Netflix is currently the families provider of "cable" television. However, I'm considering switching to something else for a different variety. How do Hulu / HuluPlus and Amazon Prime compare? What else is out there for streaming tv shows and movies?
I used Netflix and Amazon Prime. In my experience, Netflix doesn't have a lot of what I want to see. They do seem to have a lot of TV series, though, so if you're using it in place of cable it may be a good choice. For movies, I like Amazon Prime better. They seem to have more older or obscure movies, which tends to be what I like.
You can look at what content they offer for free. Would be worth spending some time going through things you're interested in watching.
for a while Hulu Plus offered a free week or month. We tried it and thought it was the worst thing invented since herpes. Really obscure foreign movies, lots of odd TV shows, very little of interest to us.
Netflix rocks our world. Between our rabbit ears and $9.99 Netflix, we have more entertainment than we need.
+1 for keeping Netflix. As Curtis mentioned, we tried Hulu for a brief amount of time in addition to Netflix, and came away horribly disappointed. We have Amazon Prime anyways, so occasionally we watch some content on there, too.
i'm thinking of dropping netflix in favor of the amazon prime, as we have that because the amazon prime membership pays for itself with the discount on half a year's diapers... they both have top gear and kids stuff, which is most of what i use it for.
Your local library. Its free. Mine is in a smaller po-dunk town and what they don't have, I request through inter-library loan.
As far as I can tell, Amazon Prime and Netflix have about the same content as part of the basic subscription. Amazon Prime adds more pay-to-view stuff like the current season of TV shows or newer releases, which isn't an option for Netflix. Hulu Plus adds a lot of current shows. Never been too taken by their movie selection.
have netflix... using it right now... running though all of the Doctor who episodes... kids always seem to have something to watch if they want...
hulu is how we get most of our up to date shows... if you are going for movies and stuff netflix is much better... also on the roku the user interface SUX hard... on the xbox it's meh but usable...
had a free month of amazon prime when wife got her kindle fire... I wasn't impressed... it offers pretty much the same as netflix... the only real difference is you can "buy" or "rent" videos (similar to itunes as I understand) for newer things... on a side note... if you've got a student in the family with a .edu email you can get prime for 1/2 off
all that being said... good cable with a DVR beats em all for shows... but for movies or entire series of older shows there is always options...
TPB 
GameboyRMH wrote: TPB
ehh.. I want something I can let my kids use.
In reply to Grtechguy:
How old are your kids? Chances are they already know about torrent sites and whatnot.
That being said, the new version of uTorrent even lets you stream torrents if you dont have the disk space to dedicate to a lot of files. Its pretty slick.
donalson wrote: on a side note... if you've got a student in the family with a .edu email you can get prime for 1/2 off
Hey, thanks for that!! My wife has an .edu email, looks like we can get prime for 1/2 off for 4 years..
Grtechguy wrote: ehh.. I want something I can let my kids use.
As was noted, a 10 year old can use torrents, especially in this day and age.
The better question though, is why don't you just set up autodownloads from a specific user of the kids shows your kids like to watch? Usually kids fixate on specific shows (or a cartoon channel), shouldn't be hard to setup a download schedule to get all of their shows.
The great thing about having money is not needing to resort to torrents any more. I, uh, have heard it's possible to use torrents to get stuff that I can't get otherwise but if it's on Netflix and can be watched legally I am happy to do so.
If I was broke or if the studios were continuing their idiotic "nobody can get this online" mindset then perhaps the torrents would be a more palatable option. But I have no problem paying people for creating something I enjoy.
On a side note, are you going to Apple TV, Roku, or something else?
dculberson wrote: The great thing about having money is not needing to resort to torrents any more. I, uh, *have heard it's possible to* use torrents to get stuff that I can't get otherwise but if it's on Netflix and can be watched legally I am happy to do so. If I was broke or if the studios were continuing their idiotic "nobody can get this online" mindset then perhaps the torrents would be a more palatable option. But I have no problem paying people for creating something I enjoy.
Yep.
The only thing I use it for is Sky Sports/BBC F1 broadcasts. If I could, I'd happily pay to be able to stream it in HD to my big screen, but they don't give me that option as far as I know.
I'm considering dropping netflix. We do the streaming service, and it seems like the content is really starting to suck. They never have any movies we really care to see. It seems like it's almost nothing but TV episodes anymore, and I don't care to get sucked into any series right now. On nights that we feel like watching a movie, we usually end up flipping through netflix for 20 minutes, then downloading what we want to see via TPB. I honestly can't remember the last time we watched a movie via netflix.
Flight Service wrote: On a side note, are you going to Apple TV, Roku, or something else?
I have a logitech Revue and a Wii. Plus Laptops/Android phone/her Iphone
GameboyRMH wrote: TPB
"Why you starin' at my gut fer?"
dculberson wrote: The great thing about having money is not needing to resort to torrents any more. I, uh, *have heard it's possible to* use torrents to get stuff that I can't get otherwise but if it's on Netflix and can be watched legally I am happy to do so. If I was broke or if the studios were continuing their idiotic "nobody can get this online" mindset then perhaps the torrents would be a more palatable option. But I have no problem paying people for creating something I enjoy.
I must have stumbled into a thread where YOU were the OP and my quote in my post changed to your name instead of the OP's... oh wait a minute 
That's fine. He said torrents won't work. I said they would, quite easily.
Right, I forgot we always restrict our opinions to what's perfect for the OP here.
I was offering input.
In reply to dculberson:
Yes well I propose a new new rule. No one is allowed to post anything about anything unless they have been there and done that. Doesn't matter how much you have done in the past or how well you understand the situation you can not speak about it.
Sorry wrong thread.
People sure have been getting testy on the boards recently.
16vCorey wrote: I'm considering dropping netflix. We do the streaming service, and it seems like the content is really starting to suck. They never have any movies we really care to see. It seems like it's almost nothing but TV episodes anymore, and I don't care to get sucked into any series right now. On nights that we feel like watching a movie, we usually end up flipping through netflix for 20 minutes, then downloading what we want to see via TPB. I honestly can't remember the last time we watched a movie via netflix.
We still have the disc service as well. And will occasionally hit the RedBox at the grocery store or Blockbuster at the gas station for newer releases.
dculberson wrote: Right, I forgot we always restrict our opinions to what's perfect for the OP here. I was offering input.
z31maniac wrote:16vCorey wrote: I'm considering dropping netflix. We do the streaming service, and it seems like the content is really starting to suck. They never have any movies we really care to see. It seems like it's almost nothing but TV episodes anymore, and I don't care to get sucked into any series right now. On nights that we feel like watching a movie, we usually end up flipping through netflix for 20 minutes, then downloading what we want to see via TPB. I honestly can't remember the last time we watched a movie via netflix.We still have the disc service as well. And will occasionally hit the RedBox at the grocery store or Blockbuster at the gas station for newer releases.
I may have considered keeping the disc service if I knew that the streaming selection was going to suck all the balls. Now I'm used to downloading (for free) what they don't have, and it seems like they keep having less and less.
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