I'm thinking of getting Netflix - is it worth it?

Yes YES YES!!

I have been thrilled with Netflix. I get excited every time I get a new DVD in the mail, and I rush it to the mailbox the very next day after I’ve watched it so I can get a new one. I love looking up all kinds of movies and filling my queue, and rating movies when you’re bored can be entertaining and beneficial all at the same time.

They also have all sorts of weird crap you can’t find anywhere else.

And, you can get a Roku player and watch all their instant play content directly on your TV, and it has a remote too.

[steps down from I <3 Netflix podium]

@poofandmook Once you drop your used DVD in the mail how long does it take to get a fresh new one?

I used to get one on Monday, put it in the mail Tuesday morning, get the new one Thursday, put it in the mail on Friday, and then have the new one on Monday again. That was when I was only getting 1 DVD at a time. I’m now getting three :)

What about Netflix strictly on the internet? is it worth it? i am not much at sending and receiving items in the mail.

We have a Wii, and I understand a lot of things are available on that – comments? And thanks, all, for your input!

@llewis @john65pennington My dad has netflix, and he gave me the wii disc (i dont live with him) So all I am able do to is the streaming and I fucking love it. I mean you cant watch as much you can with the DVDs but there is still a ton of shit to watch. Ive all but stopped watching normal cable since getting this disc.

@llewis: You need to order a free CD from Netflix to activate your Wii with Netflix. After that, there are tons and tons of movies that are available directly to the Wii, or the computer, or the TV if you have the Roku device.

@john65pennington: You have to have at least a 1 DVD at a time plan to access Instant Play content on Netflix, but not all of their stuff is available on Instant Play. But you’ll have the DVD option, so if there’s something you want to see, you can still get the DVD and send it back whenever you’re done.

We had it for a while and liked it. Our daughter takes most of our TV-watching time now, so we don’t rent movies any more. What I really liked about it was not having to worry about getting the disc back to the video store. You can keep a disc as long as you like, you just can’t have too many out at the same time.

Have had Netflix for almost 2 years and it is awesome. Super quick turn around for your next disc, watch tons of movies and shows instantly on any gaming system and many DVD players and TVs, very cheap, and rarely get bad discs.

no…...

I love Netflix. We don’t have cable and never have, so it’s especially nice.

Love it; it is almost the only thing we watch. We have the three disc plan and just got a TV with internet viewing capacity. The mailing thing is incredibly easy and we have a turn-around time of about 2 days.

It’s GREAT! I pay a monthly fee for one DVD mailed at a time (less than $10) and automatically have access to an unlimited supply of streaming movies through my Roku settop box.

“What about Netflix strictly on the internet?”

Still very cool. Just plug your PC into your TV and bingo!

Better still is if you have a device that will pipe it directly to your TV. Besides a computer.

I use the XBox.

I love Netflix! I use Watch Instantly all the time & stick to the 1 DVD a month plan.

We don’t have cable so it is worth it. It’s foolish to be paying for both services.

@worriedguy: Not true. There are things on cable that will never be available on Netflix :)

In order to watch On-Demand you have to pay $4+ a pop.

Netflix is $10 a month to watch all you want to..

Netflix changed the world.

I could write pages of profound gratitude to them, but that would be boring.

I will note that with streaming (I use a Roku) the signal strength varies widely depending on your regional network. I’m normally a tad less than DVD quality, my father is much less, and a friend in Redwood City California gets stunning Blueray quality HD. So if your expectations are high for quality, you may want to check with a neighbor first to see what kind of strength you can receive in your area.

I will add that it would be an even better world if all their movies were available via streaming. I find only 1 in 10 (that I want to watch) are available instantly. Netflix could save so much money if they were all instantly available, but they have contractual relationships with the studios that limit severely what can and cannot be streamed. This may change in a few years.

If I receive a DVD on Monday, I can watch it, put it back in the mail on Monday (my post office is a half block away, and closes at 7pm) it is ALWAYS received the next day Tuesday (actually sometimes the website shows it’s received by 11pm the same day – but the email confirmation never goes out until the next day), where 95% of the time they put my next movie in the mail same day Tuesday, and 95% of those times I will receive the second DVD the next day Wed. It’s amazing! So I receive DVDs on a business day and will receive replacements on business day +2 if I’m aggressive. I’ve been up to 5 DVDs at a time, and now at 3 and they all flow regularly like magic back and forth.

If you’re going out of town for a 3 month business trip – suspend the service for free via the website. Charges stop. Just go back to the website and reactivate. You can just as easily change your delivery address. Visiting family for a couple weeks?, just forward to their address.

I have a few thousand DVDs received and returned. They have only twice not received a DVD (.06%). However, I have not received 1 in 20. I attribute this to the post office though. I live in a matrix of numbered streets and have received other people’s mail almost with the same frequency as missing DVDs. I’ve actually once received someone else’s Netflix DVD.

Mileage may vary.

We’ll keep our satellite (no TV reception or cable here), but probably get rid of the premium movie subscription (which I rarely watch, anyway).

I really appreciate all the answers! Now to convince my husband… :)

You can sign up for a two-week free trial.

@mrentropy: 2 weeks? When I joined it was a full month free.

@mrentropy Yes, we’re looking at that. Thanks!

@poofandmook That isn’t fair. I’m going to cancel my free subscription now.

@mrentropy: Don’t! lol

I did the one month free trial and kinda got hooked… I rarely watch movies but still like getting them in the mail – because if I want to watch, I can. Also, I use Netflix to catch up on TV series I’ve missed. The only thing I wish they had was current episodes of current seasons (like this season of Entourage, for example). Try the free month!

I’m not impressed so far. I can’t stream movies.

So definitely worht it, we have it through our wii and love it. All we do is watch it. there are a ton of movie old and new, and tons of tv shows. We love watching old cartoons and shows that are no longer on tv its great!! Definitely get it.

Yes, I love Netflix! It’s so much cheaper than going to Blockbuster Video or ordering pay per views.

Now I can stream movies. I hope this doesn’t mean I’m required to use Internet Explorer.

@mrentropy: I watch it on Chrome.

I use Netflix (to clarify, I exclusively use their Instant Watch feature. I don’t order DVDs in the mail). I’ve been using it since March of this year. And I absolutely love it.

Sure, there are series and films that aren’t on there. It’s not a complete database of every thing to ever exist. But it’s a pretty freakin’ massive collection.

@mrentropy I watch films on Chrome and Firefox just fine. I just tried Opera and Safari and they seem to not work :(

My biggest complaint about Netflix? If I want a new TV series to watch, and thus I just go into the “TV Sci-Fi & Fantasy” genre, I get this (colored boxes are my emphasis).
They recommend by individual season, rather than recommending the TV show in its entirety. Not only does it make me have to search around for, say, Farscape’s Season 1, but it gives me a very cluttered list with very few actual results. Despite having 23 results shown on that screenshot, there are only 8 different shows.

That’s my biggest complaint. I think that should tell you how much I like Netflix as a whole. It is absolutely worth the cost. For unlimited online watching, it’s $9.78/mo.
(edit: While I’m on the topic of TV series, this is something I love about Netflix. It keeps track of how much you have watched of each individual episode. There’s no “Hey wait did I watch that episode yet?” to deal with.)

@Sarcasm: YES. I love the watching times too.

@poofandmook * @Sarcasm Thanks :) Maybe I just didn’t give it enough time. Or there’s a problem with Silverlight on my Firefox.

I bought a Blu Ray player w/ streaming Netflix capability, signed up for the 1 disc at a time plan, and now I never want for a movie to watch. I have a queue of about 500 movies and shows to pick from at any given time.

As for discs, a new one arrives 2 mail days after I drop one in the mailbox without question.

If only they had porn, I’d never leave my house.

I love Netflix! I mostly watch stuff online and on the Xbox, but I do watch DVDs that I get in the mail too, because some content isn’t available online.

Now I can rent all those Care Bear movies I was too embarrassed to get from Blockbuster.

I love my netflix acct. I pay the minimum 1 disc subscription in order to access unlimited instant viewing. So far we’ve been able to have three people viewing different stuff while logged into my same acct., we get a lot of bang for the buck.

Everyone I know who has it says it’s awesome. Rent a couple of movies whenever you want for a few bucks, and they, apparently, literally have everything.

They have no Canadian mailing services that I know of, or I’d be there myself.

They don’t have mailing service but they will start streaming to Canada.

Netflix is good if you use it like @poofandmook

If you use it like me it sucks and is very expensive. I do not get all excited when a movie arrives. It’s just another piece of mail and it gets thrown to the side or lost as I have other more interesting things to do. I now have one which I have had for 4 months, still paying the monthly fee. I’ve probably paid enough to buy it by now.

I think I’ll send it back and terminate my Netflix subscription.

Not to lessen your self pity, but you can go to your account online and pause the account at any time. If you feel you’re not into movies for August – so be it. No charge.

To me that is a great thing about Netflix. AND they whooped the shit out of the evil empire that is Blockbuster!

I have problems with pan-and-scan movie versions, and cutting off subtitles in foreign films – Netflix is very far from perfect – but it’s a great company and deserves props nonetheless.

@ipso Thanks. I’ll do that.

@ipso cutting off subtitles? i havent run into this issue yet

You need a blue ray dvd player, but yeah it’s worth it.

@daytonamisticrip why? I get by just fine without one.

You don’t need one, it just looks better than content played through a Wii because it’s hi def.

@dalepetrie well duh, but to say its needed. meh.