A question about watching movies on your computer from Netflix

[Winston3]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 1:03pm

My family was thinking about getting Netflix. We are happy with the feature that we can watch a movie from our computers. Now, if we do get it how does it work? Do we just sign into our account and watch the movie we want regardless of which computer we are on? Or is there a limit of how many computers you can use etc?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 3:40pm

When I had netflix I used to give my friends my account name and password to watch movies, so I don't think there is a limit on the computers you can watch from. The feature is okay, but there aren't very many great movies on the "watch it now" list. I watched some Law & Order, comedy shows and documentaries that way. I stopped Netflix earlier this year. Now with RedBox you can get at least one free rental a week per credit card that you have. Most everything else is available on the different streaming sites.

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 4:02pm

The streaming feature has a bug that makes it unusable on many systems running on Windows Vista.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 4:08pm

I've never had a problem watching Netflix on our PC, and it runs on Vista. As for their selection, it pales in comparison to DVDs, but it is their long-term plan, so I'd expect it to grow.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 4:33pm

I can run it on Vista as well. They doubled their selection recently by getting a contract with Starz. Now everything you can see on Starz is also on the "Watch it Now" list.

[LaurenB]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 4:38pm

I was watching a bunch of stuff online, and then I got a letter from my internet provider saying that I was using too much bandwidth, and now they are monitoring the account and if I continue to use the bandwidth, I have to change from a residential to a business plan. Not happy.

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 5:39pm

The Vista/Netflix problem isn't on all computers. But tons of people are having problems with it. They don't have a fix yet, but theories are that it has to do with the combination of Vista with many popular video cards and monitors. It only seems to happen after you've downloaded Service Pack 1 for Vista.

Here's a link to a google search of "Netflix Vista SP1" that you can look at before you decide to order.

http://www.google.com/search?q=vista+netflix+sp1&ie=UTF-8

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 5:43pm

Recently, I tried to watch a movie and was getting no picture. They upgraded their system so if you have a problem, call them. They guided me through upgrading and now it works. With the watch now feature, you can also get a box that connects to your television and you can watch the movies on your tv. The box is expensive though. I hear so many problems with Vista. A friend of mine who is a tech person said that for the most part, people who buy their computers with vista already installed seem to have no problems. People who install it on their computers seem to be having the problems. I don't have it so I don't know.

[Winston3]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 9:36pm

I wouldn't have windows. I am on a mac. So the basic verdict is is that their selection is no where near as large for streaming movies as it is for their DVDs. and, that it isn't worth using on Vista because of the potential problems.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 3:19pm

I have about 250 movies in my queue and about 30 are instant view (Maybe more). You should be able to go to their site and click on the "watch instantly" tab. You can see what movies they offer to watch instantly. I think they may rotate them. There was one I was going to watch and waited about a month to watch it. When I went to watch it, the watch instantly tag on it was gone.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 6:20pm

>>"A question about watching movies on your computer from Netflix"<<

Since when can you purchase a computer from Netflix? I purchased my computer from Dell and I have no problems with it.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 6:49pm

I love the Watch Instantly feature! I've hooked up my laptop to our big TV in the living room since being home a few times, and the picture is great.

The selection isn't amazing at the moment, but they're constantly adding movies and TV shows. The recent deal with Starz has been great.

I think they just started allowing Macs to stream movies, so I haven't heard too much about it though.