Netflix adds 3D and Super HD - Page 17

Sorry but paying five bucks a month for a DNS service to me is a ripoff. It should be free. I will stick with OpenDNS thank you. Although they do have pay plans really just for advanced server features there DNS service is free.

How is it "wrong"? "Example Short" says that 560 Kbps is 512x384 with 4:3 pixels; that's where the 384 comes from. Some titles still have 235-, 375- and 750 Kbps encodes but since "Example Short" doesn't (at least when played with DNS servers set to the Unblock-US ones) I don't know what the resolutions of those are; obviously lower than 512x384. All four of those bit rates displayed "Low/SD" in the past. (I just tried one of those titles and got "240 SD" and "288 SD" before "384 SD", so those must be the 235- and 375 Kbps encodes. After that I got "480 SD"--I think that both 750- and 1050 Kbps are 640x480 with 4:3 pixels).


What people buy from Unblock-US is not just a DNS service, it's stuff that they can't get any other way. Like access to the Super HD and 3D Netflix video encodes when their ISP isn't signed up for Open Connect. Primarily it exists to give people in other countries access to Internet VOD services they can't get where they are, like the ability to get VUDU from Europe.

If you don't think that it delivers $5/month worth of usefulness then don't buy it (obviously you're not going to ), but some of us think that it's worth it, for the moment, even given the pain of using it.
Edited by michaeltscott - 2/13/13 at 11:08am

How do you know that the 3D encode was 5800 Kbps? Netflix says that you need between 6000 Kbps and 12000 Kbps for 3D; if we apply the you-need-120%-as-much-bandwidth-to-keep-up rule, that'd mean that the encodes were between 5000 Kbps and 10000 Kbps (unless Netflix meant that the encodes were 6000- to 12000 Kbps, in which case you need 7200 to 14400 Kbps to get them). I'd expect that some of the lower bit rate 3D encodes are 720p.

I changed it in my router because I have at least one Netflix device which doesn't have a setting for DNS server addresses (the Roku 2). Use of the Unblock-US DNS servers for everything else doesn't seem to effect anything. I tried changing it in my Panasonic DMP-BDT220 and it didn't make any different; when I tried setting it in my Sony BDP-S390 it wouldn't connect to the network.

I haven't heard one. If your ISP is not signed up for access to Open Connect, you get Netflix from other CDNs that Netflix uses: Limelight, Akamai and Level 3. Only the Open Connect CDN servers (nflxvideo.net domain) have the Super HD and 3D encodes. You have to try multiple times because, using Unblock-US, you don't always get assigned Open Connect servers (except on TiVos and the Win8 Netflix app). I know this because I monitored what my devices were creating connections to with my router. I certainly hope that this isn't an issue for people whose ISPs are signed up for Open Connect; I strongly doubt it.

Hmm. I had no issue with the 590. What were your other IP settings?


Agree. ISPs who are legitimately signed up with OpenConnect must be given all of the tools and information necessary to peer in such a way that service can remain consistent regardless of which servers reside within which CDN. Because theirs is almost certainly not a "legitimate" connection to OpenConnect, they do not have access to the same tools and info that Netflix shares with legitimate peering partners. As a result they have had to hack a solution, which does work to an extent but not consistently and with little predictability. I'm thinking that some of their server requests get routed to the wrong CDN and the results people are reporting would seem to bear this out.

Does anyone other than me suspect that in time, Netflix will get wise to this (that is if they haven't already) and figure out a way to block requests from Unblock-US servers or otherwise just jam up the service? I could also believe a lawsuit or at the very least a cease and desist might come at some time. I don't know much about Unblock-US but I do know that there's no such thing as free lunch.

Oh, sorry, I am just saying what the Example Short shows. Which is 5800 for me but never shows any higher. Once it reaches 5800 thats when I go to 3D. Thats what I was saying.

Indeed. May I add I was going to purchase Flying Swords...3D BD for $19.99. Well, I watched it in 3D on NF, so now I dont need it. Not to mention access to content in other countries. Actually, thats the biggest value to me, the SuperHD and 3D are just bonus. Since signing up with Unblock, I have gotten much more than my $5 worth.

People in other places around the world use Unblock-US to gain access to the US Netflix library which contains titles which Netflix isn't licensed to give them access to in their countries. This has been going on for years and Netflix hasn't done anything about it yet, if there's anything for them to do about it. Unblock-US the company is in Canada (I think), so there's nothing they can do using applicable US law, if any exists. Personally I doubt that the law has been able to keep pace with potential abuses of the Internet.

If it they get stopped then I'll cancel my subscription. No BFD.

That's just an indication that your player has been connected to the right servers for you to get Super HD and 3D encodes from (apparently "Example Short" is listed as a 3D title, but nobody's been able to get it to play as one). It doesn't indicate what bit rate or resolution you're getting when you play a title.

Folks should be aware that Neflix is most likely using Side by Side and/or Top-Bottom 3D. Both are ½ vertical resolution formats. AFAIK, only Blu-ray offers full vertical resolution 3D in a field sequential format and requires up to 60 mbps for the video data rate.

I should think that would be evident to the people using it. synistr, aaronwt--what variety of 3D are you getting from Netflix?

EDIT: Searching around I can't find any technical review of Netflix 3D on the net. Weird; I'd have thought at least a few tech bloggers would have had Open Connect access through their ISPs and that they would have been all over it.
Edited by michaeltscott - 2/13/13 at 1:11pm

Why is it that Example Short 23.976 only plays if you have Super HD?

I have open connect with Cablevision, but many of my devices are not capable of Super HD and short 23.976 works on all of them.



Ian

Unknown. I can't get it to play at all now if I switch back to Google Public DNS. Weirdness.

It is a handy indicator of whether you're assigned to Open Connect servers though . Hopefully they don't "fix" it.

A couple of times when I tried the 3D titles, the PS3 or my TV must not have communicated correctly because it showed up as a top/bottom image. I had to restart it and then the imgae looked correct for 3D. So based on that I guess it's a top/botttom 3D image. At least for the couple of times I saw that. I think it was Afican Wild and Scary Tales that I saw the top/bottom image.

Hmmm......very interesting......




Ian

Top-Bottom 3D does reduce the vertical resolution, but Side-by-Side does not reduce vertical, it reduces the horizontal resolution.

Mike T

So the PS3 apparently takes side-by-side and top-and-bottom and converts it into frame packing on the screen? So the maximum res would be 720p if it's using top-and-bottom.

I am also using Google DNS 8.8.8.8 just for the record.

A guy in the Roku forums is saying that he can't get it using the DNS servers in his TWC system and he hasn't dicked around with Unblock-US. Something's apparently wrong with it. It'll suck if fixing it removes it as an indicator of whether you're getting Open Connect servers when using Unblock-US.

Can't get what?

See this.

I see the whole thing as a bug. You should be able to connect to SuperHD servers without having to connect to the test clip first. You'd think eventually it will be fixed.
Either way, at least it works with a PC.

Well, yeah, it is a "bug" (I quote "bug" because you shouldn't be able to connect to those servers at all if your ISP isn't signed up to access Open Connect). You don't have to play "Example Short"--it's just a test. There's a possibility that you'll connected to Open Connect servers without testing first, but there's no way of knowing on most platforms.

It also always works (for me) on TiVo Premiere.

Ha love this forum. I was thinking Netflix was down when the example wouldn't play.

That makes sense then. I tried several 3D titles tonight and they all showed as 720 HD on the PS3 info screen. And my TV also showed it as 720P 3D HD on the TV info screen. So I guess the PS3 is not upscaling it to 1080P like it does with the 2D content.

Something weird is going on with my Roku2 XD. It is not showing my Netflix streaming queue. It does show my recently watched, top 10, popular etc. but for some reason it's not showing the titles in my queue. I need to check out my Roku2 XS and see if it is also doing the same thing.

EDIT: well that is weird. My Roku2 XS is showing the instant queue. But the Roku2 XD is only showing the search at the top. It won't let me go above that which is where the queue is supposed to be. I guess I need to try rebooting it.

EDIT: The reboot fixed it
Edited by aaronwt - 2/13/13 at 6:55pm

It's really interesting how different the US and Canadian Netflix catalogs are. While the US catalog has much more content (most notably TV shows), the Canadian one has some really top-flight major motion pictures as well as some interesting TV series (Justified, Fringe, The 4400, etc) which the US catalog doesn't have. I guess it's worth the extra $5 month to get SuperHD + both catalogs (at least until the novelty wears off ).
Edited by DaveFi - 2/13/13 at 9:49pm

Actually isn't this what Netflix wants - people connecting to their Open Connect Servers. I see no reason why they would block access.

Likewise they can just turn a blind eye to people accessing content from other countries. Netflix (hopefully) wants happy subscribers and has no reason to stop this.

That said I suspect the traffic through unblock-us will be a tiny fraction of their overall traffic so I doubt they really care one way or the other.