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Opinions on Netflix?

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J-Mac:
I have never used a service like Netflix, but I am considering subscribing to their top plan - which is now only $16.99 it appears - and also possibly picking up one of the "Netflix players" sold by Roku.  The Roku device is a relatively small box that you can use to queue movies and TV shows and watch on your TV - no DVD involved. Kind of a Netflix "On-Demand" service.

I personally never liked the thought of having DVDs mailed to me, watching them, and then having to mail them back in order to receive more in the mail. In this day and age of digital downloads - and me with an extremely fast cable connection - I always figured that I would prefer to use a download service instead. Unfortunately only a few have appeared in the marketplace and most have gone out of business recently. I don't know if that is due to pressure from industry groups like the MPAA or just that the market was not enough to support this kind of service.

Either way, I am really tired of putting up with Comcast and would love to drop most of their services - keeping only the internet connection - and use other services for my viewing pleasure. Though DVR's have been available for a number of years there are really very few options to using DVRs for time-shifting TV shows and/or movies. The Motorola DVRs that Comcast rents out are horrible - I have had several in the three years they have been available and I'm really tired of the problems with them. They were supposed to offer Tivo service a couple of years ago but that never came to pass officially in my area. Actually you can hook up a Tivo with a special card inserted in the Comcast DVR, but Comcast will not do it here and technically you are not allowed to do it on your own. Plus if you do install a Tivo card you lose the capability to watch On-Demand programming. Standalone DVRs are nice - just can't use them with the cable TV service.

I own a couple hundred DVD movies, but there are a lot I would enjoy watching - or watching again - but not enough to purchase the DVD. So enter Netflix.  And their new "Watch immediately on your TV" service sounds inviting. But I cannot find out on their site just how much programming they truly have available for "immediate viewing".  Anyone know how current and extensive the TV show availability is?  Other comments - good or bad - on Netflix service?  Is it worth joining?  Worth purchasing the Roku device?

BTW, I have checked out the Amazon Unbox service and the selection and pricing seem OK, but the software and its Terms and Conditions are much too intrusive for me. Just the fact that it requires that you allow it to run all the time - and it is connected and communicating home all the time - is bad enough for me. Add to that the fact that if a license grantor decides to pull its movie/show they can yank it back without permission, they can download advertisements to your computer without specific permission, and many more "offenses", IMO. They control what device you can watch the movies/TV shows on, when you can view it, etc.  Just a bit of DRM gone wild, it seems. So that is out for me unless they change terms drastically.

Thanks for any opinions.

Jim

y0himba:
I have had no problems.  We have been using the service for 6 months now.  We have the 3 at a time plan, and it's perfect. We have received 2 damaged DVDs in that time, they were both replaced within 2 days.  I also use the streaming service "Watch Instantly", which I stream to my 52 inch HDTV.  The quality is amazing, DVD or better, and the sound is perfect.

I love it and recommend it. :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:

J-Mac:
Sounds good!  Is the selection of TV shows and movies for instant viewing good?  Current shows?

Thanks!

Jim

SKesselman:
Jim,

Try this http://www.movielink.com/.
I don't know how it works, past this:
Last week, I downloaded the service and a movie for $3. I have a month from that date to watch it.
However, once I press 'play', I have 24 hours to watch it.

I've seen no ads or odd behavior on my pc since.
[Edit 12/2008: Blockbuster service since sold out, app would not uninstall]

I don't think it's running in the background, but you'll have to see for yourself.
(Not understanding what runs in the background or why, I have no interest in this until it gets in my way.)


I didn't read the terms. If I did, I'd have no services at all, I'm sure of this ;)

Anyway,
good luck :)

mouser:
netflix is surprisingly good.  give it a try, you can always cancel easily.
some things that might not be obvious:
netflix has a pretty big collection of movies that you can watch online/stream once you subscribe to their non-lowest-level subscription.  i found myself using that as much as the mail dvds.
the queueing system of netflix is fun and makes it easy to find and save movies you want to watch.
you can easily "pause" your subscription for a few months which is nice when you dont have anything you want to rent.

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