home entertainment savings

[pyotr]

I am very much against TV, but we do have basic cable to go along with our roadrunner cable modem service (the cost is the same whether we have basic cable tv or not). I am very tempted to get standard cable in order to get ESPN, but I can live without it. However, my kids love movies and so do I. The cost of video rentals are getting higher. It used to be I could get $1 or $2 movies at small mom-and-pop video stores, but now Blockbuster has bankrupted all of them and BB is jacking up their rates for maximal squeeze. We still have a single mom-and-pop video store in my town which we patronize as much as reasonably possible, but I fear their days are numbered.

Therefore I wanted to ask those who use Nefflix how they like it. The $14/mo plan seems good enough for us. When you have small kids, they often will see a single DVD like 12 times before they get tired of it, so buying is sometimes better than repeated video rentals. netflix seems ideal in this regard. It certainly allows us to limit (but unfortunately not eliminate) all the toxic advertising to kids on tv.

[FrugalTexan75]

Re: home entertainment savings

I use Netflix and I love it. They have a great selection of dvd's, and the turn around time is fantastic. I have the 2 at a time unlimited plan, so I'll watch one, mail it back, then watch the next one, and by the time I'm ready to watch another movie, I've got my next selection!

Laura

[lrjohnson]

Re: home entertainment savings

I have the 3 at a time unlimited plan, 19.29 including tax, split with my guy. We love it. We have no real cable (just the 9.95 one that gets us reception on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, TBS, FOX, and now UPN). I like getting TV series on Netflix, actually: right now we are watching HBO's Six Feet Under. We can watch decent to great TV for a lot less than Cable and it's nice to have all the shows commercial free. Also it takes less of a chunk of time, down to 22 minutes for an Arrested Develeopment episode (of course there are a few episodes per disc). The movies are great too-lots of variety. It's nice to have the wishlist "queue." We stick anythong any everything that strikes our fancy in the queue, and periodically re-arrange the top 20 to fit our current wishes. No more "I've got to remember I wanna see that"-you just stick it in the queue, and move it up or down depending on how soon ya wanna see it. My boyfriend also likes to get the Science documentaries. The turnaround time is good, and we have our mailman pick up our dvds from our mailbox. I reported one mailed back as lost once (it eventually showed up at Netflix like 3 weeks later) and reporting it as missing was super easy.

[pyotr]

Re: home entertainment savings

I've been on the free 2 week trial - so far so good. I've put 16 "movies" in my queue. I'm listing mostly documentaries for now - Netflix has a huge inventory of documentaries, probably the main thing going for it in my opinion compared to similar plans offered by Blockbuster. I'm a little disappointed in the turnaround time. I read it would be 1-2 days since my distribution center is like 20 minutes away from me. But it seems it takes about 5 days from the time the current DVD is picked up by mail to the time the next one arrives by mail. I'm going to try for the "unlimited" 2-at-a-time version as it seems to be potentially the best bang for the $14.99 (potentially about 12 movies per month). The worst deal seems to be the 4 movies per month (2 at a time) at $11.99, but based on reports of Netflix's "throttling policy" the 8 or more movies at a time deals might be the worst deals.

[CHigh95]

Re: home entertainment savings

I've been on the free 2 week trial - so far so good. I've put 16 "movies" in my queue. I'm listing mostly documentaries for now - Netflix has a huge inventory of documentaries, probably the main thing going for it in my opinion compared to similar plans offered by Blockbuster. I'm a little disappointed in the turnaround time. I read it would be 1-2 days since my distribution center is like 20 minutes away from me. But it seems it takes about 5 days from the time the current DVD is picked up by mail to the time the next one arrives by mail. I'm going to try for the "unlimited" 2-at-a-time version as it seems to be potentially the best bang for the $14.99 (potentially about 12 movies per month). The worst deal seems to be the 4 movies per month (2 at a time) at $11.99, but based on reports of Netflix's "throttling policy" the 8 or more movies at a time deals might be the worst deals.

I've been with Netflix for almost 2 years now. I love it!

Tips:

1. Always drop them off at the post office mailbox (I mean the mailbox that is actually in front of the post office). Pay attention to the pickup times on the mailbox. If you miss the last pickup that adds another day to your turnaround time.

2. Do not give them to your mail carrier, they don't return to the post office until he/she does (usually close to closing time). Add another day to that turnaround time.

I drop mine off at the post office in the morning after I drop off my kids at school. I get myreceipt email by the next morning and sometimes that same night! They also ship the next movies that same day, so the longest I have to wait is 2 days from the time I mail them off. Not bad.

3. Always remember to mail off all your movies by Wednesday morning so you can have your new movies by the weekend.

[Tree0164]

Re: home entertainment savings

I love Netflix! I have been a member for several year. We have 3 at time plan. They have warehouses all across the country so my longest wait has been 2 days. I do drop it off at the mailbox right outside the post office or DH will drop it off at this work mail center.

It doesn't hurt to try it out.