Feelings On Netflix & Amazon Prime

I have a front projection home theater (see profile), so Netflix blu-ray disc rental is essential. My blu-ray collection stands at somewhere around 600, but my buying will be very limited for a couple years. I'm very interested in screening films new and old at a reference level, so again, Netflix is a high priority for me. I watch only news or sports on cable and very little of either.

I can see where one or more streaming services would be fantastic for parents. This is an enthusiast web-site, so I'll stick to that aspect. It doesn't cost much for the 1 or 2 blu-ray disc option on Netflix. If the OP enjoys movies, then why not maintain a queue for a few bucks a month in order to keep up with new films? I'm an advocate for quality, so blu-ray is where it's at.

In any event, isn't it great to have all these options!

 

I do like the disc option due to the much wider range of selection. We turn it on and off depending if we have time to watch a lot of movies or if we're busy

 

The selections on Prime are getting better all the time. They have some great original content, exclusive licenses for a lot of TV series and have been beefing up their catalog titles.

 

Check out my thread on cutting the cable about how to get Kodi and plenty of free apps for accessing a lot of streaming content for free. I have an Amazon Prime membership for the free shipping so I use that.

 

I have both.

Only use Prime for free shipping don't really care for the video portion.

Use Netflix quite a bit especially in the winter.

 

We use prime. I like it I guess. Then again I don't watch anything very much. My wife got it for the two day shipping.

 

We don't have cable or satellite. We use Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Playstation Vue, HBO Now, Showtime and Amazon Prime. I manage our subscriptions month to month, so we aren't actually subscribing to all of them at the same time. We use Amazon enough that Prime is worth it for the shipping alone. I also gave PBS the $60 for access to all of their content. I have a month to month internet deal with Comcast and will not sign up for any type of contractual entertainment service if I can avoid it.

I don't think there are very many "must watch" programs on any of them. TV is pretty much an addictive time suck, and the ability to binge watch makes it even worse. It's hard to get sucked in.

 

We have both Amazon and Netflix at 4K resolution. No issues with streaming at all.

My wife and I enjoy watching Mozart in the Jungle on Amazon. Good stuff!

 

Anyone else feel Netflix mail DVD service is going downhill? Way more now having "very long wait" involved. Been trying to get the '60s "magnificent 7" for weeks. My top 6 in my queue all are "very long waits". Also, I had a part 1 of something followed by a part 2 .... and they sent me part 2 first. I've never had a problem like that before with Netflix. I've been with Netflix since 2006 and it clearly to me seems to be going downhill because of these sorts of things happening more and more in recent months. In the past I'd always marveled at how great it was.

 

You hit the nail on the head here. This is why I could never justify paying for these services year round.

My approach is to subscribe for a single month once or twice a year and catch up on the small handful of original programming that I actually care about.

Outside of that I have better luck using the library.

 

We have both Netflix and Amazon Prime. We wouldn't do without either of them. We also have cable but will be dumping it when the contract is up. The quality on both is acceptable. The only streaming solution that I use that I think is truly great quality is Vudu.

 

Yes! And riding to work on horseback is getting to be a pain in the ass with all of the damn cars in the road!

 

That is an irrational analogy.

 

I was practically kidding with you.

 

What gets me is that when Netflix was shipping out only DVDs, you could get any movie that was out DVD . Now its like none of the services have a very good movie selection. For instance recently was looking to see platoon. Its not on netflix (though i could of got the double super deluxe dvd release when it was DVD only) same with movies like good morning vietnam, just various movies( I MEAN A LOT). It seems no matter what streaming corporation you use, they still want to milk you to rent movies like these for $2.99

No fast times at ridgmenont high. Crap like 13 reasons why aint gonna get my money. Just dont understand the difference between then and now. Why are most of the movies not included on these streaming sites.

I know people say there a lot of movies ( a lot of garbage movies that you wouldnt of bought when they were out)

Oh yea and PRIME AINT THE FILMLOVERS DREAM

 

My complaint exactly. I have people asking me why I have such a "useless" large collection of physical media when it can be streamed instead. I can't find much of anything in my collection to stream; free or not.

 

I like both as they compliment each other.

 

Actually I found 13 Reasons along with a couple of other Netflix series made it worthwhile for me.

 

but im talking about the movie selection, why so many 80s and 90s movies arent on there when you could get them on netflix when they were dvd only. Its like the have taken any movies you want to see and put them on rent a movie streams. ...No caddyshack ... No Tron ... No War Games... WTF NO SLING BLADE ... Its like do search on movies like that and its lIKE whats difference now then when yall shipped dvds

Prime is no better its like a few good movies with a bunch of movies from the cutout bins

Just seems like the standard movies from the 80s and 90s and they arent there

 

It's simple. Back when Netflix was only shipping DVDs, they were effectively a conventional DVD store, but online. They were a neutral player in the DVD rental business, so of course they'd have open access to any title they wanted.

But that changed, big time, when Netflix started producing its own original content. With the massive early success of shows like House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black, they were well on their way to becoming a content producer and a competitor to the legacy studios.

Over the years they continued to ramp up production with an ever increasing number of very popular series. They're now making feature movies. Their original content budget for this year is some $8 billion! They have a global presence in over 140 countries and the streaming platform they developed is a benchmark that other studios are now trying to replicate, like CBS AllAccess (speaking of which, Netflix financed their new Trek series up front! - that's how much clout they have).

So it's little wonder that the legacy studios are running scared. They're pulling their assets (movies, etc) from Netflix because they don't want to make it even more attractive and stronger than it already is. The studios value their legacy distribution model to make money, while Netflix completely does away with the middle-man distributors, as they can simply dump any content simultaneously all over the world.

And by the way, 13 Reasons Why is an excellent series, one of many reasons why Netflix has become one of the giants in the entertainment business.

 

Well you mentioned the show and called it crap and, to be fair, I found it wasn't. Netflix does have some pretty good more obscure foreign films in a variety of genres.

Between Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc. there's a competition for a variety of films. They seem to go through rotations. Sling Blade, for example, was, as I recall on there last year for a while. There are other films that appear now and then but this is the problem with streaming--you have less control of what you want to watch.

 

I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and CraveTV - a Canadian streaming service that has the HBO and Showtime catalogues. Netflix and Prime have a smaller selection in Canada than the US which can be very frustrating. One of the reasons I got Prime was to watch Bosch, an Amazon original, and was surprised to find out that it's not on Prime in Canada due to liscensing. I had to subscribe to CraveTV to watch it.

CraveTV does have one original show called Letterkenny that I would highly recommend if you find a way to watch it. It's won Canadian comedy awards. The best comedy I've seen Curb Your Enthusiasm.

 

Netflix still has the DVD/Blu-ray option. If I'm not mistaken, one can choose a separate DVD/Blu-ray option without the streaming service, so Netflix by mail really hasn't gone anywhere. It's still there for those who prefer that option to enjoy. It's just that Netflix streaming is the more popular option.

 

And cheaper.

 

At this point Netflix can't compare to AP streaming if you enjoy a wide variety of forms, particularly documentaries. The main advantage that Netflix has over AP is its account share feature (which I do w/my family). Though I love them dearly no way am I allowing fam access to my AP account info (You can't buy tea on NF yet!). Amazon will figure out a solution to this soon, undoubtedly.