Netflix Revisited

Yes, I still stand by my previous assessment that Netflix' Canadian selection has, shall we say, plenty of room for improvement. I recently took a look at my Canflix rental history and did a search on Netflix for all the movies I've watched via Canflix. Only about 10% of the movies I've watched over the past year are currently available for streaming on Netflix. But, when trying to see what Netflix had available, I eventually looked at it from a different angle, that of TV shows, rather than movies. And I actually found that they had several TV shows I was interested in watching, that Canflix didn't have. So I took a little closer look and did some more math to see if it was worth it after all for me to give them a try.

Take, for example, the TV show Monk. It's a perfect example since, a) it's a show I like, b) Netflix carries it, and c) Canflix doesn't (aside from season 1, that is). If I were to buy DVDs, one season goes for around $50. From the iTunes Store, they're $30 each. Since each season is 16 episodes, if I watch two episodes a week I would get done a season in two months. Two months of a Netflix subscription is only $16, about half the cost of buying the season off iTunes. Of course, continuing to borrow the DVDs from my sister would be free, but that's no longer feasible now that she's 1,600km away.

And that's assuming the only thing I'd ever watch is two episodes of Monk each week. That of course wouldn't be the case, as I've found plenty of other good shows to fill out the week. There's a fair amount of British shows that look promising. Plus there's the occasional nature documentary or Discovery Channel show to round things out.

And then there's the anime. I'm a huge fan of anime, and while I think their anime selection could stand to be larger, they still have enough shows I'm interested in watching that it would take me well over a year to get through them all (assuming I watch 2 or 3 episodes a week), and that's not including the ones I've already seen that I'd love to watch again sometime.

So, while I still think it's not feasible for me to consider Netflix to be a Canflix replacement, I think it'll actually do a good job as a supplement, and could reduce the amount of TV shows I buy. I previously determined that with the amount and type of TV watching I do, I'm better off buying a set of TV DVDs every month or two (plus, they're commercial free and I can watch and re-watch whenever I want without needing a PVR) than paying for cable. But if I can spend $8 a month and get access to a decent selection of unlimited TV shows on demand, still supplemented with the occasional DVD set for the shows I do want to own permanently or that they don't carry, that's even better.

The fact that they have a free app for the Wii to watch the videos is a huge plus too (there are similar apps for Playstation 3 and XBox 360, but I don't have a PS3 and the XBox app requires also paying Microsoft for an “XBox Live Gold” subscription). Most people don't want to sit at their computer all the time to watch things, and similarly, while it's great to be able to watch on an iPhone while on the bus, for example, when at home it's far preferable to watch on a TV.

So, last night I started my free one-month trial, and especially after having a chance to browse their catalogue (note to Netflix: I'm sure you'd get many more customers if you'd let people browse your complete catalogue before signing up), I think it's likely that I'll keep the subscription running when the month is up. The first show I watched on Netflix last night? The Mythbusters Pirate Special. What a great way to kick off the weekend.