Your preferred online Movie streaming rental service? [Archive]

lovinglinux

May 17th, 2011, 03:44 PM

I live in Brazil, so I don't have many options. I am subscribing to NetMovies (http://www.netmovies.com.br) for 3 months. So far, I think is an excellent service.

Movie delivery is on schedule, except for one day after a big Holiday. Whenever I new title that is on my wish list arrives, I request the deliver for the next day and I always get them. This is something would never happen if I went to a physical store.

The streaming service is good. Although it uses flash, which freezes on a low-end notebook, at least it is fully compatible with Linux. However, title availability online is really poor. The store has 23.000 DVD titles, but only 3.500 online, most of which are low-budget productions, very old movies and very old TV series. However, I have actually watched a couple of very good movies online.

As far as I know, the only alternative available in my country is Blockbuster (http://www.blockbusteronline.com.br). It seems it has a similar catalog, although I have read that is really hard to get new titles from them, because of waiting list.

RiceMonster

May 17th, 2011, 03:50 PM

Since Canadian ISPs are notorious for enforcing bandwidth caps, and netflicks isn't all the great in Canada yet, I still go to the store and rent a disk.

HappinessNow

May 17th, 2011, 03:54 PM

Since Canadian ISPs are notorious for enforcing bandwidth caps, and netflicks isn't all the great in Canada yet, I still go to the store and rent a disk.

is Zediva available in Canada?

RiceMonster

May 17th, 2011, 03:55 PM

is Zediva available in Canada?

Not sure. I've never heard of it before.

dwhite

May 17th, 2011, 03:58 PM

HULU works well for me

PS through Wii

Antarctica32

May 17th, 2011, 03:58 PM

lovinglinux

May 17th, 2011, 04:03 PM

is Zediva available in Canada?

Zediva is being sued by the movie studios because of the way they bypass online streaming restrictions, by plugin DVD players to the web. Additionally, it is not accepting new registrations due to server capacity. However, it seems they are still accepting single title and 10 pack rentals.

heartbeatz

May 17th, 2011, 04:03 PM

itunes

sydbat

May 17th, 2011, 04:42 PM

Since Canadian ISPs are notorious for enforcing bandwidth caps, and netflicks isn't all the great in Canada yet, I still go to the store and rent a disk.This.

aysiu

May 17th, 2011, 04:58 PM

I'm going to have to go with Amazon Prime. It's relatively cheap per year, and it's available for Linux and Android (just uses Adobe Flash plugin).

HappinessNow

May 18th, 2011, 08:52 AM

Zediva is being sued by the movie studios because of the way they bypass online streaming restrictions, by plugin DVD players to the web. Additionally, it is not accepting new registrations due to server capacity. However, it seems they are still accepting single title and 10 pack rentals.

That is outdated news:

Well I thought with almost every major movie studio suing Zediva back in April that they would simple be shut down but it appears that Zediva carries on through a copyright Loophole (http://goo.gl/vIr01)

"Zediva’s offering is quite simple: new release movies that you can’t get on Amazon, Netflix or iTunes that cost $2 for a digital rental that lasts for two full weeks.... And the company says it’s perfectly legal for you to stream The Social Network or 127 Hours right now and are exiting their beta-test phase Wednesday morning....So how do they get away with it?
Quite simply — the company literally rents you a DVD and a DVD player, with your computer, tablet or Google TV as the remote control. Unlike the other streaming movie services, Zediva doesn’t turn a movie into a file on its servers that it can serve to as many users as care to see it at once.

Instead, Zediva’s servers have DVD drives and actual DVDs. So when you rent a movie, that disc goes out of circulation until you release it back to the company, just like in one of those increasingly rare real-world video stores.

And like those video stores, Zediva doesn’t need to get permission from the studios to rent out discs, since once they buy the DVD they are free to rent it out or re-sell it, thanks to the first-sale doctrine in U.S. copyright law."
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/zediva/ (http://goo.gl/s2EU2)

oh and btw I just received a Zediva invite yesterday and it is much better then Netflix

HappinessNow

May 18th, 2011, 08:53 AM

I'm going to have to go with Amazon Prime. It's relatively cheap per year, and it's available for Linux and Android (just uses Adobe Flash plugin).Zediva is way cheaper then Amazon Prime and available on Linux and Android as well

lovinglinux

May 18th, 2011, 09:09 AM

That is outdated news:

Well I thought with almost every major movie studio suing Zediva back in April that they would simple be shut down but it appears that Zediva carries on through a copyright Loophole (http://goo.gl/vIr01)

"Zediva’s offering is quite simple: new release movies that you can’t get on Amazon, Netflix or iTunes that cost $2 for a digital rental that lasts for two full weeks.... And the company says it’s perfectly legal for you to stream The Social Network or 127 Hours right now and are exiting their beta-test phase Wednesday morning....So how do they get away with it?
Quite simply — the company literally rents you a DVD and a DVD player, with your computer, tablet or Google TV as the remote control. Unlike the other streaming movie services, Zediva doesn’t turn a movie into a file on its servers that it can serve to as many users as care to see it at once.

Instead, Zediva’s servers have DVD drives and actual DVDs. So when you rent a movie, that disc goes out of circulation until you release it back to the company, just like in one of those increasingly rare real-world video stores.

And like those video stores, Zediva doesn’t need to get permission from the studios to rent out discs, since once they buy the DVD they are free to rent it out or re-sell it, thanks to the first-sale doctrine in U.S. copyright law."
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/zediva/ (http://goo.gl/s2EU2)

oh and btw I just received a Zediva invite yesterday and it is much better then Netflix

Thanks for the update. I knew about the loophole and the method they are using, but didn't know they won the legal battle. The studios must be going crazy. Good for them. Maybe they will learn the lesson. Let's hope the lobbyists don't buy a new law to stop their service. :lol:

BTW, does it work well?

lovinglinux

May 18th, 2011, 09:12 AM

Zediva is way cheaper then Amazon Prime and available on Linux and Android as well

Does it work outside US?

Onoku

May 18th, 2011, 09:19 AM

I like (and use) netflix- only problem is it refuses to work with any kind of linux. Which isn't that big of a problem cuz i just stream it to my 60 inch TV which is so much better than my 20 in. computer screen

This will no longer be an issue (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1754594) once it is released in HTML5 for chromium.

Antarctica32

May 18th, 2011, 05:53 PM

This will no longer be an issue (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1754594) once it is released in HTML5 for chromium.

I know, but as of right now it is somewhat of an issue. I actualy prefer watching on my TV, cuz its bigger. But sometimes i don't feel like moving and i wish i could. Can't wait until HTML5!!!! its gonna be sweet!!!!

HappinessNow

May 19th, 2011, 10:34 AM

Thanks for the update. I knew about the loophole and the method they are using, but didn't know they won the legal battle. The studios must be going crazy. Good for them. Maybe they will learn the lesson. Let's hope the lobbyists don't buy a new law to stop their service. :lol:

BTW, does it work well?Works great, not sure if it works outside the US or not?

lovinglinux

May 19th, 2011, 10:51 AM

Works great, not sure if it works outside the US or not?

I wonder if they have a physical player for each user. As they explained in the article, when you select a movie the DVD media becomes unavailable to other users. But do you have to wait for DVD player spot too?

HappinessNow

May 19th, 2011, 12:48 PM

I wonder if they have a physical player for each user. As they explained in the article, when you select a movie the DVD media becomes unavailable to other users. But do you have to wait for DVD player spot too?
I have never had to wait for a DVD player...I think they limit enrollment depending on how many players they have?

I had to wait two months for an invite.

Rasa1111

May 19th, 2011, 12:59 PM

I don't pay money to watch things that are freely available.
So 6. Other commercial free service .
and I can find and watch just about anything that my friends who use netflix can. One day I'm sure it won't be soo easy... but while it is, I'm going to take full advantage of it.

Please , save your "I am holier than though because I pay to watch stuff" lines for someone else.
Save your energy for where it will be useful. . lol
:P

HappinessNow

May 19th, 2011, 02:14 PM

I don't pay money to watch things that are freely available.

so if they are not freely available do you just not watch things?

In other words do you limit to what you watch to only things you can find 'freely available' as you say?

lovinglinux

May 19th, 2011, 05:13 PM

I have never had to wait for a DVD player...I think they limit enrollment depending on how many players they have?

I had to wait two months for an invite.

Perhaps they have a DVD player for each media. I suppose it would be cheaper to buy a player for each DVD than implementing the automated infrastructure to put the DVDs on the players on demand.

HappinessNow

May 20th, 2011, 06:30 AM

Perhaps they have a DVD player for each media. I suppose it would be cheaper to buy a player for each DVD than implementing the automated infrastructure to put the DVDs on the players on demand.
This could be right since DVD players are so inexpensive now

Bandit

May 20th, 2011, 06:54 AM

Netflix and Hulu for me.
I only pay for the Netflix one tho.

Rasa1111

May 20th, 2011, 06:56 AM

so if they are not freely available do you just not watch things?

In other words do you limit to what you watch to only things you can find 'freely available' as you say?

Yes pretty much. (though not soo limited)

Unless it is something I really want to see (or have/keep),
then I will buy it.
Things like Northern Exposure on DVD (even though it's all online for free)
or "What The Bleep Do we know, special edition" , special things like that.

But generally, everything I find myself "wanting to see" I can find pretty easily for free. (most things that come out in theatres these days are not in my "want to see' list), lol,
So I don't really find it too 'limiting'. :)

Once in a great while something will come to the theatre that I want to see, and Ill go pay to see that..
but this is pretty rare. lol

lovinglinux

June 17th, 2011, 06:31 PM

I have never had to wait for a DVD player...I think they limit enrollment depending on how many players they have?

I had to wait two months for an invite.

I've got my invite yesterday. I have already watched a movie that I was waiting for a while, to be available in my primary rental service.

It works great. Unlike other services, it seems there is no geolocation limitation. The only issue is that subtitles are not available in all languages. For me is not a problem, I actually prefer without them, but that is a no-go for a lot of friends and family members.

The price is very cheap compared to local rental services with similar titles availability.

I don't think they have enough titles to supply my demand, but I will continue to use it for renting movies I can't wait to rent on DVD.

HappinessNow

June 22nd, 2011, 09:02 AM

I've got my invite yesterday. I have already watched a movie that I was waiting for a while, to be available in my primary rental service.

It works great. Unlike other services, it seems there is no geolocation limitation. The only issue is that subtitles are not available in all languages. For me is not a problem, I actually prefer without them, but that is a no-go for a lot of friends and family members.

The price is very cheap compared to local rental services with similar titles availability.

I don't think they have enough titles to supply my demand, but I will continue to use it for renting movies I can't wait to rent on DVD.

Glad to hear you got your invite and are enjoying Zediva.

lovinglinux

August 7th, 2011, 10:56 PM

Zediva users, burn your credits as soon as possible:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/02/idUS317363613120110802

mamamia88

August 8th, 2011, 02:18 AM

The only streaming service i use is netflix. streams on all my devices and remembers where i left off. signed up the other day because i was bored and man it has improved so much since i tried it last

lovinglinux

August 11th, 2011, 09:25 AM

Zediva users, burn your credits as soon as possible:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/02/idUS317363613120110802

Zediva is now closed until further notice:

You may have heard by now that we're having to lay off our DVD-changing monkeys... :-)

A couple of years ago we came up with an idea for the next generation of DVD rentals. It seemed to us logical and evolutionary that if a customer was able to rent and play a DVD in his home, there should be no reason why he or she could not do that from the Internet cloud. After all, you can do that with a DVR, so why not with a DVD player?

Well, it turns out to have been a little more complicated than that ...

We are suspending Zediva's operations to comply with an order by the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

While we hope to be back online soon, we don't know when (or whether) that will happen. We are disappointed by this turn of events, and that we are not permitted to serve you.

We are quite aware that some of you have unused credits with us and appreciate your patience as we figure out our next steps. Stay tuned for more information via email.

Thank you again for your great support. It has been a blast serving you.

HappinessNow

September 19th, 2011, 07:27 PM

Zediva is now closed until further notice:

Unfortunately, and now with the announcement of Netflix splitting into two companies (one streaming only, one DVD delivery only) it seems like a mere posturing for an inevitable buyout. Also Netflix is losing a sizable percentage of their streaming service come Q1 2012.

The real question becomes is who will end up buying Netflix? probably who ever loses out on Hulu bids.

HappinessNow

September 30th, 2011, 05:55 AM

Canceled my Netflix account, and No I do not use Qwikster,...only using Amazon Prime now, better quality streaming then Netflix and at a lower price.

lovinglinux

September 30th, 2011, 03:22 PM

Netflix started their service in Brazil last week. Unfortunately, the title availability is really poor. They are not entering the DVD delivery market here.

SeijiSensei

September 30th, 2011, 03:47 PM

Zediva is now closed until further notice:

I'm a bit surprised that the precedent from the Cablevision suit over remote DVRs (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/cablevision-remote-dvr-stays-legal-supremes-wont-hear-case.ars) didn't apply here. Reading the text of the Zediva injunction brings up this footnote:

Defendants argument that their performances are not “to the public” in light of The Cartoon Network LP, LLLP v. CSC Holdings, Inc., 536 F.3d 121 (2d Cir. 2008 ) (“Cablevision”) is not persuasive. Under the facts of that case, the Second Circuit found that the transmissions were not “to the public” because “each RS-DVR playback transmission is made to a single subscriber using a single unique copy produced by that subscriber.” Id. at 138. (“Given that each RS-DVR transmission is made to a given subscriber using a copy made by that subscriber, we conclude that such a transmission is not ‘to the public.’”). In this case, unlike Cablevision, Defendants’ customers do not produce their own unique copy of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works. Instead, like On Command and Red Horne, the same DVD is used over and over again to transmit performances of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works.

I'll be curious to see how this plays out on appeal (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/zediva-appeal-hollywood-injunction-ninth-230749).

I rarely stream movies over the Internet. When I do I use Amazon Prime because I was already paying the $79 annual fee for free two-day shipping. Having access to movies is frosting.

(Sometimes it sounds like these new services are named by picking letters at random. What the hell is a "Zediva?" Sounds like a narcissistic zebra.)

khelben1979

October 1st, 2011, 07:14 PM

YouTube is currently the only service I'm using for movie streaming online from the suggested list. Works OK.

billWalker

October 4th, 2011, 04:09 PM

Canceled my Netflix account, and No I do not use Qwikster,...only using Amazon Prime now, better quality streaming then Netflix and at a lower price.

Funny, I got the free trial of Amazon Prime, with a view to cancelling Netflix, and I found the quality basically unwatchable going fullscreen through Chrome on a 40" screen. Netflix via Xbox 360 on the same screen looks great.

What was your setup for Amazon Prime?

Roasted

October 14th, 2011, 05:25 AM

Due to the low amount of TV we watch (and the pending build of a HTPC) I've considered on just getting some sort of streaming service to fill in the gap if we would nuke cable.

I'm a little curious about something though. I just started an Amazon free month trial, however it seems about 3/4 of what I click on costs 2-3 bucks to watch.

I hope this is because I'm on a trial... I thought it was 79 bucks a year for unlimited everything through Amazon??

That said, Netflix is definitely out. Besides Amazon, what else is out there that's worth looking into?

crdlb

October 14th, 2011, 06:40 AM

Amazon's VOD service is mostly PPV. They only recently launched Amazon Prime Instant Video as a direct competitor to Netflix streaming. That is what is included in Amazon Prime. Personally, I use Netflix via a Roku box.

ki4jgt

October 14th, 2011, 07:33 AM

http://www.seeon.tv

They have a few of the major channels you'll find on cable. Most of the channels are picked up in Florida (for some reason, probably a law that gives them the right to rebroadcast as long as they don't alter the feed) Anyway, they also have several channels dedicated to shows and such. Other than that, you can try Hulu.com. They have a desktop app. I can't really think of any more right now (That arent' illegal in one place or another)

Retlol

October 14th, 2011, 12:24 PM

HappinessNow

October 15th, 2011, 08:43 AM

My digital tv provider offers me a few hundred free movies on demand, that if more than fine. Mostly recent movies, but there's some good classics as well.

I certainly will not pay for random services with a very small catalog and drm when just about all movies ever made are 5 seconds away for free to watch.

I haven't owned a TV in 15 years.

Funny, I got the free trial of Amazon Prime, with a view to cancelling Netflix, and I found the quality basically unwatchable going fullscreen through Chrome on a 40" screen. Netflix via Xbox 360 on the same screen looks great.

What was your setup for Amazon Prime?

I use Amazon Prime for streaming shows on my Samsung Series 5 Chromebook (Stable Channel) and CR48 (Dev. Channel).

Gs Dewd

October 17th, 2011, 01:16 AM

I voted Netflix

Roasted

October 25th, 2011, 04:39 AM

How exactly does Amazon work? I'm looking into it and set up a free 1 month trial, but it seems the vast majority of their library costs money per episode (1.99).

Is this to say I would pay 79 a year for the mail-in rental service as well as the ability to stream on a pay-per-view basis?

I thought Amazon had an option where I pay 1 flat rate per month and I get unlimited streaming without additional costs on the library services they offer?

Roasted

October 26th, 2011, 05:17 PM

LowSky

October 27th, 2011, 01:01 AM

Bumping this up to see what people think of Hulu. Based on what I read in regard to streaming, Hulu seems to be the one company that rivals Netflix the most. Amazon seemed attractive until I realized their deal was mostly for mail-in rentals and 2 dollar/episode streaming. Lame.

So I'm checking out Hulu now to see what's up. Recent news suggests the company is doing so good they pulled the sale and are going to continue onward on their "unique" business and expand accordingly. Good news for a potential customer like myself.

That said, I'm trying to navigate around Hulu and see what kind of tiles they have. I see The Big Bang Theory, South Park, etc... but I'm trying to find a few others such as Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy. For example, Sons of Anarchy seems to return a bunch of "behind the scenes" clips ranging from 1-3 minutes long. What about the actual episodes?

I guess I'm after a running list of EXACTLY what Hulu has in their library and what is accessible to a Hulu Plus customer. Any insight?

I find hulu to work great in linux using their hulu desktop application. I don't have a plus account anymore, didn't see the point of paying them for tv shows I could record, also they still have commercials.

How exactly does Amazon work? I'm looking into it and set up a free 1 month trial, but it seems the vast majority of their library costs money per episode (1.99).

Is this to say I would pay 79 a year for the mail-in rental service as well as the ability to stream on a pay-per-view basis?

I thought Amazon had an option where I pay 1 flat rate per month and I get unlimited streaming without additional costs on the library services they offer?

Its $79 for a prime account. No 1 month flat rate. Prime gives you free 2 day shipping on all amazon (no secondary sellers) items and the ability to watch many movies and shows as part of the deal. No mail in rentals at all, and new stuff will cost ya $3.99ish, a decent option if you want a new movie. Netflix doesn't have this option so you potentially can watch it a month before them on DVD.