Netflix questions?

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm thinking of signing up for the $7.99 plan. Is Netflix just like HBO, meaning are shows predetermined and do I have to watch what is airing or can I choose my own shows to watch? Any other pointers good or bad about Netflix?

[FLA]

you can pick which shows to stream any time you want. Sign up for their emails, it's helpful to find out what's new on Netflix that month. Look around the site and add things to 'my list' to watch later. Eventually Netflix gets to know what you tend to like (you can rate shows and movies) and generates suggestions for you. I love the amount of interesting documentaries they have that I wouldn't normally choose to watch on tv. There is a ton of content

[disneysteve]

I'm thinking of signing up for the $7.99 plan. Is Netflix just like HBO, meaning are shows predetermined and do I have to watch what is airing or can I choose my own shows to watch? Any other pointers good or bad about Netflix?

We love Netflix. We've belonged since nearly the beginning when it was just a DVD by mail service. Now that it includes streaming, it's great. All 3 of us use it on a nearly daily basis. They even let you now download content to watch offline which is great if you are going to be somewhere without wifi like on a plane or a long car ride.

We've gone through numerous TV series. I'm currently watching Flash. DW is watching Gray's Anatomy. And DW and DD are watching (well rewatching in DD's case) Supernatural. DW and I are also watching Mad Men and I'm in the midst of Orange is the New Black.

Clearly, we think it's a great service.

[kork13]

Almost nothing at all like HBO from the cable company... (I can't speak to their online service, HBO Go). You can choose what you watch, when you watch it, pause halfway through, go to another show, then jump right back in to the first. We use it all the time, and enjoy it alot. Besides the flexibility to watch shows on my schedule, I LOVE that there's absolutely zero commercials. They have a very large database of content, though I will say they tend to get stuff kinda slow, often 6mo-1yr after when a season actually aired. Besides that, though, I heartily recommend it as an almost full replacement for cable TV.

[FLA]

I forgot about the no commercials. I'm thinking of canceling Hulu because of the commercials and they just don't have the content.

[msomnipotent]

They still have the $7.99 plan?

I like it, but I can live without it. Some of their "new" offerings are movies that are 20 years old. Their original content can be very good, but they tend to have a lot of adult situations. My daughter uses it a lot more than I do, mainly to catch up on TV series like The Flash and Supergirl. I tend to use HBO more often.

[Gaston]

I think Netflix is essential. It has enough of original content that will have you occupied for quite some time. Its quality varies from watchable to brilliant and there is a ton of additional 3rd party content you might like. Overall, worth the price imho, even with the recent price increase.

[phantom]

I think Netflix is essential.

A good value for the money? Sure. But, essential? No way. I enjoy Netflix, and I would miss it for awhile if I got rid of it. But, it (and every other way of watching shows and movies) could go away tomorrow with no major impact on my life.

[FLA]

my mother has an end stage disease and is pretty much bed bound. She hardly sleeps due to pain and other issues. Netflix has been her lifeline. We taught her how to use an iPad and how to use Netflix and she just watches one documentary after another so as not to focus on her pain. I happily pay that bill.

[colby99]

Where as Netflix is fresh, upcoming, but the way I see it. There's a lack of originality. Majority of their shows are comic based or Teenager-themed. House of cards is great and all, but the rest lacks that secret sauce.

HBO on the other hand were/are making history. The wire is one of the best rated tv shows, Westworld (though not originality of concept) is going to take out the competition by a great margin. And Game of thrones is Game of Thrones.

[Tabs]

I personally love Netflix. Historically, they have been the David versus the Goliath of cable giants and their stranglehold on media contents. Netflix's business model has been very customer-focused from the beginning, where for example, they insist on having shows uninterrupted with commercials.

We know it's commercially viable because Netflix is still around. We also know that this decision was done at a great financial cost to Netflix. Think of all the extra money they could have made in ad revenue.

Also, please don't forget that when Netflix was first created, on-demand viewing was still a new thing, and most people still watched shows based on what time it would come on, and scheduled their lives around that.

Also, shows were shown episodically because that helped to jam as much ads (and therefore ad revenue) for content providers, whereas Netflix bucked the trend by showing their shows in full season increments at a time, to give customers the ability to binge watch if they chose to do so.

If you stop and think about it, Netflix has always been very customer-focused, and often at their own financial peril. Eschewing the tons of ad revenue dollars and generally upsetting traditional media companies? To the point where they decided to compete against Netflix instead by buying up Hulu? Ever noticed that Hulu still has commercials, even when you pay your monthly subscription? To the point that Netflix was forced to further deepen their financial woes by creating original content of their own that luckily turned out to be award winning hits?

This is a war that's been waging for years, between the old stalwarts who wants to continue to normalize how they make money off of us customers, versus someone who is wants to forge a new media future that is better for their customers. This is also why I will always support Netflix, and not Hulu or anybody else really.

Some don't care about it as much as I do, but even if you don't care about any of these things, that's fine too. Fact is, Netflix still has plenty of good shows. So what I personally do is I would subscribe once in a while, and binge on whatever shows that interest me, and when I am done, I would cancel it again until more shows turn up that I want to watch. Then I would re-sub again. Rinse. Repeat. And when you watch, you know that you watch full seasons at a time, with no commercial interruptions to it. What's not to love?

Also, why are there so many Netflix threads? Hahaha.