

Netflix live in the UK - EwanToo
http://www.netflix.co.uk

======
xd
They've lost one potential customer already, by forcing the 1 month free trial
onto facebook users only.

Edit: thanks for the down votes! But in my defence, the site is broken in
Chrome which is why I was unable to see an email only link.

~~~
tomstuart
There's an alternative "sign up using email address" link too.

~~~
buro9
I've just been on a 30 minute phone call with them just to find that link.

I've got an adblock for all Facebook rubbish, and the signup without Facebook
link is part of the Facebook item being blocked.

Also, if you have noscript enabled, then you won't see the non-Facebook form
either.

I have signed up, by using Chrome Dev Tools to go into the HTML and find the
<div id="email_registration"> form, changing the visibility from none to
block, and then starting the process from there.

Now, I realise... the fact that I've purged Facebook from my view of the
internet is partly to blame, but I bet I'm not the only one on HN to have done
this.

On the phone call I did say, they _really_ need to give non-Facebook signup
equal prominence to the Facebook signup. I've mentioned the GP too, in that
I'm not the only one who was deterred by the Facebook only signup.

~~~
freehunter
I never understand when people have NoScript and AdBlock, then complain about
a site not working properly without checking if it's broken because _they've
broken it_.

I figure we're at the point on the web where Javascript et al would be
expected in your browser, but even if you don't sign up for that belief, at
the very least you should understand you're part of a small minority and
sometimes have to make concessions.

~~~
Isofarro
"I figure we're at the point on the web where Javascript et al would be
expected in your browser,"

A browser cannot always recuperate when JavaScript fails to arrive - what
should it do at that point? A recent example: the outage of googleapis.com CDN
caused problems on many sites using JavaScript hosted there all because
OpenDNS blacklisted the domain as a phishing domain.

* [http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/010612_Thousands_of_...](http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/010612_Thousands_of_Sites_Mislabeled_Phishers_After_OpenDNS_Blocks_Google_Hosted_Scripts)

There are more reasons JavaScript indirectly failing in a browser:
[http://christianheilmann.com/2011/12/06/that-javascript-
not-...](http://christianheilmann.com/2011/12/06/that-javascript-not-
available-case/)

So generally, it makes sense for a site not to depend on JavaScript for a core
basic experience.

~~~
untog
_A browser cannot always recuperate when JavaScript fails to arrive - what
should it do at that point? A recent example: the outage of googleapis.com CDN
caused problems on many sites using JavaScript hosted there all because
OpenDNS blacklisted the domain as a phishing domain._

Well, that's just bad planning on the part of people that are relying on a
third party service for a core feature. Always have a backup for remote CDNs.

If you've done that, non-JS functionality is a tiny, tiny edge case. In an
ideal world we would all handle it, but I just don't think it's realistic to
expect developers to set the time aside for it.

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pdaddyo
I'm in the UK and I'll continue to pay for access to the US Netflix, since it
has a much larger instant library. Even though this works out more expensive,
at around £10/month (I use a paid proxy called unblockus).

~~~
stuartmemo
Do you need a US credit card to do this?

~~~
pdaddyo
My Natwest card used to work, but in December it failed (Netflix saying I'm
not a US customer).

I resolved it by using a proxy card from entropay.com, using this guide:

<http://www.unblock-us.com/how-to-set-up/netflix>

They take a percentage, but it's still cheaper than LoveFilm and I have it
working on android, pc, ipad and PS3.

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JonAtkinson
Their homepage says they support AppleTV; has anyone had any success in
updating their device to work with Netflix? My AppleTV 2 is currently
updating, but I'm told it'll take 346 hours to complete the update.

~~~
panacea
Turn it off and on and try again ;]

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digitalclubb
You think they would have made more of an effort with the catalogue on offer
before launching..

I can appreciate that UK will have different licensing laws in place than the
US, but what's on offer now is a real turn off and a disappointment.

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dabeeeenster
Having to install Silverlight on my Mac? Ugh.

Library selection is poor. Just about every film I searched for was missing.

~~~
irishloop
I tend to use Netflix more as a cable substitute with TV shows than a full
movie library. The number of full backlogs of great shows in the U.S. at least
(30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Party Down, Breaking Bad, etc.) for 8/month vs.
100/month for cable is an astounding savings for me personally. The movie
selection is meh, but I can live with that for what I'm paying.

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seanalltogether
_Watching Instantly Is Not Currently Available For Your Account

Unfortunately your account is restricted to streaming only within the 50
United States and its territories.

You may still access your account, but you will not be able to play any
title._

I'm disappointed that as a US based customer with a US billing address and a
US credit card, even after this changeover I'm still unable to watch movies
I'm paying for while staying in the UK.

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moreati
Is it normal for domains other than facebook.com to ask for a facebook
password? If so that seems very risky.

I would have assumed Facbook Inc to require third-party sites use a federated
auth API, such as OAuth.

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MattBearman
The price is amazing, but if the selection on the site really is all they
have, very few people will go for it.

Think I'll do the free trial and see what the selection is like.

~~~
msmithstubbs
I had the same reaction when I saw the titles on the site.

Once I signed up and logged in, I could see a lot more titles that looked
interesting. Still not a huge selection, but they seem to have done a poor job
of promoting the service with the selection visible just on the public site.

The success of the BBC iPlayer indicates a strong demand in the UK for a video
streaming service. If they can get enough content deals in place I think
they'll do well.

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jmedwards
I am really surprised that Netflix hasn't been able to launch with a better
collection than this. I think even iTunes trumps it, which is a poor show.

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cadab
I hope they get better TV/Movies soon, the ones they are advertising at the
moment are terrible. I clicked on 'Thrillers' and there was only a few films
i'd even heard of, let alone want to watch them.

£5.99 isnt a bad price if i can get everything (or nearly) i want to watch.
But currently theres no chance i'd pay, i dont even want the free trial.

~~~
kule
To be fair I signed up for the free month and there are quite a few more
movies/tv shows you'd want to watch once you've logged in (quite a few you
wouldn't find on lovefilm too). I'm surprised they didn't show a lot more of
the popular ones on the sign up page to be honest...

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metatronscube
I'm sticking with itunes. This is utter rubbish, its not got any redeeming
features at all. This will never pickup in the UK.

~~~
shutton
Yeah, I'm sticking with iTunes, at least until they get more content on there.

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micheljansen
Can anyone actually browse the selection? Broken in all the browsers I tested
(Safari, Firefox and Chrome): <http://twitpic.com/856m1c>

~~~
justincormack
Fine on Chrome on Linux (no flash installed though, maybe that fixes it!).

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ashleyw
The library's a bit lacklustre. Is it the same as the US library?

~~~
burgerbrain
I don't know, but the word "lacklustre" certainly describes the US library as
well.

Netflix instant in the US is really only worth it if you like "B movies", or
just shit movies.

~~~
dangrossman
Or TV. For a couple bucks a month you get full back catalogs of a very large
number of TV series, including currently airing popular ones. There's more
recent TV content than you could get through in months.

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JCB_K
Don't think they'll gain much market if they keep it this way. Lovefilm is
£10, which is a bit more than Netflix (£6), but their collection is infinitely
better.

~~~
chrisfarms
worth noting: LOVEFiLM do have a "streaming only" package hidden away in the
"upgrade package" menu[1] .... currently £4.99 but no doubt will be brought
inline with netflix' £5.99

[1] <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22519236/Screenshots/2t.png>

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topbanana
"Sorry, Netflix is not available in your country... yet"

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Jakegissing
Pretyy excited about this, Lovefilm is a terrible website with a crappy
library.

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dmoney
This just redirected me to my US netflix account. What am I supposed to see?

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mibbitor
Not convinced they'll be able to gain much market in the UK. Very different
from the US market.

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mbesto
How so? Care to explain?

~~~
mibbitor
tv is not only watchable here, it's fantastically good quality programming.

~~~
alextgordon
They're also competing with iPlayer, 4oD, etc, which:

* are used by millions of people

* are free

* have a much better selection

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beaker52
Out of all 4 of the films on there, there are none that I want to watch.

