i got my parents a sony BDP-BX58 (same as BDP-S580) bluray player for $70 shipped...it seems to be chock-full of features (including 2 USB ports, 3D, built-in wireless) and, more importantly, comes with a bunch of video services (namely netflix, huluplus, amazon VOD, vudu, cinemanow, crackle, flixster)

they live in podunk where they can't get anything but satellite, but the required 18-month contract where they jack up the $35/month rate to something like $60 after the first 12 months makes it annoying and not something they're going to do...they do, however, have DSL through centurylink and it's good enough that they've been happily using netflix on my wii for the past couple of months

so now they're interested in adding additional services that will allow them to:
- watch the current season of network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) shows (preferably the day after it airs)
- watch some "standard" cable networks like comedy central
- watch newer movies

i CAN google to get a comparison of the many pay-for video on demand services, but some of the comparisons are dated and i know that the various services add and drop channels/studios on a regular basis

so, i was hoping some of you might be able to tell (off the top of your head) which services i should look into first...they'll probably keep netflix unless one of the other services offers all that netflix does in addition to more, and i was thinking huluplus would be worth it for them...what about amazon VOD? vudu does movies on a by-rental basis, yes?

3/3/2012 1:11:21 PM

I use netflix and amazon VOD with my roku boxes. Netflix is great, but I've noticed some content that has disappeared recently, including things in my instant queue. I absolutely love Amazon VOD. Renting new HD movies can be $5 a pop, but I don't mind paying that for the convenience. I also don't pay for cable TV, so I feel it's worth the price. I have Amazon Prime, but the limited selection of free stuff is usually already available to me on Netflix. I used to pay for Hulu Plus, but I realized it's a rip-off considering most of the content that's available for *free* on Hulu's website isn't available on their pay service, and, to top it all off, Hulu Plus still has commercials. Unfortunately, without finding some other service/app that will scrap the network websites for you, Hulu Plus is really the only option for watching current seasons of network shows that I'm aware of.

3/3/2012 1:42:26 PM

thanks for the feedback! couple of questions:

Quote :

"I absolutely love Amazon VOD. Renting new HD movies can be $5 a pop, but I don't mind paying that for the convenience. I also don't pay for cable TV, so I feel it's worth the price. I have Amazon Prime, but the limited selection of free stuff is usually already available to me on Netflix."

i THINK vudu has movies (supposedly the same day they release on BR/DVD) for $2...and there's no subscription fee...i think

this does bring the question...if they were to pay for prime (about $7/month) for the SOLE purpose of the prime content (because they don't buy very much online, so let's assume they don't care about the 2-day service), would it be worth it? what does the prime-only content offer over huluplus and netflix? anything stand out to you that amazon's non-prime VOD service offers over the prime-only?

Quote :

"I used to pay for Hulu Plus, but I realized it's a rip-off considering most of the content that's available for *free* on Hulu's website isn't available on their pay service, and, to top it all off, Hulu Plus still has commercials. Unfortunately, without finding some other service/app that will scrap the network websites for you, Hulu Plus is really the only option for watching current seasons of network shows that I'm aware of."

that's the thing for them, though...since they don't have any way to watch shows that have already aired AND they don't have basic cable, i THOUGHT they might be okay with the commercials and the ability to watch cable channels (they want to be able to watch the daily show and the colbert report and i THINK the new shows are available on huluplus...do you know?)

[Edited on March 3, 2012 at 3:25 PM. Reason : .]

3/3/2012 3:23:34 PM

this is depressing, but one of the reasons i keep hulu plus is because you can tell it to play the next video automatically...since i don't pay for cable anymore, either, i can turn hulu on and let it play for hours on end for background noise

3/3/2012 5:38:43 PM

I beta tested Vudu on the xbox 360 and it was pretty awesome. At $2/rental thats a good deal.

Watching hulu plus commercials isnt bad at all, its 30s/1min versus the 2.5min of commercials on broadcast tv. Plus the commercials are generally better and more interesting.

3/3/2012 6:12:39 PM

what are talking about? it's often the same damn commercials

3/3/2012 6:39:46 PM