I have to agree that not all SD streaming is created equal. There is a huge disparity between what is and is not Starz Play. The non-SP standard def stuff looks similar to DVD quality more often than not, but the SP stuff really does look horrendous, especially on a large screen. Ghosting, artifacts everywhere, some bizarre frame rate complete with screen tearing. It's come to the point where I won't even bother watching a SP streaming feature -- at least you can tell which content is and is not one of them. As for Epix, I have no problem with older titles being standard def, but there is no excuse for Star Trek and the like not to be HD. Films like that demand HD.

Never used the friends feature, I only ever visit the Netflix site to search for movies and add them to my Q. That's it, and I'm pretty sure that 98% of other users do the same thing. You guys are seriously overreacting about this. Prices aren't going up, nothing about renting and watching movies is changing. The "friends" aspect was a peripheral feature that was not utilized enough to be continued. And about Netflix not caring about their current customers and only caring about new customers -- they are a business. Had they dropped the friends feature and raised prices by 10%, then I'd understand the outrage. Netflix is still the best value out there to rent and stream movies. Period.

I have Verizon Fios 25/25 and I've never had Netflix degrade my quality. I stream only to my PS3. However, I used to have Comcast's 20/5 plan and I would be bumped down to SD at least 4 times during a 90 minute feature. I believe it comes down to signal consistency, not an issue with the Netflix servers. If you have a cable connection and are trying to stream during peak hours, chances are you're going to see a degradation. If you have a dedicated or fiber line, you're probably going to see more consistency.

I've been using the PS3 streaming disc extensively since the discs began mailing out, and I've never had an issue. The only issues I've ever had with the BD drive is with unbalanced DVD's skipping large chunks of scenes (these discs also make my laptop shake like hell when inserted, thus proving imbalance). Never had a problem with a BD.

PS3 streaming is the main use of my Netflix account. If they force me to buy PS+ to stream, bye-bye Netflix.

I refuse to sign up for Hulu Plus until ads are removed. The plain fact is that if you know where to look on the net, you can easily obtain full episodes of television in HD with no ads within hours of their airings. I would welcome the ease of having the episodes whenever I want them with the click of a button, but the ads kill it for me. There is *no* reason to have ads in a subscription model like this. None.