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Netflix- so gallantly streaming

Posted by Bambi B on April 16, 2010 at 09:02:07:
Mates,

I've recently joined the ranks of Netflix- now on the third week of my "free" trial.

"Free" is in quotes because:

1. Samsung BPD-1600 Blu-ray player which has built-in Netflix streaming capability: $250 retail- $120 on ECrap

2. Samsung proprietary wireless LAN adapter: $80 retail, to me $55 off of ECrap

3. Belkin "N" wireless router: $80 retail, $40 off of you know where

So, in order to have the streaming receiver and wireless network just to try Netflix, there's was a commitment of $220. This seems to me expensive for the purpose of cutting $20-30 from the cable bill. Because Netflix is $9 per month, the amortization is 15 months,..

Peocedure: Make a Netflix "Instant" queue of movies to stream > have the computer on where the wireless network is connected, select the Blu-ray player inpout > on the TV select "Netflix" from the Samsung menu > select the movie from the queue > press "play".

Still, this system works well and the picture on my 2005 Sony 32" Wega CRT is as good as I've ever seen it. The Samsung Blu-ray too makes a much better picture from DVD's than my previous $100 Sony DVD/VHS combination player- as it should. As you might notice, I'm not very TV oriented- the TV sits next to my the main ARC SP10 > D115 audio system but is not connected- I'm not burning 35 tubes for Harry Potter or CNN!

The system works well, but the problem is that, as Victor mentioned earlier, I can find few items on the streaming section that I really want to see- it's either something I've seen before or never saw out of choice. So far I've seen old favourites, "Yojimbo, "All about Eve", "Sanjuro" and a newer one I missed in the cinema, "Love is the Devil"(< Derek Jacobi plays painter Francis Bacon), and the only other movie new to me so far, the newer "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" -mainly because I liked the Walter Matthau/ Robert Shaw original and think action movies are a good way to judge video quality. It was reasonably good, but John Travlota as a violent securities speculator on meths wore me out quickly- he kind of quacked that stilted dialogue. I did enjoy, "Up in the Air" on DVD, and thought "Star Trek" was well done, but I think I'm moving away from mainstream science fiction- perhaps someday I will be an adult after all!

While it works easily and well, I'm not over the Moon with joy with the selection, and actually am not finding a lot on the DVD list that I'm excited about. Actually, at the moment, both my instant and DVD queues are empty. My problem is that I have a strong memory for movies- and when I see a listing for a movie I've seen, I can often just run it quickly in my mind and therefore don't have to see it. The other factor in this kind of thing is over-choice - too many possibilities and of course, the aspect of not being able to ask for something that I don't already know about. I've tried searches of all kinds- all the Truffaut, Kurosawa, Bunuel, submarine and train movies, everything with Charles Laughton, great TV series like "Jewel in the Crown" and so on, but again I just haven't been hitting on a lot of titles I'm excited to see and very few that can be streamed.

Still, as compared to the rubbish on the 25 premium movie channels I'm not using- I watch more on TCM, IFC, and Sundance than HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax- I think eventually I'll do well with Netflix- movies that I choose, when I like, and with pause, fast-forward and so on is still a better potential. One side benefit, with the Blu-ray player, I could liberate the old Sony DVD/VHS to use with the bedroom TV- my lifetime 4th TV and the first time I've ever had two sets at once.

A tentative three and a quarter "Bambis" for Netflix.

Anyone else thinking of using Netflix or new to it?

Cheers,

Bambi B