New DVD shipping process

Netflix recently changed the DVD shipping process when your first choice movie is not available at the shipping center nearest you.

Now, if your first choice is not available in your local shipping center, we immediately send the next locally available movie in your Queue. And whenever possible, we also send your first choice from another of our 55 shipping centers throughout the U.S. When this happens, you end up with a complimentary extra DVD rental.

Previously, if the movie you wanted was not in stock locally, we would simply try to send it from another shipping center. Since this DVD was typically delivered from farther away, it took longer to arrive and you could end up without a DVD for a few days. This was especially inconvenient for our members on 1-disc plans.

We want you to receive DVDs as quickly as possible, so we’re taking extra steps to ensure you have another movie to enjoy if your first choice will be delayed.

This change took effect Dec 11, 2008 and applies to all Netflix members.

Netflix Holiday Gift Program

Hi, Catherine Fisher here from Netflix Communications. I am writing to let you know about the Netflix Holiday Gift Program we launched this morning with Anne Hathaway and Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization which supplies food to more than 25 million Americans every year.

Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson created holiday-themed artwork that is only available through the Netflix Holiday Gift Program. When you purchase a Netflix gift subscription, you can customize the subscription with an image of the artwork. Netflix will donate a portion of the proceeds from your gift subscription purchase to Feeding America.

There is also the option to make a $5,000 donation to Feeding America – with 100% of the money going to Feeding America and hunger relief – and receive a limited edition Netflix Holiday Gift Box which includes a signed, numbered print by one of the artists and a Lifetime Subscription to Netflix.

To buy a holiday subscription, check out the art, or learn more about the program go to: http://www.netflix.com/GiftPurchase

Photo credit: Wireimage

New location for "Friends and Community" tab

Hi,

Just a quick blog entry to mention that we have moved the location of our Friends tab on the website. To access Friends, go to the homepage and you’ll find the link just to the right of New Releases at the top of the page. We haven’t modified Friends -- we simply decided this would be a better location for the link.

Gib

LG and Samsung Blu-ray players stream from Netflix in HD resolution

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have each created firmware updates for their Netflix ready Blu-ray disc players, giving these devices the ability to stream movies & TV episodes from Netflix in HD resolution. Customers can update these Blu-ray players with the new firmware by following the instructions provided with each product.

Netflix instantly streams movies & TV episodes from over 12,000 choices, 300 of which are streamed in HD resolution. The HD library will grow gradually over time. Netflix members who have already activated a device that supports streaming from Netflix in HD can find a list of all available HD titles at www.netflix.com/InstantHD. (This link will not work for you if you don't already have an activated, Netflix ready device that streams in HD.)

LG BD-300 Network Blu-ray player

LG expects to release its new firmware for the BD-300 in the coming days. (Update: LG released this firmware on Dec. 12.) LG has made this an optional update for those customers who already have up-to-date firmware installed. Once the firmware is released by LG, those customers who wish to force the update to the new HD compatible version can do so by following the user manual’s instructions to check for a firmware update.

Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray players

Samsung has already released its new firmware for the BD-P2500 and BD-P2550. Samsung has made its new firmware a required update. The next time a customer with one of these Blu-ray players launches the Netflix service from the Blu-ray player, he will be automatically prompted to download and install the new firmware.

TiVo DVRs now stream movies from Netflix

This morning, TiVo released a software update to its newest generation of DVRs, giving them the capability to stream movies & TV episodes from Netflix. This includes instant streaming of more than 300 titles in HD resolution.

Three TiVo DVR models offer this new feature: the TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL. Subscriptions to both Netflix and the TiVo service are required for access. There is no additional charge to customers who already subscribe to both services.

The TiVo web site has instructions on how to find and use the new feature on your TiVo.

Other TiVo DVR models, such as the TiVo Series 2 and DVRs sold or leased by satellite or cable TV providers that run TiVo software do not support streaming from Netflix.

See the official press release from TiVo.

Changes in Customer Service

Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications, here to let you know about some changes in Customer Service.

For those of you who watch movies instantly on your PC or Mac, you may have noticed our player is much easier to install and use now with Silverlight. The good news is fewer problems for you. The bad news is that we are now overstaffed with technical specialists in our Customer Service (CS) group.

So last week we announced internally some changes in CS. 50 of our technical specialists will work through December, then be let go in early January after the holidays. 15 of our technical specialists will take new roles in the main CS group.

This action doesn’t affect our main Customer Service group, which has more than 300 people and continues to expand with the growth of our customer base. And it’s not indicative of Netflix as a whole as we continue to add engineers and other positions throughout the company.

It’s sad to let go of good people, but we just don’t have the technical specialist work for them to do in Customer Service because of the improvements in our streaming player.

Streaming Performance

Recently some Netflix members using Roku or Xbox movie players noticed lower quality streaming than they had experienced earlier. This was a temporary issue that we believe we have resolved. Working with our content distribution partners and key carriers, we made some specific changes that should restore everyone’s experience to where it was before – high quality streaming.