Are on-demand TV services worth the money?

I refuse to use services like that when they advertise and use the word unlimited, as they try to imply its an unlimited number of films, when its actually a very limited number of films you can watch an unlimited number of times. Hugely misleading.

e,g,Netflix: “Unlimited Films & TV episodes, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited films & TV episodes streamed to their TVs and computers. Taken from their website.”

For a start there’s only ever a finite number of films and TV episodes in existence at any one time so the use of the word unlimited is completely invalid, especially as they’re trying to make out that

Netflix means there is always something to watch even if it is old!

Above all…..

It gets me away from SKY!!!!!!

As a Netflix subscriber and Breaking Bad addict, I personally think the subscription cost is incredibly low. I very rarely watch TV ‘live’, and instead rely on Netflix and services like iPlayer to keep me entertained when it’s raining outside.

However, I’m a big fan of box sets and US drama series, as well as old British comedy like Red Dwarf. I can get plenty of this on Netflix that I don’t think I’ll run out any time soon. As Mrs H highlights, if there are only a few films and programmes that take your fancy, then a subscription’s not worth the money. My Mum was deciding whether to take out a sub to a film club, and in deciding whether it was worth it she got a long list together of recommendations of films she should watch from friends and family, added a few of her old favourites, and used that list to judge whether she’d get her money’s worth. In the end she decided against it, as only a few of the films on her list were available.

We use Netflix, Youtube, DVD/Bluray and Free on-demand services for all our TV needs.
It’s so freeing being able to just go that looks interesting, PLAY, or that’s on YYY this week, I’ll just watch it now.
And lets not start on adverts, it’s been 6 months since we had an advert interrupt what we were watching.

I have two children aged 9 and 3 and I was worried that they might not like going streaming only (no live TV). I was wrong, they love being able to watch a show they want, when they want.

I have recently subscribed to Netflix and so far fairly impressed. I agree the film choice could be better but hey, use a VPN and access Netflix USA or wherever. The TV is very good, I have already watched all 65 episodes of Breaking Bad, Google charge £1.89 an episode. For the cost of a couple of DVD rentals it is very good value.

One thing I’ve not read about either in Which? or elsewhere is the technical quality of the films from the likes of Netflix and Lovefilm. I love my HD tv with surround sound home theatre system but my experience of video on demand is that the picture quality is poor compared to a blu ray version of a film. I’m probably in the minority but high picture quality is a must for me.

These services are great for us as a family. As there are different ages and intrests everyone can watch what they want but they can also be used as a film night where we all sit down together to watch a film. It works out cheeper than renting a film. It is all depending on the internet service though that is why I had to get an unlimited internet service.