# Netflix vs. Amazon Prime



## docmama28 (Mar 6, 2010)

My son just informed me that Netflix's contract with several movie studios will be expiring on January 1st.  He and I had recently been comparing the offerings at both sites, and found them to be quite similar, so I was already trying to decide which one to keep.  Now that this has come up with Netflix, I'm considering just cancelling it altogether.  My only concern is the possibility of a limit to the amount of devices that I can link to my Amazon Prime account for streaming.  Any thoughts?


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## mkelley (Dec 24, 2011)

If you're not missing anything from Netflix, go ahead and cancel.  It's harmless -- you can easily turn it back on again without penalty (it's not like canceling a cable contract or some such).  I've gone back and forth with Netflix and Blockbuster in exactly this manner (I often cancel NF during the summer when I'm too busy to watch stuff, and then just restart it again -- they even keep my queue).

But I wouldn't put too much stock in the rumors about contracts expiring, etc.  This happens to all the services, all the time.  NF lost Sony in July, then resigned them back up in October (and got even more movies, besides -- I love the James Bond movies in HD).  NF also has some pretty terrific programming of their own they are planning and/or doing -- the Arrested Development deal is just the tip of the iceberg.  Prime doesn't appear to be interested in this arena (although I suspect that eventually ALL such services will have to go into the content producing business themselves, even including Apple).

It's wonderful to have choices (I'll always keep Prime just because of the shipping -- it's what I got it for in the first place and the other added stuff is just icing on top).


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Prime has all of Arrested Development. I watched the first 3 shows to try to get into it, and it's just not my cuppa tea.


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## mkelley (Dec 24, 2011)

No, you missed the news -- Netflix is making NEW episodes of AD.  Unprecedented, really, but I do think more and more streaming services will go into the content production business (gives them exclusive control over potentially high class productions).

I think HBO could go into the streaming business and kill a lot of these services (but they would make their cable owner customers mad :>).


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

HBO has its own streaming for its programs and movies, called HBO GO (same with Cinemax, with MAX GO).  It has some limitations, though.  I can't use HBO GO with Roku with DirecTV, but I can use it on my Blackberry Playbook tablet, for instance.  DirecTV hasn't blocked that.  I haven't looked for it with the Fire yet.

You do have to be an HBO subscriber with a cable or dish provider, though.


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## geko29 (Dec 23, 2008)

Also note that you can SUSPEND your Netflix account, rather than cancelling it.  That way, if you do decide to go back, you retain your preferences, recommendations, and instant/disc queues.


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## mkelley (Dec 24, 2011)

Yeah, I meant suspend (sorry).

I know HBO allows streaming for existing customers -- I meant a service similar to NF or Prime, one in which you didn't have to be a cable customer.  They could make a big dent in those services if they provided something like that, but they are unlikely to make the cable providers mad.


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## coffeetx (Feb 12, 2011)

For me personally there is still no comparison b/t Amazon unlimited prime videos and Netflix.  No matter what netflix does to me I can't let it go b/c no one can really compete with them just yet.  Of course, it probably depends on what you're trying to watch.  We basically are willing to watch just about anything lol.  I don't care if it's old.  I watch a ton of tv shows that I never watched when they were on . For example, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate.  To me, they're new.  I also have found that they generally do have everything you're looking for either instantly or on DVD.  90% of what I want to watch on Amazon prime free is never available except to rent.  So I use the amazon prime as a back up now for what I can't find on netflix.  I still think it's awesome by the way but to me netflix is still primarily what I use.

Admittedly we did cancel cable so without netflix we'd be up the creek. Good luck!


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

We cancelled our Netflix account several months ago when they jacked up our plan from $10 to $16. Sayonara and good riddance.

We love our Amazon Prime streaming through our Roku to the HDTV. It rocks!


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

We cancelled Netflix because we were not watching it very often but we don't watch Prime very often either.  We figured why pay for both?  We mainly have Prime for the shipping features.  We did like the queue feature on Netflix which I don't know if there is on Prime.  We probably rent a lot more movies than we watch for free though.  We lose patience trying to search through all of the Prime movies to find 1 to watch.  Seems like there are lots of duplicates.  Still, we would rather rent than buy since we rarely go back and watch the same movie again.

Stan


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

coffeetx said:


> For me personally there is still no comparison b/t Amazon unlimited prime videos and Netflix. No matter what netflix does to me I can't let it go b/c no one can really compete with them just yet. Of course, it probably depends on what you're trying to watch. We basically are willing to watch just about anything lol. I don't care if it's old. I watch a ton of tv shows that I never watched when they were on . For example, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate. To me, they're new. I also have found that they generally do have everything you're looking for either instantly or on DVD. 90% of what I want to watch on Amazon prime free is never available except to rent. So I use the amazon prime as a back up now for what I can't find on netflix. I still think it's awesome by the way but to me netflix is still primarily what I use.
> 
> Admittedly we did cancel cable so without netflix we'd be up the creek. Good luck!


We loved stargate so much that we bought the DVDs each year as they became available. Matter of fact we watched the original movie, and the first 3 episodes yesterday.


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## Ryan Patrick (Sep 24, 2011)

I don't think I could ever stop using Netflix or switch to something else. I love the selection of streamable content and I really don't mind waiting two days to get a dvd.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Shastastan said:


> We cancelled Netflix because we were not watching it very often but we don't watch Prime very often either. We figured why pay for both? We mainly have Prime for the shipping features. We did like the queue feature on Netflix which I don't know if there is on Prime. We probably rent a lot more movies than we watch for free though. We lose patience trying to search through all of the Prime movies to find 1 to watch. Seems like there are lots of duplicates. Still, we would rather rent than buy since we rarely go back and watch the same movie again.
> 
> Stan


Amazon doesn't have a queue but they do have wish lists. I set up a wish list for Prime Videos I want to watch and add those to the Wish List. Then I can browse the wish list and pick something out.

Betsy


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

I could switch to Amazon from Netflix and save money since I already have Prime, but I almost always watch Netflix on my Ipad in bed after my wife falls asleep. That's not an option with Prime


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> I could switch to Amazon from Netflix and save money since I already have Prime, but I almost always watch Netflix on my Ipad in bed after my wife falls asleep. That's not an option with Prime


But you could watch Prime on your Fire in bed after your wife falls asleep. If you have a Fire. 

Betsy


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## trastan (Nov 14, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Amazon doesn't have a queue but they do have wish lists. I set up a wish list for Prime Videos I want to watch and add those to the Wish List. Then I can browse the wish list and pick something out.
> 
> Betsy


Wow, that never occurred to me. I've often wanted multiple instant watch queues in Netflix, and it looks like I can have it with Prime. Now if Amazon can start to catch up in content, I'll just switch over.


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

I've started a prime movie wishlist.  That was a good idea.  Although I don't see how you can select from the list, using Roku, at least it will save looking through the selections every time.  Another good thing it did for me was to remind me that I could watch a lot of old tv series episodes that I had completely forgotten about.  Thanks!!


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## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

I see the two as Bering best for different types of people. Do you like to download movies, take prime (you need big hard drives if you do) otherwise netflix.



docmama28 said:


> My son just informed me that Netflix's contract with several movie studios will be expiring on January 1st. He and I had recently been comparing the offerings at both sites, and found them to be quite similar, so I was already trying to decide which one to keep. Now that this has come up with Netflix, I'm considering just cancelling it altogether. My only concern is the possibility of a limit to the amount of devices that I can link to my Amazon Prime account for streaming. Any thoughts?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

jbcohen said:


> I see the two as Bering best for different types of people. Do you like to download movies, take prime (you need big hard drives if you do) otherwise netflix.




I believe that, in general, the Prime system is designed for streaming. . . .you can download content but mostly the idea is to store it in the cloud and just stream it when you want to watch. One of the rationales for having limited storage on the Fire, for instance, is that the expectation is that your content will be available in the cloud and does not have to be stored on the device. And for the things that are free through Prime, you absolutely have to stream.

Don't know about Netflix as I've never used it.


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## TessM (Oct 18, 2011)

My husband and I just an Internet enabled tv for Christmas and signed up for the free Netflix. We are a extremely disappointed in the selection for streaming. Most of the movies we want to see aren't available for streaming, so we'd still have to rent them. I think when my amazon mom prime runs out we're gonna sign up for th paid prime service. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## docmama28 (Mar 6, 2010)

Thanks for all the input.  For now I think we'll keep both because my son likes the selection at Netflix better and uses that in his dorm.  My ultimate objective would be to eliminate cable completely but I can't do that either because my husband can't live without the NFL network (he works very hard and loves to watch Sportscenter as he drifts off to sleep while I read on my kindle of course!).  Hopefully 2012 will bring some sort of sports streaming option.  Happy New Year to all on Kindleboards!!


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## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

Have you ever looked into getting his sports center reports from the internet?  I have a pal who has cut his cable subscription and has signed up for a fiber optic internet from verizon and now gets all of his TV from the internet, he is an avid football fan and has to get his NFL from somewhere so he has signed up for his NFL fix via the internet - its called GameRewind at gamerewind.nfl.com and it costs something like $35 a season.  My pal has bought a big screen TV with a computer monitor jack in the back, he tells me that 99% of all TVs sold these days have them so he connects the TV to the video port on his laptop, which feeds the video to the TV which shows the games in big screen HD.  He needs the laptop in the middle becuase the laptop needs to recieve the wireless signals and send the feed over the video port, the TV can't do the wireless signals directly, not yet at leaset.  He is very very pleased with the technology that he has put together to get the job done.  Its something for you to think about and for the price I think its a great idea.


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

@jbcohen

Yep,that setup works great.  They do have tvs now that have wifi built in.  I discovvered our monitor cable port on our Tv while trying to figure out how I could show vacation pics.  I found. a port on  the. 5 yr old tv that was the same as the laptop, bought a 15 ft. cable at Radio Shack, and it worked.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk


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## Tammie Clarke Gibbs (Dec 30, 2010)

We love our Netflix, but I have been watching and I imagine eventually Amazon's Prime will be more competitive.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

A lot of the movies on Netflix I've been looking at seem to be only available for streaming through 1/1/2012.

Betsy


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> A lot of the movies on Netflix I've been looking at seem to be only available for streaming through 1/1/2012.
> 
> Betsy


I *think* that's because a lot of their movie studio contracts are up for renewal. I'd guess there will only be a small, if any, real interruption. But that's just my guess.


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## StephanieJ (Nov 11, 2010)

I know it's been mentioned here before but http://instantwatcher.com/ can give you an idea of what Netflix has to offer. I agree it is fairly limited but it is well worth the $8 a month to me for the older television shows. It got me hooked on Sons of Anarchy and Six Feet Under!


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## jerseyjezebel (Jul 30, 2009)

Does Amazon Prime have a good assortment of titles with captions or subtitles?  I'm deaf so I need that capability.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

As near as I can tell from looking at their site and elsewhere, there isn't closed captioning on their videos. This would be a good thing to send feedback on to Kindle Customer Support.

If anyone else knows something different...

Betsy


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