How does Netflix and Hulu work?

jessica490 · December 2013

I didn't want to hijack the other thread someone started about this topic, but can someone please explain to me like I am 5 yrs old, how this whole thing works? Do you just need internet service? Do you watch TV shows on the computer or a TV screen? If I wanted to watch a new epsiode of let's say NCIS that is on tonight, can I watch it live?

Comast sucks for $185/month (phone, cable, and internet- HCOL if it matters)

hoffse · December 2013

Hulu & Netflix are great! They work like this:

-You subscribe to both (you can get limited access to hulu for free, but the subscription is better). They each cost $7.99/month. You can enroll in autopay for both.

-All you need is internet

-You can then watch TV shows and movies on your computer or your TV, if you have an internet connection to your TV. There are several ways of doing this - I think some blue ray players have internet connections (maybe?), I think most gaming systems let you connect your TV to the internet as well. H and I are pretty low-tech and decided to buy a roku for both televisions. This is the one we have:

http://www.amazon.com/Roku-3-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00BGGDVOO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1388170563&sr=8-4&keywords=roku

Cheaper than gaming systems, and we have no need for a blu ray player. We just bought cheap-o DVD players for both TVs as well, though with netflix we hardly ever use them.

And yeah, that's basically it. You log in to your hulu and netflix accounts with your internet device on your TV, and then you can stream your shows and movies through the TV. My favorite part is that ads take less than 2 minutes. Like, always. Whenever I watch cable I now get seriously irritated with the ads.

You can't watch things live - but most TV shows are loaded onto hulu plus the next day with limited ads. Netflix has a wide variety of movies and some complete seasons of TV shows. Sometimes the selection is sort of limited, but they are always loading new movies on it so you never know what you will get.

If you have an amazon prime account you can stream movies and shows through them as well. There's some overlap with netflix and hulu plus, but not entirely. For instance, Season 3 of Downton Abbey is on amazon but not the other two (last I checked). You can also buy movies on Amazon and they will stay loaded on your account for you to watch whenever, which eliminates the need for a DVD player.

My other favorite device is this thing:

http://www.amazon.com/Ooma-Telo-Free-Phone-Service/dp/B002O3W4LE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388170939&sr=8-2&keywords=ooma

This uses internet to give you a landline phone connection. You just pay the taxes, which in my area are between $3-$4/month. Free long distance calling too. All the devices will pay for themselves in just a few months if you are able to switch to internet only.

And FYI - when I switched to internet only, I had different "levels" of internet speed to choose from. The AT&T people told me I needed about 3 levels higher than I actually needed to successfully stream movies. They just flat out lied about it to try to upsell me. I would do some googling before you pick your internet speed. It saved me about $40/month.

hoffse · December 2013

One other point - the two obvious things that Hulu and Netflix don't carry are Disney and ESPN. That said, Roku just announced a deal that will let you subscribe to each individually so that you can still watch Disney or ESPN through your device. I imagine the other devices will have similar capabilities soon as well. H and I had talked about getting cable once he graduates and is working (he's in law school in another city, and I don't watch sports), but with this deal I think we're going to be done with cable forever. We'll just subscribe to ESPN he graduates, which ought to be cheaper than cable. Not sure what the prices are, but the entire point is to put cable companies out of business.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5096228/roku-adding-live-streaming-apps-for-watchespn-and-disney-channels

hoffse · December 2013

And the more I'm looking at it, the more I'm not sure how the ESPN thing will work - it may be that you will have to continue having a minimal cable subscription to watch it. H doesn't graduate for a few more months, so I haven't researched it in great detail. Anyway, point is, those are the two big things missing from Netflix and Hulu. If you can live without them, you don't need cable. If you can't live without them, then I would do some googling and find the cheapest way to get them. It surely can be found for less than $185/month.

jessica490 · December 2013

So we wouldn't be able to watch news, weather etc.....?

brij2006 · December 2013

You should could get a digital converter box to be able to watch the local channels that have the news on it.

hoffse · December 2013

Brij is right. Sorry, forgot to mention those. The other thing we have is this:

http://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Leaf-Paper-Thin-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B004QK7HI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388172971&sr=8-1&keywords=leaf

That gives us free local channels.

jessica490 · December 2013

Omg, so can one of you guys come to my house to set up all this? LOL, I wouldn't even know where to begin! Although, I do have a family friend who I saw has the Roku thing, so he can probably help! It just sounds so confusing. I'm not great with the set-up of all these technology things....

brij2006 · December 2013

@hoffse Do you hook that antenna up to your converter box, or do you only need this antenna in order to get the local channels?

hoffse · December 2013

I have a TV that's already has HD capabilities - so I just need the antenna. It works pretty well. We get about 10 channels with it.

@Jessica, I know it sounds confusing but it's really not that bad. H and I went with the roku because it's basically idiot-proof, and it walks you through the set-up once you plug it in and hook it up to the TV. Once it's set up it is sooooo easy to use. It remembers your log-in info so we rarely have to re-log-in to our netflix and hulu accounts on it. We just have a roku, that antenna, and a cheap DVD player for each of our TVs, and that's plenty for us.

jessica490 · December 2013

Ok, sounds good. thanks guys!

bparkhur · December 2013

I'm so excited about the ESPN app...I've been waiting for this for so long! Hopefully we will be able to subscribe to it without cable!

Ducktale · December 2013

@hoffse can you explain that ooma thing further? I've never heard of it, but I might start working from home later this year, and it would involve lots of conference calls. I've never had a landline and dont particularly want to bother with that if possible. Does each device come with a phone number? Does it work very clearly?

hoffse · December 2013

@Ducktale - I love my ooma.

I have no idea if it will do conference calls, but it might - I'm sure you could dial into a conference, but I'm not sure if you could host a conference with it. Possibly (probably?). You do get your own number, and it acts as a regular landline and does a great job. I've never had a call dropped or had a call sound bad. Any high-speed internet connection that will let you stream movies is plenty of power to run the ooma smoothly. It also lets you take your phone number from place to place if you ever move, since the number is associated with your device rather than your location. The only difference between it and a regular landline is that when the power goes out you lose it since it runs on internet. But with cell phones as a back up, it's really NBD. Regular landlines are stupid expensive compared to the ooma, and since I'm going to buy internet anyway, I don't see the point in paying for a landline too.

I've actually switched my cell phone to a minutes plan instead of unlimited talk/text. It saves money. I use the ooma for phone calls when I'm home just on our regular cordless system, and I use my office phone for work. It's helped me cut back on cell phone usage. I'm convinced cell phones will give us all brain cancer someday from the radiation, so from my perspective there are other perks to the ooma besides $$.

hoffse · December 2013

@Ducktale - one other thing... I've had my ooma for about 2 years now. I live in a MCOL area but have never paid over $4/month for my phone. You literally just pay for the taxes (which do vary, but will still save you money over a regular landline). My bill for December was $3.72.

Ducktale · December 2013

hoffse said:

@Ducktale - I love my ooma.

I have no idea if it will do conference calls, but it might - I'm sure you could dial into a conference, but I'm not sure if you could host a conference with it. Possibly (probably?). You do get your own number, and it acts as a regular landline and does a great job. I've never had a call dropped or had a call sound bad. Any high-speed internet connection that will let you stream movies is plenty of power to run the ooma smoothly. It also lets you take your phone number from place to place if you ever move, since the number is associated with your device rather than your location. The only difference between it and a regular landline is that when the power goes out you lose it since it runs on internet. But with cell phones as a back up, it's really NBD. Regular landlines are stupid expensive compared to the ooma, and since I'm going to buy internet anyway, I don't see the point in paying for a landline too.

I've actually switched my cell phone to a minutes plan instead of unlimited talk/text. It saves money. I use the ooma for phone calls when I'm home just on our regular cordless system, and I use my office phone for work. It's helped me cut back on cell phone usage. I'm convinced cell phones will give us all brain cancer someday from the radiation, so from my perspective there are other perks to the ooma besides $$.

Thanks! If I end up working from home I'm seriously going to consider this! Sounds perfect.

How does Netflix and Hulu work?

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