House of Cards: Has Netflix changed the game? - Page 2

The problem with rating Netflix, or any streaming service picture quality is that its so dependent on an individuals internet connection speed. I could be getting full 1080p while yours is only 480p, watching the same thing at the same time. Good to hear the story was good, you are part of a handful of people that have said so now, as i get ready to watch it myself just didn't want to waste my time as there is not much spare time floating around these days lol

I have streamed enough stuff off of Netflix and House of Cards is not nearly as good as other stuff that I have seen.

HOC is in keeping with Fincher's natural-lit, dark photography style. That means on Netflix much of it might be more highly compressed than some other material they show. My TV is a modest by today's standards 46" - larger sets may not look as good.

One thing is for sure - as long as my modem, router and player work at their utmost Netflix HD material looks better than most OTA TV signals, and WAY better than crappy, highly compressed cable which I won't subscribe to. Only blu-ray discs beat that.

I'm up to episode #6 and feel that this has instantly joined my ranking of top shows next to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Sopranos, etc. David Fincher made the show a no-brainer for me.

I love politics and Washington in general, so this show has a special place in my heart. I also like the cinema feel of the show and the set design.

Netflix has a homerun and I hope they continue to make shows like this. I've been a Netflix subscriber since 2002 and this show locks me in for the foreseeable future.

Netflix HD looks great over both my Apple TV or XBOX 360. It may not sound as good as Blu-Ray, but the picture quality is pretty good.

I have Uverse 18mbps and feel that Netflix's new compression streaming has improved the experience quite a bit.

Back to the sound, no it isn't Blu Ray, but it does sound pretty good on my 5.1 system.

I watched the complete season the first two days it was available. Very well done, high quality show. I really like watching a series and not have to wait a week between shows. I think you will be sorry when the last episode ends and have to wait for season two. TAP TAP.

While not the same calibre (except Lilyhammer) as House of Cards, I discovered the following shows on Netflix and got addicted:

Lilyhammer (Netflix original)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1958961/?ref_=sr_4
Terriers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1493239/?ref_=sr_1
Life
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874936/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
MI5
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160904/?ref_=sr_1
Sherlock
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/?ref_=sr_1

Yes, Finished them over the weekend. We were absorbed by the show and watched it till late night on Saturday and right back on Sunday. Great show and I hope they bring a second season. The writers have taken clues from the current US politics as you can see several parallel situations except the gun control battle!

I am 9 episodes in and love it. Quality is pretty good. Colors are a little bit washed out. There is a very slight letterboxing that annoys me.

I watched all the episodes in a 24 hour period this past weekend. They were well worth watching. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Picture quality was fine on the 82" Mitsubishi DLP and the 47" LCD I watched them on. Easily better quality than a DVD since it showed more detail than any DVD can. And the 5.1 DD+ sounded good too. Of course it wasn't BD quality but it was good quality for streaming HD.

Even on my 46" TV the compression artifacts (most noticeably banding and mosquito noise) were noticeable. On my projection system with 100" screen, it was downright fugly. It's a shame since this show is shot and mastered with 4k cinema grade equipment. The Dolby Digital lossy audio is merely adequate.

Very good show compared to a lot of the stuff out there. Not as good as Breaking Bad or Mad Men or The Sopranos, but still up there. Spacey is always excellent... he brings his fierce A game to most everything. A consummate professional.

Some don't understand or like the fourth wall busting style, but this is based off Shakespeare and ol' F.U. is playing both the major roll of an Iago-like villain and sort of the Greek chorus combined.

I like how the swearing in the script isn't quite as gratuitous as in a lot of shows on the pay networks. Over use curse words and they lose their power.

Fincher's classic cinematographic style of no-quick cuts and smooth, but sparse camera movement is a breath of fresh air. Though, the severe digital color grading doesn't work as well here as it did in The Social Network.

Though, I think Netflix's choice of Season Binging will come back to bite them on the ass. I'd be up for one, slightly longer episode per week. Then leave the compete season available.

I do want to see a Blu-ray and a 4k disc of this show too.

I think they shot HOC's with more of a slightly wider ratio in mind (closer to 1.85:1), keeping the full theatrical grade 4k resolution from the RED cameras instead of down-sampling to make it 1.78:1. Fincher is using a compete cinema 4k pipeline like he did with GWTDT. Netflix gave them complete creative control.

However, since 4k for the home is still in its infancy and Netflix's streaming quality isn't even close to Blu-ray, we're only getting a tiny fraction of the potential video or audio quality.

It would be interesting to see them do a theatrical serial run in 2k and 4k digital cinemas just like back in the 30's and 40's. A next first time for everything.

I noticed that slight letterboxing too. It was about an inch on top and bottom. Now I know the reason.

I agree with the need to keep Netflix subs happy with upgrades and improvements in order to keep them. That's just good business. Don't know about production costs etc but I like Spacey and just added it to my instant view. I had not even heard of this show. Wonder why they can't promote this on their own site? Maybe they do and i just missed it. I'm on Netflix all the time, usually after finding a review on AVS. Thanks

I'm 5 episodes in and I'm totally hooked on House of Cards. I find however sometimes, as I also noticed when I watched Mad Men and Hell On Wheels that sometimes an episode starts out real grainy and almost sub SD but within 5 minutes the picture all of a sudden improves and it looks amazing. I'm streaming through a PS3 slim and usually am not a fan of Netflix's streaming video quality, which prompts me to almost always opt to red box or buy a BD rather than stream it. But recently I've noticed that Netflix has improved its quality, Hell on Wheels in particular looks excellent. Has anyone else experienced this terrible to good video quality on Netflix?

"Good" is relative. Still nowhere near Blu-ray quality. Compression artifacts and less detail... and no lossless audio. I hate that a show or movie has already started and I have to wait for it to ramp up to the "HD" stream each and every time (and I'm on a PS3 with 35 Mbps internet). It detracts from what I'm watching. They should buffer up and then have the program begin at full "HD" quality (at least what Netflix considers HD).

My Samsung has a tiny bezel. The slight letterbox makes it look like the bezel is thicker on the top and bottom. It really bugs me...LOL

It is some odd AR...somewhere South of 1.85:1 which barely has any black bars on our screens. Not seen another title with this specific one in all my viewing I don't think. Of course you can always overscan (for shame! Haha) to rid yourself of it or bring it down at least.

What do you guys complaining about tiny black bars do when you watch a movie at home in the 2.39:1 "scope" aspect ratio? Curl up into little balls and start sucking your thumbs?

Like I mentioned above, they're using the industry standard delivery ratio for theatrical digital files, and not adapting HOC's workflow for 1.78:1 HDTV's. The less data conversion, the better. If they wanted to, they could frame and deliver it at 2.39:1 for a more "epic" look (using the Super 35 framing and matting technique or good ol' anamorphic lenses) if Fincher decided to go that route.

They could put HOC on the big screen if they so chose.

It wasn't a complaint but an observation as to its original aspect ratio. Made for TV movies are usually 16x9 and don't have any letterboxing.

HOC's is unlike any other made for TV program. It is considered to be and shot like a 26 chapter (or more) theatrical movie by the film makers (notice that they are not stand alone episodes). Netflix allowed them to do whatever they felt was best (just as long as it was good) since this is a Brave New World of content delivery. It's also unlike HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and other pay channels and how they oversee their programming.

Peter Jackson once thought about taking all the usable footage from LOTR and turning it into a long episodic series. This would be one way to do deliver that vision. Too bad the A/V quality isn't top notch given the terrible state of our internet infrastructure.

I just watched the first episode last night. I guess it was only me, the picture quality was quite impressive. I am not on SuperHD, simply High/HD and it was really nice.

Watching #5 right now. Best thing on TV since The Wire. Picture looks fine on 63" plasma with faster than average internet connection.

I have seen all 13 episodes and have gone back to relook at some of the episodes. It becomes apparent that the streaming video quality varies, from time to time, and that is probably due to Netflix. I use a Roku as my streaming device because it is a lot easier to use than something like an oppo. Most of the time, Netflix streaming looks very good, if not great. I would guess that the on-demand streaming for House of Cards is very high and that is certain to affect how fast and especially what the stream looks like. Never had a problem streaming onto my high definition display in that there has never been any buffering so that it is not a question of internet connection speed. Hopefully, there will be a BR version, eventually. That should look stunning as well as sound a lot better than what comes over with streaming.
Edited by fookoo_2010 - 2/9/13 at 7:40pm

I watched the first episode. It will be my last. Nothing original. The characters and story is something that's been done to death. Spacey's ok but his accent and talking to the camera gets old quick.
It's you basic cable TV quality rubbish with the gratuitous and over the top sex thrown in like you'd see on Showtime or Cinemax.

Just finished the season. I liked it although there's nowhere near the anticipation I have for BREAKING BAD, GAME OF THRONES or even THE WALKING DEAD's next seasons. Still I'm glad Netflix is helping blaze a path for distribution of HQ entertainment.

We are watching an episode every day or two. The writing is fantastic. I would compare it to West Wing in that regards. Definitely top quality.

I think this type of broadcasting is a step in the right direction. However, one show is not enough for me to resubscribe

I just seen an article (cant remember where), that says they have an original kids program in the works. No release date announced yet. I think they are going to push forward with a few sample types of programing and see what the response is, if positive then they may go full blown ahead with much more original programing

Watched the whole series too in matter of days, and liked it quiet a bit. Yes it's not original, but what is. As for the streaming quality, it's among the worst I've seen from Netflix. Just before this series I watched Alias seasons 3,4,5, and it looked vastly better, using the same hardware and internet connection, same goes to Downton Abbey witch I watched afterword, it looked great. Nonetheless looking forward to season 2, and I love that it is available the way it is as opposed to a weekly installment.