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Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu - which one do you recommend?


sheryl
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We have cable through TWC and pay a lot.  We do "not" have satellite or dish or whatever it's called.

 

I'd like to add (ONE) either Netflix, Prime, Hulu Plus.  Or, something else?

 

It'll be about $100/year and for that we'd like to enjoy:

 

movies

tv shows

history documentaries

other

 

We do "not" watch a lot of tv in any form (show, movies on dvd, etc), but right now we go to Redbox.  It's been a good fit.  But, I'm thinking that maybe we should subscribe to one of the above b/c it would offer a larger selection of genres.  DH and I would still watch a few movies a month and DD would have her movie list too.   Not interested in paying for an annual subscription AND renting a current release.  When we didn't see a movie at the box office, we'd wait until it surfaced at Redbox and rented it.  We'll still go to the theatre every now and then, but will mostly wait until it's reached another venue.  

 

With that said, we need a service that will run those (free) like redbox movies that may have come out 6-12 months before. 

 

TV shows - we'd like to have the "opportunity" to watch  series from the beginning.  Again for free.  Blacklist comes to mind.  It was recommended and we never remembered to watch it. 

 

History and other documentaries - The History Channel produced a series (How the States Got Their Shapes) about 5 years ago.  We were going to tape it, but didn't.  Don't want to spend more money to watch the series on top of the annual subscription.  Am hoping we can watch this series for free through one of these services.

 

Is that asking for too much!  :)   We've not had this before and so I need y'all to jumpstart me in my understanding of how these things work.

 

Remember - we're willing to pay the annual fee but not add on fees.

Please add your suggestions.   Thanks!

 

eta:  we "would keep" our regular cable service

 

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I have all of them. They're all different. Hulu is best for new TV shows and being able to stream TV shows to your TV through a Roku or Wii or whatever. Netflix probably has the best variety of programming. Amazon is getting new stuff, but they don't have a ton yet. I like having Prime for the free shipping and some of the other perks though, so I didn't get it primarily for that.

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We live in Colombia and we have had Netflix for 6 or 7 months. I believe we pay approximately USD$7 or  8 per month. We watch movies on it and we are going to continue with Netflix. If you are in the states, Netflix has a lot more available to customers there (I know that because when we were having problems starting movies, after my Wife signed up for Netflix, we switched our SMART TV to a provider in Miami, FL, USA and they had more stuff available to their customers...). That problem was not due to Netflix, it was/is due to our ISP (the phone company) not being able to give us more bandwidth for Internet now, because the 2 TV sets take up so much of our bandwidth.  We need the phone company to improve their infrastructure...  Our TV provider is our phone company (TV over IP which is apparently a European system).

 

GL with what you decide to go with!

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Does Hulu have the same shows as Hulu Plus, except with commercials?  Or are there more things available on Hulu Plus?

 

We only have netflix, but we'll occasionally watch TV things on Hulu (free) if they're not on netflix.

 

My only complaint about netflix is that they tend not to have older classic movies.  A lot of those I can get at the library, but then I have to wait for the request to be filled.

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Hmmm....we may have to look at Netflix again. We used to have it but found we used Amazon Prime much more for movies and the few TV shows we like (Downton Abbey, Sherlock). We also use the Amazon Prime for shipping. 

 

With Hulu you can watch for free. Most of the Hulu plus is for older series. You could try it free and then see how much you want that you don't have access to. 

 

I think both Hulu Plus and Netflix offer free trial months, so you could try each and see which one you use more. 

 

 

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I have all of them. They're all different. Hulu is best for new TV shows and being able to stream TV shows to your TV through a Roku or Wii or whatever. Netflix probably has the best variety of programming. Amazon is getting new stuff, but they don't have a ton yet. I like having Prime for the free shipping and some of the other perks though, so I didn't get it primarily for that.

 

This is us as well.  If I didn't care about new shows because of cable or had a willingness to buy them on iTunes I would choose Netflix for a stand alone. 

 

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Netflix is good for older movies and if you like to marathon TV shows. There are no commercials and they have a lot of stuff and they are always adding/getting rid of stuff.  We mainly watch TV shows on there and some anime.

 

Hulu has a lot of variety of TV shows but they have ads even with the subscription service.  My kids like the selection of anime.  It does seem to buffer more than Netflix.  We mainly use it for anime and Korean TV Shows and movies.

 

I don't do Amazon Prime.

 

We did without cable for a year and just had Netflix and it was great but once I ran out of shows I stumbled upon Korean Dramas and now I don't even watch TV in English much anymore.  Just don't ever watch that show "Boys over Flowers"  it is a gateway to a place you can't escape from. 

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don't know anything about hulu.

 

Netflix and amazon are different - so we have both. (I got prime for shipping - before they started streaming) amazon will change prices, so something might be free with prime - and a few months (or even weeks) later, you have to pay for it.  they did have a promo that if I would defer two-day shipping, they'd give me a credit for a movie rental.   I never used it.  I did buy a book recently and they applied what I think I had as a credit to the book - so it cost 1/2 what I was expecting to pay.  (and since it's a Christmas present - I didn't delay shipping.)

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I have streaming Netflix and Prime. I got Prime for the shipping and Amazon streaming won't play on my tablet, so Netflix is the one I used the most. i like no commercials, and it seems Prime and Netflix have similar offerings, sometimes Netflix has newer movies for free. Netflix also has a huge number of lower quality movies (ones that seem like direct rip offs of popular movies - not parodies, just ripoffs) and some hidden gems. It takes TV shows longer to get on Netflix, so I pay Amazon(same with or without Prime) to watch two shows only.

 

Many movies are on Netflix DVD, but not on Streaming. 

 

We have a Roku hooked up the TV, but we mostly watch on computers. 

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With cable, I wouldn't get HuluPlus. I do a month of HuluPlus occasionally, whenever I want something not available otherwise. But I watch most current stuff just on the channel's apps, since we don't have cable.

 

I like Netflix for the selection; it seems bigger to me. I like Prime for the other benefits but haven't delved into the movies and TV much. In theory, I will cancel Netflix since I have Prime, and save that money for renewing my Prime next year, but it seems like more is on Netflix, so I haven't yet. I don't watch much TV at all, but I like to have a show going in the evenings while I fold laundry or knit.

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Prime does have the states series. TBH, we use netflix and prime equally. If I had to choose, I'd do prime because of the shipping program. I'd also set a bit away each month to rent newer movies (because neither netflix or amazon come out with them free quickly). We like to rent off amazon when they're $2 or so. Not having to return it to redbox is really nice.

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For the sake of convenience, I'm sending a collective thanks!  I appreciate everyone's answers. 

 

It seems that Netflix and Prime are comparable, yet different, and Netflix offers more.  Flyingiguana,  we most definitely DO want the older tv shows and movies (classics).  How far back in "era" do they go with classic tv shows and movies?  Netflix, that is.

 

Farrar, interesting plan.  Rotate.....  :)  Will keep this mind.

 

Closeacademy, you mention N. does offer older movies.  See, how old is older?  TV shows - older?

 

Blondeviolin,  I don't understand about "renting" movies.  Are you saying streaming on tv, right?  And, if you want something else to "rent". Do they ship it to you to watch?  And, do the rent prices vary?  $2? More?

 

 

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Sheryl, your best way to sort it out is to search things you like to watch on both and see which has more.  For me, Prime is the better deal.  I get the shipping (AMAZING) and they tend to have everything I need for shows.  When your ds gets on a kick for wolverines, you just talk into the amazon fire tv remote, and bam you have Wild America shows on wolverines, the mating of opposums, everything a 6 yo needs, lol.  

 

It seemed to me like Netflix was newer stuff.  On the other hand, everything they *do* have you at least get (unless it's on dvd).  With amazon, you have to be more flexible.  I'll search and only 1/3 of what I like will be free.  The rest I would have to pay to rent.  But it's not like I like THAT much, mercy.  

 

Amazon has been cutting back on discovery and history channel stuff I think.  They used to have a lot and I think I read their contract ended.  It might be neither is going to have those shows for very long.  

 

Your best bet is always to do the trial and decide for yourself.  If you don't have the amazon fire tv, I ADORE mine.  I got a roku and liked it too but returned it because it was making wifi, which I didn't realize.  The amazon fire tv works out better for me and the voice command is super cool.  No more pecking all those words in.  That's only for what you do on prime with it.  If you do netflix on the amazon fire tv, you still have to peck each letter in.

 

Btw, my logic was that it was cheaper for me to pay prime and buy the couple extra things I might want that are new than to pay for both prime and netflix.  The $100 a year of netflix would buy quite a number of things to watch, more than I'd be likely to buy even if I paid every time there was something that required me to pay on amazon with prime, kwim?  

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For the sake of convenience, I'm sending a collective thanks!  I appreciate everyone's answers. 

 

It seems that Netflix and Prime are comparable, yet different, and Netflix offers more.  Flyingiguana,  we most definitely DO want the older tv shows and movies (classics).  How far back in "era" do they go with classic tv shows and movies?  Netflix, that is.

 

Farrar, interesting plan.  Rotate.....  :)  Will keep this mind.

 

Closeacademy, you mention N. does offer older movies.  See, how old is older?  TV shows - older?

 

Blondeviolin,  I don't understand about "renting" movies.  Are you saying streaming on tv, right?  And, if you want something else to "rent". Do they ship it to you to watch?  And, do the rent prices vary?  $2? More?

 

They have the Andy Griffin show.  Actually they have TV dating back to the 50s/60s but not everything.   They also have movies back to the 30s.  We watched The African Queen on there a couple of months ago.  So it's a mix of really everything.  Actually, I do think they have silent movies on there as well.  Things change all the time though. 

 

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We have all three, but only have Amazon Prime because we use it for the 2 day shipping. There are a few things on there not on Hulu or Netflix, but not much more.

 

I would get a free trial of Netflix and Hulu and decide from there. Netflix does have tv shows, but we use it more for movie viewing. Hulu has newer shows and episodes, so we use this the most.

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We dumped cable a couple years ago. We have had Netflix for years and we kept that. We added Hulu. We did a trial of Amazon prime, but found it didn't give much content that wasn't already covered by Netflix and Hulu. Perhaps that has changed in the last year.

 

After a year, We purchased an outdoor antenna for around $100. So, we get regular network channels through the antenna. We can watch TV content on Hulu and movies on Netflix. I think the thing we don't have is sports access beyond what the networks provide.

 

We have cable for Internet only now. Our cable bill is over $100 less a month and we had no premium channels before.

 

Anyway, Netflix and Hulu cover just about everything for us.

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wow, betty, thanks for that summary.  i'm so technology and computer illiterate, it's not funny.  I get it - cable for internet only b/c you do not subscribe to "cable tv".   how do Netflix, Prime and Hulu show on the tv?  My dh mentioned something about checking our new, flatscreen to see if it's wireless-capable for handling Netflix.  I know what wireless means, but I'm embarrassed to say I don't understand how the wireless relates to Netflix or other.

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wow, betty, thanks for that summary.  i'm so technology and computer illiterate, it's not funny.  I get it - cable for internet only b/c you do not subscribe to "cable tv".   how do Netflix, Prime and Hulu show on the tv?  My dh mentioned something about checking our new, flatscreen to see if it's wireless-capable for handling Netflix.  I know what wireless means, but I'm embarrassed to say I don't understand how the wireless relates to Netflix or other.

 

Netflix you can stream right into your computer. This is how my older two watch some things. Additionally, before we set up a Roku in our basement, dh connected a computer to the tv down there and used the tv as the computer screen so we could stream to that tv with no extra device. 

 

We have had a Roku a couple of years--since we dumped cable. Through the Roku connected to the tv we access Netflix, Hulu and a couple of free Roku channels (PBS) There are some other pay channels through Roku, but Netflix and Hulu are all we get. The Roku also has like a pay per view movies, but we've never done that. 

 

Some of the new tvs are set up for streaming, but dh thinks having the Roku separate provides better streaming. MIL had streaming through the tv and Netflix kept crashing. So, dh bought her a Roku and set it up, which works great. Dh says one Roku box costs about a months worth of nonpremium cable.

Dh says the Roku 3 is harder to use than Roku 2 (we have one of each on different tvs). Roku 3 is more expensive and faster, but the user interface is harder to use and the picture is not better. 

 

I'm lucky I have dh to figure this all out. He got really sick of seeing a humongous cable bill and having nothing to watch and just started researching. 

 

If you buy a new tv, you might see how you do with just the tv streaming capability to start and add a Roku later if you are having trouble. 

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We haven't had cable or satellite since 2006. We have an Apple TV box beside the tv, so that's how we watch Netflix and anything else available through Apple TV on the tv screen (hulu is an option but we don't subscribe, we have YouTube, podcasts, national networks, history, smithsonian, some other stuff, and iTunes). We also use it to access our music and purchased movies. We use a digital antenna for local channels, and we watch Amazon Prime with our Wii or PS3.

 

We only really subscribe to Netflix. Amazon Prime - we have for the shipping. Once in a while we'll watch a show there, but not often. We did watch "how the shapes got their shapes" through Prime, by the way. :)

 

My first choice would be Netflix. The selection is larger. We tried Hulu Plus and cancelled.

 

You might look through the selection of each, and rotate based on what you'd like to watch.

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I think you can try all three for free for a month. Hulu has older episodes of some shows and it seems to have more Foriegn shows than either Netflix or Prime. I watch BBC and ITV shows on Hulu.

 

I liked Amazon ok while we had it but it didn't seem to add extensively to the shows I want to watch with my kids.

 

We have Netflix and Hulu.

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Just as an observation, amazon makes you pay the flat year fee, where with netflix you could turn it on for a month to watch a series that is cheaper to do that way than to rent individually, then turn it back off.  That's what I finally told myself when I had to decide.  But that was because for me the amazon prime has plenty.  Netflix just added a little here and there.  

 

I'm surprised how much people like it.  For us there just wasn't really much.  We must have weird tastes, lol.  

 

Have fun!  :)

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Yes, do the free trials, and be prepared to switch down the road too.  It's an ever-changing landscape that way.  We don't watch a lot, but it is nice to have options.

 

We did the Hulu trial, and really didn't find anything.  

 

We have Amazon for the free shipping and get a few free things there, and sometimes pay.  They have a promotion now where if you do Prime shipping and agree to more flexible delivery, they give you a $1 credit.  We do that a lot, and so we don't always have to pay for the ones that have a price on them.

 

We had Netflix streaming, but also ran out of ones we wanted there.  So now we have just a one-at-a-time DVD subscription for a few things that we can't get any other way.

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Netflix Canada tends to get more current films, whereas Netflix US has more tv. Netflix South America seems to have more current tv shows, ahead of the release in North America. Netflix Europe has great UK content but also some very current US shows. I got caught up on TBBT on Swiss Netflix  ....  (btw, on foreign tv, most NA & UK shows just run as is with subtitles which you can turn on & off.)

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We have Netflix streaming and Amazon Prime.  We order a lot from Amazon, so having Amazon Prime for that alone is a good for us!  Netflix has lots of great marathon TV series, as someone else pointed out.  They have their own series now too that are made available on streaming, which we've enjoyed.  However, we have rarely been able to find specific movies that we want to watch on Netflix.  (They're usually available on Netflix mail DVD's, not streaming.)  We are almost always able to find them on Amazon Prime, though sometimes we have to pay for the rental (usually $2-3).  Sometimes with Netflix, we'll add on a month or two of their mail DVD service, and then get movies that they don't have available on streaming, which is plenty.

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We have no access to tv (dish/cable/antenna). Never tried Hulu.

 

I have Netflix and Amazon Prime. We watch more on Netflix (Doc Martin is back, people! Woohoo! And now Broadchurch is on Netflix streaming too. Yay.)

 

I love all the benefits of Prime, though, and just ordered two things (not even gifts) today. Amazon promises they'll be here in time for Christmas. There are some shows and movies on Prime that we like too, so I like having both and our payment due dates are staggered, so that helps. Very often if my dc need to listen to a song for orchestra, I can find it for free on Prime Music. Love that feature! 

 

If I had to pick one, I'd pick Netflix, but having both is great, and we've save a lot of money since we ditched our dish company. We hate monthly auto billing, and just got a Netflix gift card which we posted to our balance. Perhaps you can pay for Netflix like that, and try Prime w/ a Christmas bonus or tax refund or after you sell some books?

 

 

 

 

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