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About to buy a Roku, which subscription service has the most bang for the buck?

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Ohdang

Ohdang
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I'm about to get this <a href="http://www.roku.com/roku-products#1">Roku 2 XS</a> device since my U-Verse promotional price just ended and the price skyrocketed. I'm gonna keep the internet as its really good service and get a subscription service for TV, I just wanted some opinions from people who may have them or had them at one time. Roku offers free channels, but I want to augment it with something with better selection.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime?ie=UTF8&tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=2480937525&ref=pd_sl_4jhisc5c2_e">Amazon Prime</a> is advertising streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows for $79.99 a year, plus the other benefits of the membership, which I do use the site for internet shopping on occasion so that would be an added bonus. This option would be cheaper than Netflix, especially now that they have announced a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/technology/netflix-raises-price-of-dvd-and-online-movies-package.html">60% price increase</a> to be coming soon. I had Netflix for a free trial for a month and the selection of movies available for streaming seemed a little weak, but they seem to be trying to get off the mailing disc model and getting more people to stream with some of the moves they've made, so this may change. Anyone have any insight?

Hulu Plus is another option, one I admittedly know nothing about. What kind of selection do they have? At $7.99 a month its not too shabby, but more expensive than Amazon Prime. They seem to all be competing with each other but I haven't been able to find what makes them unique. Are there any other services out there that I haven't mentioned that would be worth looking in to?
 
Hulu+ is kind of hit or miss. The quality is solid, but they don't have all the networks under their umbrella, they don't have every show from the networks they do have (or some are web only), and the number of episodes they do have varies from show to show.

It's still pretty neat, but falls a bit short of what you'd ideally want ... but that's true of all streaming options at the moment.

Just to be clear, though, Hulu is for watching TV episodes. They carry some movies, but it's not serious. Just some random titles.
 
I don't know anything about these gadgets, but I stumbled across this... the deal is only good for today.

http://www.woot.com/

Thanks for the heads up on that, but I just now sat down at the computer for the first time today and its already sold out, bummer :(

Hulu+ is kind of hit or miss. The quality is solid, but they don't have all the networks under their umbrella, they don't have every show from the networks they do have (or some are web only), and the number of episodes they do have varies from show to show.

It's still pretty neat, but falls a bit short of what you'd ideally want ... but that's true of all streaming options at the moment.

Just to be clear, though, Hulu is for watching TV episodes. They carry some movies, but it's not serious. Just some random titles.

Sounds like Hulu+ probably isn't for me then, thanks for the info. I'm leaning towards giving Amazon Prime a look, I found their listings of available content, now its just a matter of scrolling through it.
 
I got a Roku about a year and 1/2 ago. I've had a Netflix subscription too. I'm probably going to stick with the Netflix streaming for $7.99 a month. They do need to upgrade their streaming choices since the movie selection is kind of limited now. Have to think they will since they've been pushing people toward streaming.
There are other options like Crackle to watch for free but content is also more limited. I don't think Hulu Plus is worth it since there are other ways to watch what they offer without the extra cost.

I'm not sure all that Amazon Prime offers. You can rent new releases to stream from Amazon and they do always run deals to rent for cheap too. I'd go with Netflix myself but would also check all that Amazon Prime has to offer and if they have a good selection of new releases.
 
I had Netflix and was less than impressed with their streaming selection, but like you said, they seem to be trying to move people in that direction. I just don't know if after the coming price increase I'll want to pay that much for crappy selection when Roku already comes with free channels. Maybe I'll just end up getting Netflix and Amazon Prime both, would still save me a bunch of money over what my U-Verse bill was.
 
I don't think Hulu Plus is worth it since there are other ways to watch what they offer without the extra cost.

Hulu exists to give a legal alternative to downloading Torrents. Technically, you don't have to pay for any streaming content if you steal it; albeit I always felt downloading programs you already do pay for via cable/satellite/movie channels was a gray area, and in fact, HBOGo is an example of HBO stepping up to the plate to provide streaming content to people who subscribe to HBO.

Were you alluding to something else?
 
Hulu exists to give a legal alternative to downloading Torrents. Technically, you don't have to pay for any streaming content if you steal it; albeit I always felt downloading programs you already do pay for via cable/satellite/movie channels was a gray area, and in fact, HBOGo is an example of HBO stepping up to the plate to provide streaming content to people who subscribe to HBO.

Were you alluding to something else?

Yea, I was alluding more to Netflix, Amazon and the regular free Hulu providing similar content.

I checked out Hulu Plus and just didn't see what they have as worth an extra $7.99 a month.
 
Yea, I was alluding more to Netflix, Amazon and the regular free Hulu providing similar content.

I checked out Hulu Plus and just didn't see what they have as worth an extra $7.99 a month.

Well, like with all this stuff, you really don't have a clue how deep their catalog goes until you want to see something and go look to see if they actually have it.

The standard Hulu service is getting pretty slimmed down. So if you want to start watching an old series it may not offer more than a few full episodes. In some cases Hulu+ will have all the episodes. Hulu+ also includes remote viewing options so you can play the videos back on your TV or any of their various supported devices. So to some extent it's value is relative to how much hassle you're willing to put up with. For instance, if you have a PC connected to your TV, it's simple enough to stream video from the standard Hulu service, but probably not as simple for your family members as using a streaming device.

As for what it's worth ... well ... I cancelled a $5/mon package from my satellite subscription and added Hulu+ instead. We've used Hulu+ a lot more than we watched the channels that were in that package, so, it's a pretty good value in that respect. But if you're just looking for the lowest priced streaming alternative to fiber/cable/satellite for your $8/mon, the value is certainly questionable.
 
Netflix has been pissing me off. They took off Dexter after refusing to add more. I think I'm going to just slim it down to watch instantly only. I'd be paying less than I am now.

Netflix you can stream 4 shows at once in the same household. (i.e. Your wife could be watching on the computer, you on the roku, your son on his wii/xbox 360/ps3 and your daughter on her laptop.)

They did however just add Mad Men.
 
Netflix has been pissing me off. They took off Dexter after refusing to add more. I think I'm going to just slim it down to watch instantly only. I'd be paying less than I am now.

Netflix you can stream 4 shows at once in the same household. (i.e. Your wife could be watching on the computer, you on the roku, your son on his wii/xbox 360/ps3 and your daughter on her laptop.)

They did however just add Mad Men.

After their recent changes Netflix does have to really step it up with their instant viewing choices. If they want to go more in that direction than they have to make it worthwhile.
I hate too how they remove series or movies from instant viewing. Sucks even more that they only give you about a week's notice. If something is going to be available for only a certain period they need to make that clear from the start.
 

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