As of September 1, 2011 Netflix will increase their price about $5 each regardless of the plan to which you have subscribed.

In 2012, they broke their plans into two subscriptions: Mail and Streaming

In 2014, they increased both of their plans by another dollar.

HMMMMM….

IN 2011, I had the Two CD plan with unlimited streaming. I plan on backing off to the ONE CD plan, still with unlimited streaming, so it will only cost me an extra dollar per month.

In 2012 the new thing that they were offering, is CD delivery only, or Streaming only. This ACTUALLY makes sense, since why should YOU pay for my streaming video if you don’t have a way to stream movies. Why should “JOE” pay for CD delivery if he ONLY watches streaming video.

In 2014, I am planning on ELIMINATING the Mail NetFlix service. It’s just not fair. Bluebox has inexpensive rentals, and for the few times per month that we exchange NetFlix DVDs this might be a better option for us.

Kudos to NetFlix for the new plan arrangements, epithets for increasing the prices. Still, I understand… Business is business… and I’d rather pay an extra dollar a month than to have them go out of business.

You get one month free trial of NetFlix. Be sure to cancel at 30 day mark, or your credit card will be charged… other than that, it’s totally free.

Watch instantly on your TV, your computer or your iPad.

Unlimited TV episodes and movies.

Go to http://www.netflix.com/tellafriend

and use Priority Code: M779102389885

There has been a lot of excitement and lots of comments, both good and bad, surrounding The Royal Wedding. Not being one to cast aspersions either way, here is a set of links that will allow you to catch up on The Event.

THE ROYAL WEDDING Official Programme The Marriage of H.R.H. Prince William of Wales, K.G. with Miss Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey, 29th April, 2011 The Ceremonial, the Marriage Service and the Procession published by Gracious Permission of Her Majesty CLICK HERE FOR The Royal Wedding Program A comprehensive and well-mixed video of The Wedding itself has been posted on YouTube by a new YouTube User (to me, anyway) named “theroyalchannel” Below is a link to the 3 hour 38 minute event. http://www.youtube.com/user/theroyalchannel

Want more? USE THIS LINK to view ALL YouTube videos
with the search qualifier “Royal Wedding”.

For a lighter side of The Royal Wedding
USE THIS LINK to view many of the spoof videos produced about it

It’s been awhile since I posted. That means that things are going pretty well. Some of the glitches that I’ve found are as follows:
1. Hulu does a totally LOUSY job of remembering where you are when you are trying to make your way through a series.
2. Roku has their version of the Windows Blue Screen of Death. If your TV is turned off, or even if the channel changes, it locks up and you have to power down, then up, then wait for the boot process. It REALLY slows down getting into a movie.

On the plus side:
1. NetFlix is working out even better than I had dreamed. By recording DVDs onto my TiVo as soon as they arrive, and then turning the video around for another, most of our viewing is done through this process AND the NetFlix on-demand. There are SOME glitches in the on-demand feature, but very tolerable.

What I have enjoyed is NO cable bill or satellite bill.

Oh, Hulu Plus is about $8 per month, but despite some lousy performance, is still worth the cost. We will most likely be moving in a month or so, and I will take all of this information and make it permanent in our new home. I will hopefully post before then, but who knows.

Happy viewing.

The title three are a winning combination. Here is how it breaks down:

Roku box: $80
Hulu signup: free
NetFlix signup: free

Monthly cost:
Roku: 0
Hulu: 0
Hulu Plus (optional) $9
NetFlix (optional) $9

We chose to go with Hulu Plus (which gives you more current programming: House, Glee, etc.) and NetFlix (Watch Now option for movies, old series, etc.) and have more than we can keep up with.

In OUR case, we also have a DVD player and an old TiVo (any DVR will work) We get a NetFlix movie that comes in, and we immediately record it onto TiVo, and then send it back to get another movie. NetFlix movies are unlimited as to how many times you can get DVDs per month. We average about ten DVDs per month.

Anyway, let me know if you have a question.

Robert

Oh… not you, the viewer…

Damn you… Damn all of you spammers.

I went in today to moderate comments, and there were EIGHTY FOUR spam messages and ONE valid Comment.
Why do you do this to us all?
It’s just a degree of terrorism!
You cost many of us time.
You cost us money.
You cause us grief.
Why not get a job digging ditches like the rest of us?!?

OK… I’ll retract the epithet.
I will, however, ask God to cause you infinite equipment malfunctions.

Three Days Ago:

Just discovered (and bought) a Roku box. For a one-time cost of about $80 (and an Internet connection) you have access to lots of FREE web feeds such as the old Andy Griffith and I Love Lucy; and for $8 per month you have access to current stuff like Glee and House.

Today:

First full night of Roku last night. There will be a definite settling in period, but it looks as if this might work. The one drawback is that you have to manually add channels and program titles (or actors) you want to Hulu Plus, but this is a one-time process. It pulls your NetFlix requests and populates that channel automatically. Watched for 4 hours, and the quality is far superior to the VGA output from a dedicated laptop computer, which is what we were using.