Tag Archives | high definition

Here’s How Netflix Fails in Lebanon

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Soon after Netflix launched its service worldwide I quickly signed up for a free trial to see how good will the streaming be over our lousy internet connection, and I was unsurprisingly very disappointed with the experience.

I have a 2Mb connection, and I was never able to stream a show in HD, the maximum resolution I was getting was probably 360 or 480p despite setting the playback parameters in my account to only play shows in HD. A friend of mine who has a 4Mb was also failing to load anything in high quality. And judging by the figures Netflix posted on their data usage, the results seemed pretty reasonable since 1 hour of HD streaming consumes up to 3GB, so there’s no way you can get that quality unless you probably have an 8Mb subscription.

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Therefore until the internet infrastructure gets a massive upgrade here in Lebanon you’re better off without a Netflix subscription. And even if you managed to get a super fast connection, you should know that the Middle East’s catalog is different than that of the USA and lacks some of our favorite shows like House of Cards for example due to licensing issues. To get over that you’ll have to resort to using some VPN service all over again to cheat the geographical restrictions.

So basically just ditch the idea of subscribing to the service and keep that torrent client installed in your PC for the time being.

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The new Beirut Waterfront

On May 16th, Solidere announced opening of the new Beirut Waterfront to the public as the first bicycle lane in the city. According to The Daily Star, the lane would start at the Beirut Souks on Tripoli Street and pass through Patriarch Howayek Street in the direction of Beirut’s new maritime front, through Allenby Street, and back to the starting point.

Before getting too excited about it, access to the waterfront will be granted on Sundays only from 10 AM to 8PM! And that’s why I’m having mixed feelings about it, I’m glad we finally have a public space away from the pollution that we got used to, but opening it on Sundays only is sort of disappointing, why can’t they keep it open everyday?

Soliders is acting like someone who invites you over to his house, but then tell you beforehand that he will be kicking you out at 8PM.

Anyway, hoping we get a permanent access to the waterfront, I leave you with this cool video of the place made by Rawad El Hoyek.

New Beirut Waterfront from Rawad EL HOYEK on Vimeo.

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