Am thinking of getting Netflix? Should I buy a streaming player or a new BD player?

By DaDude
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DaDude

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I'm thinking of subscribing to Netflix because I recently moved to a place of my own and can't afford Cable or buy a ton of BD titles anymore. I'm living on a tighter budget than I used to, but since Netflix is only $8 a month, I'm strongly considering it since for only $8, I will get my entertainment fix and won't break the bank doing so.

Anyways, I have two options... buy a streaming player or buy a new Blu-ray player with Netflix capability. The reason I am considering a new Blu-ray player is because I currently own a Sony BDP-S360, which I bought five years ago, has no streaming capability whatsoever, and is starting to experience audio dropouts on my receiver once in a blue moon. The drop-outs are definitely caused by some problem with the HDMI port on the player because I kept swapping cables and ports on ALL my devices that are hooked to my receiver and the Blu-ray player is the only device that is dropping out no matter what port or cable I used with it. All other devices never dropped out. So, the blu-ray player is obviously starting to fail, but at a very slow rate since this problem started last year and doesn't seem to be getting any worse. It's just a quick dropout of the audio that happens maybe only once every few months. So, since it's not a major issue, I was willing to wait until the blu-ray player completely fails before replacing it. However, since I'm now looking into buying Netflix, I'm wondering if this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone... i.e. buy a new blu-ray player with Netflix capability. That way, I can replace my blu-ray player now and at the same time, get the Netflix streaming that I wanted to get. But I'm also wondering if it's more practical to just buy the streaming device instead and just worry about the blu-ray player when it completely dies, if it ever does.

What do you guys think? Buy the standalone streaming player? Or buy a new Blu-ray player that streams Netflix?

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farmeunit

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Koki is more for local media that you own, although they do have a Netflix addon.

I would get a new BD player if you have a lot of discs already.  If you don't have that many, you could rip them and play with Kodi and the addon.

You'll get better performance and more "channels" from something like a Roku.  Even the Roku sticks are OK.  I have Roku 3 and love it, but I do have a lot of local media, so I have an HTPC that I run Kodi, Plex, Subsonic, and a few other servers on.  Then I just watch Netflix and Hulu through a browser on that machine.

If you have an extra computer sitting around and it has HDMI, you could just use it.

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The Evil Overlord

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Any set top box of a reputable brand will be good,
But if you want blu ray, I'm not as sure, mine can stream Netflix, but I've found it does suffer a little picture loss from time to time, so I stream from my console, so as a backup option, may I suggest a used xbox360?

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philcruicks

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If your current blu-ray player is failing get a new blu-ray player would be my advice.

LG and Samsung offer a lot of apps as on their players Netflix, well as YouTube, BBC iPlayer and things if your in the UK etc...

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tsupersonic

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Don't depend on a Blu-Ray player to get the latest updates for Netflix or other apps. If Netflix decides to change some API's and your Blu-Ray player doesn't get updates, you are absolutely screwed. I'd much rather have something that is flexible and robust, like a set top box (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon FireTV) or a console like Xbox One.

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+BudMan MVC

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you want a cheap way, just get a chromecast..  This is how I watch netflix, they even have the $15 ethernet interface for it now so you don't even have to have good wifi..

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DaDude

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Ok, never mind guys. I'm not going with Netflix after all. After I looked at their website, it's actually $8 for SD streaming. If you want HD, you need to pay an extra $2 a month (i.e. $10 total per month). That puts a whole new light on things. I probably will not consider it now because that increases my annual cost from $96 to $120. Big difference there.

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philcruicks

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Ok, never mind guys. I'm not going with Netflix after all. After I looked at their website, it's actually $8 for SD streaming. If you want HD, you need to pay an extra $2 a month (i.e. $10 total per month). That puts a whole new light on things. I probably will not consider it now because that increases my annual cost from $96 to $120. Big difference there.

That's pretty cheap considering the benefit of HD...

And if you can't afford cable what else you going to do...from what I know, Free to view OTA in the US is pretty crap, unlike the UK where we can get a decent amount of quality and mainstream TV or at least enough to keep us entertained on FreeView.

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DaDude

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Ok, fine. Maybe I can give it a try. I really had my heart set on going wired since it's more reliable but it's just so much cheaper getting those streaming sticks, which only use Wi-Fi. I get 50 mbps when wired, but drop down to 25 mbps when wireless. Will 25 mbps be sufficient to stream HD video, especially Netflix?

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dead.cell

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Quick question: what kind of phone do you have?  I ask because it might be best to get a player that would offer multiple advantages, versus just streaming only versus streaming + bluray. Have you considered this as well?

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TAZMINATOR

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Any set top box of a reputable brand will be good,
But if you want blu ray, I'm not as sure, mine can stream Netflix, but I've found it does suffer a little picture loss from time to time, so I stream from my console, so as a backup option, may I suggest a used xbox360?

Xbox 360 has no blu-ray player... Xbox One has blu-ray....

X360 has more media apps than Xbox One... but in a few months, Apps will be released to Xbox One about the same time as W10 public launch or later...

Also Xbox One has TV input for cable, dish, broadcast...  you can change channel from your phone or tablet..  Get Xbox app or smartglass on your phone, pc, or tablet...

Alternative option is that you can get Mac Mini  or small PC box and mounted behind TV which you can do all things you normally do on PC, such as Netflix, Web,, etc.  I use this option and Xbox One option.

 

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+JHBrown Subscriber¹

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No cable, I would pick up the Mohu Leah antenna. You can pick up all your local major networks in HD for free. Check out Antenna Web to see how close you are to signal towers: AntennaWeb

Then head over to Amazon or Best Buy and pick up the Mohu Leaf: Mohu Leaf

Netflix, Mohu Leaf, and your favorite Bittorrent client, you'll forget about cable tv. If you need sports, there are other options as well without paying the ludicrous prices.

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Ben Gordon

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Ok, never mind guys. I'm not going with Netflix after all. After I looked at their website, it's actually $8 for SD streaming. If you want HD, you need to pay an extra $2 a month (i.e. $10 total per month). That puts a whole new light on things. I probably will not consider it now because that increases my annual cost from $96 to $120. Big difference there.

Crikey. Things must be tight for an extra $24 a year.

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Seahorsepip Veteran

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I got netflix for $10 a month, it's for 4 devices so it can be split with 4 people which means it's just $2,50. Though I'm still looking for peopel to split the bill with.

And I'm using https://tvunblock.com/ to get rid of any regional restrictions with netflix, spotify and crunchyroll :D

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Seahorsepip Veteran

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Ok, fine. Maybe I can give it a try. I really had my heart set on going wired since it's more reliable but it's just so much cheaper getting those streaming sticks, which only use Wi-Fi. I get 50 mbps when wired, but drop down to 25 mbps when wireless. Will 25 mbps be sufficient to stream HD video, especially Netflix?

I noticed stuttering on netflix when my wireless speed dropped below 30mbps.

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wakjak

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Kodi is way better than Netflix, and it's free.

Run it from PC, phone/tablet, pretty much any streaming device that hooks up to a TV.

You mean the same thing I can do with Netflix, but for $7.99 a month? Kodi's free sure, but you get quality with Netflix, unlike the crappy apps you can get for Kodi which allow for "free" movies and TV. 

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TAZMINATOR

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No cable, I would pick up the Mohu Leah antenna. You can pick up all your local major networks in HD for free. Check out Antenna Web to see how close you are to signal towers: AntennaWeb

Then head over to Amazon or Best Buy and pick up the Mohu Leaf: Mohu Leaf

Netflix, Mohu Leaf, and your favorite Bittorrent client, you'll forget about cable tv. If you need sports, there are other options as well without paying the ludicrous prices.

Mohu Leaf is not bad.

I would use this instead: http://news.xbox.com/2015/05/xbox-one-tv-tuner-general-availability

That means you have everything in Xbox One.      Netflix, Hulu, TV, etc.

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Seahorsepip Veteran

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You mean the same thing I can do with Netflix, but for $7.99 a month? Kodi's free sure, but you get quality with Netflix, unlike the crappy apps you can get for Kodi which allow for "free" movies and TV. 

I'm used to pirating movies myself too but I just became tired of the bad quality and long wait before a new episode was available. I had already a crunchyroll account because I became tired of waiting and now I've got a netflix account too recently because of that.

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+JHBrown Subscriber¹

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Mohu Leaf is not bad.

I would use this instead: http://news.xbox.com/2015/05/xbox-one-tv-tuner-general-availability

That means you have everything in Xbox One.      Netflix, Hulu, TV, etc.

Don't you still need an antenna to screw into the coaxial end? Great idea though if the Xbox is the central hub.

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TAZMINATOR

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Yes... Antenna comes with TV card...  if not, you can use Leaf like you mentioned.

My antenna is very tiny and can't see behind the TV where it is mounted at..  :)

You can use antenna or cable hooked it up to the card and setup on Xbox and start watching.

FYI, you can watch Antenna TV on smartglass enabled tablet anywhere in the house.as long as it's available in your region or country.

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sc302 Veteran

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Streaming player. I might be getting the new roku4 if it is as fast as the roku3.  Issue with the smart bluray is that it is so damn slow (I have one and just about refuse to use it. ..5 min to connect to Netflix is a bit ridiculous,  when it connects. ..it is hard wired)

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philcruicks

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Ok, fine. Maybe I can give it a try. I really had my heart set on going wired since it's more reliable but it's just so much cheaper getting those streaming sticks, which only use Wi-Fi. I get 50 mbps when wired, but drop down to 25 mbps when wireless. Will 25 mbps be sufficient to stream HD video, especially Netflix?

Beauty of Netflix is you can cancel anytime if you don't want it anymore. And 25Mbps should be fine for HD streams, Netflix says you only need 5Mbps for HD https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

As for device choice, chromecast is cheapest but you need an Android or iOS phone to make it work, and is maybe a little more limited on apps at the moment, but has everything you'd need and it is expanding the apps choice, plus you can get an ethernet adapter: https://store.google.com/product/_ethernet_adapter_for_chromecast

If you get a Roku, you might as well avoid the streaming stick (no ethernet built in or adapter) and get the Roku 2, a bit pricier, but comes with ethernet as standard.

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+Thayios Subscriber²

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I stopped using Netflix on BDP after getting audio drop out on my Samsung player (top of the line) - if I went back to Stereo it was fine but in 5.1 - nope, no workey!

I've been using a Roku 3 and Roku Streaming Stick for a while, no complaints from me (the Roku stick can be a little sluggish every once in a while but still a huge improvement over my BDP that I had)

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