Just looking at the Freeview Xmas TV offerings – Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, etc – it’s got me thinking about trying out NetFlix. Is it worth the £5.99/month – is there anything worth watching?

I quite like it, I always find plenty of entertaining programs to fill my viewing time of 3-4hrs a week. But then, I don’t own a telly, so I have nothing to compare it to really.

Better for TV series than films, you just need to find a series you like.

I’m never massively impressed by Netflix, there are some good series on there but films wise they have a choice of about 60 so the top 50 supernatural horror films are generally much the same as the top 50 family comedy and which in turn are much the same as the top 50 docu-drama.

it will cost you £6 to find out, probably worth it if you like watching stuff, if you use a proxy you can get the US from other logins which is nice

Half the price of a tv licence, alot more interesting stuff. I refuse to pay £100 odd quid for the rubbish on tele these days, especially since they still have adverts. Plus I can still watch the couple of good bits on all4, Guy Martin etc..

if you use a proxy you can get the US from other logins which is nice

ooh, this is interesting. Could you explain for the hard of clicking please? ta x

Had a subscription for a while it was good enough if you’re willing to trawl through the rubbish for interesting stuff

Worth it for Gotham.

first months free usally

“Master of None” is worth £5.99.

^Yup, I got my first month free then noticed if you look around 2 months free can be found.

We initially got it for Breaking Bad, then stuck with it.

Plenty of (IMO) good series to watch.

Lots of good stuff.
Lots of comedy specials.
Bojack and Archer
House of Cards alone is worth it.
Much much better than Amazon prime video.

I’ve just cancelled my subscription after having it for about a year. Some good stuff on there but as above, a lot of very samey series.

Once you’ve seen one bunch of actors pretending to be in a life threatening situation while actually wandering around a giant blue studio, you’ve somewhat seen them all.

I’ve tried a few times but always found it to be rubbish so end up cancelling.

I refuse to pay £100 odd quid for the rubbish on tele these days, especially since they still have adverts.

Only the channels your licence doesn’t cover.

Good for series, if you find a few you like with a few seasons.
Af for films, I have Netflix and Amazon Prime and TBH I often struggle to find a film I want to watch on either of them and so do sometimes still end up paying £3.50 to get something from iTunes or whatever.
That said I don’t see much coming out at the cinema I’m all that interested in so I suppose that’s not too surprising.

Once you’ve seen one bunch of actors pretending to be in a life threatening situation while actually wandering around a giant blue studio, you’ve somewhat seen them all.

This is TV and films generally though isn’t it?

Once you’ve seen one bunch of actors pretending to be in a life threatening situation while actually wandering around a giant blue studio, you’ve somewhat seen them all.

I think Shakespeare said a very similar thing about stage performances just before he quit writing plays to work in Sports Direct.

Once you’ve seen one bunch of actors pretending to be in a life threatening situation while actually wandering around a giant blue studio, you’ve somewhat seen them all.

This is TV and films generally though isn’t it?

They wander around Essex in Detectorists.

Hola for the US.

I’m never massively impressed by Netflix, there are some good series on there but films wise they have a choice of about 60 so the top 50 supernatural horror films are generally much the same as the top 50 family comedy and which in turn are much the same as the top 50 docu-drama.

I think Netflix in the UK has a catalogue of around 3,500 titles. Which isn’t fantastic really. The US have around 10,000, which as already mentioned you could access through a proxy, if you know what you’re doing.

Don’t quote me on the figures, but I discovered this the other week when I was unable to find stuff that was supposedly on there. Turns out most the stuff I want to watch is US only.

I can rarely every find movies I want to watch to be honest. A hand full of good documentaries. Loads of TV series, but I don’t watch them.

Only the channels your licence doesn’t cover.

Explain, thought the licence was for bbc and the likes, which defo have adverts

You need a licence to watch or record TV as broadcast. Ergo, you don’t need one for a streaming service, regardless of what channels you watch. Eg, you can watch iPlayer for free so long as it’s previously aired material, anything on there at the same time as it’s being broadcast (do they even do that?) would require a licence.

I cancelled Sky as the cost is these days ridiculous.
The Netflix made stuff is good – Better call Saul, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Ridiculous 6 ……..
A lot of old series stuff is good too.
Try it free for however long the introductory offer lasts these days.
The film choice isnt amazing but for £8 a month its great.

Aye, I get that bit, hence me not having a licence. I read Dracs comment as only the channels the licence doesn’t cover have adverts, hence my confusion

You need a licence to watch or record TV as broadcast. Ergo, you don’t need one for a streaming service, regardless of what channels you watch. Eg, you can watch iPlayer for free so long as it’s previously aired material, anything on there at the same time as it’s being broadcast (do they even do that?) would require a licence.

Yep. I used to think it was just for the BBC. It’s not. BBC iPlayer, Netflix, stuff like will not require a TV licence. BBC1, ITV, C4, etc, will. I’m not sure where subscription services like SKY stand.

There’s loads and loads of cr4p on Netflix. There’s got to be stuff on there that no one has ever watched. But there’s some gems, especially series, that make it worth the fee, especially compared to a Sky subscription. There’s hardly any (IMO) decent films on there, but I did find the Battle of Britain a few weeks ago so that was an afternoon wasted!

I’ll just their in that I don’t begrudge paying the licence fee, easily worth it for a handful of decent BBC programmes and 6music.

Same applies AFAIK. Sky is still broadcast TV (catchup / box sets aside).

I read Dracs comment as only the channels the licence doesn’t cover have adverts, hence my confusion

He’s wrong. HTH. (-:

The licence pays for the BBC doesn’t? They don’t have adverts.

When you consider Sky can be £50, and Netflix, Amazon and iPlayer can be had for just over a tenner, they are definitely worth it imo.

BBC had adverts last time I watched it, was over a year ago though so may have changed!

The BBC has adverts for other BBC programming. It only has commercial adverts if you’re outside the UK.

correct and once they put MOTD on i player I gave up my licence. Netflix is cheaper but it is mainly series based the films are a bit hit and miss IMHO
YOU can also get 4 screens for not much more £7.99 I think and they dont seem to mind where the log on from as my misses and some others share mine and we all live a fair way from each other.

I do wonder how much longer ‘broadcast TV’ is going to be relevant, with on-demand viewing becoming increasingly ubiquitous. I wonder if tomorrow’s kids will look at the concept of fixed, scheduled channels to be as ancient as how we’d consider a TV with a single rotary tuner.

Cos if that happens, Auntie Beeb is knackered.

yes it worries me as i do love the BBC but the reality is i cannot commit to watching programmes at set times so miss most of the shows. On demand is just so much more convenient and you can just stop watching a show anytime you want and restart when you next use it.

The BBC has adverts for other BBC programming

Ermmm! Ok.

Really? When did they stop doing commercial ads then? That’s a step in the right direction I suppose

I think the bottom line with netflix is, it’s fine for finding things to watch. It’s just not that good for finding one thing you want to watch.

When did they stop doing commercial ads then?

When did they start?

The BBC has never, to my knowledge, run commercial advertising. That’s kind of the point.

As I said before though, that doesn’t hold true if you’re outside the UK.

It’s a shame folk who can in reality afford to support the BBC are actively looking for a reason/loophole not to financially support it by paying the licence. Yes, you don’t need a licence to watch non live streamed BBC but everyone with a brain comprehends the content still needs funding for it to be there. For me having it there to watch when you want on a plethora of platforms is a great extra and shouldn’t be a reason to not to have to pay. I virtually watch no live TV already and if the day came that it dropped to zero, I would continue to pay the licence fee to support Radio 4 regardless. Yes, live broadcast tv (even the BBC) has a lot of drivel and you can’t please all the people all the time but you only have to live in a country without an equivalent to realise what a national institution it is. It’s probably time to bring it’s funding into mainstream taxation as so many will be thinking like this in the future.

Re Netflix – I didn’t bother renewing past the free subscription. Probably good for those that like boxset style series but I was underwhelmed by the film choice. Sticking to my old school Lovefilm DVD by post subscription for the moment as it suits my screen watching better.