They've always been a bit laughable for me because they are recommending
films I've already seen. What Netflix can't do if know that you've seen
via other sources. I rent occasionally at Redbox. These are often
films that Netflix won't be getting for awhile if at all. For instance,
Netflix rarely gets any Universal movies (though that may change now
that Comcast owns Universal and I'll explain later). So Universal's big
films if I am interested in one at all I'll just rent at Redbox on
Bluray. I also rent some indie films at Redbox again dependent on the
distributor or if it is a title I want to see right away rather than
wait maybe a month for it to arrive on Netflix.
One movie Netflix keeps recommending is "Assault on Wall Street" by Uwe
Boll. Thing is it was definitely a title I was interested in having
seen the trailer posted on conspiracy sites. So when it hit Redbox I
immediately rented it on release day. I even recommended the film
here. About two weeks later it was available to watch on Netflix. But
what was additionally interesting was Boll's commentary which included
why he made the film but also how little money filmmakers get anymore
for their films including how little companies like Showtime will pay
for a film. BTW, I watched Boll's remake of the 1950s film (with Frank
Sinatra) "Suddenly" last night on Netflix. It's well worth a watch and
Ray Liotta stars and Dominic Purcell who played the lead in "Assault on
Wall Street" has a supporting role.
BTW, I have 11 Redbox kiosks within 2 miles so I can usually find the
film I want at one. Because of streaming demand on Netflix I often
leave those rentals for the weekend where it might be difficult to get a
decent HD stream from Netflix.
Another place if I am really impatient to see a film is to rent it on
VUDU or Amazon. Both will have films before they are available in
theaters or while in theaters. These aren't the Hollywood blockbusters
but mostly indie films that some distributors like Mark Cuban's Magnolia
Films have taken to releasing online due even prior to theatrical
release due to the dwindling number of art houses. You pay more for
these, though often just the price of a nighttime theater ticket (no
senior discount either).
A bonus with most discs is that they have extras including
commentaries. That is except for the big studios like Universal who now
put "rental" discs at Redbox which have the film only. However even
Universal, now owned by Comcast, might sell Redbox full featured discs
if it is a indie film. Same with Fox. Seldom if ever from Warner
Brothers. Comcast may be adopting what I think is the smarter business
model that Sony Pictures and Lionsgate uses and that is to get your
content in as many channels as possible to maximize return.
So thing is, being a film and TV buff, I am often ahead of the game as
far as knowing what is coming and what I want to see. Also Netflix
supports third party sites. Unlike some other companies they saw the
value of third party fan and review sites as free advertising. However
they did pull the "coming soon" data as distributors started
complaining. Obviously if I knew that a film was going to be on Netflix
two weeks after it arrived at Redbox I would wait the two weeks.
As for the article you recommended I politely thanked you for thinking
of me. But that article came out over a month ago. Not only that you
didn't provide a link. I recall looking at it and the discussion on the
Netflix discussion section of a forum I was on. There we had long been
discussing Netflix's "suggestions" algorithms. And yeah, that article
reveals just what I would have done if I worked at nearby Netflix (about
60 or 70 miles away as the crow flies) as that project lead. It is just
a form of data mining not that far removed from having a word processor
catalog stuff for a document index. Here's the missing link:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/how-netflix-reverse-engineered-hollywood/282679/
On 02/07/2014 04:29 AM, authfri...@yahoo.com wrote:
*I never pay any attention to them. Why do you ask?*
<< So what do you think about Netflix's recommendations of shows for you?
Well, let's take a look at what you /actually/ said:
"I looked at some articles on this a couple weeks ago. However their
suggestions are about as relevant as what Google or Amazon recommends..."
Which, you know, makes it appear that "this" refers to the relevance
of Netflix's suggestions. And that (as I said) is not what the
article I recommended is about. Nor is it about what you go on to
talk about in your next paragraph:
You seemed to have missed that I said this information is a couple
weeks old. You are also forgetting that I'm a programmer and was
well aware of heuristic procedures being used to determine tastes.
In fact I am on home theater forums where this is discussed quite a
bit including your aforementioned article. And being in the
entertainment industry know how we "engineer" products to appeal to
tastes.
It seems that you do not, in fact, know what this particular article
is about. Nothing to do with determining or appealing to tastes, you see.
But heaven forbid you actually read the article and find out.
Oh, and what did the folks on your home theater forums have to say
about Perry Mason? >>
On 02/06/2014 09:33 AM, authfriend@... <mailto:authfriend@...> wrote:
*The relevance of Netflix's suggestions is NOT NOT NOT what this
article is about, Bhairitu. If you actually have a look at it, I'm
pretty sure you'll be intrigued.*
Thanks. I looked at some articles on this a couple weeks ago.
However their suggestions are about as relevant as what Google or
Amazon recommends because of the way I use Netflix. For instance I
only watched "Atlas Shrugged II" for reference and gave it only 1
star (you can't give no stars) so they post a message after such a
rating that they have no recommendations based on that rating. The
movie itself is quite laughable.
On 02/05/2014 09:37 PM, authfriend@... <mailto:authfriend@...>
wrote:
How Netflix Reverse Engineered Hollywood
To understand how people look for movies, the video service created
76,897 micro-genres. We took the genre descriptions, broke them
down to their key words, … and built our own new-genre generator.
This article from The Atlantic by Alexis Madrigal is a whole lot
more fascinating than it sounds. Especially the Perry Mason Ghost
in the Machine, which emerges toward the end. The "new-genre
generator" is the least of it.
