Good Movie Service info needed

[RecycleSonomaCounty]

For ease of use and some decent programing we went with Cable, DVR plus HBO... I am considering getting rid of the extra services soon> Expensive but has been enjoyable. Thanks to all that responded.
Ann



I am looking into getting a movie service for a few months starting in mid Feb. I will be homebound for quite a while and think this may be a activity to keep my mind from being totally bored.
I have comcast,but I am not married to them.

[lifequest]

I currently have Netflix and before that Blockbuster. I definitely like Netflix better - movies get delivered faster being the main difference and also lower rates.

If you were in an area that has AT&T Uverse it is vastly superior to Comcast. They have movies on demand that are anywhere from $3 to $5 and you can watch multiple times over 24 hours. They have rebate offers with cash back and even gift cards for signing up online. However, if your house is older the wiring can be involved and can take anywhere from 4 hours to a couple days.

[Braggi]

...I am currently watching and listening to Meditation Videos online and it is great...

You could try The Internet Archive. Lots of media and it's all for free. Movies, old cartoons, music, online books, oh my!

Internet Archive (https://www.archive.org/index.php)

You can also do a search for "public domain _______" (fill in the blank with movies, music, books etc. to find more free media.

Good luck.

-Jeff

["Mad" Miles]

Ann,

Netflix, can't be beat. $18.31 a month to hold three at a time. Huge selection. Great turn around service.

My only problem is that I went for Comcast Expanded Basic plus some Premium free movie channels recently and I don't seem to find the time to watch things that fast.

My only real complaint is that they require automatic payment, something I've avoided in all other monthly billing. An old habit from my several decades of poverty.

But if you want to control what you watch. And have almost infinite choices of what you do watch. Plus the only work is to go to and from the mailbox. Netflix is The Bomb!

Movie Junkie and Vidiot,

"Mad" Miles

:burngrnbounce:

[Braggi]

Ann,

Netflix, can't be beat. $18.31 a month to hold three at a time. Huge selection. Great turn around service. ...

Well, except ...

We're on the cheapest Netflix program. Perhaps the Netflix employees play a funny joke on us cheapskates, but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

Supposedly if that happens you're supposed to put a post it note on the disc and they'll send you a replacement but that's never worked. They just send us the next one in the cue. I'm going to complain one more time and if the quality doesn't improve I'm dumping the (lack of)-service.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff

["Mad" Miles]

Well, except ...

but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff

Dude!

Sorry for your pain. I haven't experienced the same problem, thankfully,

I sport a Sony DVD player RMT-D175A, about three years old. Got it from Costco, I think, or was it Best Buy?... for something under $100.

I assume you cleaned the disc after it first misfed/read?

I guess my "equipment" is better than yours ... Hah!

Sorry, couldn't help myself, must be something genetically hardwired about being male.

More's the Pity,

"M"M

:burngrnbounce:

[rekarp]

Netflix is great. You can keep the movies a long as you want with no late fees. Their selection is incredible. It's cheap.

I've watched over 1,200 Netflix movies since 2000 and maybe 10 have been defective. If you go to the website and check that the movie is defective you can also request that they send you a new copy of the same movie. If you're getting the next on your queue instead then you are not doing it properly.

Ron

We're on the cheapest Netflix program. Perhaps the Netflix employees play a funny joke on us cheapskates, but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

Supposedly if that happens you're supposed to put a post it note on the disc and they'll send you a replacement but that's never worked. They just send us the next one in the cue. I'm going to complain one more time and if the quality doesn't improve I'm dumping the (lack of)-service.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff[/quote]

[Dynamique]

We're using the one-at-a-time Netflix plan that also includes UNLIMITED ONLINE VIEWING of the titles that they have available for on-demand viewing on a Windows computer. They have not figured out how to play the flix on the Mac OS yet, alas. It's $10/month and well worth it.

Turnaround time on the DVDs is usually 2 working days. Of the almost 100 dvds we've rented, only one had problems: a surfing flick -- go figure!

Comcast OnDemand is pretty good too. They have a respectable selection of free movies, but all of the good ones are 2-6 bucks.


Ann,

Netflix, can't be beat. $18.31 a month to hold three at a time. Huge selection. Great turn around service.

[Yubajeff]

My own DVD mileage varies, depending on the relative space and time parameters: Currently I'm on my 3rd marriage to Blockbuster unlimited. The store is an easy 3 mile drive. For $20-30 per month, it is basically without limits, and if I catch up than I'll drop it for a few months. In the past week, I've seen some of the greatest movies of all time: The Women, Zohan, Hancock, Duchess (playing as I type this), and Redbelt, to name a few amazing flicks. I have a great little home theatre system, infinitely more convenient and enjoyable than a movie theatre.
I was satisfied with Netflix when I lived more rurally (a 20 minute drive to the nearest Blockbuster). I enjoyed the online movie research, but actually find I do better in person, wandering through the store and by some osmotic process picking out the best releases, and occasionally discussing the releases with other patrons and staff. Once in a while I crave a rare or old release, not available through this program. I don't really know if the technology is going to change the way this is done, but for here and now, it couldn't get better than this. I've tried Tivo, HBO, and still have Comcast-but none are comparable to this... but then again, I probably have too much time on my hands, and get bored too easily. I'd rather be out dancing, but that's not always happening and this is!
P.S. I have noted that both Netflix and Blockbuster mail service always steer you to the losers. That's my take, anyway.
Scout/Yubajeff




Well, except ...

We're on the cheapest Netflix program. Perhaps the Netflix employees play a funny joke on us cheapskates, but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

Supposedly if that happens you're supposed to put a post it note on the disc and they'll send you a replacement but that's never worked. They just send us the next one in the cue. I'm going to complain one more time and if the quality doesn't improve I'm dumping the (lack of)-service.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff

[dancingstar]

Hi Ann,

You can't beat the public library for price and you get the movies for a week--longer if you can renew! Go online and start reserving titles that you want. Also, if you live near a grocery store that has a "Redbox" vending machine, you can rent for only a buck a movie, but they have to be returned by 9pm the following evening. Even if you keep the movie an extra day, it's just an extra dollar, with tax. You have to use a credit card to use the machine. They have a pretty decent selection, although you can't beat the selection at Netflix. I have the $10 monthly deal, and if you don't keep them too long, it works out to be quite inexpensive. There's just the turn-around wait time of about 2 days.

Good wishes for a speedy and complete recovery!

Judy

[Braggi]

Hi Ann,

You can't beat the public library for price and you get the movies for a week--longer if you can renew! Go online and start reserving titles that you want. ...

I had forgotten about the library. They have a surprisingly good selection and the price can't be beat. You do have to get out to pick them up, however. Netflix is super convenient by comparison.

To add fuel to my previous comments about Netflix, I have no problems with my players. I've tried the bad disks on three different players, including the one in my laptop which does a great job of skipping damaged areas. Some disks have failed even there. The last one had a tiny "stone" pressed into the plastic. After I carefully removed it there was a hole right through the coating. You could hold it up to the light and see through it. No player could have played it.

The Netfilx instructions call for putting a Post-It note on the disk if there's a problem. I followed their instructions to no avail.

Every single Netflix disk looks like it came through a nursery school before it got to us. Perhaps this is just because of their very lightweight envelopes they use for shipping, but I've not had these problems with public library disks or rental store disks. And yes, I've cleaned the disks very carefully when I've had problems. It's a real frustration. You can't clean deep scratches or holes in the coating. I even have a "Disk Doctor" cleaning kit which I've used.

The last two disks we got from Netflix played well. We'll see how the next ones do. The sad part is that they had "Sopranos" on them, which seemed a stupid waste of time. It's no wonder I don't watch TV.

-Jeff

[onthewing]

We have the cheap program too and love it because when we had three at a time we always felt we had to watch something. Sometimes the disks have been damaged but, as I recall, you could go right onto the site and order a replacement which comes out immediately, even before you send the damaged one back. I can see how post-its wouldn't work at all. I like to support Netflix because they originated this whole idea. The service is always quick and it's local (Los Gatos). Blockbuster fought this service with all their unlimited resources, then when they lost, tried to undercut Netflix in price.

Well, except ...

We're on the cheapest Netflix program. Perhaps the Netflix employees play a funny joke on us cheapskates, but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

Supposedly if that happens you're supposed to put a post it note on the disc and they'll send you a replacement but that's never worked. They just send us the next one in the cue. I'm going to complain one more time and if the quality doesn't improve I'm dumping the (lack of)-service.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff

[Sara S]

I have had maybe 3 out of several hundred rentals from Netflix that were not playable, and simply by clicking on "Report Problem" on my Queue the replacement was shipped, as noted above by rekarp and onthewing.

Since I AM very rural, it's perfect for me, and I love that I can add as many new titles as I like, shift the order of them, and don't have to remember anything! The speedy delivery is wonderful.

The only consideration not mentioned here is that if you keep the movies for a long time, you're paying a lot more for them; say you have 3 at home, and you keep them for a month, then your cost for those three is $18 (or whatever your monthly fee is).


Sara S.


Well, except ...

We're on the cheapest Netflix program. Perhaps the Netflix employees play a funny joke on us cheapskates, but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

Supposedly if that happens you're supposed to put a post it note on the disc and they'll send you a replacement but that's never worked. They just send us the next one in the cue. I'm going to complain one more time and if the quality doesn't improve I'm dumping the (lack of)-service.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff

[Braggi]

... simply by clicking on "Report Problem" on my Queue the replacement was shipped, as noted above by rekarp and onthewing. ...

OK, that's a little detail I missed. I'll use that feature next time it happens and thanks all for the tips.

I do like the idea of Netflix. I've just gotten a high percentage of lemons and I'll accept that my situation might not be the usual. Maybe the problem is my mailman. (Really. He's rough.)

-Jeff

[phooph]

I had similar experiences. I was sometimes able to get them to play through by polishing them with a microfiber polishing cloth but some were too badly scratched to work. Finding myself short on movie watching time and being frustrated by movies that quit part way through, I finally canceled my subscription.


Well, except ...

We're on the cheapest Netflix program. Perhaps the Netflix employees play a funny joke on us cheapskates, but it always appears that the disks are tossed on the floor and stepped on a couple of times before they send them to us. About 8 out of 10, so far, won't play all the way through because of damage to the disk. Seriously. After giving up on our Toshiba disc player we put them on the laptop, which has a lot more error correction, and still have trouble getting all the way through. The worst ones we haven't seen the end of the movie because it just won't play.

Supposedly if that happens you're supposed to put a post it note on the disc and they'll send you a replacement but that's never worked. They just send us the next one in the cue. I'm going to complain one more time and if the quality doesn't improve I'm dumping the (lack of)-service.

So far I hate Netflix.

-Jeff

[Braggi]

... I do like the idea of Netflix. I've just gotten a high percentage of lemons and I'll accept that my situation might not be the usual. Maybe the problem is my mailman. (Really. He's rough.) ...

Since I made these posts complaining about the quality of Netflix supplied video discs, we've watched a dozen or so and all have worked fine. No problems with damaged discs.

We're very impressed with how fast they send us a new movie when we return the old one.

-Jeff

[Homomasculine man]

Viva Netflix, my darlings! What could be easier or greener than Netflix until VOD actually begins. And Netflix already has Roku which is VOD. Totally green. And as esthetic or casual or educational or silly as you want. Maybe it's time to view or re-view "The White Countess" starring the late great Natasha Richardson, both Redgrave sisters, and Ralph Fiennes.

[Sara S]

There was a short piece in The New Yorker last year sometime that explained one of the reasons that Netflix is so fast: since their outgoing mail is all prestamped, the Post Office accepts their truckload of movies after official closing time. Also, there are very fast workers who open and document the returns. This was in the East somewhere, and the top woman there could open a THOUSAND envelopes an hour!


Since I made these posts complaining about the quality of Netflix supplied video discs, we've watched a dozen or so and all have worked fine. No problems with damaged discs.

We're very impressed with how fast they send us a new movie when we return the old one.

-Jeff