This is related to an earlier discussion at http://developer.netflix.com/forum/read/50433
In addition to the API not exposing upcoming streaming titles whose availability date is not yet known, it seems like the API is also not exposing upcoming titles whose availability date is known but is in the future. For example City Heat (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/City_Heat/60029784) is streamable from 8/8 as per the NF site but the API shows only DVD in /format_availability
Would be great if you could have this info show up in the API
I hope Netflix corrects me if I'm wrong, but what I'm seeing in the data Instantwatcher.com gets is that the upcoming title availability is being represented accurately now in /catalog/titles/index, but not in API responses for individual titles.
Hi, Could you please send us some titles where you see this, we could check this against our index and the api responses. I could see how it could be off a little bit (some hours), but I would like to look at the titles to see if we could make any adjustments regarding the cache refreshes. Thanks.
Cool. City Heat now shows the (future) date of streaming availabilty: http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/60029784/format_availability. It did not a couple days ago when I reported it.
On tittles where the date is known it does not show up. For example: Apocalypto (http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70044699/format_availability) shows only DVD and Blu-ray.
@dhchoi - are you able to see via /catalog/titles/index, titles that are available in the future for streaming but the specific start date is still unknown?
Here's an example of a title from catalog/titles/index today that is represented as available on Netflix instant watching in the near future. The title is "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" and catalog/titles/index says it's going to be available on August 15 (this Saturday).
I hope this is correct, because I'm starting to write code that assumes this data is accurate. Could the API Team please confirm?
<title_index_item>
<title>Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist</title>
<id>http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70104311</id>
@priya - if yu look at Dan's example, /titles/index shows the Instant Availability but a bare call to http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70104311/format_availability does not. Here's what I get back - nothing in IW/Streaming. So what works for City Heat does not work for Nick/Norah
Thanks for such a quick reply Priya - but did you mean the IW with a known future date or IW without the known future date. dchoi confirms that /titles/index already shows data for the former category - it's just that the specific title calls don't show it.
Hi Raghu, I meant the former one with a known future date. We will have to look into adding this to the /cataog/titles calls. Also, we will have to think about how to represent the 'coming soon' info in our details as well. Am thinking that these could be new additions to our internal APIs that we use, we will have to pick those up and come up with a way to represent them.
Disparities between the catalog index and title calls have become a considerable issue. The catalog index that I downloaded on 8/27 says that the following 19 titles are supposed to start streaming on Instant Watch on 9/1, but there is no such indication in the title calls or the Netflix pages for these titles:
And that's just for one day. I'm using a spreadsheet to track titles identified as coming to instant watch in the catalog index but not identified as such in the title call or the Netflix page, and that spreadsheet contains over 250 titles right now. I honestly don't know what source of information to trust right now - do I trust the index, or the title call, or are there errors in both?
The index has a bug. This has been fixed and is in testing right now. We will roll this out as soon as possible and will keep you posted. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Has this been fixed? I've noticed the last week or so that several streaming titles in the catalog index are reporting conflicting available vs expire dates. They expire before they become available, which can't be right. "Bliss" is just one example, but there are dozens of others.
This has not been rolled out yet. Should be happening very soon as soon as the testing process is done. I will make sure I will keep this thread updated. Sorry, it is taking a bit longer than we had expected.
Priya - now that you've fixed the bug in /index, how soon do you think before /catalog/titles will also accurately return data for
a) a title that has a specific known future IW availability_from date?
and
b) a title that is coming soon on IW but no availability_from date is known or specified. I understand the challenge in representing them in the API responses - maybe just not have available_from and available_until values at all...?
I just downloaded the index and I do not see where any titles are identified as coming to streaming.
For example, looking at the entry for Synecdoche, New York shows availability on DVD and Blu-Ray, but there is nothing to indicate when it will be streaming, although its Netflix page says it will start streaming on Sept 11.
And yet when you check the Netlix page for Synecdoche, New York at http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Synecdoche_New_York/70100407 it clearly says it will start streaming on 9/11.
My point is that I used to be able to download the index and search it by date code for titles coming to streaming, not just those that are already streaming. The index currently shows titles streaming now, but has no data on titles that will be streaming in the near future (such as Synecdoche). Is this data no longer available in the index or title calls?
This title is not available on instant (as of 9/10) and it is going to be there on 9/11. So, it is not there in the index/title calls. The "coming to streaming" will have to be added to both of these and we will prioritize this work to add these.
Thank you. Since the main purpose of my site is to track titles coming to streaming, it would be good to have this information back.
I used to be able to get it directly from the catalog index until about a week ago. Titles coming to streaming were simply noted as being available with a future date code like:
<availability available_from="1254207600">
I'm still having this problem. For example, Gossford Park is available 9/18/09, but expires 9/17/09. Julia is available 9/18/09, but expires 9/15/09. The Closet is available 9/18/09, but expires 9/14/09. There are lots more too.
This is related to an earlier discussion at http://developer.netflix.com/forum/read/50433
In addition to the API not exposing upcoming streaming titles whose availability date is not yet known, it seems like the API is also not exposing upcoming titles whose availability date is known but is in the future. For example City Heat (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/City_Heat/60029784) is streamable from 8/8 as per the NF site but the API shows only DVD in /format_availability
Would be great if you could have this info show up in the API
Message edited by raghus 2 years ago
Tags
dhchoi – 3 years ago
I hope Netflix corrects me if I'm wrong, but what I'm seeing in the data Instantwatcher.com gets is that the upcoming title availability is being represented accurately now in /catalog/titles/index, but not in API responses for individual titles.
priya – 3 years ago
Hi, Could you please send us some titles where you see this, we could check this against our index and the api responses. I could see how it could be off a little bit (some hours), but I would like to look at the titles to see if we could make any adjustments regarding the cache refreshes. Thanks.
raghus – 3 years ago
Cool. City Heat now shows the (future) date of streaming availabilty: http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/60029784/format_availability. It did not a couple days ago when I reported it.
On tittles where the date is known it does not show up. For example: Apocalypto (http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70044699/format_availability) shows only DVD and Blu-ray.
@dhchoi - are you able to see via /catalog/titles/index, titles that are available in the future for streaming but the specific start date is still unknown?
dhchoi – 3 years ago
@raghus I see titles available on instant in the future with a specific start date. Do you see instant titles without a specific start date?
dhchoi – 3 years ago
Here's an example of a title from catalog/titles/index today that is represented as available on Netflix instant watching in the near future. The title is "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" and catalog/titles/index says it's going to be available on August 15 (this Saturday).
I hope this is correct, because I'm starting to write code that assumes this data is accurate. Could the API Team please confirm?
<title_index_item>
<title>Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist</title>
<id>http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70104311</id>
-- snip --
<delivery_formats>
<availability available_from="1233648000">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/formats" label="Blu-ray" term="Blu-ray" status="deprecated"></category>
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="Blu-ray" term="Blu-ray"></category>
</availability>
<availability available_from="1233648000">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/formats" label="DVD" term="DVD" status="deprecated"></category>
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="DVD" term="DVD"></category>
</availability>
<availability available_from="1250319600" available_until="1277708400">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/formats" label="instant" term="instant" status="deprecated"></category>
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="instant" term="instant"></category>
</availability>
</delivery_formats>
<updated>1247680738</updated>
</title_index_item>
raghus – 3 years ago
@dhchoi - no I don't either.
@priya - if yu look at Dan's example, /titles/index shows the Instant Availability but a bare call to http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70104311/format_availability does not. Here's what I get back - nothing in IW/Streaming. So what works for City Heat does not work for Nick/Norah
<delivery_formats>
<availability available_from="1233619200">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="DVD" term="DVD"/>
</availability>
<availability available_from="1233619200">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="Blu-ray" term="Blu-ray"/>
</availability>
</delivery_formats>
dhchoi – 3 years ago
@raghus - Thanks for that extra bit of helpful info
raghus – 2 years ago
Priya - any idea when the IW/Streaming availability will show up correctly on the API for titles with future IW availability dates?
American Meth shows 8/28 IW availability on http://www.netflix.com/Movie/American_Meth/70088980
However, http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/movies/70088980/format_availability returns only
==========
<delivery_formats>
−
<availability available_from="1203984000">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="DVD" term="DVD"/>
</availability>
</delivery_formats>
==========
Could you please fix this and also comment on what the API will do to correctly expose 'Streaming Soon' titles?
priya – 2 years ago
Hi Raghu, it is a possibility that this feature is a new addition to the website. We will add it to our backlog.
raghus – 2 years ago
Thanks for such a quick reply Priya - but did you mean the IW with a known future date or IW without the known future date. dchoi confirms that /titles/index already shows data for the former category - it's just that the specific title calls don't show it.
priya – 2 years ago
Hi Raghu, I meant the former one with a known future date. We will have to look into adding this to the /cataog/titles calls. Also, we will have to think about how to represent the 'coming soon' info in our details as well. Am thinking that these could be new additions to our internal APIs that we use, we will have to pick those up and come up with a way to represent them.
wingnutzero – 2 years ago
Disparities between the catalog index and title calls have become a considerable issue. The catalog index that I downloaded on 8/27 says that the following 19 titles are supposed to start streaming on Instant Watch on 9/1, but there is no such indication in the title calls or the Netflix pages for these titles:
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Vital_Signs/70033130
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Shutter/70062814
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Triad_Election/70076064
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Ghost/70065235
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Siege_of_Firebase_Gloria/70067266
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Randy_and_the_Mob/70081791
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Stagecoach/70074388
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Tetsuo_The_Iron_Man/1034205
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Vera_Cruz/60004252
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Benny_and_Joon/60003598
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Of_Mice_and_Men/60021607
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Alphabet_City/60030288
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/A_Doll_s_House/60026935
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Wild_in_the_Country/60023901
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Phone/70019282
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Marebito/70020732
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Woods/70038791
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Second_Chances/70029438
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Samaritan_Girl/70032102
And that's just for one day. I'm using a spreadsheet to track titles identified as coming to instant watch in the catalog index but not identified as such in the title call or the Netflix page, and that spreadsheet contains over 250 titles right now. I honestly don't know what source of information to trust right now - do I trust the index, or the title call, or are there errors in both?
priya – 2 years ago
The index has a bug. This has been fixed and is in testing right now. We will roll this out as soon as possible and will keep you posted. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Nowhere Man – 2 years ago
Has this been fixed? I've noticed the last week or so that several streaming titles in the catalog index are reporting conflicting available vs expire dates. They expire before they become available, which can't be right. "Bliss" is just one example, but there are dozens of others.
priya – 2 years ago
This has not been rolled out yet. Should be happening very soon as soon as the testing process is done. I will make sure I will keep this thread updated. Sorry, it is taking a bit longer than we had expected.
priya – 2 years ago
This bug is fixed now (got rolled out on Friday). If you come across any issues please keep us posted. Sorry for the inconvenience/
raghus – 2 years ago
Priya - now that you've fixed the bug in /index, how soon do you think before /catalog/titles will also accurately return data for
a) a title that has a specific known future IW availability_from date?
and
b) a title that is coming soon on IW but no availability_from date is known or specified. I understand the challenge in representing them in the API responses - maybe just not have available_from and available_until values at all...?
wingnutzero – 2 years ago
I just downloaded the index and I do not see where any titles are identified as coming to streaming.
For example, looking at the entry for Synecdoche, New York shows availability on DVD and Blu-Ray, but there is nothing to indicate when it will be streaming, although its Netflix page says it will start streaming on Sept 11.
Kent Brewster – 2 years ago
Just did some checking and Synechdoche, New York does not show as available in streaming in the catalog or via title search, here:
http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles?term=Synechdoche
Searching my downloaded catalog.xml shows lots of instant availability. Here's The Ripple Effect, which happens to be next in line after Synechdoche:
<availability available_from="1223362800" available_until="1286434800">
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles/formats" label="instant" term="instant" status="deprecated"></category>
<category scheme="http://api.netflix.com/categories/title_formats" label="instant" term="instant"></category>
</availability>
wingnutzero – 2 years ago
And yet when you check the Netlix page for Synecdoche, New York at http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Synecdoche_New_York/70100407 it clearly says it will start streaming on 9/11.
My point is that I used to be able to download the index and search it by date code for titles coming to streaming, not just those that are already streaming. The index currently shows titles streaming now, but has no data on titles that will be streaming in the near future (such as Synecdoche). Is this data no longer available in the index or title calls?
priya – 2 years ago
This title is not available on instant (as of 9/10) and it is going to be there on 9/11. So, it is not there in the index/title calls. The "coming to streaming" will have to be added to both of these and we will prioritize this work to add these.
wingnutzero – 2 years ago
Thank you. Since the main purpose of my site is to track titles coming to streaming, it would be good to have this information back.
I used to be able to get it directly from the catalog index until about a week ago. Titles coming to streaming were simply noted as being available with a future date code like:
<availability available_from="1254207600">
Nowhere Man – 2 years ago
I'm still having this problem. For example, Gossford Park is available 9/18/09, but expires 9/17/09. Julia is available 9/18/09, but expires 9/15/09. The Closet is available 9/18/09, but expires 9/14/09. There are lots more too.
priya – 2 years ago
Hi, I checked all the three titles in the index and it shows them as available only on DVD currently. May I ask when you downloaded the index?
Thanks,
Priya.