Ever wondered how Netflix actually works?

[SD45T-2]

The Netflix warehouse in Carol Stream does not appear on any map. Your odds of finding it are slightly better than your odds of stumbling upon a rare insect in a field of weeds.

One could drive to Carol Stream, stop in a random office park, climb from one's car and scream, "Reveal thyself, Netflix!" This is not advisable. But the temptation remains.

If you subscribe to the DVD-rental service, the Netflix warehouse, which you know must exist somewhere; which a P.O. Box on every Netflix envelope suggests does exist; which processes your Netflix queue with alarming efficiency; which you b et will be as magical as you imagined if you ever stumble on it, overrun with dancing Oompa Loompas in matching jumpsuits of Netflix red, is one of those mythical New Economy temples.

Like an Amazon warehouse. Or an Apple warehouse. One imagines miles of pop ephemera between its brick-and-mortar walls -- one imagines that limitless building from "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but with 15,000 copies of "Confessions of a Shopaholic."

The truth is stranger.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...8030313_1_dvd-by-mail-warehouse-trade-secrets


But how does it figure out what you like? This is where it gets into [MENTION=9273]Vasilisa[/MENTION] territory.

In the old days, a movie genre was a simple, communal category: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama. One had to locate oneself in the Drama aisle at the video store and then look for just the right thing: A dark road trip movie with a strong female lead? Aha, Thelma & Louise.

But Netflix, the movie streaming and DVD rental service, doesn't work like that. It recommends genres that are intensely, almost bizarrely personalized. Netflix might tell you not just that you like road trip movies, but that you like Understated Romantic Road Trip Movies, Dark Road Trip Thrillers, Road Trip Art House Movies, Road Trip Musicals or, of course, Canadian Independent Road Trip Movies.

That's because seven years ago, Todd Yellin, a film-obsessed executive at Netflix, set out to break down every movie into data. He hired aspiring screenwriters and paid them to watch movies and rate their levels of romance, gore, quirkiness and even plot resolution. In a sense, Yellin wanted to reverse-engineer all the Hollywood formulas so that Netflix could mathematically show you the movies it knew you would like.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcon...microgenres-by-staring-into-the-american-soul

 

[highlander]

Moved

 

[prplchknz]

I use netflix and youtube exclusively because I've had bad experience with the illegal sites downloading malware and viruses so I use netflix. plus I love the suggestions and obessed with rating movies. I'm watching Sunset Boulevard right now. I don't get the dvds. and my mom uses my account she doesn't watch it all the time, but I'll watch movies and make suggestions to her. Plus once I know someone I'm really good at picking out movies they'd enjoy that i've seen. And I'm not like I loved this movie you should watch it because I loved it. It's more like I saw this movie, it's something I think you'd really like. Sometimes people ask me what movies I've seen recently and I'll tell them whether or not I liked it. And then let them know what it's about and whether or not I think they'd like it (I'm usually correct) and sometimes there's movies I don't like but I think others would.

Also I totally get why they want to keep their location secret. and I think the 50 million genres are cool