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OT- Streaming movies on TV.... Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc

Milacron

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Bought a Fire TV Stick yesterday. I knew nothing about getting movies on a TV...but so far it appears that for 99 bucks a year you can get many movies on Amazon Prime at no extra charge...but the selection seems to be limited to mostly "made for TV movies" and such... is that true ?

With Netflix, it seems one can get most major movies for either $3.99 one time "rent" or create a Netflix account and pay $10.99 a month to get any HD movie....is that also right...or is there a catch ?
 
There are a lot of decent "free" movies with an Amazon Prime subscription, but most of what I consider the best movies have an additional fee; some you rent, some you "buy". The one's you "buy" you never really own; just unlimited rights to view it over and over as long as you keep your subscription alive.
 
Netflix is the biggest, but they don't have -all- the major movies available.

I believe the providers bid against each other to get the latest/best movies, but it seems eventually Netflix has them all.

And Netflix has a lot of original programming that is good stuff - I especially like the stand-up comedy specials.

For 10.99 a month, it's a good deal, imo.

ToolCat
 
Amazon Prime is useful, the video is a secondary benefit

I bought a roku as it has the most flexibility

you can find many stations [if you will] with free older movies and some newer ones

Also many of the superstation type stations have roku channels that offer content with no signup.

Many [say Sundance] ask you your provider but never make you log in to check, so they are truly free. Others [AMC] will send you to your provider to sign in

I don't know how much of this info translates into the firestick.

Basically you can put together a decent setup of channels that are similar to cable for low money.

If you have an over the air antenna, it can be a ton cheaper than cable tv
 
no real catch with either netflix or amazon prime.
I have had both for years now, I use a roku.

The selection on both varies in quality. They routinely rotate new selections in, and drop old ones.
Certainly you dont get all new movies, but there is a lot of interesting stuff on both.
Netflix has been spending tens of millions lately producing shows- Narcos, for instance, is great.
Lots of good foreign stuff on Netflix lately- Norwegian, Danish, Brazilian, and other series that are much better than american prime time crap.

Movies vary in quality, but there are lots and lots of actual hollywood movies on both.

Supposedly, the break even point for having Amazon Prime is around 10 shipments a year. We do something like 120 a year, so for us, the streaming video is a free benny.
 
Do a little research and look on Youtube (there are tutorials). There are free apps. that stream movies and tv shows (no I'm not talking about Kodi). You can load the apps. on Fire Stick, Fire TV, computer, tablet, smart phone, etc.
 
I have both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime was purchased for getting free shipping. To be honest, I have never once used the Amazon movie area. Netflix has much better content. The movies typically are not anything brand new, but the tv show selection is good. Netflix also has a pretty good selection of their own movies and shows that they make.
 
there are, no doubt, free apps.
Firestick and Roku are hardware, not apps, that make streaming from online work with common tvs.
There are lots of illegal streaming sites where you could watch anything- they change from time to time, migrating from Somali to Uzbecki to Tonga to Libyan IP's.
Free, of course.
Not free of various malware, pop-ups, diversions to fake sites that tell you you have to download an update to your system, and so on.
If you try hard enough, and have enough risk tolerance, its possible to find pretty much everything ever made for free online.

But both Amazon and Netflix are reliable, safe, and a pretty good deal for what you get.
You pays your money, you takes your chances.
Less money, more chances.
 
So my way of approaching this is a bit different than normal. I just got my 10 year congratulations email from Netflix so been at it for a while.

Originally it was 10.99 for both mail delivery and streaming. Internet speeds weren't that great and you couldn't get 5.1 audio or HD on most stuff and it was only to my computer then so I always just used the delivery service so I could have Blu-Ray quality big screen. Which was extra then, like 1.00.

Watch a movie, return a movie, they send the next in the queue. So two a week or 8 to 10 a month. Like a buck a movie. Then they split the service and I just dropped the streaming. Got the streaming back with a bundle deal a few years ago.

Now it is HD and 5.1 audio if you have a home theater system it is good quality for those of us that like the full movie experience. The convenience of streaming was great especially since with my roku I can watch on the TV not just on my computer like it was in the beginning.

Here is the rub though. Do you want to watch specific movies or are you just watching to kill time? The Netflix delivery service has almost 10 times as many selections. I to this day am stunned by how limited the streaming services are. I use Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix and they pale in comparison.

I fill my queue with new releases or old favorites and really obscure movies. Home delivery has them all, streaming has almost none in comparison. For the 9 bucks a month it is well worth it for me to watch the movies I actually want rather than having to settle for what they have.

Flip side is Netflix original movies and TV series are fantastic and only available steaming. I can't count the number of fantastic shows they have. So you really have to buy based on your viewing habits.

So for me it is both, and for very good reasons. And it's so cheap compared to Comcast (who had me at $190 for basic cable here a month) I can't go wrong.
 
I have both or all, whatever you call it. As far as getting bored goes, with both Netflix and Amazon Prime go--I don't get bored.

The bonus with Amazon is that you can actually get whatever you want for a fee, there is a lot included with Prime for free, but if you search ANY obscure obsolete Title (recently "Rumble Fish" and "Bullit" for me) you can find it and decide from there what you want to do. Buy the Bluray, put it on your 'Cloud' or just rent it for 48 hours.

And Netflix has quite a bit of it's own Programming now as was stated above, and most of it is pretty good.

R
 
Here is the rub though. Do you want to watch specific movies or are you just watching to kill time? The Netflix delivery service has almost 10 times as many selections. I to this day am stunned by how limited the streaming services are. I use Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix and they pale in comparison.
Interesting....didn't know that. But one the one obscure movie I spoke into the Alexa remote did show up (Days of Heaven), so dunno, might be ok for me. But just to confirm, for Netflix....for $10.99 a month, if it shows up available at all, there is never an extra charge, right ?
 
If you like classics, filmstruck is really good. It's a partnership between TCM and Criterion. Lot's of their movies aren't available elsewhere. We use it, prime, and netflix. and are very happy with what is available.
 
Interesting....didn't know that. But one the one obscure movie I spoke into the Alexa remote did show up (Days of Heaven), so dunno, might be ok for me. But just to confirm, for Netflix....for $10.99 a month, if it shows up available at all, there is never an extra charge, right ?

that is correct

unlike Prime who changed their interface last year and lots of pay options show up
 
My kids only watch netflix

period

at this point we basically pay 150 bucks a month[or whatever it is] so I can watch the Red Sox

everything else would be streaming

Thanks for the tip on filmstruck, it is the kind of thing to buy for a month every once in a while and watch some old movies

TCM is awesome, best prints anywhere, watch it sometime you will see the difference


To digress, I think the problem is the payment process for movies. Someone should invent a system where you pay into a kitty and movies are a buck or something

this 6 bucks to watch some obscure movie to see if it is interesting....nah......
 
I do Amazon, Netflix, You tube for movies with Firestick. Just finished Earth Final Conflict, half way through Defiance on Amazon Prime video. Netflix, Shameless, Justified, Season after season. Movies when something looks good. YouTube for Sci Fy B movies, WW2 movies, usually black and white but free heh. With the 3 I always have something to cue up.
 
My fire stick only seems to be low def. Got it mainly for the shipping. Dropped the discs for streaming about 3 months ago now. Not near as many new movies on streaming but the disc delivery was getting slower. Used to get 2 per week (paying for one at a time)with an occasional bonus. Slipped to 1 a week at the end.

Lost Youtube on the firestick so that was the incentive to switch.Gotta watch tool porn.

Dave
 
We have Netflix streaming. The TV program selection is good, and the original content is surprisingly good.

I found it to be very limited on actual movies, especially anything more than a few years old. I wanted to watch Treasures of the Sierra Madre. Not available.

If you want to watch the latest Disney/Marvel comic book crap or some Michel Bay turd, Netflix streaming is great.
 
Too many "Netflix originals" when I want box ofice hits. Seems like old classics are very hard to find, I think the owners hold them back, like Disney does with Snow White.
 
About 3 month ago I hooked my parents up with a Ruko... Previous they paid the hundred and something a month satellite bill .
They have a prime account, and I cheat and let them be the third user on my 13.99 a month netflix account. Those 2 channels or networks, the local PBS and the Ruko channel is what they watch these days... and they are mostly watching the Ruko channel.

They went from well over $100 a month just for TV to about $35 a month including their internet connection....
The Ruko channel and PBS are both free... among many others...


If my wife would just quit the dancing and singing stuff I could save about $150 a month...
 








 
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