If this has ever happened to you, you know that you go through a bit of a cycle of adaptation - the first day, you're okay with it, you feel free - like you have all the time in the world to do things you were otherwise distracted from doing. The second day, you start to get a little antsy, and you maybe forget that you don't have cable; you get home and turn on the TV expecting to watch some mindless sitcoms, or at the very least, the news...and all you get is nothing...the blue screen with "No Signal". In the days of digital, there's no more static or fuzz, with that annoying "Cshhhhhh" noise radiating out of the small speakers on your tube tv.
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| This new, slightly less annoying screen has replace... |
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| ...this old annoying, yet slightly comforting static. |
About a year ago, I tried Netflix - whenever you sign up you get a free trial, for a month. That's more than enough time to see what their selection is, and if you'll actually watch anything. At the time, I knew a couple of days in that I would be cancelling after the first month - with the lack of selection in the Canadian catalogue, coupled with my beginnings on icefilms.info, it just wasn't something I needed to pay for. I'll be honest, if there had been a decent selection of even TV shows, I would have considered staying.
Fast forward a year....Megavideo is shut down, and a lot of other online file hosting sites are tucking their tails between their legs, and it's becoming a little harder to find a movie out there on the 'net. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe in pirating and love going to the movies - hell, I even buy DVD's when they make themselves worth buying; I just can't justify paying for things like TV shows, or older movies that I know I won't ever watch more than once. Blockbuster video used to save me on that front...but...well...we all know how that went down...
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| A common sight, only a year ago... |
The selection? Better - definitely better, we've added some new releases (and by that, I mean the last year), and some pretty popular TV shows...Dexter, Community, etc .but still nothing that I really was dying to watch. I was on the fence with paying for it at the end of my free trial, so I thought - there MUST be a way for me to access the American stuff.
As Canadians, we've always been told that a lot of the titles aren't available here yet, due to copyright, etc etc. yadda yadda yadda...so it's this huge mystery. But, with a quick Google search and finding unblock-us.com, and some quick changes to my PS3 proxy setting (this mainly means that I'm fooling Netflix into thinking that I'm accessing Netflix from a US connection), and I opened myself up to all of the American content.
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| Success - the American Netflix - from my home in Canada. |
The American Netflix? Definitely better than Canada, but not crazy good. It didn't blow me away, and to be honest, I still haven't even decided if I'm going to keep it or not. The newest release was like X-Men: First Class, and Rango - which aren't new releases by any means, so if you're looking for movies - this is a TERRIBLE replacement for rentals. However, if you look at things like documentaries, older movies, and TV shows especially, there's a really good selection.
With all seasons of "The Office", "How I Met your Mother", "X Files", "Eastbound and Down", "Breaking Bad" to name a few - I was pretty impressed...or maybe I was jaded by not having cable lol Really though, it impressed me enough to give it until the end of the month to make a decision - if I'm still going to be renting movies, then using itunes, or Sony's movie store on the PS3 might be a better idea. For the 14 dollars I'd be spending to keep netflix, I could rent 3 new releases a month, and that'd only be the ones that I can't find to download elsewhere. Sure Netflix is the morally sound choice, but until they start making it worth our whiles, nobody will start paying to access movie content.
The reason illegal music downloads have started to subside, is because the music services like iTunes make the experience EASY, and worthwhile - you get deals on songs, and albums. Whereas on netflix, you can't even get movies until they've been out for 8-12 months....
The jury is still out, but it's not looking good....I'd suggest you try it out...but don't expect it to live up to the hype.
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