Netflix Canada

Well, today I signed up for Netflix. I have wanted to subscribe for some time, but of course there is the issue of my ISP and bandwidth caps (how I look to go to a much higher cap so I can stream TV... hopefully one day some of the BBC racing coverage...).

What pushed me over the edge? The cunning marketing campaign that is "Free for a month!" and "$8 a month afterward for unlimited viewing".

Okay, I admit I've been missing something TV like since I've watched through most of the available TV I wanted to see (B5, Blackadder, Crusade, part of Andromeda, SG-1, SG:Atlantis, SG:Universe, bits of Clone Wars, bits of Doctor Who, Ghost In The Shell and GITS:Second Gig, Appleseed, BSG (old), BSG (new)). I admit I do have Space 1999 to see yet, the rest of Andromeda, and possibly Farscape. Maybe Space:Abort and Begone if it gets really, really cheap. But options were getting a bit thin on the ground.

So I've been contemplating TV. Walking Dead has my attention on iTunes. And then there was this Netflix thing. "Free!", it sez. "Free....", I sez. And I can drop it whenever I want? Time to try it out....

First Movie: Kung Fu Hustle. About 100 minutes of surreal Kung Fu madness and about 375 Mb of DLing. At that rate, my bandwidth cap would be good for 240 hours (assuming I did nothing else in the month). Now, that surely is not HD, but I'm not even convinced Roger's cable can stream HD without one hell of a buffer.

So, I've tried it out and there look like a bunch of things I'll enjoy watching. I've got in mind Heroes (Seasons 1 - 4), a few movies (I just saw a new one about the Malmedy Massacre in WWII which was made for about $1 M dollars, for instance), and maybe a documentary or two. Just mostly something to fill an hour or so at night as warm-down, since they tell me playing shooters late at night disrupts your sleep patterns.

For free, I've already had at least $4 worth of entertainment. I feel certain that by the end of a month, I could make that $50 worth without too much bother. That makes the $8 seem pretty good. Now, if Netflix has issues with keeping growing the things I want to see faster or if Rogers' decides to go all throttle-happy, maybe that $8 won't make sense.

But right now, it seems like it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the $70 a month my folks are paying Bell Expressview (given, they do get Nascar and other racing, and I'm jealous of that). But the $8 -> $70 distinction is sizable and Racing and Stargate don't justify that. I can get a season of Stargate for $50... less than a month's TV. And I can always torrent the racing or get Mom to PVR it and I can watch it when I visit.

So: Netflix so far, happy with it. I'd give it an 8/10 so far with room to continue to impress me.