Years ago, when Netflix was just branching out nationwide, I subscribed. I liked the idea of being able to watch old episodes of televised series, but you couldn't pick and choose which episodes you wanted to watch so you had to go through the entire series—even if what you wanted was somewhere in the middle or end.Then there was my husband and son to contend with. They always wanted the latest film to DVD releases and the wait was simply unbearable—weeks, sometimes months.
Eventually we cancelled the plan and moved on to Blockbuster Online because they had a local store 45 minutes from us. In time, however, we found Blockbuster Online to have similar problems.
About that time, Hollywood Video began selling yearly calendars. In each calendar was a "rent one get one free" coupon for each month of the year, plus two bonus coupons. The only drawback was the 45 minute trip into town to get the movies and then the drive back to return them.
Yet, we contended with Hollywood Video because of the coupons and because we hated our town's cable television service.
This year, Hollywood Video cancelled their calendar program and a few months later, they closed up shop.
Next thing I knew, I was checking out the local library and visiting Best Buy and Wal-mart in search of $20 television series. (Some we kept and some we sold to the local "used" shop so we could purchase more.)
When we weren't watching DVDs we were watching streaming movies on network websites and places like Hulu and YouTube and trying to get our TV antenna to bring in local channels.
Seriously folks, we were getting downright irritated at how difficult it was to simply watch a good show and I wanted my Big Bang Theory fix and my husband wanted his NCIS fix.
We'd given up on Internet streaming and finally broke down and got cable television when my son came home from college and informed us that Netflix had streaming video.
His roommate subscribed and he thought it was the greatest thing since the invention of cable television.
I assured him that we wouldn't be able to watch a single episode without a ton of lag time because our Internet connection was crap.
Determined to prove me wrong, he signed up for the 14 day free-trial through X-Box.
I couldn't believe how well the connection was. The streaming video buffered the entire movie in under ten minutes and the only time we experienced problems with connection was when my daughter tried to watch YouTube while we were streaming.
After his trial was up, I signed up under my old account. I didn't get the luxury of the 30-day free trial, even though it had been years since I used Netflix and I had never used the streaming video but I didn't mind. I was hooked!
We ordered a disc for the Wii to view the difference between the X-Box 360, Wii, and computer viewing. From what we can tell, the video and sound are the same on all three devices. (Though on my daughter's much older computer, we did determine that the older graphic card was not as favorable as the newer graphic card on our $400 laptop.)
Next, I ordered a DVD. To my surprise it came within a day; turns out that our nearest distribution center in 45 minutes away (instead of another state like before).
After using the service for nearly a month now I have determined that instant streaming is great for older movies and television series but don't count on it for new "film to DVD" releases.
So what do I like about Netflix's streaming videos?
- Instant gratification.
- Don't have to worry about DVDs getting lost in the mail.
- Thousands of dollars saved because I get unlimited viewing.
- The ability to watch films, documentaries, and TV series that I may not have otherwise spent money on.
- My children can watch a show on their computers while I watch a show on the television via Wii—though we do experience a little lag time due to our Internet service when more than one person tries to stream.
- As long as I have my laptop, I can watch movies anywhere! (This is actually a great feature for road trips or people who do a lot of company traveling.)
- No parental controls.
- Connection depends upon my Internet provider which means that some days I get pixilated video streams.
- Video quality depends upon my computer's video card or other device.
- No late fees.
- Saves time.
- Saves gas and car mileage.
- Cheaper than local rental stores.
- No parental controls.
- Having to pay extra for Blu-Ray. (Which I don't because I refused to sign up for it.)
We currently have 100 films in the que and I've been getting my "Murder She Wrote" fix every night for the past week. I have not seen the series in years and just couldn't justify the $89 per season price—or the latest $49.99 price. I've been impatiently waiting for the series to drop down to $14.99 or at least $24.99 a season for years, but now I don't have to wait!
Over all, I am pleased with Netflix and will be cancelling cable, or at the very least dropping it to the very basic plan by summer's end. I have to get my Big Bang Theory fix, after all.
Disclosure: I purchased the service used in this company. This is "my opinion" of the company, its service, and its product. I was not paid to give a positive review.
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