Nextflix vs CABLE? ANYONE?

[HeatherC]

Well it's that time of the year again where I get to argue with the cable company over our plan. Thinking of trying Netflix and wondering if anyone uses it and can help explain it.

We don't watch a lot of movies, but kids do like their tv shows in the early morning or at night. Wondering what shows you can stream live? Or...can you tape a popular kids show on Netflix and then watch it later?

It says it is $8.99 a month which would be a big savings over Charter Cable. Unless....it doesn't really work the way I'm hoping it does.

If anyone has any advice/experience with this, I'd be really grateful for any help!

Thanks so much!

 

[kimmyann]

We have cable & netflix. We use the wii for our movies from netflix, but to my knowledge I can't use it for shows only for a show that the season was released. I don't know if it is any different if you stream from a different source (like blu ray or xbox). I would love to get rid of cable just for the ridiculus price I have to pay, but my family would freak, we have t.v's in every room just about. What's worse is nobody really even watches it, just have it on because...

Kim

 

[missenmickey]

We have Netflix and cable. We stream Netflix through our blu ray player. I would suggest that you go to Netflix site and browse their selection. The movies that are available on demand tend to be older movies - generally not new releases. Same for the TV shows. Once you have signed up for Netflix you browse and put movies, and or TV shows, in your queue. Once they are in your queue you can watch them over and over. If you are thinking of giving up cable you should look into Hulu or another site like it that shows current TV shows. We enjoy Netflix for our family movie night. We let the kids pick a movie then we all watch together. It beats having to drive somewhere to pick out a movie!

 

[yakkin' yeti]

We did without cable for four years while my husband was in grad school, and didn't miss it. Netflix is fantastic -- we could get lots of mysteries and British TV shows. And you can stream lots of great cartoons, just not the very newest episodes -- our son loves Kim Possible and The Last Airbender and both of those were available.

The only reason we have cable now is that we got a deal where it was $25 a month cheaper to bundle basic cable in with our Internet and phone than it was to purchase separately. If it ever came to a choice again, though, Netflix wins, hands-down.

 

[Keke]

We have basic cable ($12 a month for around 20 channels) and the $8 Netflix plan. We LOVE it. Because we have never had the Discovery Channel, my husband is able to watch all the Mythbusters he wants. They are all on instant demand. Probably not the latest season, but when you have about 8 past seasons to go through, who cares. He also watches some other shows like Man Vs. Wild or whatever that stuff is?

We have yet to figure out any rhyme or reason to what is available for "instant play". But there is some good stuff on there. And some nights it is fun to just watch a really old or silly movie. Recently we watched "So I Married An Ax Murderer" and "Mall Cop". We hook up our laptop to the tv so we can watch it like that. However you can use your Wii as well.

And they are really fast with dvd's in the mail. We can usually get in 2 a week if we are on the ball with watching and returning them. We feel like we get to watch some good stuff for a lot less money than cable.

 

[lyonking3]

Like Netflix, and the fact you can instantly watch some movies... Price is right too...about $11 onth after taxes...

 

[cassandrap83]

@OP It does not work the way that you are hoping.

We don't have cable, but we do have an HD TV with a converter box so we do get all the basic channels: Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, CW + some local channels. You will be suprised all the shows you can watch just on those channels for FREE.

Wel also do have the Netflix plan which is great for my kids. They are able to watch a ton of shows on TV. BUT, be forewarned most of these shows are at least 2 seasons older than what is currently on TV. For example, this week Shark Week 2009 is on for streaming. You cannot watch live TV. You don't get current TV. Most movies come onto Netflix at least 6mo after their release date, and even at that you will RARELY find a blockbuster, or even a REALLY GOOD from the past 5 years available on Netflix to stream.

There is a great selection, however. Lots of 80's, 90's & early 2000's movies are available in all genres. New stuff is added frequently.

Just remember that the quality is NOT NEAR a DVD quality, or TV quality. Many of the movies look pixelated to some degree. The kids cartoons look way better than any live action movies or TV shows.

Also, keep in mind that this goes off of your internet. If you have crappy internet that bogs down all the time, you probably aren't going to be happy using the streaming from Netflix. We have high-speed DSL & sometimes when I am loading a picture-heavy website on the computer, the show that I am streaming through Netflix on the TV will stop & have to 'reload'. Many internet companies will put a cap on how much bandwith you can have, so make sure you're not in a low-tier internet service, otherwise you may get cutoff all together, or experience VERY SLOW service for the rest of the month once that bandwith cap is met.

 

[WeLuvDiznee]

We also have cable & Netflix,through our Wii. I think I watch more movies with Netflix! But, we keep the cable because it connect's our phone,internet & alot of shows at night we watch. My kid's do watch alot of movies on netflix too!

 

[elaine and the boys]

We keep very basic cable and have the 14.95 Netflix plan. I'm the movie watcher in our house and love having Netflix. Currently, my husband and I decided to watch "Mad Men" and Netflix has the first three seasons....we've kind of changed our way of watching tv programming. If something looks interesting, we watch a season (or three) of it all at once (over a period of a few weeks).

 

[Muushka]

If you stream through the Wii, the picture quality will not be that good.

If you stream with a slower connection, the picture quality will not be that good.

We have a fast internet connection and stream through a hdmi Bluray and the picture is great.

We really enjoy Netflix.

 

[Muushka]

Oh, forgot to add, has anyone noticed that Netflix has an HD section of streaming? Lots of choices on that.

 

[karice2]

If you want really current movies, you can stream the Starz channel through netflix.

I have been a netflix member since they started. Really since 2002. I love it. I watch a lot of esoteric movies and Netflix is great for that.

 

[Muushka]

I wasn't that impressed with Starz. As I call up the selection by year, I only see 7 available and I have not heard of any of them. Am I doing something wrong?

I have also watched a lot of esoteric things on Netflix and agree, they have a very good selection.

 

[Nayan]

Well it's that time of the year again where I get to argue with the cable company over our plan. Thinking of trying Netflix and wondering if anyone uses it and can help explain it.

We don't watch a lot of movies, but kids do like their tv shows in the early morning or at night. Wondering what shows you can stream live? Or...can you tape a popular kids show on Netflix and then watch it later?

It says it is $8.99 a month which would be a big savings over Charter Cable. Unless....it doesn't really work the way I'm hoping it does.

If anyone has any advice/experience with this, I'd be really grateful for any help!

Thanks so much!

With Netfilx you can stream programs and movies but you cannot tape them. For you (and everyone else too ) here's two links to streaming, showing what's on and what's coming/going/gone:

http://feedfliks.com/streaming

http://instantwatcher.com/

 

[karice2]

You should be able to just hit the Starz play and it will come up live.

 

[tapplebapple]

We got rid of cable at the beginning of the year and have been using the streaming Netflix since then. We have been very happy. I will agree that sometimes the picture quality is a little less, but it is always viewable and acceptable, but then again, picture quality is not most important to me.

My DD10 watches a ton of the Disney Channel shows on streaming in the Instant Queue. Many of the current seasons are available and what they seem to do is add the most recently aired show a few days after it airs live. I have found this to be true for Hannah Montana: Season 4, Wizards of Waverly Place: Season 3, Sonny with a Chance: Season 2 and Jonas LA. They do not have the current season for all shows, but so far, we have found these. The only thing she has been missing is some of the Nick shows like iCarly, but they do have SpongeBob.

It is not ideal, but my daughter isn't complaining. She loves that she can pause the show to run to the bathroom (we didn't have a DVR before, so this is a new feature for her). I don't watch too much tv, so really I did this for her and to save major $$$$$$$$$$$$.