booting netflix, can dish stream and replace it?

[jdvaughn]

since netflix is raising their prices so much soon we are going to cancel them. I see on Dish about "watch 1000's of movies with dish online". I tried to find good info on their site about this, but really their site just sucks... does anyone have any comparison experience they could share?

we now have a 722 (which we're perfectly happy with), I know we need to hook up to wireless for starters, (I do have a wireless router already working in our house) not sure which way is the best way to do this (I don't want to buy something that works only for dish, if I have to buy something, I'm wondering if there is some alternative hardware that would do the job that wouldn't go obsolete if we ever change from dish)

If I buy a slingbox will that work? will it work with and provide the wifi we need for dish? and will I be able to watch tv on my computer that does have a tv tuner in it?

any and all advice would appreciated!

thanks,
JD

 

[Chris311]

I took a quick look at it before and from what I remember, you may end up spending a lot more money using Dish's streaming service than Netflix. I remember the rental prices were around $5 per movie. So Unless you plan on watching 3 movies or less, you won't be saving anything. (Assuming you have the $9.99 Netflix plan that will be going up to $15.99 next month)

As an example, I watch about 15 movies a month that are a mix between streaming and dvd in the mail. (I'm not even including TV shows I watch through streaming). So if I were to switch to Dish's streaming service I would end up spending around $60 more per month than Netflix to watch the same amount of content. (Not to mention Dish has a lot less content)

They also have some free TV episodes, that are very scarce. (I remember there only being 2 episodes of weeds, and 3 episodes of Wilfred), and to watch the episode in HD for free it kept saying that I had to wait anywhere from 2-8 hours to be able to watch it (I have no idea what this meant). In the end, I was unable to find a "free" TV episode that I could even watch.

 

[mdavej]

I wondered the same thing, so I searched every movie from my netflix instant queue on amazon and dish online. Of the 40 I searched, I found 2 on dish and about 15 on amazon. I plan to drop netflix no matter what, but dish is definitely no substitute.

 

[Chris311]

I would consider switching to Blockbuster if they offered an unlimited streaming plan, but since it is a pay per transaction like dish (with prices ranging from $2 to $7) it would end up costing me a lot more than Netflix. I know a lot of people are upset over Netflix's price hike, but they have to step back and compare plans baised on their usage. While a competitor may look cheaper at first, in the end it may end up costing a lot more.

It basically comes down to this. If you watch a lot of movies either by mail or streaming, then Netflix will no doubt be cheaper. But if you only watch a limited amount of movies, it may be cheaper for you to switch to someone else other than Netflix.

Just as a comparison to Blockbuster.

Blockbuster: 1 DVD at a time is $10
Netflix: 1 DVD at a time is $8

Blockbuster: You pay per movie to stream with prices ranging from $2 to $7.
Netflix: Unlimited number of streaming movies for $8 a month


So lets say you watch 10 movies a month, 5 being DVD and 5 being streaming.

Blockbuster: $20 to $45 per month (I would be paying anywhere from $26 to $66 per month because of how many movies I watch)
Netflix: $16 per month

Blockbuster would be anywhere from 20% to 64.4% more per month than Netflix. For Blockbuster to cost the same or be cheaper than Netflix, you would have to watch only three $2 On Demand movies or less each month, two $3 movies per month , one $4, $5, or $6 movie per month, and avoid the $7 movies altogether.

If you don't want to stream and only get DVDs in the mail, Blockbuster is only $2 more per month. Some people think that the extra $2 is worth spending for access to game rentals and new movies sooner. If I didn't stream a lot (iPad, PS3, and Evo 3D) I would probably switch to Blockbuster's DVD mailing plan.

 

[myron243]

I signed up a couple of days ago for a 30 day free then $9.99/mo with Blockbuster. That is what I pay Netflix because I want Bluray when available. I think I will like the Blockbuster deal a lot. There is a store about 4 miles away and you can exchange unlimited number of times. Plus games for the grandkids Wiis, Xboxes and PS3s when they visit. There strreaming costs $1 to $4 per movie. But they do get 'em 28 days before Netflix and Redbox

 

[Chris311]

I signed up a couple of days ago for a 30 day free then $9.99/mo with Blockbuster. That is what I pay Netflix because I want Bluray when available. I think I will like the Blockbuster deal a lot. There is a store about 4 miles away and you can exchange unlimited number of times. Plus games for the grandkids Wiis, Xboxes and PS3s when they visit. There strreaming costs $1 to $4 per movie. But they do get 'em 28 days before Netflix and Redbox

Another thing some people are doing is signing up for Blockbuster's DVD by mail plan, and also signing up for Netflix's streaming only plan. That way they get all the newest movies in the mail, but still have a large streaming section that won't cost them a ton of money to watch.

If I didn't have so many classic items on my DVD que, I would switch to Blockbuster's DVD plan. Maybe once I get through my entire que I will switch.

 

[myron243]

Another thing some people are doing is signing up for Blockbuster's DVD by mail plan, and also signing up for Netflix's streaming only plan. That way they get all the newest movies in the mail, but still have a large streaming section that won't cost them a ton of money to watch.

If I didn't have so many classic items on my DVD que, I would switch to Blockbuster's DVD plan. Maybe once I get through my entire que I will switch.

I forgot to mention that's what I did. And I only had about 15 or so in my queue so it wasn't difficult. Plus I will now get the bluray of some that Netflix doesn't have along with the blurays that they do have.

 

[Juan]

EPIX streams for free on ROKU (If u have Dish platinum)..They have a nice selection of movies (Some not on Netflix)

 

[vash1090]

I switched over to Blockbuster even though the streaming isn't optimized yet. I'm a gamer, so I like that Blockbuster let's you get games or Bluray at no extra cost

 

[Butcha]

I called Netflix and asked when they were going to stream in audio in 5.1. They said that they already are, and I would have to upgrade the firmware on my Toshiba BD player. Well come to find out, they are only steaming 5.1 on the Roku and Xbox. What a bunch of BS. If they are going to charge for it, they should provide everything.

 

[Chris311]

I called Netflix and asked when they were going to stream in audio in 5.1. They said that they already are, and I would have to upgrade the firmware on my Toshiba BD player. Well come to find out, they are only steaming 5.1 on the Roku and Xbox. What a bunch of BS. If they are going to charge for it, they should provide everything.

The Roku 2 supports 5.1 and from what I can tell, the firmware to enable 5.1 for Netflix hasn't been released yet. Also, the Xbox does not currently do 5.1 or 1080p, only the PS3 can do that.

This is something that you can't get mad at Netflix for. It is up to the hardware manufactures to roll out support for 5.1 surround and 1080p, Netflix has no control over it. They can make an App for a device, but if the device doesn't support all of Netflix's features, it isn't Netflix fault.

Th Xbox also doesn't support selectable subtitles, and if the video quality changes it has to stop playback and re-buffer where the PS3 can adjust quality on the fly. Again, it has nothing to do with Netflix no choosing to include those features. They have to wait for Microsoft to update the Xbox software before they can add the same features that the PS3 has. (Unless of course there is an actual hardware limitation that software can't fix.)

 

[Butcha]

The Roku 2 supports 5.1 and from what I can tell, the firmware to enable 5.1 for Netflix hasn't been released yet. Also, the Xbox does not currently do 5.1 or 1080p, only the PS3 can do that.

This is something that you can't get mad at Netflix for. It is up to the hardware manufactures to roll out support for 5.1 surround and 1080p, Netflix has no control over it. They can make an App for a device, but if the device doesn't support all of Netflix's features, it isn't Netflix fault.

Th Xbox also doesn't support selectable subtitles, and if the video quality changes it has to stop playback and re-buffer where the PS3 can adjust quality on the fly. Again, it has nothing to do with Netflix no choosing to include those features. They have to wait for Microsoft to update the Xbox software before they can add the same features that the PS3 has. (Unless of course there is an actual hardware limitation that software can't fix.)

I stand corrected on the PS3. I new I was wrong the minute I posted it. I don't look for Toshiba to even do an upgrade. I have come to the conclusion that Toshiba could care less about their customers. I will be looking for a new BD player when I know for sure they will play back in 5.1.

 

[myron243]

I called Netflix and asked when they were going to stream in audio in 5.1. They said that they already are, and I would have to upgrade the firmware on my Toshiba BD player. Well come to find out, they are only steaming 5.1 on the Roku and Xbox. What a bunch of BS. If they are going to charge for it, they should provide everything.

The Panasonic 210 BD player streams 5.1 also. On the movies that are actually supposed to stream in 5.1. I called a couple of months ago about one that showed 5.1 as an option but it wasn't showing as 5.1 on my receiver and some others did. I was told there were some movies mislabeled. So, not all that say they are 5.1 are 5.1 unless Netflix has cleaned it up.

 

[jdvaughn]

just checked out blockbuster... it looks to me like they are offering free streaming movies with dvd's out, depending on the plan. I think I'm just going to change to them...
https://www.blockbuster.com/signup/m/plan

 

[SaltiDawg]

...
This is something that you can't get mad at Netflix for. It is up to the hardware manufactures to roll out support for 5.1 surround and 1080p, Netflix has no control over it. They can make an App for a device, but if the device doesn't support all of Netflix's features, it isn't Netflix fault. ...

I don't think that the hardware manufacturers develop Netflix enabling software in a vacuum.

 

[Chris311]

I don't think that the hardware manufacturers develop Netflix enabling software in a vacuum.

What do you mean?

 

[mdavej]

The Panasonic 210 BD player streams 5.1 also...

And panny just added hulu plus, which is another decent alternative to netflix.

just checked out blockbuster... it looks to me like they are offering free streaming movies with dvd's out, depending on the plan. I think I'm just going to change to them...

I don't think blockbuster offers streaming ... yet.

I think the way things will fall out for me is I'll dump netflix entirely, then limp along with hulu and redbox for a while and probably come crawling back to netflix in a few months. If blockbuster did offer streaming at some point in the near future, then the picture changes entirely.