Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Netflix Canada - Worth the 8 bucks?

Netflix has been available in the U.S. for a long time but just recently has been introduced in Canada (Fall 2010ish?).  I was interested in this service because from what I understood you basically get TV shows and movies all for only 8 bucks a month – that’s a lot cheaper than cable.  If there was potential that I could actually replace my expensive cable with only Netflix then HELL YES! I would be on board.  So I signed up for the free 1 month trial to see what it was all about. 

SetUp - So you can choose to stream Netflix on your TV through a couple of devices – Wii, PS3, or Xbox360.  (They also list some other devices on their website.)  It was my boyfriend who set it up through our Xbox and it seemed pretty easy for him (only took him 2 minutes to do).  You can also watch Netflix on your computer – although I haven’t tried that yet.

Selection – Now if you’re thinking that Netflix will just be a replacement for Blockbuster (or whatever your regular movie rental stores is) then selection isn’t as big of a deal, but if you’re thinking Netflix might replace your cable then selection is a HUGE deal.  But in either case MORE = BETTER. Now I don’t want to bash Netflix here because I feel like they have such potential but frankly I need more TV selection. It doesn’t have the shows that I regularly watch on TV - mainly “House,” and “Two and a Half Men” (don’t judge!). As for movie selection there are 75 movies from a number of fairly typical categories (e.g. Horror, Romantic Comedy, etc.).  But I have no idea how they choose which 75 movies go into these categories. They seem to be mostly older and many have 2 or 3 star ratings or are just movies you’ve never heard of.  Now to be fair, preference in movie selection is naturally subjective so go to their site and check it out yourself. 

Overall, I think Netflix doesn’t replace cable but might be able to replace your regular trips to Blockbuster.  Check out the selection and see if it agrees with you, it is only 8 bucks a month, and I’m hoping as Netflix gains popularity in Canada it will improve upon its selection.

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