I know and you know that Netflix recently upped their prices and lost a whole bunch of customers because of it. Even so, it’s still a darn good service if you use it online-only.
Unlimited streaming from Netflix is 8 bucks a month, which in all honesty is pretty good. Also, the first month is free so you can try it out for 30 days. Now before I give you my 5 reasons why I think you should at least try it, here’s a few points of note.
"I torrent everything and don’t need Netflix."
If you’re the type of person who does this, I’m not your judge – but I will say you should give Netflix a try anyway simply for the reason you’ll discover a lot more good entertainment compared to just torrenting alone. Add to that the Netflix interface is just plain easier to deal with.
"Streaming from my PC alone is stupid."
You can stream Netflix from more than just the PC; it’s listed in the 5 below.
"I don’t want to replace my cable TV with Netflix."
Nobody said you had to. Netflix is simply a different way of getting television entertainment. And if you’re looking to cut costs, Netflix in combination with DTV (for local channels and sports) may be just the solution you were looking for, bringing your TV bill down from $75+ a month to $8.
With that said, here’s the 5 reasons why you should try Netflix.
1. Easy to use
Compared to most digital cable TV menu systems, the Netflix interface is a breath of fresh air. No matter how you access it, finding what you want to watch is easy by design and there are no maddening super-complicated remote controls to deal with.
2. Good for following TV shows
Following a series of TV shows usually isn’t easy at all – but it is on Netflix. Most people think of Netflix as movies-only, but that’s not true at all. Tons of TV programs are available, many of which have all the episodes in order for easy viewing at your leisure.
3. Makes your Wii, Xbox or PS3 more than just a gaming console
"How do I view Netflix on my TV without a computer?" Use your gaming console. I’ve personally used Netflix with a Wii, and yes it works exactly as intended over Wi-Fi with no problems whatsoever.
4. Works on many mobile devices
iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, nook and Kindle Fire all support Netflix streaming.
5. Pause/resume from device to device
This is personally my favorite feature. Watch a program or movie on one device such as a Wii, pause it, resume it on another device, such as your PC, right where you left off. This is a beautiful thing and you will take advantage of it often.
Is Netflix online-only worth the 8 bucks a month? I think so, but what do you think?
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I stream it to my BluRay player. It is very easy. Push one button on the remote and there it is, on my television. Select a movie, press Start and you are watching a movie in about 10 seconds. That is a deal for 8 bucks compared to the hassle and expense of going to a movie theater.
The only downside is there are a LOT of not so good B quality movies. Netfix is also losing its Starz contract at the end of the year which means most of the good movies will no longer be available then. Some of the B movies are actually quite good if you get lucky enough to find one. This is especially true of the foreign films if reading subtitles does not bother you.
I also rent movies from Netflix. I get quite a number of movies where the disk is so scratched that they stop playing after you get into the movie which is more aggravating than if you had not watched the movie in the first place. Because of this it is a matter of time before I cancel my mail subscription. Netflix does not seem to care about sending out unplayable scratched disks. They are obviously not inspecting them for scratches when they get returned.
The bummer about this is that the picture and sound from BluRay disks is noticeably better than the movies that Netflix streams. I bought a BluRay player that Netflix says produces a 1080 picture and it is better than my older player which produced a 720 picture, but neither pictures are as good as what you get from a BluRay disk. I have a 50 inch television and a 5.1 surround system, so the difference is quite noticeable.
Hollywood hates it that people can watch movies so inexpensively and are resisting the inevitable, that the future of watching movies is mostly going to be by streaming over the internet. Hollywood prefers that you pay 10 bucks plus the price of popcorn to sit with a sometimes noisy and rude crowd of people in order to watch one movie. So in the short term, don’t expect to get much in terms of the newer and better movies streamed to your home.
Cost.
Yeah, they don’t have all the blockbusters on streaming. They don’t have the latest hot TV shows. But if you decide to stop having your LIFE revolve around the TV Network Programming schedules and View the Show when YOU want to look at it– it’s like having more of your OWN Life Under your OWN Control.
Now I watch a show when I want to, not when the TV Schedules Tells me so.
If I REALLY REALLY want that NEW, HOT movie–I go to iTunes or I rent the DVD the snail-mail way.
But in the end, it comes down to Cost: Instead of breaking $100/mo for Cable and a hundred channels of dreck, I only break $20/mo (Streaming+DVD) and watch what I want that i really LIKE.
$20 times 12 months = $240
$100 times 12 months = $1200
No Brainer!
Excellent post. Now I want to know what is torrent. That looks interesting.
Torrent is a way of file sharing. Proceed with caution, much of it is pirated copyrighted material and some of it contains viruses.
This is where people go to steal other peoples hard work. Unless you know what is legitimate it is best to stay away.http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/peersharing/a/torrenthandbook.htm
Great update ! Possibly this can motivate me away from torrents.
Gosh, will internet access speed of 5 Kbps work ok to make a go of netflix?