Netflix App Won't Display login screen on iOS

So you recently upgraded your iOS device or just added Netflix and want to watch a show on the go. However when launching Netflix you only see a spinning wheel and no login and now shows.

Here is a simple fix to solve the problem. 

Go to Settings and Choose Safari:

Next in Safari Change Block Cookies from Always to From third parties and advertisers

Finally click Clear Cookies and Data.

Now reopen your Netflix application, login and enjoy the show!

Hulu Plus, Netflix, and iTunes replacement for cable?

After a few months of testing I can say I have a pretty good feel for Hulu Plus. First the application runs fine on the Mac, not quiet as nicely as Netflix with its Silverlight technology and ability to run in full screen on an extra monitor while you work on other monitors, but it runs fine if you are just looking to watch TV on your Mac. The iPad and iPhone applications are fantastic for watching TV shows while you are mobile. The picture quality is a little lower on 3G but still watchable.

For comparison I tried Hulu on the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and PS3. The PS3 was just a bad experience. Every time a software update comes out Hulu gets stuck on the login and will not open completely or close to allow the user to update without holding down the power key and rebooting the PS3.

On the iPad and iPhone It is a completely different experience. Just tap the app and you are ready to watch TV. The search is a little non-intuitive and new full episode availability is still limited. The older series library is growing constantly allowing viewers to revisit old favorites or even discover old series they missed for the first time Recently some content has starred showing up as web only not allowing it to be viewed by anything but a Mac or PC. Since there is a $7.99 a month subscription fee i should be able to watch any content on any device I own. That has been a problem for several shows I watch.

At $7.99 a month for Hulu it isn't a bad deal if you want some TV on demand or your DVR missed a show, but I am not throwing out my satellite TV just yet.

Netflix is another TV / movie on demand service with a large selection of movies and a $7.99 a month streaming only option. The system recommends movies based on what you watch and how you rate movies. It is easy to discover movies you may never have heard of before. Or if you happen to be at home and in the mood to watch a movie you can just flip through and find something without having to go out of the house or buy a movie from the cable or satellite company.

Netflix on the Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone are great experiences. Again on the PS3 the User Interface changes every time you sign in making it a little confusing to use. I keep hearing that Netflix is trying to find the right UI and getting feed back from customers on the three leading ones. My recommendation is let us choose which one we want to use and don’t assign a random one.

While Hulu is focused on TV Netflix is definitely focused on feature length movies and a few older TV series on DVD.

Netflix will also for an extra dollar a month will mail DVD's to you. The entire catalog isn't available for streaming yet but, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says they plan to have the entire Netflix collection online in the next year and sees an end to mailing DVD's in the not to distant future.

iTunes has come a long way since it’s early days of just syncing the iPod. Adding a music store, a movie store, and a TV shows in addition to the app store. iTunes became one stop shopping for programs and content. In the early days we could only purchase content which was a little expensive for just watching a movie. Later they added rentals and HD content. Now with the Apple TV2 renting movies is simple and competitively priced with cable and satellite. The 720p HD stream looks great and it is most of all totally convenient. The only thing Apple is missing now is a subscription service to let you watch all the movies and TV’s you want for a low monthly fee. Maybe a few content deals from networks and we could see competition with cable and satellite. I don’t think that is likely to happen since most of the networks own cable companies as well. It would be good for consumers as it gives us choice. What is more likely and will be slow coming is independent content creators will start making their own deals and getting themselves into iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix and start making the big production companies and cable networks less relevant. Much like the Internet has given everyone a voice to share content they have created we could see the same thing come to streaming services in the future. This would give consumers more choices and more diverse content, give advertisers a less expensive medium to get the word out about their products and give us access to content anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

For the providers of content it is time to get on board with streaming from iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, or even your own app that is available on multiple platforms. Just last season my DVR had an issue and stopped recording a series I watch. I didn’t notice until the end of the season and missed several shows. Not wanting to get lost in the story I stopped watching and started looking for the season once it ended. It isn’t available in any streaming format and is coming out on DVD but really not worth me going out of my way to get it and to buy it. So the network just lost a regular viewer due to a technical glitch and their inability to make the show easily available for me to catch up and resume watching on my DVR.

So I am not quiet ready to give up satellite TV yet but Netflix, Hulu, and network TV apps that deliver content to any digital device might make a compelling argument for leaving cable behind. Particularly for road warriors who are on the road frequently and don't always get a chance to watch their favorite shows.

Apple TV First Look

Friday was the big day, after nearly a month of waiting the new Apple TV arrived at our doors. The first thing I noticed is that is was smaller than I thought it would be. The box the HDMI cable came in was bigger than the Apple TV box. The entire unit is just a little bigger than an Airport Express. On plugging it into the TV it took a few moments to boot and ask what language did I prefer and start walking me though connecting to the wifi. 

As soon as it was on wifi I could use my iPad or iPhone as a remote control. Making searches far easier by providing a full keyboard. The Apple Remote software also provides gesture support for controlling the Apple TV making me think their have to be more applications coming for the device in the future. 

TV viewing is a pleasant experience despite the fact it only supports 720p and there is no option to upscale to 1080p watching Netflix and streaming movies from my computer looked good. In fact it was hard to tell the difference between what was on my DirecTV DVR and the Apple TV. 

According to ifitxit.com and their tear down of an Apple TV the new unit has 256 MB of RAM and 8 gigs of storage with a slot to add more storage. Perhaps Apple will offer higher capacity Apple TV’s in the future? For now you can setup your Apple TV to display your photos as a screen saver through iTunes and the photos are uploaded and stored on the AppleTV and not streamed. 

Fast forwarding and rewinding is a little slow but certainly useable while streaming content. It seems to buffer quickly and resume playing when you skip around within content. Netflix displays fast forwards and rewinds as a thumbnail in the center of the screen. Streaming from iTunes you can jump to chapters just like a DVD. 

Airplay at the moment seems to only work with audio. Apple advertised video streaming via Airplay but not until this November. I am betting an Apple TV software update will be required to make it work. 

I also ran into two odd router freezes my first day of heavy movie and TV viewing with the AppleTV causing me to reboot the Airport Express in the living room. It has never done that before, however the Airport Express extends the network to the office and constant streaming of movies plus traffic from the iPad and a laptop may have been too much. I tired switching to the 2.4 Ghz network connecting directly to the Airport Extreme in the office and haven’t had an issue since. 

It seems as though the Apple TV isn’t finished yet as it is lacking a few features that would make the device a must have for the digital living room. Hulu Plus support, ability to buy movie tickets online, Ping support, ability to send content to your TV from Quicktime X via Airplay, as well as TV and movie studio applications allowing us to access their content. This last item would prompt me to get rid of satellite and watch all of my shows on demand direct from the content creators and would make the Apple TV as hugely successful as the iPhone. The final major update that will make Apple TV the killer application would be a USB camera and microphone to connect to the miniUSB port for FaceTime calls on the TV. Allow Grandma to sit in her living room and talk to the grand kids on their iPhones and iPod Touches. 

Apple still obviously thinks of the Apple TV as a hobby and the studios are not yet sure they want to go the on demand route. I think customers are ready for it and the technology is there and only requires some tweaks to software to make it a reality. At $99 for the device that just sips power, makes no noise and takes up as much space as an iPhone makes it a worth while investment. I think Apple sales on these will be far above the previous Apple TV’s and it just may be the start of a revolution in television. The question is can Apple get the studios to come along? 

My recommendation is if you love renting movies and TV shows, have a Netflix account, and content on your computer you want to move to a TV this is a great device to add to your home and at $99 you can’t go wrong.