Netflix

[strife]

How do you guys with out cable watch Football in HD? I know you can get HD over the "air", but is that the only option?

I've been going back and forth on cancelling cable... but my internet would go up(DAMN YOU COMCAST!) and my wife watches so much TV as it is now(which leaves me to be able to game in peace), that I'm not sure it's an option. And a lot of what she watches is on stations like TNT, A&E, cooking channels etc that I believe are cable only.

[Vanraw]

Alot of those channels stream shows or are available via hulu. Problem is keeping the wife happy without geekdon mechanism. There are tuners for PCs and Google TV boxes (apple is evil ) and Microsoft windows 7 or above has support out of the box.

But your right, the wife factor should be on my list too.

[Slamz]

Sports might be one good reason to keep cable. (Although for the cost of watching sports on cable you could buy a new game-and-a-half every month for PC or console and probably get more entertainment value.)

I haven't looked into streaming/pay-per-view sports alternatives.

A few years ago I might have missed channels like Discovery or History but these days they do so much stupid shit that I don't miss them either. "Moonshiners"? "American Choppers"? "Pawn Stars"? All the channels are going the way of original MTV: started off focused and good then meandered off into unrelated offerings that just took up air time previously used by things I at least found interesting. Moonshiners might actually be a good show for all I know but it's not really what I had in mind if I switch to Discovery.

If the FCC let cable operators go full ala carte (not even requiring the basic local channels, like today), I might consider picking up a few channels again, but I don't see that requirement being lifted until cable companies simply start failing due to superior online offerings.


For NFLX as a stock, my feeling is that nobody is going to buy them so long as they continue to do well. I think that Microsoft and Amazon both see value in the company but not enough to want to own them. However, if Netflix ever started to fail, I think you'd see them get snatched up because they are too important of a component to both Amazon and Microsoft.

[Grieve]

I'd be curious to see you cancel Netflix, but then keep track of money spent on alternatives. I'd be willing to bet you'd spend 3-5 times more.

The thing is we haven't watched Netflix for months, so there would be no change for cancelling it. Let's face it, about 90% (if not more) if the stuff on Netflix is complete crap/filler, so once you've seen the good stuff pickings are slim. But the Disney deal would change that.

The other problem with Netflix is that kids always want to watch the stuff that's just been on in the cinema, like Brave, The Lorax, etc. So sometimes it's easier just to get it on AppleTv. That's expensive, but being able to watch it anywhere anytime (including in the car/restaurants/doctor's waiting rooms, etc) makes up for it. Plus we stocked up on $100 iTunes cards for $80 on Black Friday.

The main reason we haven't dumped cable yet is that all the pieces aren't quite there yet to go fully online. I can't really find any good DVR alternative (don't want to pay for Tivo), and it looks like the free basic cable on our Comcast internet line I was planning to use may be going away soon. So for now we still have DirecTv.

What I REALLY want to see is a TV or box that gives me EITHER a-la-carte channels/shows OR local channels only with a DVR in the cloud. That and netflix would do me fine.

Couldn't care less about sport, never watch it, but the wife needs her ABC shows, and the kids like their Disney shows.

[Slamz]

For purposes of talking about NFLX has a stock/company, you can't discount their disc options either. Most people probably aren't throwing down $100 on iTunes for things that can go to their Apple TV. They are subscribing to Netflix mail service to get "as many movies as you can return in a month" for a flat rate.

Netflix, as a total company, is still a solid option. It's not uncommon to find a movie that Netflix doesn't stream but I've never found a movie that Netflix couldn't either stream or mail to me.

Really the only Netflix weak spot is in currently airing TV shows. But for that there's usually Hulu or the channel website itself.

[Vanraw]

I agree with the netflix streaming / mail service. but I have to say I displike Hulu plus.

I bought this for a while in hope of cutting the cable. I use xbox so I had high hopes wonce it was avaiable. Kept running into the programs I wanted to watch where they were flagged as "web site only", meaning you could watch the show, but only on a pc on the web site. And even though its a pay service I still have to watch the commercials? ? say what? what is the plus for again??

Right now I buy seasons of shows on Zune that I really like. Walking Dead, Fringe, and a couple of others I wont admit to you nerds. I like the fact you can buy in advance and they just pop up as soon as they are aired. But its not the cheapest solution. DVR would be better but I was looking at cutting the cable so DVR was counter to my goal....

[Grieve]

That's good for adults, but kids tend to watch the same movies again and again and again (and again). You can copy the DVDs, but then you might as well just torrent them in the first place.

Another good option that's completely free is the public library. I found they have a really large number of good DVDs available for free, and you can get as many as you want at a time. TV series too.

[Slamz]

Yeah, Hulu Plus seems dumb. The main thing it seems to have over Hulu is older episodes. But if the episodes are old enough, Netflix will have them (possibly streaming) from the previous season DVDs.

Like with Once Upon a Time, Netflix was streaming season 1 and regular Hulu had season 2 starting with episode 4 or so. Hulu Plus had the missing 3 episodes but I just bought them from Amazon instead.

That's good for adults, but kids tend to watch the same movies again and again and again (and again). You can copy the DVDs, but then you might as well just torrent them in the first place.

That's rather irrelevant though. If you're going to watch something 10 times, you buy it, same as always. This isn't going to harm Netflix any more than it harmed video rentals since the invention of the VCR. Video rental/streaming services survive precisely because most of what's out there is crap, worth watching once, if that. Netflix has all sorts of kids shows and movies from the "B" list that you might want to watch, but that you probably don't want to pay a bunch of money to iTunes to own.

[Zirak]

Yeah, I mostly use Netflix to watch tv series that I never got around to watching when they first aired. For example I recently watched all of Lost. I also use it for movies that, while I'm interested in seeing them, that interest is not great enough to warrant actually buying the movie. Netflix works great to supply those things with their streaming offerings.

[Slamz]

Netflix did quite well today. Apparently RedBox announced their competing venture for streaming movies.....and their offerings were so lackluster that apparently people holding back on Netflix for this reason got back into it.

[Slamz]

*PFFFFFFTT* Holy shit!

I tol' you motherfuckers!



Shame I didn't have, like, $100,000 to invest way back when. :-p Still, I have some $104 stock I bought after their first dive and some $64 I bought after their second dive. I was thinking maybe I'd sell it all if they got back to $104 but I see they have soared well beyond that overnight. They sure came roaring back outta nowhere after being stuck around $100 for a bit. Wonder if this is going to be a one-day blowout or if they're going to rocket straight back up to their old figure in the $300 range.

[Vanraw]

Nice call.

[Grieve]

NFLX on fire after earnings, up to $217. Wish I still had calls.

[Slamz]

Wowee.

They had a nice deal with Cartoon Network that I think started up this month too. Good selection of all those "Adult Swim" cartoons are on streaming now. Honestly the only thing I foresee taking down Netflix is some new government regulation that wrecks their business model. They've done a nice job in the last year of adding to streaming.

[Grieve]

Here's the 5 year Netflix chart. Roared from $18 in late '08 to around $300 in '11, plummeted all the way back down to $50ish last year, and is now back well above $200. Pretty good chance it will be hit a new all time high this year or next. Just shows the fickleness and irrationality of the markets.

This is what I'm banking of AAPL doing as well. We'll see. Lost around $70,000 so far, but I can still save my house from Jake...
   

[Grieve]

Whoh, Netflix almost $400 after hours after beating earnings - how I wish I'd stayed in....

[Slamz]

Me too. I got out when my investment was at around +200%. :-p

I was really hoping for a market crash over the Federal showdown so that I could buy more Netflix at a good price. It's been kinda like Amazon, though, where every day I look at the price and say, "That's not a good buy price" and by two weeks later it's $20 higher.

So I see it just went up and now I'm saying that's not a good price. 6 months from now it'll be at $600...

[Grieve]

Yeah, Google at $1000, Amazon at $326, Facebook at around $54, Netflix at close to $400...all are probably worth getting into and holding for the long term. So hard to time them.

(I'd add Apple at $521 as well, but I know that's a hard sell here).

[Grieve]

Wow, that's the craziest reversal I've ever seen. $389 after earning last night, then had plummeted to $322 by the end of the day, after a couple of valuation-based downgrades, and even Reed Hastings said momentum was driving the stock. Then after hours it fell even more to $315 after Carl Icahn said he'd sold half his stake.

I just jumped in and bought 25 shares in the after-hours market. Knowing my luck it will keep on plunging to below $200, but it seems like an opportunity.

[Grieve]

And...I sold them already. I'll take my $400 and run. Market looks ugly today.