Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

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LuigiLikesPizza
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Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by LuigiLikesPizza »

My old cheapie DVD player has finally died. The trouble is there are often films I want to watch that are still only available on DVD, not streaming, via Netflix.

DVD players seem like old and fleeting technology, so I've paused to consider whether I should buy another one, no matter how cheap.

As I understand it, Amazon does not play this game - everything is available for streaming? it's just a matter of price per viewing?

Can someone enlighten me? so appreciative.

Luigi
jebmke
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by jebmke »

You can stream various films and TV shows via their streaming services. You need a reasonably fast internet connection and a device that connects to your TV. I use a device called ROKU which is essentially a custom-made computer that streams video and feeds it to my TV with an HDMI cable. There are other devices that work with Amazon.

Some video streams come free with Amazon Prime. Others are pay-per view or you can buy the content and play it as many times as you wish.

I believe it is also possible to download Amazon content to a device like a tablet and play it offline without an internet connection. I haven't tried this (no current need for it) so I don't know the details of how to do it.
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lthenderson
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by lthenderson »

I too have a Roku device hooked up to my television that allows me to stream from Netflix and Amazon Prime. The Amazon non-prime rental rates seem a bit high for me compared to the DVD rental part of Netflix so I generally still get DVD's from Netflix versus renting from Amazon. I am on the one DVD at a time plan from Netflix and just need to watch 2 to 3 movies a month to generally come out ahead. (Generally we are closer to 5 to 7 range depending on our free time.) I'm sure if you had one of the other plans that allowed for more DVD's at a time, you might come out even better.
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cheese_breath
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by cheese_breath »

If you have a lot of DVDs you might want to spring for one more player before they become hard to find. You might not always be able to find everything you want to watch online.

Coincidentally, one of Best Buy's deals of the day (today, Jan 16th) is a 7" portable DVD player for $39.99.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-7- ... Id=7270028
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LuigiLikesPizza
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by LuigiLikesPizza »

Maybe a naive question - but can you hook up this portable DVD player to a television in order to view on a larger screen? thanks
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cheese_breath
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by cheese_breath »

LuigiLikesPizza wrote:Maybe a naive question - but can you hook up this portable DVD player to a television in order to view on a larger screen? thanks
Looking at the specs it doesn't look like it has any outputs.
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Kenkat
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by Kenkat »

You can buy a decent Blue-Ray / DVD player for $60-80. I have a Sony and it even has Smart TV capability if your TV doesn't so you could watch DVD's or Blue Rays from the library or Redbox as well as stream from Amazon or Netflix. Streaming individual movies from Amazon or Apple seems to be more expensive ($3-5 is my experience) vs. Redbox at $1.25-$2.00 or library (free). I do have a Netflix subscription as well, although their movie selection is limited.
scubadiver
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by scubadiver »

DVD players are cheap. I would spring for another.

We have both a DVD player and Roku which we use to stream netflix.
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cheese_breath
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by cheese_breath »

kenschmidt wrote:You can buy a decent Blue-Ray / DVD player for $60-80. I have a Sony and it even has Smart TV capability if your TV doesn't so you could watch DVD's or Blue Rays from the library or Redbox as well as stream from Amazon or Netflix. Streaming individual movies from Amazon or Apple seems to be more expensive ($3-5 is my experience) vs. Redbox at $1.25-$2.00 or library (free). I do have a Netflix subscription as well, although their movie selection is limited.
Dumb me. :oops: I forgot to suggest this. I have a LG blu-ray with the same features. In addition to blu-rays it also plays the older DVDs. I assume the Sony does too(?). The only hitch is you need a HDTV to hook it to. It doesn't attach to an analog TV.
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Epsilon Delta
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by Epsilon Delta »

In copyright law there is a fundamental difference between streaming and lending discs.

The first-sale doctrine makes lending discs very easy. Buy the disc, lend the disc.

OTOH to allow a customer to stream something requires you to negotiate with the copyright owner for a license. Some copyright owners are reluctant to grant licenses for some content, sometimes for strategic reasons and sometimes because they figure the market is too small to bother.

So some of the more obscure content is easier to find on disk, and I'd expect this to continue. If Netflix wants out of the disc business there's still public libraries and film clubs and passing old discs around like samizdat.

If your interested in things that are out of the main stream I'd keep a functioning DVD available.
miles monroe
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by miles monroe »

LuigiLikesPizza wrote: As I understand it, Amazon does not play this game - everything is available for streaming? it's just a matter of price per viewing?
i don't think i'd characterize it as a "game" since that sounds like a money grab, but not every dvd amazon sells is available for streaming; either free via prime or for a fee for non-prime titles. some titles you have to purchase or go without.
mhalley
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by mhalley »

One thing to consider is that the upcoming technologies (4K, HDR, etc) are most likely going to take up huge bandwidth, so people that want to watch content with that amazing quality may need physical media. Plus, right now there is still much more content available on DVDs. Plus, since many DVD players now come with Netflix, you can get one of those instead of a streaming box. On top of all that, DVD players are pretty cheap.
Otoh, you could get an Xbox, PlayStation or wii, which will give another use for the included DVD player.
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Kenkat
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by Kenkat »

cheese_breath wrote:
kenschmidt wrote:You can buy a decent Blue-Ray / DVD player for $60-80. I have a Sony and it even has Smart TV capability if your TV doesn't so you could watch DVD's or Blue Rays from the library or Redbox as well as stream from Amazon or Netflix. Streaming individual movies from Amazon or Apple seems to be more expensive ($3-5 is my experience) vs. Redbox at $1.25-$2.00 or library (free). I do have a Netflix subscription as well, although their movie selection is limited.
Dumb me. :oops: I forgot to suggest this. I have a LG blu-ray with the same features. In addition to blu-rays it also plays the older DVDs. I assume the Sony does too(?). The only hitch is you need a HDTV to hook it to. It doesn't attach to an analog TV.
Yes, my Sony also plays regular DVD's and upscales them such that I am hard pressed to tell a difference between the two unless it is a movie with a lot of visual content. So, for example, Trainwreck is fine in regular DVD but I would spring for the Blue Ray for a Hunger Games type movie.
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telemark
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Re: Streaming vs. DVD vs. Netflix vs. Amazon

Post by telemark »

It depends on the movie. Some are not available for streaming anywhere, for example http://www.amazon.com/The-Tango-Lesson- ... B005KR6NS6. Some are available for streaming, but you have to hunt around on Vudu, Amazon, or YouTube to find them.

Netflix is more like an all-you-can-eat buffet. You pay a fixed price and can consume as much as you like of whatever is available at the moment. From time to time they take away old choices and bring out new ones.
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