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Netflix Instant; Gently down the stream...
Topic Started: Oct 8 2012, 11:46 AM (1,816 Views)
YancySkancy
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YancySkancy,Dec 7 2013
01:30 AM
Thought of you again, Karim, while watching episode 1 of a French TV procedural titled Spiral.  I enjoyed it, though possibly because the fresh (to me) setting made it feel a little less generic.  A couple of oddly over-the-top directorial choices (particularly at the end of the episode) were jarring, and be warned that the crime scene stuff is even more explicit than the CSI shows (the corpse discovered in the opening scene is a fully nude woman who's been mutilated, and the subsequent autopsy scene is even more unflinching).  I like the actors and the set-up is interesting, but I'll have to watch another before I decide whether to stick with it.

I don't know if it qualifies as binge-watching, but I've been catching episodes of Spiral (original French title Engrenages) over the last couple of months, and finally got through all four seasons (40 episodes). As you can see above, my opinion of episode one was guardedly optimistic. My reaction to the full series is unqualified enthusiasm. It's sort of a French, R-rated Dick Wolf show in that it follows representatives of the French legal system -- a police captain and her colleagues, a prosecutor, a defense lawyer and a judge. The storylines seem a bit disconnected early in each season, but soon start to intertwine and enrich each other. The characters grow and change in interesting ways from season to season as well.

It's a pretty dark, gritty show, especially the makeup and f/x at crime scenes or autopsy rooms. There's a fair amount of profanity and occasional sex and nudity, but not at HBO levels. The emphasis is on the interlocking plots and intense characters. The acting is great across the board. I don't recall seeing any of the regulars in anything before, though several episodes have Daniel Duval in the supporting cast -- I recognized him from Cache and 36 Quai des Orfèvres (he just died this past October).

As you might guess from the existence of four seasons, the show has been quite popular in France and has also been a hit on BBC Four and in other countries. A fifth season is filming and will premiere this year, but I'm guessing I'll have to wait forever for it to hit Netflix, since I don't typically do torrents.

Anyway, I recommend it, though I can see it taking a few episodes to really grab you. I'd say seasons 2 and 3 are the strongest overall. Nothing wrong with 1 and 2, but they take a bit longer for all the "gears" to start turning together.
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Karim Amir
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I was interested before. Now I'm very interested!

Too bad I have very little spare time!
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Dirt
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After all.....
Received this email today from Netflix:

Netflix API Developers,

As Netflix continues to grow internationally, the emphasis of our engineering efforts is to satisfy a growing member base and a growing number of devices. To better focus our efforts and to align them with the needs of our global member base, we will be retiring the public API program. Effective on November 14, 2014, public API developers will no longer be able to access Netflix content. All requests to the public API will return 404 errors.

Thank you to for participating in the ecosystem throughout the years.

Daniel Jacobson

VP of Edge Engineering


They suck.
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YancySkancy
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Dirt,Jun 13 2014
04:44 PM
Received this email today from Netflix:

Netflix API Developers,

As Netflix continues to grow internationally, the emphasis of our engineering efforts is to satisfy a growing member base and a growing number of devices. To better focus our efforts and to align them with the needs of our global member base, we will be retiring the public API program. Effective on November 14, 2014, public API developers will no longer be able to access Netflix content. All requests to the public API will return 404 errors.

Thank you to for participating in the ecosystem throughout the years.

Daniel Jacobson

VP of Edge Engineering


They suck.

I had no idea what this meant, so I looked up API on Wikipedia.

I still have no idea what it means. But if you say they suck, I believe you.
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Dirt
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After all.....
YancySkancy,Jun 13 2014
05:58 PM
Dirt,Jun 13 2014
04:44 PM
Received this email today from Netflix:

Netflix API Developers,

As Netflix continues to grow internationally, the emphasis of our engineering efforts is to satisfy a growing member base and a growing number of devices.  To better focus our efforts and to align them with the needs of our global member base, we will be retiring the public API program.  Effective on November 14, 2014, public API developers will no longer be able to access Netflix content.  All requests to the public API will return 404 errors.

Thank you to for participating in the ecosystem throughout the years.

Daniel Jacobson

VP of Edge Engineering


They suck.

I had no idea what this meant, so I looked up API on Wikipedia.

I still have no idea what it means. But if you say they suck, I believe you.


In this case it was just an interface to the Netflix database. So a website like instantwatcher.com will probably no longer be able to pull, and display, movie info from Netflix. Maybe they pay for that access though.

CDDB uses an API to pull the Metascore and IMDb rating info.
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YancySkancy
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Thanks for the explanation. That would indeed suck if instantwatcher is affected. I don't quite get why Netflix is so hell-bent on being coy about when they're dropping stuff.
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Dirt
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After all.....
YancySkancy,Jun 13 2014
06:14 PM
Thanks for the explanation. That would indeed suck if instantwatcher is affected. I don't quite get why Netflix is so hell-bent on being coy about when they're dropping stuff.


It wouldn't suck so much if Netflix provided their own advanced search tools. Even something as basic as what allflix.net provides would be a great addition. It's almost if they're prioritizing which titles should be watched. </conspiracy_theorist>

I'll dig around and see which, if any, sites might be affected.
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Dirt
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After all.....

From http://techcrunch.com

"UPDATE: In a blog post , Netflix said that it would continue to work with a small number of select partners, including:

Instant Watcher
Fanhattan
Yidio
NextGuide
Flixster
Can I Stream It?
FeedFliks
Instant Watch Browser for Netflix
"

Only a couple that are actually helpful (and free) on that list. For now at least.
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vornporn
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A Ryan Seacrest type.
Congratulations, Netflix. You are now Blockbuster.
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YancySkancy
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Been meaning to mention that James Gray's acclaimed The Immigrant is now streaming. Was really bummed to miss it in the theater (and really shocked that it played here, considering the Weinsteins pretty much dumped it), so I hope to get to it soon.
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YancySkancy
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Vulture has an article about Netflix hacks that may be of interest:

http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/15-netflix-...acebook_vulture

Numbers 11,12 and 13 show ways to access Netflix content outside your region.
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vornporn
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A Ryan Seacrest type.
I recently dropped Netflix Instant. Just not worth it for catalog titles, and I'd rather watch the new releases on Blu Ray anyway.
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Guy
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I'd been thinking about how little I use it, because they don't have a lot of titles I'm interested in on the Instant service. So I just dropped it, too.
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Aaron
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I was thinking the same thing, but Karim will never let it go. Sometimes I'll find something of interest, but Hulu is more my speed for instant watching.
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Continental Op
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Oh man, I crush some Netflix Instant! I'm not saying it's the best catalogue, but there are enough titles of interest, especially documentary and a handful of tv shows for binging.

Also, it's my girlfriend's account, so, free :)
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