In our house, even though we don’t spend a ton of time watching TV, we’re big fans of online movie rentals. When we get a chance to hang out and enjoy a show, we’re rarely in sync with when the network slots our favorite shows, so good programming available on our schedule rules.
# DVD Queues = how many DVDs can be in-home at once
Exchange discs as often as you want
Add Blu-ray access (over 1000 titles and growing) for $5.00 a month.
Watch instantly on your PC, Mac, or Netflix-device enabled TV
Includes Starz Play titles
Limited Plans
# DVD Queues
Instant Access
Cost per Month
Price per Queue
1
Up to 2 hrs per month. No Starz Play
$4.99
$4.99
0
Unlimited Starz Play Only
$7.99
$7.99
Limit 2 rentals a month
Watch instantly on your PC or Mac only, no Netflix-ready devices
Add Blu-ray access for $5.00 a month to DVD plan
Sure, we could opt for cable and a Tivo, but we don’t spend enough time on the sofa to justify paying over $1000 a year for hundreds of channels when we’re only interested in a few good ones — especially when there’s so much variety available on demand online.
With over 100,000 movie rentals available via DVD and streaming, Netflix is a big part of our online entertainment solution. To get the best deal from Netflix for your needs, think about your movie preferences in terms of:
what you like to watch,
how you prefer delivery,
the people in your household or family, and
your monthly budget
Let’s take a closer look.
You Want It When? Recent Releases or Instant Viewing
The first two issues — what you want and when you want it — are inextricably linked.
Since the film studios are still trying to figure out how they can squeeze the most money out of the rapidly changing entertainment world, Netflix’ selection of streaming online movie rentals isn’t as broad as their DVD rentals by mail. Even though the days of guaranteed profits from DVD are history, film studios are still hesitant to allow early-release online streaming.
So if you’re driven by a need to keep up with the new releases, no worries. Just be prepared to keep a constant supply of DVDs in red envelopes flowing through the mail. Netflix has a great selection of dvd rentals by mail (over 100,000 titles) including a slew of recent releases from major studios. Great selection, less-than-convenient delivery.
On the other hand, if your idea of “fast” is how long until the opening credits (rather than how long since it’s been released), you’re still good. The Netlfix streaming Watch Instantly selection is growing steadily — already about 15% of all available titles, it’s one of the largest online selections available, with a decent collection of new releases via Starz Play. And the monthly-fee-for-unlimited-streaming cost structure makes this option hard to beat. Just plug in a Netflix-ready device and let the streaming begin.
How Many Disks: the “Queue and A” Session.
The last two items to review — the number of people in your household and your available monthly budget — also go hand in hand. Because sooner or later, sharing a DVD queue is going to fail.
A personalized queue is the Netflix list of DVDs rentals which will be mailed, one at a time, to the queue’s owner. As disks travel back and forth in the mail, it’s just about impossible to maintain each person’s position in the queue.
Since each person in your household has their own distinct and individual tastes in what’s entertaining (and what isn’t), it’s essential to give everyone equal access to the movies and shows thay’re interested in. This is the single key to maintaining video happiness with Netflix: to give every member of your household their own DVD rental queue.
Multiple queues can be set up in a single account, with each person having complete control over their own video destiny. (Within reason. It’s actually quite simple to add ratings restrictions onto queues for the kids.) So if you’re setting up a Netflix account and there are 4 people in the house, make no mistake: unless your plans are to live almost exclusively off of Watch Instantly, you should go directly to the “4-at-a-time” DVD plan, and set up a queue for each family member.
While this may seem more expensive at first blush, we’ve seen our CPM (cost per movie) drop with the additional queues — everyone in the family gets easier access to the next movie they want to see. We’re on the 4-dvd plan, and pay $6 a month per person, about 25% of the comparable cable expense. In our house, teenagers who fail to mail back their disks at least twice a month run the risk of losing their queue.
If you’ve already set up your account and want to get a better handle on your actual usage and costs, give FeedFliks a try. Even though the interface is, er, less than elegant, you can get a quick read on your Netflix cost per movie, and check up on your mail-vs-streaming stats. When I ran our stats, it was sweet to see we’re paying less than $.59 per movie. If you find a better deal, let me know.
Reviewing Netflix Plans: Which One’s Best for You?
In our house, even though we don’t spend a ton of time watching TV, we’re big fans of online movie rentals. When we get a chance to hang out and enjoy a show, we’re rarely in sync with when the network slots our favorite shows, so good programming available on our schedule rules.
Netflix Plans:
DVDs + Unlimited Streaming
Limited Plans
Sure, we could opt for cable and a Tivo, but we don’t spend enough time on the sofa to justify paying over $1000 a year for hundreds of channels when we’re only interested in a few good ones — especially when there’s so much variety available on demand online.
With over 100,000 movie rentals available via DVD and streaming, Netflix is a big part of our online entertainment solution. To get the best deal from Netflix for your needs, think about your movie preferences in terms of:
Let’s take a closer look.
You Want It When? Recent Releases or Instant Viewing
The first two issues — what you want and when you want it — are inextricably linked.
Since the film studios are still trying to figure out how they can squeeze the most money out of the rapidly changing entertainment world, Netflix’ selection of streaming online movie rentals isn’t as broad as their DVD rentals by mail. Even though the days of guaranteed profits from DVD are history, film studios are still hesitant to allow early-release online streaming.
So if you’re driven by a need to keep up with the new releases, no worries. Just be prepared to keep a constant supply of DVDs in red envelopes flowing through the mail. Netflix has a great selection of dvd rentals by mail (over 100,000 titles) including a slew of recent releases from major studios. Great selection, less-than-convenient delivery.
On the other hand, if your idea of “fast” is how long until the opening credits (rather than how long since it’s been released), you’re still good. The Netlfix streaming Watch Instantly selection is growing steadily — already about 15% of all available titles, it’s one of the largest online selections available, with a decent collection of new releases via Starz Play. And the monthly-fee-for-unlimited-streaming cost structure makes this option hard to beat. Just plug in a Netflix-ready device and let the streaming begin.
How Many Disks: the “Queue and A” Session.
The last two items to review — the number of people in your household and your available monthly budget — also go hand in hand. Because sooner or later, sharing a DVD queue is going to fail.
A personalized queue is the Netflix list of DVDs rentals which will be mailed, one at a time, to the queue’s owner. As disks travel back and forth in the mail, it’s just about impossible to maintain each person’s position in the queue.
Since each person in your household has their own distinct and individual tastes in what’s entertaining (and what isn’t), it’s essential to give everyone equal access to the movies and shows thay’re interested in. This is the single key to maintaining video happiness with Netflix: to give every member of your household their own DVD rental queue.
Multiple queues can be set up in a single account, with each person having complete control over their own video destiny. (Within reason. It’s actually quite simple to add ratings restrictions onto queues for the kids.) So if you’re setting up a Netflix account and there are 4 people in the house, make no mistake: unless your plans are to live almost exclusively off of Watch Instantly, you should go directly to the “4-at-a-time” DVD plan, and set up a queue for each family member.
While this may seem more expensive at first blush, we’ve seen our CPM (cost per movie) drop with the additional queues — everyone in the family gets easier access to the next movie they want to see. We’re on the 4-dvd plan, and pay $6 a month per person, about 25% of the comparable cable expense. In our house, teenagers who fail to mail back their disks at least twice a month run the risk of losing their queue.
If you’ve already set up your account and want to get a better handle on your actual usage and costs, give FeedFliks a try. Even though the interface is, er, less than elegant, you can get a quick read on your Netflix cost per movie, and check up on your mail-vs-streaming stats. When I ran our stats, it was sweet to see we’re paying less than $.59 per movie. If you find a better deal, let me know.