AfterDawn: Tech news

Netflix customers will have to pay more for 4K content

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Oct 2014 10:25 User comments (16)

Netflix customers will have to pay more for 4K content

Netflix has confirmed that subscribers that want access to 4K streaming content will have to pay $11.99 per month for their subscription, a large increase from the standard pricing.
Subscribers who signed up before May 9th, 2014 pay $7.99 per month for access to the streaming catalog including HD, while those who signed up after pay $8.99. If you were already signed up for 4K, you will be grandfathered in until August 12th, 2016.

Netflix has the most 4K content available to consumers, and recently just added the hit show The Blacklist and the kid-friendly Smurfs 2 to the list. What else is great about the plan is it allows 4 devices to play simultaneously, compared to just 2 for the standard plan.

Currently, the company requires you to have a minimum of 25 Mbps download speed, and a 4K TV from a limited list from Samsung, LG, Sony, and Vizio. The content may not be worth the extra $4 to some, as the only content available now are Breaking Bad, the latest season of original series House of Cards, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, a nature documentary and the aforementioned Blacklist and The Smurfs 2.



(Pic via FPHD)

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16 user comments

112.10.2014 22:28

I went over my 400GB data cap by about 75GB with Netflix at their highest settings. I'd hate to see what damage I could do with 4K.

213.10.2014 10:17

Originally posted by pcrazy99:
I went over my 400GB data cap
And it's only going to get worse. All our lives are going more and more digital, the isp's see this and are implementing more restrictions.

I hate to say it, but I feel like the government is going to have to step in at some point really soon.



313.10.2014 13:13

Originally posted by bhetrick:
Originally posted by pcrazy99:
I went over my 400GB data cap
And it's only going to get worse. All our lives are going more and more digital, the isp's see this and are implementing more restrictions.

I hate to say it, but I feel like the government is going to have to step in at some point really soon.




Get worse?......not too likely as the 'caps' and rules all imposed on limiting downloads will increase with the standards.

As for having a 400GB cap........I'm guessing you're not in the U.S. as Uverse is a 250GB and Comcast is a 200GB cap and I don't recall TW or Cox or Charter having more. Could be wrong though.

And clearly anyone hitting OVER 400GB is either a rampant pirate or you ditched your cable and EVERYTHING you watch is on Netflix. Regardless, exceeding 400GB means you need a girlfriend mate and perhaps to get outside from time to time.


Their settings "on highest" seems like a lame comment as Netflix auto negotiates your connection........dynamically. Even those with massive bandwidth are subject to the likes of the fluctuations in speeds when the interweb is heavily taxed.....like weekends.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Oct 2014 @ 1:14

413.10.2014 14:13

Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by bhetrick:
Originally posted by pcrazy99:
I went over my 400GB data cap
And it's only going to get worse. All our lives are going more and more digital, the isp's see this and are implementing more restrictions.

I hate to say it, but I feel like the government is going to have to step in at some point really soon.




Get worse?......not too likely as the 'caps' and rules all imposed on limiting downloads will increase with the standards.


The cap limits will increase with standards? How is that possible when the cap limits are already below standards?

PC and console games are now in the 40-50 gig range. Streaming movies can eat up 3-4 gigs (and up) a day. Online gaming and streaming your gameplay can do the same.

With the average family of 4 becoming more and more digital-savy, 250 gigs is far from sufficient.

These cap limits are NOTHING more than a cash-grab. They server no "quality of service" purpose what so ever.


513.10.2014 17:39

Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by bhetrick:
Originally posted by pcrazy99:
I went over my 400GB data cap
And it's only going to get worse. All our lives are going more and more digital, the isp's see this and are implementing more restrictions.

I hate to say it, but I feel like the government is going to have to step in at some point really soon.




Get worse?......not too likely as the 'caps' and rules all imposed on limiting downloads will increase with the standards.

As for having a 400GB cap........I'm guessing you're not in the U.S. as Uverse is a 250GB and Comcast is a 200GB cap and I don't recall TW or Cox or Charter having more. Could be wrong though.

And clearly anyone hitting OVER 400GB is either a rampant pirate or you ditched your cable and EVERYTHING you watch is on Netflix. Regardless, exceeding 400GB means you need a girlfriend mate and perhaps to get outside from time to time.


Their settings "on highest" seems like a lame comment as Netflix auto negotiates your connection........dynamically. Even those with massive bandwidth are subject to the likes of the fluctuations in speeds when the interweb is heavily taxed.....like weekends.
Nope. I'm in the United States. 400GB data cap with Cox communications. It's the highest cap at the consumer level. The next option is to upgrade to business class to avoid caps. I've monitored the data usage and can see that Netflix uses the most out of all the streaming services we use. It all adds up over time with Netflix, Hulu, MLB,NBA,digital console games and Directv OnDemand. With everybody home on a weekend I've seen the usage meter show 50GB in one day.

613.10.2014 18:12

No cap with verizon fios if it's available in your area. I live in the NY area and have had cablevision and comcast and would only consider going back if it was less then half the price of fios.

714.10.2014 06:34

Originally posted by bhetrick:
Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by bhetrick:
Originally posted by pcrazy99:
I went over my 400GB data cap
And it's only going to get worse. All our lives are going more and more digital, the isp's see this and are implementing more restrictions.

I hate to say it, but I feel like the government is going to have to step in at some point really soon.




Get worse?......not too likely as the 'caps' and rules all imposed on limiting downloads will increase with the standards.


The cap limits will increase with standards? How is that possible when the cap limits are already below standards?

PC and console games are now in the 40-50 gig range. Streaming movies can eat up 3-4 gigs (and up) a day. Online gaming and streaming your gameplay can do the same.

With the average family of 4 becoming more and more digital-savy, 250 gigs is far from sufficient.

These cap limits are NOTHING more than a cash-grab. They server no "quality of service" purpose what so ever.



A family of 5 and that really starts to add up. I don't have a cap either, at east for now and I'm setting up a FreeNAS system which I'll stream content to the condo and other places. Fortunately I'm grandfathered into the low price and will remain at that level until they force me up. On the other hand this article would make you believe that there was tons of UHD (sub-4K) content on their site which isn't even close to being true. They only have just less then two hands full of UHD content and that is when you count the 4 nature short films. Plus not all of it is true UHD content as some of it is poor upscales and Smurf's really. Netflix has a long ways to go before they can start gouging for better content. Of course why do we spend more for Blu-ray or HD on our TV's since it has easily replaced the old SD standard.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Oct 2014 @ 6:38

815.10.2014 02:12

"grandfathered in" ???? :)


I find it odd and anti-competitive that it's only restricted to a few brands of 4k TV. Does anybody know why? Do the TVs have to receive the signal directly from the internet and not through a third party device and they are the only ones that can do it? I apologise for my noobishness... don't have Netflix in Oz. (And probably never will with our myopic neo-con gov.)

Hey Mr-M, played House of the Dead Overkill in 3D a couple of days ago wtf fun... hilarious!

915.10.2014 06:26

There are no restrictions other than you need a 4K TV to view 4K in 4K, I'm not sure about down converting. I think you're mixing up 4K movies you get from the MFG for your TV on a external hard drive in which the MFG supplies them in their own format, i.e. Sony.

I'll have to try that one in 3D I've only watched a few 3D's so far but Netflix has a bunch of 3D's to play with. Funny they aren't charging more for 3D viewing but since it hasn't been a driving force as they thought it might, Netflix can't push that caveat.

1015.10.2014 08:06

torrent plus 4 or 10 4TB hard drives, problem solved!

1115.10.2014 10:26

Says above that it only works with Samsung, LG, Sony, and Vizio TVs.


Oh, I meant the PS3 MOVE arcade style game. The Director's Cut mode in 3d is the greatest. It's a shame it's not more accurate but with the reticle on it's workable.

1215.10.2014 18:32

I didn't see that Netflix UHD wasn't compatible on all 4K's, strange but there must be buffering issues I have the AN55HU8550 so no problems here. However my hispeed sucks and I can still view UHD from Netflix and it still is much better than HD, in fact the 4 nature shorts they have are fantastic, and I don't have the required 25Mbps bandwidth they suggest.

From Netflix direct:
See our features article for your TV manufacturer to determine if your TV supports Ultra HD streaming from Netflix.

Netflix Features on LG Devices
Netflix Features on Samsung Devices
Netflix Features on Sony Devices
Netflix Features on Vizio Devices
More devices coming soon!

So they are working on getting the off brand TV's included too. You may even be able to use a Panasonic if you're so unfortunate. LOL

Ya I wish I would have bought the PS3 years ago but I see the PS4 has dropped in price so there is hope for me.... ;P

Zippy, I have SeagateNAS 4TB drives in a 8 bay expansion case but I'm not sure how torrents are going to provide me quality movies, they can, but it's not likely. Love FreeNAS!!! and a hard controller RAID 5E setup in a San Digital expansion case at 600Mbps or better with a dual LAN aggregated.

1316.10.2014 04:15

Oh that's ok... I thought they were shooting themselves in the foot there haha.

Not being a fanboy here... PS3 (maybe WII as well?) was the only platform it was on. If it comes out as a digital release on PS4 in 1080p I'd take it... if you like that sort of thing... I do. And you can suck your non-gamer mates in as well. It's clever-ish but not intellectual. It's a Russ Meyer "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill" (and general 60-70s grindhouse exploitation films) takeoff. And the 3D is well done in the game I understand. Bit of an ott gore-fest. Remember, Directors Cut mode.


Originally posted by Mr-Movies:
Zippy, I have SeagateNAS 4TB drives in a 8 bay expansion case but I'm not sure how torrents are going to provide me quality movies, they can, but it's not likely. Love FreeNAS!!! and a hard controller RAID 5E setup in a San Digital expansion case at 600Mbps or better with a dual LAN aggregated.
Yow! I'm looking that up... Is this it? http://www.wegotserved.com/2014/01/16/r...rive-enclosure/

Just pulled apart an old NAS box using a oldish Pentium G6950 and weird Intel Board with dual LAN cards each. Had a total of 4 x 1T HDDs heh.


1416.10.2014 06:41

That is a older 4 bay of my expansion case. I'm using a Pentium Shuttle computer with 16GB of RAM the eSATA controller for the RAID 5E and a StarTech dual LAN Gigabyte Full Duplex, Jumbo Frames, and VLAN tagging and of course a third Gigabyte LAN on the Shuttle.

SANS DIGITAL TowerRAID TR8M6G 8-Bay eSATA 6G Port Multiplier RAID Tower w/ 6G PCIe x4 Card

StarTech ST1000SPEXD3 Dual Port Gigabit Server Network Adapter Card

I tried Amahi NAS as well but I wasn't impressed with their system , it needed to be your DHCP server which I don't need my NAS taking over my internal system and they gouge for apps that are free in FreeNAS. I could use FreeNAS's server site to get those apps free but like I said the taking over my Intranet and not having full control of my NAS was a killer.

I would like that game and 3D would be cool, a plus, I would think.

1517.10.2014 10:06

I like Seagate drives MM ... those look good. So you've cheerfully gone over the 5 drive limit?

http://www.seagate.com/au/en/internal-h...ku=ST4000VN000#


"RAID 5E"... is that what's listed as "RAID 5+spare"?

I like that. Looks great. Comes with both eSATA cables too. :) The customer reviews are pretty mixed you having any probs... especially with the RR642 controller card?

Hmmm, I might pm you about some of this (as not to further expose my noobishness.... oops I wrote that out loud).

Cheers.



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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Oct 2014 @ 10:30

1617.10.2014 13:33

If somebody doesn't step on these GD controlling, bastard, greedy internet providers this and other new technology's are worthless. Some guide lines need to be set as to what "UNLIMITED" is and stop these BS games they play and stop them selling unlimited and then limiting it in some way.

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