Borough Market

Netflix Replacement: The Hunt Is On

Why Netflix?  Life was so easy and you had to make it so complicated.  And expensive.  At first you hike the rates, now we have Qwikster? It’s so convoluted now.  Is this a play by Netflix to convince the media conglomerates to move on from physical media?  Because with a name like Qwikster, I think it’s doomed to fail.  Not mention all the crap Netflix has pulled lately, alienating its entire customer base.  Now, I’m sorry to say, the search is on in our household for a better service.  Well, it seems like Netflix is trying to shift everyone to the streaming service ultimately and abandon the disc model.  Which is not that bad of an idea.  How many times have we gotten a blu-ray and it didn’t work? At least 60% of the time we get blu-rays, which is why I tend to stick to dvds.  How many times have I been unable to stream a Netflix video?  Twice.  Buffalo ’66 and The Secret of the Grain (La graine et le mulet).  So a much higher success rate.  I would love to only stream, I think we all would, but we all know that isn’t feasible, because their library just isn’t there yet.  If every movie on my DVD queue were available on instant, I would not longer be searching.  I’d cancel the dvd subscription and stream to my heart’s content.  Unfortunately, the Netflix dvd only collection is for the most part made up of recent releases, extremely popular titles, and some obscure classic films that somehow they didn’t get streaming rights to.  So here are some options for on demand streaming of those recent releases that Netflix can’t seem to offer instantly. (For the obscure films, coverage is pretty spotty at all these other sources.)

Amazon Instant Video and Amazon Prime
Subscription Fee: $80/yr for Amazon Prime (comes with other perks too).  Allows unlimited streaming of many TV shows and some films.
Cost of Recent Release Bridesmaids: $3.99 for a 48 hour pass (unclear whether it was more if you rent it in HD on your TV)
Highest Video Quality: 1080i for TiVo, 720p for everything else
Selection: The best after Netflix. Also offers season passes to current TV shows.
Delivery to TV: Cumbersome/Limited- Certain Smart TVs, connect computer to TV, Roku Player, TiVo
Streaming or Download: Both (Computer download only available with PCs)
Overall Rating: 6.5
PC Mag Review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387719,00.asp

YouTube Movies
Subscription Fee: N/A
Cost of Recent Release Bridesmaids: $3.99 for a 24 hour pass
Highest Video Quality: 480p (DVD quality, not HD)
Selection: Extensive, but not as good as Amazon or Netflix.  They do have a number of films that are free, but apart from a few old classics, most of them are free for a reason.
Delivery to TV: Cumbersome/Limited- Connect computer to TV, Motorola Xoom Tablet, or Android Device
Streaming or Download: Streaming
Overall Rating: 5.5

Hulu+
Subscription Fee: $7.99/mo
Cost of Recent Release Bridesmaids: N/A
Highest Video Quality: 720p
Selection: Pretty much just TV, does not solve the movie access problem which mainly concerns me.
Delivery to TV: Easy/Ubiquitous- Smart TV/Blu-ray player
Streaming or Download: Streaming
Overall Rating: 3
PC Mag Review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366593,00.asp#fbid=aOiJtr94HcJ

Vudu
Subscription Fee: N/A
Cost of Recent Release Bridesmaids: $4.99 for 720p, $5.99 for 1080p
Highest Video Quality: 1080p
Selection: Surprisingly decent.  It seems focused on recent popular films and its foreign film selection doesn’t seem very good.  The classic film coverage is spotty, but it did surprise me with a few films that Netflix doesn’t have at all.
Delivery to TV: Easy/Ubiquitous- Smart TV/Blu-ray player
Streaming or Download: Both
Overall Rating: 5.5
Vudu Set top PC Mag Review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2270955,00.asp#fbid=aOiJtr94HcJ

iTunes and Apple TV
Subscription Fee: N/A
Cost of Recent Release Bridesmaids: $4.99, available for 30 days with 24 hours to watch once you begin
Highest Video Quality: 720p
Selection: Not as good as Amazon for the films.  Probably on the same level as Vudu, but it also boasts a large television selection.
Delivery to TV: Cumbersome/Limited- Apple TV or connect computer, must have iTunes
Streaming or Download: Download
Overall Rating: 6
Apple TV PC Mag Review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387719,00.asp#fbid=aOiJtr94HcJ

Conclusion:  Okay so the going rate for a recent release HD movie rental is $4.99.  $3.99 for SD.  Other films can be had for $0.99 to $2.99.  This is probably a more economical option than the 1-at-a-time Netflix dvd/blu-ray option at $9.99/mo, especially if you are really busy and don’t want to have to cycle the discs fast enough as often happen at our house.  It also gives more flexibility and freedom.  The problem remains, the access to that Netflix dvd library is not to be had anywhere but your local independent video rental store.  We happen to have a good one fairly close by, but unless it was in walking distance, which it isn’t,  I just don't see it replacing me putting a movie in the queue and forgetting about it until it shows up in the mailbox.  Unfortunately, I think the search is just going to continue.  I didn’t find any good replacements yet and I want to see what happens with Netflix and Qwikster split.  I heard about some other options and will be looking into those next.  To be continued...

East London

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: The List Continues

NOPE TAKE IT ALL BACK. TITLES COME, TITLES GO.  I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY MAKE THEIR DEALS, BUT THEY NEED TO FIGURE IT OUT.


Okay so I'm updating my lists because with the price hike it looks like they've at least expanded the library a little bit.

Movies you might have missed, mostly released in the last several years:
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Kick Ass
Man on Wire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON INSTANT
The Fall  
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON INSTANT
The Killing
The Secret in their Eyes (El Secreto de sus ojos)  NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON INSTANT
Precious

Here's a quick list of great films you've probably seen (and if you haven't you should), but might want to watch again on instant:
Being John Malkovich 
Big
Bladerunner
Bonnie and Clyde
Double Indemnity
Gangs of New York
Memento
My Cousin Vinny
Raging Bull
Ronin
Sling Blade
The Big Lebowski
The Graduate
This is Spinal Tap
The Kid Stays in the Picture
The Usual Suspects

Also, seasons 1-3 of Breaking Bad and 1-4 of Mad Men are available on instant now!

Kiln House and Stables

Scotland

Behind on Posting

Yes. I'm really behind. Look for more photos from my summer travels soon.  Coming up: Scotland, London, English Countryside, the Sierras...

Summer Sailing

Retouching Eyes

Okay, so I am going to take some portraits soon, so I'm practicing my Photoshop enhancing.  I used this really good eye retouching tutorial: Eye Retouching Tutorial and just pumped up the contrast and whites and blacks a little bit.

P.S.  The image came from this blog: souvenirs.  It's kind of cool.  Much prefer this stylized beauty to the nearly pornographic stuff passing as visually intriguing on fffound.com these days.

Home

Yesterday, I was filming a triathlon held on a military base to raise money for the families of service members killed or wounded in action.  It was an important day, the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  It got me thinking about what home is about. 

Home is the place you love, the place you hate.  The place you seek to find, and the place you try to escape.  The boring, prosaic, mundane, insipid place you long for after a long journey in another land.  The place you sometimes want to claim with pride, and the place that can make you feel deeply ashamed. 

Dorothy’s Kansas, Ray’s Georgia.  Perhaps it’s some clannish instinct to feel an emotional connection to a geographic community rather than a group of people that share common interests, which the Internet Age is supposedly bringing together, but I think that it encourages us to recognize, that because we live next door to one another, we naturally share interests: the well-being of ourselves and those around us. 

It is our responsibility to maintain it.  It is for us to keep the hearth fires burning and winter at bay.

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: WTF Netflix

Okay, I know this is kind of late to be complaining about this because we heard about Netflix changing their prices a couple of months ago, but WTF!!  I went from thinking this was a great deal and a great company with good customer service, to wondering whether I should cancel all or part of my subscription.  When it cost around $11 or $12 for one-at-a-time blu-rays or dvds AND streaming, I was happy to subscribe to both.  I used the streaming to explore different films and make my list of cool stuff you might have missed because it was foreign, or indie, or just not marketed well.  Now it's just ridiculous.  The same services costs $18 and I'm sitting here trying to figure out if I should cancel the streaming or the dvd/blu-ray service and I can't decide.  If I cancel dvd/blu-ray, I can't watch most of the movies I actually WANT to watch.  If I cancel the streaming, I won't "waste" dvds on movies that might not be good, thus limiting my exploring and taking chances on indie flicks.  Basically, it really sucks for those indie filmmakers that depended on this tacked-on streaming service to get people to watch their stuff.  I can see people cancelling the streaming service now, simply because most people are convinced the selection was not very good.  I guess they weren't making money, but I'm looking for other options now.  Maybe Amazon or maybe some other purely on-demand service.  It will be more expensive per viewing, but it might be worth it.  I doubt I'm getting my money's worth from Netflix now.