Streaming movies on your TV

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:58am

I recently purchased an HD flat screen smart TV and want to start streaming movies over my wireless internet network. Can someone recommend a service that is a good value and offers the best selection of movies? Also, is it best to get a service that is a flat rate monthly fee or pay per movie as you rent them?

I'm not only looking for the recently released blockbuster movies that just came out on dvd but would also like a variety of independent movies and documentaries. Here is a list of services that are readily accessible on my TV.

Netflix
Amazon Instant Video
Vudu
Hulu Plus
Hulu HD Movies
M Go

All opinions and recommendations are welcomed and greatly appreciated!

[dave1606]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:32am

I've been a subscriber to Netflix since they only had DVDs and while people complain about the streaming selection, they have improved a great deal over the years. They have always been great for indie films and documentaries.

Good way to supplement Netflix is to have Amazon instant. Even if you don't have prime (which selection while growing isn't great in terms of what you can stream for free) you can rent on instant video usually pretty cheaply. So nice to have to splurge for a rental regardless. I use both of them pretty frequently.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:38am

Good luck with wireless streaming of feature films. Glitches abound.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 12:09pm

I use Netflix and rarely have issues.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 12:43pm

I stream Hulu, Amazon and Netlifx wirelessly and I never have any problems with any of them.

[javero]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 1:56am

I've got a network at home made up of several wired and wireless devices so I usually run a HDMI cable from one of the desktop pc's to the tv set. However, I'm seriously thinking of buying a Google Chromecast dongle to eliminate having to run that cable between endpoints. See the link for details. I'm a Netflix subscriber. Hope this helps.


Chromecast

Updated On: 10/24/13 at 01:56 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 11:34am

I stream movies from Netflix a good deal, and rarely have any significant issues. There's the very occasional softening of the image, it'll go all blurry for no apparent reason, but it doesn't last long.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 11:36am

Streaming feature films is how I watch most films these days. I rarely ever have any problems either.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 12:20pm

I've had limited experience with WiFi streaming, but it was bad, so I haven't subscribed to Hulu or Netflix, etc. And the picture quality was awful. Pixelation everywhere, muted colors. Like a low-rez jpeg. I did watch Netflix at a friend's house on his HDTV. It was glitchy with the same picture quality.

I'm glad to hear others are having better experiences with WiFi. By the way, I've heard good things about Google Fiber, and anybody I know who does Ethernet streaming hasn't had the glitch issues. Still not the best picture quality, but if that doesn't bother you, then you're fine.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 12:50pm

Those are all issues with a slow internet connection rather than anything to do with the quality of the streaming service. You'd see the same problems if you were hooked in with a physical cable and tried to stream with that ISP.

Another person here who has never had problems streaming with wifi. I double up with Netflix and Hulu. Netflix has a wider variety, but Hulu has the Criterion Collection.

The downside to Hulu is that much of its foreign language content outside of the Criterion Collection and anime offers no translation or subtitles. Netflix offers subtitles of varying quality on everything. They did a system-wide experiment a few weeks ago where they scrolled the subtitles onscreen rather than putting up a block of text at a time and it gave me motion sickness. Thank goodness that's gone.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 1:12pm

The picture quality on my streaming has been splendid, beyond the occasional glitches. I was really surprised at how good it was. No pixelation, sharp image, bright vibrant colors -- THE SEARCHERS via Netflix streaming looked great.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 1:19pm

Do you think it's as good as Blu-ray now?

(that's the goal in the near future)

Updated On: 10/24/13 at 01:19 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 1:28pm

I'd say that at its best, it looks about midway between regular DVD and Blu-Ray. I've streamed the BBC SHERLOCK series and it looks ideal.

I have also noticed some issues with really fast action scenes, there can be pixilation and visual noise.

I wouldn't want to depend solely on streaming for my home-video, by any means. When I really want to watch something for the real visual experience, I'll still go for DVD/Blu-Ray. But the streaming is a pretty good way to go.

Updated On: 10/24/13 at 01:28 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 1:33pm

It sounds like streaming has definitely caught up to cable broadcast, at least.

Horizontal pans are still an issue there, as well. Also strobes (or big explosions) can create pixelation. If it's a calmer movie or a drama, you may not notice any issues. Action adventure or sci-fi, probably yes.

As bandwidth and speed increases, and as new compressions are invented that allow for a higher-quality picture to be displayed, the gap between streaming and Blu-ray will shrink.

Then it will come down to a storage issue and an ownership issue. As a collector, I like hard copies. I don't want to store my movies on someone else's servers and pay them for the privilege to watch my stuff.

But for people who don't collect, never wanted to, and like renting whatever they watch without quality concerns, this is the way to go.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 9:37pm

Thanks so much for all your responses. Even though I am currently using wifi to connect, I could hook up an ethernet cable since my tv is close to my router. That could make streaming a movie a bit faster. Is it possible to stream a rented movie from iTunes on my tv or do I need to have Apple tv?

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 9:54pm

You wouldn't be streaming the movie onto the tv. You'd just be using the tv as an external monitor for watching your itunes movie/purchase. Only way you can "stream" your iTunes rental is via Apple TV (perhaps DAME knows more).

Unless you have a terrible WiFi set-up, there is really no need to do a hard wired connection. Wireless is easy. Wireless is fun. Wireless for everyone!

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:10pm

I use Netflix most every day and my only complaint is that they seem to lose the streaming rights to good things. I've been really enjoying "Bomb Girls" lately.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:34pm

pushdabutton, it depends on the capabilities of your TV. If it has the Apple symbol or a reference to iTunes on it, you should be able to stream Apple rentals on it.

I had a wonderful Blu-ray player that was optimized for streaming from four services; these did not include Hulu. There was no way to stream Hulu through the Blu-ray player itself because it wasn't programmed into the hardware and no updates were designed to include it.

best12bars, Netflix is getting closer to Blu-ray quality with streaming. If your connection is fast enough, select titles have something called Super HD. I remember seeing it pop up for Antiviral and was very impressed with the quality. Then I checked it on something else (Young Adult? Something I already had on Blu-ray) followed by the Blu-ray and it was pretty close. Not perfect yet, but close. It's a lot of data to throw down at once with the amount of users on Netflix and it's probably not cost efficient yet. I've had the Super HD option pop up on one viewing then not appear on later viewings of the same film. It's definitely a beta feature at this point.

[javero]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:42pm

Let me clarify that I do frequently stream Netflix content with no problems whatsoever despite having only 1.5 Mbps adsl broadband at home. But, I'm also constantly reconfiguring the network due to work-related stuff so sometimes is easiest for me to simply run a cable from one of the laptops to the hdtv set using it as a large monitor as Liza's Headband suggested. I have a requirement to remotely control the tv from multiple computers which is probably tmi.

[latitudex1]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 12:33am

This hasn't been mentioned yet, so I'll add that Vudu offers the highest, closest to Bluray, quality video at the moment. The sound doesn't compare, but you won't be able to tell anybody's difference if you're listening through the TV's speakers.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 6:02pm

My wireless router is old and slow, so if I try to stream to my Sony blu-ray in the bedroom, it gets hung up constantly. In the living room, my PS3 is wired via ethernet and I have no issues there. Netflix has a pretty vast collection, though the quality truly depends on the source of the video. I recently streamed Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and the source video was a terrible transfer. It was extremely dark and grainy. Most new releases look great, however. I mostly use Netflix to watch BBC costume drama movies/miniseries. I'm addicted to them.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 8:28pm

I'm thinking of going with Netflix or Amazon Prime. They both are reasonably priced. Does anyone have any thoughts on Amazon Prime?

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:27am

I'm a huge Netflix fan. Though my only quibble is that they offer no A-Z listing of all film selections. Unless someone with more knowledge of Netflix can direct me to it? If it exists?