Netflix or Hulu (or anything else)?

[indranee]

Is this the right place for this thread? If not, Mods, please move it.

Okay, I wanted to get your opinions of Netflix vs Hulu (or anything else you like to watch movies and TV shows with). I'm trying to catch up on a number of TV shows I've missed whole seasons of and I'm currently doing Hulu. But Hulu doesn't yet carry the first five seasons of Bones (I've missed chunks of that one, as well, and wanna catch up) and I'm thinking Netflix, especially since they've sent me this email with "Get Netflix for Free for One Month" emblazoned across the subject field. So I've been thinking of ditching my Hulu subscription next month and going with Netflix.

I also have a Netflix ready bluray player sitting there, waiting por moi!

Anyway, so. Any suggestions? Which one's better? What do you all like? Thanks in advance...

 

[Amaris]

Netflix has a lot of great selections, and yes, they're still building their TV library for Instant Watch, but in my opinion, they wallop Hulu Plus. I tried the free trial of Hulu Plus and dropped it the same day. Commercials everywhere, I'd get lag (I don't get such lag with Netflix), particularly between ads and show, and the quality of video would range from decent to poor, and the biggest one is that many of the TV shows I like are only watchable on the internet via my PC. What's the point if I can't stream it through my Roku box like I do Netflix?

 

[Starbreaker]

Netflix = thousands of movies (a good percentage decent) and several great TV shows like Law & Order: SVU, Bones, The X-Files, Stargate, etc. streaming. I think you can get a plan for 8.99. NO ADS!

I'm not a Hulu Plus user, but I would probably use the heck out of it too if I had the chance. Between these two and TV.com, which streams CBS stuff, I think I could do away with satellite or cable completely when I get my own place again.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Netflix. You can do a streaming only package for 7.99 or a disc at a time, including streaming for 8.99.

TONS of streaming, tons of discs.

I don't think there's a choice, actually.

We just got a blu ray and the streaming has been excellent. We are never without something to watch.

 

[exodus]

I have a PS3, so I get both.
I'm surprised to hear people getting lag on Hulu Plus.
I found for me it's faster than Netflix.(and I'm using wireless)
Plus, I only pay $8 a month for Hulu Plus where as I'm paying $21 a month for Netflix.

 

[Starbreaker]

Isn't $21 for three discs at a time plus streaming though? There are cheaper packages.

 

[Amaris]

I have a PS3, so I get both.
I'm surprised to hear people getting lag on Hulu Plus.
I found for me it's faster than Netflix.(and I'm using wireless)
Plus, I only pay $8 a month for Hulu Plus where as I'm paying $21 a month for Netflix.

Netflix also has a streaming only option for $7.99, and Hulu can't offer discs, so it balances out there. I got tons of lag on Hulu Plus, a much more limited selection due to "web only" restrictions, and the ads are annoying when I'm paying $7.99 a month.

Netflix has no ads, a huge movie and television selection, and you can even add movies to your library via a built in search feature, so that you don't have to access their website to add movies and TV shows. Plus, Netflix's HD is truly HD. I haven't seen Hulu Plus show high quality HD yet.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I've had nothing but good experiences w/ Netflix. I have the cheapest option -- one disc at a time, plus streaming, for I think $8.99 a month. I don't stream too much because it's kind of slow, but that seems to be my broadband's fault, not Netflix's. Like others have said, their selection is huge.

One of the things I like is that if you're going away or something, you can put your membership on hold for up to 90 days. You pay nothing, but still have access to your queue, and you can change the restart date as often as you want.

 

[Professor Zoom]

One of the things I like is that if you're going away or something, you can put your membership on hold for up to to 90 days. You pay nothing, but still have access to your queue, and you can change the restart date as often as you want.

I forgot about that feature. Used it this summer when we were out of the country for 7 weeks.

AND, I also want to give a shout out to netflix's customer service. Just a couple of times I've had to call about something (one time, for some reason my queue was empty, yikes, but, then, they fixed whatever glitch it was.) AND, a few times things have gone missing in the mail when I've sent it in, I reported it, and no problems of charging me, etc.

 

[bigdaddy]

Netflix. You can do a streaming only package for 7.99 or a disc at a time, including streaming for 8.99.

TONS of streaming, tons of discs.

They raised the price to $10 a month for one disc at a time.

Hulu Plus has commercials? What a joke!

 

[Professor Zoom]

Netflix. You can do a streaming only package for 7.99 or a disc at a time, including streaming for 8.99.

TONS of streaming, tons of discs.

They raised the price to $10 a month for one disc at a time.

Hulu Plus has commercials? What a joke!

D'oh. Correct. 9.99 it is. Still a great deal. Especially if you stream, and then use the discs for the things not on streaming.

 

[RoJoHen]

Hulu Plus has commercials? What a joke!

Yeah, this seems pretty ridiculous.

 

[Amaris]

Hulu Plus has commercials? What a joke!

Yeah, this seems pretty ridiculous.

My sentiments exactly (on both counts).

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, I have Netflix (one disc/unlimited streaming plan) and I absolutely love it. Hulu Plus sounds ridiculous, though. What's the point in paying for the service if you're still going to get ads? And wasn't its initial price like $15 a month or something?

 

[Amaris]

Yeah, I have Netflix (one disc/unlimited streaming plan) and I absolutely love it. Hulu Plus sounds ridiculous, though. What's the point in paying for the service if you're still going to get ads? And wasn't its initial price like $15 a month or something?

I believe the initial plan being thrown out when it was first proposed was that it would be $10 with and $15 a month without ads.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Yeah, I have Netflix (one disc/unlimited streaming plan) and I absolutely love it. Hulu Plus sounds ridiculous, though. What's the point in paying for the service if you're still going to get ads? And wasn't its initial price like $15 a month or something?

I believe the initial plan being thrown out when it was first proposed was that it would be $10 with and $15 a month without ads.

Yeah... that seems like a crap bargain. I get more with Netflix.

 

[Amaris]

Yeah, I have Netflix (one disc/unlimited streaming plan) and I absolutely love it. Hulu Plus sounds ridiculous, though. What's the point in paying for the service if you're still going to get ads? And wasn't its initial price like $15 a month or something?

I believe the initial plan being thrown out when it was first proposed was that it would be $10 with and $15 a month without ads.

Yeah... that seems like a crap bargain. I get more with Netflix.

Oh yeah. For $8 a month, I get access to hundreds of TV shows (full seasons no less), thousands of movies, no commercials, high definition (real high definition) quality, ease of library access via PC or Roku box, and Netflix has always had great customer service. Hulu would have been cutting edge 3 years ago, but as it is now? Netflix has sailed that ship.

 

[RoJoHen]

Indeed. Unless another company is at least going to match the service you get with Netflix, anything they're doing is going to be inferior. Netflix is a tremendous deal, and I use it nearly every day.

 

[Trekker4747]

I have Netflix on my PS3 and I enjoy it. The interface isn't too great or intuitive or gives very good filtering or searching options but it's simple enough to use, I suppose. (I just wish I could have more of a branching list of things rather than scrolling rows of DVD covers) It lags a bit for me at times and, near as I can tell, there's no way to "buffer" it (as in pause it, allow the video to get ahead, to give me room to watch it without a lag) but the lags I get may be due more to my wireless network and to Comcast sucking than it has anything to do with Netflix.

 

[RoJoHen]

but the lags I get may be due more to my wireless network and to Comcast sucking than it has anything to do with Netflix.

Very likely. I've never had problems with lag times that weren't directly related to my own network issues.

Plus, I find the new interface a lot easier to use than the old one. And you can always just add stuff to your queue via the your computer and update it that way to make it easier.