Netflix has officially confirmed pricing of its Australian service, launching tomorrow, in a press release sent out earlier today. Plans will begin at $8.99 for the standard definition (SD) package. HD will set you back $11.99 and finally 4K Ultra-HD is $14.99 per month, although 4K content is still pretty hard to come by.
More important than the image quality is the number of streams that you can run simultaneously. The $8.99 pack will only allow one stream. HD will get you two and the 4K Family pack will open up a solid 4 simultaneous streams, although you're going to need a pretty strong broadband connection if those four are all running in the same premises.
The middle HD pack is likely to be the popularity winner. The average household consists of more than one TV and movie viewer. You're not always all going to want to watch the same stuff at the same time, so the single stream of the SD pack may cause house tension. Conversely, the four streams of the Ultra HD pack will be too taxing for most ADSL lines. You'll need cable if you want to get this, but most Aussies don't have access to this high-speed service.
Although speed varies based on location, in general ADSL2+ connections can handle two HD streams simultaneously. Even if you have a slower connection you can bump the quality down to SD to get both going. Instead of thinking about the $3 difference between the SD and HD packs as paying for image quality, think about it as paying for the extra stream. It's a lot better than signing up to two separate $8.99 subscriptions to get the same result.
| $8.99 | $11.99 | $14.99 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | Standard definition (SD) | High definition (HD) | Ultra-HD |
| Number of simultaneous streams allowed | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Estimated data usage | 0.7GB per hour | Up to 3GB per hour | Up to 7GB per hour |
| Over a month* | 36GB | 156GB | 364GB |
*Figure based on 52 hours of TV per month, as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
The first month on all plans is free and there’s no lock-in contract. If you’re not sure that your internet connection could handle the strain then the best way to find out would be to sign up. If things don’t work out, you can cancel your subscription within the first month and pay nothing.
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