I'm one of those who only keep Netflix because family watches it, i only watch one or two movies a month which is a very different from the dvd subscription days, back then it seemed like an endless stream of content that i'd never be able to get through, but the streaming service has never been as good as the dvd, i assume that's due to copyright or drm, something along those lines, but it's just a shame streaming has never matched the quality of the dvd sub.

DaBronx wrote:

Not an issue for me at this time. I have Spectrum internet (Charter) which has no data caps. If they ever do institute a data cap I will have to reconsider but until then it;s stream on, stream on.
--brett

Keep a close eye on your plan. The trades reported when Comcast started testing data cap in a few parts of the country, not here. Then one day I logged into my account to remortgage my house pay my bill and found a new menu choice, "Comcast | My Current Data Usage". No notification. I average 200-300GB a month, highest one month was 400GB. The cap isn't a problem...now, but I'm in the market for a new TV. I'm not sure whether to look at 4K, which is coming down in price or wait for whatever the next generation of sets will be. I'm just not crazy about adding another mortgage $50 a month for unlimited data.

workerdummy wrote:

jeffrok wrote:

In December between my wife and I, we watched no less than 20 episodes of TV on Netflix..

$10 a month, 20 shows.. $.50 a show.
Even when it goes to $13, I'll still be happy with the per episode/movie price.

The biggest problem for me is the $2 here, $5 there, $1 another place, $119 for a new year of Amazon Prime up from $99 last year and $79 the first year, cable channels that had all free Roku channels now wanting $5/7.50/9.95/and more a month to watch everything that used to be free, other new pay streaming services, etc. Cutting the cord is getting pretty expensive, which is why I started cutting the cord in the first place.

Cutting the cord was the wild west 10 years ago - there was stuff out there, but you had to find it all yourself. But both then and now, it never meant "getting everything you got with cable", it meant "getting some entertainment without subscribing".

Since then, it's become mainstream, everyone is offering something, and everything goes up in price over time.  If you want something from all the services, of course it's going to cost you a lot. Add to that the fact that rights owners realized that there was money to be made, and we are where we are now.

ghb51 wrote:

I'm one of those who only keep Netflix because family watches it, i only watch one or two movies a month which is a very different from the dvd subscription days, back then it seemed like an endless stream of content that i'd never be able to get through, but the streaming service has never been as good as the dvd, i assume that's due to copyright or drm, something along those lines, but it's just a shame streaming has never matched the quality of the dvd sub.

I have a family member that still has the DVD plan. He will get a movie in, rip it out (Handbrake maybe?) and put it on a USB drive. His Roku is the Roku 2 (model 4210), which has a USB port. When he's done with the movie, he deletes it.

He has a streaming library of ripped Netflix movies that fluctuates up and down as he rips and watches them. I have made comments about his "pirate stash" but he actually does remove them from the USB drive when he's done. If he likes the move enough, he'll buy it from Amazon, VUDU, Google Play, Fandango Now, or some service that lets him access it, if it is (or when it becomes) available (often on sale). He's even had Netflix send him the same DVD 2 or 3 times in a year for movies he likes. His online library is huge. His ripped-DVD library is much smaller, but had he kept everything he ripped, it would be YUGE!

To your point, while there are some streaming content that's not available via DVD (mostly new stuff or Netflix originals), there is so much more DVD content that's not available via streaming. My family member has made the most of it. More work than most of us would want to do, but hey, whatever works, right?

jeffrok wrote:

In December between my wife and I, we watched no less than 20 episodes of TV on Netflix..

$10 a month, 20 shows.. $.50 a show.
Even when it goes to $13, I'll still be happy with the per episode/movie price.

That surely worths every penny.

workerdummy wrote:

The biggest problem for me is the $2 here, $5 there, $1 another place, $119 for a new year of Amazon Prime up from $99 last year and $79 the first year, cable channels that had all free Roku channels now wanting $5/7.50/9.95/and more a month to watch everything that used to be free, other new pay streaming services, etc. Cutting the cord is getting pretty expensive, which is why I started cutting the cord in the first place.

Exactly. Between Netflix, Prime and my Playstation Vue subs I am paying nearly what I was paying for DirecTV, except now I own my boxes (6 Rokus) and have to replace them myself if something goes wrong with them. The DTV DVR was better, too. Netflix is now largely TV series, only a few of which interest me. Prime is getting to be the same. Paying for content that has commercials in it just seems idiotic to me, especially content that has already run on network TV that I can get for free OTA. If it wasn't for sports I could live on antenna alone (the wife would really, really miss her HGTV and DIY).

mikebdoss wrote:

workerdummy wrote:

jeffrok wrote:

In December between my wife and I, we watched no less than 20 episodes of TV on Netflix..

$10 a month, 20 shows.. $.50 a show.
Even when it goes to $13, I'll still be happy with the per episode/movie price.

The biggest problem for me is the $2 here, $5 there, $1 another place, $119 for a new year of Amazon Prime up from $99 last year and $79 the first year, cable channels that had all free Roku channels now wanting $5/7.50/9.95/and more a month to watch everything that used to be free, other new pay streaming services, etc. Cutting the cord is getting pretty expensive, which is why I started cutting the cord in the first place.

Cutting the cord was the wild west 10 years ago - there was stuff out there, but you had to find it all yourself. But both then and now, it never meant "getting everything you got with cable", it meant "getting some entertainment without subscribing".

Since then, it's become mainstream, everyone is offering something, and everything goes up in price over time.  If you want something from all the services, of course it's going to cost you a lot. Add to that the fact that rights owners realized that there was money to be made, and we are where we are now.

Could not have put it any better.  CORD CUTTING is the MAIN STREAM.  And all of these companies, cable or whomever, are just going to transfer the cost of doing business over to the OTT service.  Cable, as we know it, will be phased out completely within the next 5-10 years.  No doubt.

And instead of paying for BOTH cable, and internet, it will ALL be shifted over to Internet, with Data Caps, and all the other BS people were afraid of.  I have no doubt in that either. Your costs are going to go up, unless you CUT THE CORD completely.  No ISP, or cable.  Just OTA for TV and Radio.  That is really the only true way to save money.  Big money.  And most people, myself included, can NEVER, or will EVER, be able to do that.  

Especially with an ISP.  The Internet is such a part of daily existence, it is incredible.  Just like electricity.  Can't really live without it at this point.

The Wild West days of getting content for free, legally or illegally, is coming to end for OTT.