Netflix

[jackal]

I am not sure how many of you guys are big movie buffs. I really
like Netflix service I pay around 23 a month and can get instant movies
or four movies(including New releases)at home. It usually takes about two
days to send them and get them back. No late fees ever and i dont have sell
my blood of first born and drive to the Video store now. I do really miss the
amazing customer service of the High school kids at my Local video store though.

you can get a lot cheaper monthy services you only get one or two movies at
a time.

[John]

We get Netflix and enjoy it.

I pay less than you and get unlimited movies per month, but one at a time. Their turn-around time is very fast so that works for us. The only complaint might be their selection is a little thin but I guess they can't get everything - they are good for the "hot titles"

John

[TrenchGoon]

We get Netflix and enjoy it.

I pay less than you and get unlimited movies per month, but one at a time. Their turn-around time is very fast so that works for us. The only complaint might be their selection is a little thin but I guess they can't get everything - they are good for the "hot titles"

John

I used to have netflix and one of the main reasons I liked it was the obscure titles they had which couldn't be found at the local blockbuster. Has their library shrunk?

[S197]

I have the same Netflix plan as John and think it's a great service. I'm curious how it stacks up to Blockbuster's deal.

[John]

I used to have netflix and one of the main reasons I liked it was the obscure titles they had which couldn't be found at the local blockbuster. Has their library shrunk?

I don't think they handle some of the less popular, older titles.

John

[jackal]

they have about 50-60 thousand titles I believe.

there are about 10,000 you watch instantly if you have a pretty decent computer.

[cstelter]

I did netflix for about 1 year. I had the 3-at-a-time plan but found that I was only getting maybe 4 movies a month over the year. The problem was that we have 3 categories of movies that get watched in our house-- Full family movies, Mom/Dad movies, and Dad movies. If I want to watch a show (like Rocky or whatever) I'll stay up and watch it and return it. If it was just me watching movies I could probably get much more out of Netflix. But Mom/Dad movies require coordination with my Wife's schedule, so those movies tended to sit on the shelf longer. Kid movies require even more coordination and generally multiple evenings to get through one movie. So what wound up happening is sometimes we'd have 3 kid movies on the shelf and I'd want to watch a show, but didn't have one. Or I'd watch a movie and send it back and instead of getting the next 'dad' movie which was top of the queue, I'd end up getting another family movie or whatever.

Also turnaround time didn't seem like 2 days to me. If a movie arrived on Monday and I watched it that night, it would go out on Tuesday, On Wed they 'd mail out a reply and on Thursday I'd get it. Any movies viewed Thu-Sat added a day to that turnaround because of no mail on Sunday.

I switched to blockbuster because they offered in-store coupons (one a week) in addition to the 3 mail-order. This was really good because I could get the 'Dad' movies there once a week and keep the Mom/Dad or Family movies on the shelf until we could get around to them.

But the Blockbuster changed the routine so that if you returned your movies at the store instead of via mail, you could exchange it for a free in-store rental. This was really a good program because if you really wanted to watch a show on short notice and any of the 3 you had were not right, you could return any of them to the store and get a free alternate and then put the returned show back in your queue and you'd get it back in the mail a couple days later. Plus with this program you got much closer to a 2 day turnaround because as soon as you return the movie at the store, the system will send you the replacement the next morning, taking a day out of the equation. Plus the store I used had a really easy late-fee. You had like 7 days beyond the original due-date to return it for no fee (so 9-14 days no-fee) and then you had another 30 days to return it for only $1.05 or something like that. So the movies I got in exchange for the mail-in movies sometimes sat on the shelf as long as the mail-in kind.

But that was a year ago. Of course they upped the prices. They now charge extra for unlimited in-store returns, but you can still do that up to 5 times a month for the $23/month rate. I think I managed to get ~50 videos from netflix in the year I used it (~4/month or nearly $5/rental). The past year I got ~60 online and 60 in-store for better than 2x the throughput of netflix for the same price or on average $2.20 apiece with sustantially more flexibilty than trying to rent from a store 100%.

I quit netflix before their download service started so I'm curious how that works out. How is the picture quality of those downloads? I watch movies on a 65" HDTV fed by an upscaling DVD player and just recently added a bluRay/HD-DVD HTPC to the mix, so I'm not sure I'd use the download method much or not anyway.

I think Neflix still has a better library so if you're looking for really-hard-to-find titles netflix probably has an edge there, but for my $$ blockbuster worked out better.

I'm not a blockbuster shill-- but for my money it's better for me than netflix. Both are great services I think.

[Cliff]

I did netflix for about 1 year. I had the 3-at-a-time plan but found that I was only getting maybe 4 movies a month over the year. The problem was that we have 3 categories of movies that get watched in our house-- Full family movies, Mom/Dad movies, and Dad movies. If I want to watch a show (like Rocky or whatever) I'll stay up and watch it and return it. If it was just me watching movies I could probably get much more out of Netflix. But Mom/Dad movies require coordination with my Wife's schedule, so those movies tended to sit on the shelf longer. Kid movies require even more coordination and generally multiple evenings to get through one movie. So what wound up happening is sometimes we'd have 3 kid movies on the shelf and I'd want to watch a show, but didn't have one. Or I'd watch a movie and send it back and instead of getting the next 'dad' movie which was top of the queue, I'd end up getting another family movie or whatever.

Also turnaround time didn't seem like 2 days to me. If a movie arrived on Monday and I watched it that night, it would go out on Tuesday, On Wed they 'd mail out a reply and on Thursday I'd get it. Any movies viewed Thu-Sat added a day to that turnaround because of no mail on Sunday.

I switched to blockbuster because they offered in-store coupons (one a week) in addition to the 3 mail-order. This was really good because I could get the 'Dad' movies there once a week and keep the Mom/Dad or Family movies on the shelf until we could get around to them.

But the Blockbuster changed the routine so that if you returned your movies at the store instead of via mail, you could exchange it for a free in-store rental. This was really a good program because if you really wanted to watch a show on short notice and any of the 3 you had were not right, you could return any of them to the store and get a free alternate and then put the returned show back in your queue and you'd get it back in the mail a couple days later. Plus with this program you got much closer to a 2 day turnaround because as soon as you return the movie at the store, the system will send you the replacement the next morning, taking a day out of the equation. Plus the store I used had a really easy late-fee. You had like 7 days beyond the original due-date to return it for no fee (so 9-14 days no-fee) and then you had another 30 days to return it for only $1.05 or something like that. So the movies I got in exchange for the mail-in movies sometimes sat on the shelf as long as the mail-in kind.

But that was a year ago. Of course they upped the prices. They now charge extra for unlimited in-store returns, but you can still do that up to 5 times a month for the $23/month rate. I think I managed to get ~50 videos from netflix in the year I used it (~4/month or nearly $5/rental). The past year I got ~60 online and 60 in-store for better than 2x the throughput of netflix for the same price or on average $2.20 apiece with sustantially more flexibilty than trying to rent from a store 100%.

I quit netflix before their download service started so I'm curious how that works out. How is the picture quality of those downloads? I watch movies on a 65" HDTV fed by an upscaling DVD player and just recently added a bluRay/HD-DVD HTPC to the mix, so I'm not sure I'd use the download method much or not anyway.

I think Neflix still has a better library so if you're looking for really-hard-to-find titles netflix probably has an edge there, but for my $$ blockbuster worked out better.

I'm not a blockbuster shill-- but for my money it's better for me than netflix. Both are great services I think.

To get around the same problem that you had with netflix about keeping them too long I certainly do not recommend burning them and sending them back the next day.

[VikingMachine]

I like Netflix better but thats probobly because the closest Blockbuster is 90 miles away.

As far as Cliffs non recommendation, I wholeheartedly agree. Dont just burn a copy and send the original back as soon as you get it....oh and if you need some advice one what programs you shouldnt do this with as they work quite well, I suppose I could clue you in.

[cstelter]

I like Netflix better but thats probobly because the closest Blockbuster is 90 miles away.

As far as Cliffs non recommendation, I wholeheartedly agree. Dont just burn a copy and send the original back as soon as you get it....oh and if you need some advice one what programs you shouldnt do this with as they work quite well, I suppose I could clue you in.

I could cheat on my income taxes, never pay for an OS or other software, or steal mp3's of all the music I like too. I'm reasonably technically savvy.

I choose not to.

[VikingMachine]

I could cheat on my income taxes, never pay for an OS or other software, or steal mp3's of all the music I like too. I'm reasonably technically savvy.

I choose not to.

You forgot to include that you could also be incredibly judgemental....although that doesnt take much tech savvy.

[cstelter]

You forgot to include that you could also be incredibly judgemental....although that doesnt take much tech savvy.

So I've been judged incredibly judgemental. Is a simple eyeroll that judgmental? Did I ask you to stop? Did I tell you you should stop? Did I tell you you were wrong? I thought I rather politely gave a 'Thanks but no thanks' type reply while explaining exactly why I didn't need the advice. The eyeroll was in exasperation that a person should ever need to give such an explanation.

I'm sorry it's considered judgemental to promote following rules. Truly sorry.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

[VikingMachine]

So long and thanks for all the fish.

NP, i can get you some fish anytime! They were taken illegally of course but free fish is free fish!!!