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Author Topic: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.  (Read 10558 times)

sevenlayermuddle

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Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« on: December 29, 2018, 11:05:19 PM »

I browsed Netflix earlier, delighted to see a “new” Black Mirror.   Oddly, the duration showed as 2 minutes.   ???

Turned out the 2 minute duration was just an advert urging me to buy new hardware, telling me my two year old Firefox OS TV didn’t support this Netflix content.   Nor does my Apple TV, despite running latest TVoS. 

Moments later I received an email...

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We noticed you tried to play Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Unfortunately, this is an interactive programme that is only compatible with newer smart TVs, most streaming media players, game consoles and web browsers, and iOS and Android devices running the latest version of the Netflix app.

Heck, my TV is “newer”, it’s only two years old! >:(

And no way do I want to sit fiddling with an iPad or whatever, I just want to watch TV.   This might be the stimulus I need to ditch Netflix.   Darned if I’ll pay a subscription that contributes to making of program material that’s 100% incompatible with perfectly modern TVs.     :(



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chenks

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2018, 01:08:35 PM »

this was a unique situation where the episode was interactive and required certain specs.
but sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but a 2 year old TV running Firefox OS is almost cerainly being close to "obsolete". the TV manufacturer picked a donkey for an OS.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2018, 03:26:01 PM »

Per the TV, what I really wanted was a big, high spec TV, with built in freeview, but no smart features.   Seemed not to be easily available these days, only “smart” TVs with built in obsolescence.  So I settled for the Panasonic, on the basis that at least it wasn’t Android. :D

I’d not mind so much, but the remote has a large and prominent ‘Netflix’ button.  It is so large and prominent that it’s easy to hit by mistake and so even after I cancel Netflix, that darned button will still be there.   I have no doubt at all that Netflix will have paid Panasonic to put the big button on the remote, so you can’t entirely blame Panasonic.

Anyroads, over the past year or so I had already become fed up with Netflix’s inability to get the black levels right on most movies.   A few recent movies have been correctly encoded, but most are still wrong.  This seems to be a well known issue, though it may go unnoticed by the majority of viewers.  Annoys me so much that several times recently, I’ve paid extra to watch the same movie from another source such as iTunes, rather than Netflix’s washed out version for “free”.  Dropping support for my TV is just the final straw.
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chenks

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2018, 03:42:07 PM »

support for your TV hasn't been dropped.
this one-off interactive show didn't exist when your TV came out, you still have access to the same netflix now as you did then.

strange you picked firefox OS over android though, firefox OS was never going to be the standard and was dead before it launched.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2018, 05:11:55 PM »

Consider the simple economics...

Netflix’s money comes from their subscribers, of which I am one.   

They spent some of that money making/buying material that they knew was useless on my TV.   

That leaves less Netflix money to be spent on material that would have been useful to me, so I am getting less material available than I did before, hence my view, they have dropped support for my TV. :(

Thanks anyway for your input, Chenks. :)
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chenks

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2018, 05:17:13 PM »

so are you saying that netflix should only buy in content that is guaranteed to work on every device ever made that has a netflix button on it?
that's just nonsense.

your mistake was that you bought a TV with an obsolete OS on it the day you bought it.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2018, 05:45:06 PM »

Repeat Chenks, many thanks for your comments. :)
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j0hn

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2018, 06:11:00 PM »

I'd rather have an Android TV than Fire OS but ideally neither built in to the TV.
Sony Androids come with a horrible implementation of YouView.

LG make 1 of the best Smart TV systems with WebOS but even that can quickly become outdated.
I helped my neighbour setup an Amazon Echo yesterday. He read that Alexa can be used to control LG Tv's with voice commands so was keen to set it up.
The Alexa integration requires WebOS 4 but his TV only has WebOS 3.5
He bought the TV in the last 2 years so was surprised and disappointed to hear it wouldn't work.

Not many Smart Tv's or even dedicated streaming boxes have all the terrestrial Apps and all the big online players on a single device.
Much better getting a TV with an extra HDMI port and using an external device for streaming apps.

Fire TV, Roku, Now TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, Android boxes, and many more to choose from.
It's considerably cheaper to buy a new streaming stick/box every couple years than it is to buy a new TV with the latest smart tv features.
These sticks and boxes are also much more likely to be kept updated for longer than many Tv's.

I have a 2014 Samsung TV, just before they changed to Tizen OS.
All the main apps that came with the TV still work.
It has the main online apps, Amazon Video, Netflix, YouTube and even Plex.
It has the main terrestrial TV catch up apps, iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My 5 and even has STV Player.

If I were buying a new TV now I would probably buy 1 that comes with Freeview Play. I like how you can play catch up programmes straight from the guide the same way YouView does.

I barely use any of the apps on my TV though and instead watch through my Nvidia Shield TV (Android box).
IMO the Nvidia Shield TV (2017) is the daddy of all 4k streaming boxes.

Comparison with other boxes
Features and Specifications

Frankly the specs are insane for an Android box.

Quote
VIDEO
4K HDR Ready
Up to 4K HDR playback at 60 FPS (H.265/HEVC)
Up to 4K playback at 60 FPS (VP8, VP9, H.264, MPEG1/2)
Up to 1080p playback at 60 FPS (H.263, MJPEG, MPEG4, WMV9/VC1)
Format/Container support: Xvid/ DivX/ASF/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MPEG-TS/MP4/WEB-M

AUDIO
Dolby Atmos
Pass-through

Dolby Atmos (pass-through) and DTS-X surround sound (pass-through) over HDMI
High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192 kHz over HDMI and USB
High-resolution audio up-sample to 24-bit/192 kHz over USB
Audio support: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WAVE, AMR, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, PCM, WMA, WMA-Pro, WMA-Lossless, DD+/DTS (pass-through),
Dolby Atmos (pass-through), Dolby TrueHD (pass-through), DTS-X, and DTS-HD (pass-through)

PROCESSOR
NVIDIA Tegra X1
NVIDIA® Tegra® X1 processor with a 256-core GPU and 3 GB RAM

WIRELESS
802.11ac 2x2 MIMO 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 4.1/BLE

INTERFACE
Gigabit Ethernet
HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support
Two USB 3.0 (Type A)

OPERATING SYSTEM
Android 8.0 (Oreo) powered by Android TV™ and Chromecast™ built in

I also have a gaming PC with an Nvidia graphics cards so the Shield is ideal for using Gamestream .
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2018, 07:30:23 PM »

Freeview play came as a bit of a disappiointment to me.   On the Panasonic at least, it seems to be just a side-door to the TV’s native catch up Apps, ie for BBC progs you find yourself in iPlayer.   And worse, when iPlayer stopped working a few weeks ago, as I refuse to sign up to an account, Freeview Play for BBC also stopped working.   I don’t think Channel 4 or ITV have ever worked, as I refuse to set up accounts for them either.

For anything that’s broadcast OTA  I far prefer trusted old PVR technology.   But then, my “old PVR” is an elaborate MythTV set up, that can record up to 20 channels concurrently, HD channels included, all on a central server available to all my TVs.  And all in the native broadcast bitstreams, so picture quality is as perfect as it was when broadcast, and surround sound works too if it was broadcast (iPlayer/FreeviewPlay often downscales resolution, does not support surround sound).    MythTV is a hard act to follow, and maybe why I am so hard to please.    :)
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Ronski

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2018, 08:56:22 PM »

Come on 7LM, start living in the real world  ;) Things go out of date, things move on, I'm sure you know that if you want to stay up date then stay main stream, it's one program although there may be more. Netflix spends a lot of time and money making content that is useless to a lot of people, simply because it's content they are not interested in. They haven't dropped support for your TV, your TV just doesn't support some of their content.

Both TV's in my house are purely used as monitors, the main TV no longer even has aerial/satellite/network cables connected. We use Mediaportal for TV and recordings (on a central server with quad DVB-S2 tuners). In the cinema room I mainly use an Nvidia Shield TV (which receives regular updates), along with a blu ray player, oh and a Fire TV I haven't used for probably over a year as the shield is so versatile  ;D

« Last Edit: December 30, 2018, 08:58:47 PM by Ronski »
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2018, 09:16:42 PM »

Can’t agree Ronski.   

Things do go out of date, as in kettles, toasters or yoghurt.   But a TV is a pretty major investment.  Since each one being bigger than its predecessor, there is often an overhead in furnishings and room layout to make way for the thing, let alone financial outlay.   I cannot accept it is reasonable of Netflix to expect me to replace every 2-3 years, just to receive the full service for which that I am paying.

Even cheap PCs nowadays usually have a service life of 5 years or more, or at least they do in my household.   That’s not just the Apple devices,  my Linux based diskless MythTV frontends are now 9 years old, still fully functional, having survived several new releases of Myth as well as the transition to HD when freeview HD started, and to 5.1 audio when I got around to buying a sound system.


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niemand

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2018, 10:08:52 PM »

Flipping this around ever paid for Netflix while having a 1080p screen? This mean Netflix shouldn't have introduced 4k content until they knew there were no 1080p screens subscribed to their 4k services?

You're still perfectly capable of using Netflix, just not that specific item on there, much as you were unable to view content in 4k until you'd purchased a 4k-compatible device.

It's a PITA but nothing has been obsoleted. Were you unable to access Netflix at all I'd agree but just this one piece of content not so much - there are many bits of content you can't receive on Netflix UK that are present in other territories for instance.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #12 on: December 30, 2018, 11:24:52 PM »

Netflix charge higher subscriptions for HD vs SD, and for UHD vs HD, so I don’t think there is a comparison with this latest twist.
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niemand

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2018, 12:03:16 AM »

They also force you to pay that to use more than a single screen simultaneously. Anyone wanting to use more than a single stream at once has to pay the next tier up, anyone wanting more than 2 streams must pay for the UHD tier - whether they have 4k-ready devices or not.

Netflix isn't a la carte. Aside from a single episode you're still able to access it. The latest release of Firefox OS was in 2015, the original release 2013. It's not being upgraded anymore so there's no way for apps to support it if they require functionality it doesn't have.

Following the example of PCs cheap PCs can't play the latest games yet you claim they've a service life of 5 years or more. You can do most things with them, but not everything. Some gaming services offer content available as part of the subscription, however people don't complain about not being able to play all of the content despite paying for access to it.

Catering to the lowest common denominator always precludes innovation.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Netflix - two year old TV now obsoleted.
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2018, 12:48:05 AM »

Whatever.
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