And I'm hopeful that the service will be integrated with the Xbox 360.

It has been integrated for quite a long time.

[RayB]

Then hopefully it's lazy text for digital delivery and not solely streaming. And I'm hopeful that the service will be integrated with the Xbox 360.

It has been integrated for quite a long time.

Not     in     Canada.

[JeepMonkey]

I have seriously considered dumping cable for Netflix and internet downloads.

[Samstag]

Then hopefully it's lazy text for digital delivery and not solely streaming. And I'm hopeful that the service will be integrated with the Xbox 360.

It has been integrated for quite a long time.

Not     in     Canada.

Canadians will be using the exact same client we're already using.  The only thing that needs to change is the small number of strings in use will need French translations, if they don't already exist.  It's just a simple video streaming client.  It doesn't need to declare anything at the border.

The Xbox networking protocol already adds an "eh?" to the end of all Canadian packets, so the infrastructure is in place.

[Edgedamage]

Yeah, prepare yourself for paradise.  Seriously.

 

Paradise for me is a private bit torrent site, and utorrent or Vuse running RSS feeds. It's like a PVR.

[Benevolance]

Canadians will be using the exact same client we're already using. It doesn't need to declare anything at the border.

Unfortunately, that arbitrary border causes more problems than not. Services frequently get stripped down before making it into Canada. It's dumb. That's why I hope that the netflix streaming makes it here intact via Xbox Live.

I have seriously considered dumping cable for Netflix and internet downloads.

It's been 13 years now since I've had a tv subscription. I don't really miss it at all, except for sports. But I follow hockey and sumo and both sports are frequently broadcast online.

[Samstag]

Canadians will be using the exact same client we're already using. It doesn't need to declare anything at the border.

Unfortunately, that arbitrary border causes more problems than not. Services frequently get stripped down before making it into Canada. It's dumb. That's why I hope that the netflix streaming makes it here intact via Xbox Live.

That's a given.  You won't necessarily get the same content, but that will all be server-side.  The client is generic and what you have access to will be determined by the server and the netflix account you're logged in as, not the client.

[RayB]

XBOX currently has "Zune videos" instead of Netflix. It's [obviously] a Microsoft service, and has a rather pathetic selection of movies. For example, under "Indie" the ONLY thing available to us is The Guild.

We don't have access to Hulu, we don't have this, and we don't have that. Hell I can't even watch SNL clips or SOuth Park Studios on their official sites because it's US only. (yes, yes, proxy blah blah)

We have a competitor to Netflix here called Zip. They don't have a streaming service but have been talking about it. They have about half a million customers using the DVD by mail service. I'm sure that seems like a drop in the ocean to Netflix's business.

[shmokes]

what you have access to will be determined by the server and the netflix account you're logged in as, not the client.

I'd guess it'll be determined by IP address more than anything.  Which is to say copyright laws.  Netflix has to get streaming rights to content which is why only a fraction of their inventory can be streamed.  And those rights are generally granted by territory.  If I take my laptop to France and log into my Netflix account it's not going to let me stream US content just because I have a US account.  Actually, I haven't tried this but I assume it is the case.

[Samstag]

what you have access to will be determined by the server and the netflix account you're logged in as, not the client.

I'd guess it'll be determined by IP address more than anything.  Which is to say copyright laws.  Netflix has to get streaming rights to content which is why only a fraction of their inventory can be streamed.  And those rights are generally granted by territory.  If I take my laptop to France and log into my Netflix account it's not going to let me stream US content just because I have a US account.  Actually, I haven't tried this but I assume it is the case.

You're absolutely right.  You'll need both a Canadian account and IP to view the licensed Canadian content.

I left that part out because the Canadians seemed to be having difficulty understanding the technical side. 

[RayB]

...................

[Benevolance]

Netflix is now available in Canada. If you have a PC, Wii or PS3, you can begin streaming video immediately. If you have an Xbox 360, you cannot. But they promise it's coming later this fall. Because the client is generic, right? Isn't that how this worked?

Anyway, it's going to be $8 a month for unlimited streaming. And it will be streaming only. Our ISP gives us 60gb a month bandwidth without issue, but we've exceeded it in times past and never been warned. I'm wondering if that will change with the advent of netflix in our area. In the meantime, we've hooked up an HTPC in the greatroom so it doesn't matter that the Xbox service isn't coming for a few months yet.

[Edgedamage]

Netflix is now available in Canada. If you have a PC, Wii or PS3, you can begin streaming video immediately. If you have an Xbox 360, you cannot. But they promise it's coming later this fall. Because the client is generic, right? Isn't that how this worked?

Anyway, it's going to be $8 a month for unlimited streaming. And it will be streaming only. Our ISP gives us 60gb a month bandwidth without issue, but we've exceeded it in times past and never been warned. I'm wondering if that will change with the advent of netflix in our area. In the meantime, we've hooked up an HTPC in the greatroom so it doesn't matter that the Xbox service isn't coming for a few months yet.

If you live in an area covered by teksavvy you can tell rogers or bell to lick your balls. Teksavvy offers 200Gb caps on cable with 10 Mbps down & 1 Mbps up for $42.95.

http://teksavvy.com/en/res-internet.asp

DSL reports gives these guys good ratings.

[jamesjones626]

I'm not from Canada, but I just wanted to say netflix is so awesome.......that is all.

[RayB]

Anyone know if this is a gimped version of Netflix or not?

[Benevolance]

No idea if it's gimped or not, yet. I briefly browsed the database for some of the shows I wanted to catch up, but none were currently offered. I'll probably wait a month or two to see if anything interesting pops up before I order.

Teksavvy doesn't look bad, but if I upgraded to the Telus package that is the same price as the Teksavvy package, I'd get no bandwidth cap and they'd throw in an Xbox 360.

The thing I like is that Teksavvy actually offers additional IPs. We have a lot of computers in our house, and an extra IP or two would make it possible to play Sins of a Solar Empire online, with more than two computers from behind our router.

[RayB]

No idea if it's gimped or not, yet. I briefly browsed the database for some of the shows I wanted to catch up, but none were currently offered.

So it's gimped.

[opt2not]

[Benevolance]

So it's gimped.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you have better taste in movies than I do and luck out. 

[RayB]

Movies? :-D
I was searching for TV shows.

Dexter, Weeds Curb Your Enthusiasm, XFiles, Big Bang Theory, Lost  ... none available to us Canadians!

Heroes is the only one available out of the shows I searched for.

[boykster]

Sounds like they are filtering content for you canadians - weeds, dexter, xfiles, lost are available for the most part in the US.  Big bang theory isn't though, even for us.

Probably a copyright/license issue, but 

I have to day I'm a big fan of netflix streaming specifically for catching up on TV shows.  Movies?  not so much - even in the US their library isn't all that good, and I'd rather wait for the BluRay disc to show up in my mailbox for newer titles.  HD streaming is good, but it's still HD-lite IMHO

[Benevolance]

Maybe they are engaged in a noble effort to prevent American syndication from diluting Canadian culture. They only introduce the programs into Canada very slowly and carefully and weigh the consequences of each in due time.

I'm mostly interested in catching up on TV programs, too. Only I've got a long ways back to go. I was browsing for Hercules,X-files, Xena, Buffy, etc. They have none of what I'm looking for.

[RTSDaddy2]

I'm too lazy to go back and look to see who this was, but I'm with pinball on this....we dumped our cable company like the plague (Comcast) just recently because we took a chance on Netflix and love it.  We only had basic TV coming into our house anyway (local channels). 

What we realized was that everything we wanted to watch was either available through streaming video or was out on streaming video through Netflix.  My kid loves their children's section, and as they just added season 2 of Horseland (and what happened to season 1, by the way?  ) she's in 7th heaven. Mom likes the documentaries (we have started having "Documentary Lunch," since I don't have to be at work until 4:30 PM), and they have a good selection of everything that I lke (mainly TV shows I either missed out on or never saw at all). 

Bottom line: cable got the boot - no sense in paying 75 - 80 dollars a month when 50 with a modem and Netflix fills the bill nicely.