Netflix.

Id definitely recommend Jessica Jones and orange is the new black as well. They are fantastic.

I started watching Orange is the New Black, not what I was expecting at all. I love it! 

I'm rationing myself to one episode a day!

Have added Jessica Jones to my list.

Anyone have any experience with firestick?

We use a firestick and Apple TV. We have no aerial in our house, so we mostly just use them to watch iplayer (we love the BBC), prime movies, itunes movies, and to stream anything else from our macbooks/ipads.  Amazon is ok with prime movies and on demand movies. I actually don't stream a lot of the amazon TV shows onto my actual TV. I download onto my ipad to watch TV shows when I travel, because my hubby isn't it the stuff I like.  I've been enjoying Wentworth Prison lately, since I'm waiting for Orange is the New Black season 3 to actually come onto amazon. Nothing else on Netflix is enticing me too much to be worth the cost to watch OITNB by itself.   

For what its worth, some of my colleagues told me that we can get the US Netflix with an app that allows you to scramble your location. Even the Brits know that UK Netflix has very limited films, shows etc. They love the US Netflix.

For what its worth, some of my colleagues told me that we can get the US Netflix with an app that allows you to scramble your location. Even the Brits know that UK Netflix has very limited films, shows etc. They love the US Netflix.

You can, but apparently Netflix are cracking down on this, trying to prevent people from being able to use internet proxies to access US Netflix from other countries: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35320436

Even the Brits know that UK Netflix has very limited films, shows etc.

Huh? 

...I'm waiting for Orange is the New Black season 3 to actually come onto amazon. Nothing else on Netflix is enticing me too much to be worth the cost to watch OITNB by itself.

You could always just pay for one month and watch it all at once, or use the trial if you've not done that already?

I like that you can turn Netflix off and on, compared to prime where you have to pay for the whole year, although I fully admit, I'd like the mailing part of prime!

You can, but apparently Netflix are cracking down on this, trying to prevent people from being able to use internet proxies to access US Netflix from other countries: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35320436

They really are cracking down. I used Hola for awhile, but it stopped working and my husband didn't care enough to figure out how to make it work again which was a bummer.

Yeah I'm just waiting for ours to stop working as well. Though we use a different method so I'm not sure how long we have.


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We gave up our Sky service last year. We were paying around £35 a month to access the basic HD channels (no sports, no Sky movies). We had Netflix at the time, but now with adding NowTV and Prime (I am a student, so it's super cheap, but even full price it can be a bargain) and using our old Sky box for Freesat from Sky, we are paying less and getting more. There are actually better options for Freesat or Freeview receivers, but since we had the box already, we kept it.

You can pick up prepaid NowTv cards for the Entertainment and Movie services that will make it cheaper. When it comes to content, the Entertainment pass is probably the most used, but it's nice to catch a sort of recently released film on the movie pass.

As for Netflix, the value lies in its original content or things like "Breaking Bad" that they picked up that the UK market dropped or never bothered with. "House of Cards", "Orange is the New Black", "Jessica Jones", "Unbreakable" to name a few. There are also some decent films on there, but you have to look for them, and depending on the format you're watching it on, they can be hard to find. There are a few sites that monitor the coming and going of content on Netflix, so you can see what you need to watch before it goes. As for geolocation workarounds, we did that for a while, but we don't bother any more. There are loads more movies on the American Netflix, but it was too much of a bother.

As for accessing the various apps, we have a NowTV box (I wouldn't recommend the old one although the newer one might not be so underpowered) and a Fire stick. Our game console died, but we used to use that for most of our apps. NowTV and Netflix work on practically everything, but you sort of do have to do some research to make sure, especially if you want to use catchup services like All4 or ITV player. If you only have one HDMI slot and want to switch between different hardware, just be careful swapping them. Both the TV and the extra item can be damaged by hotswapping (unplugging them when they are both on). Most modern tellies have more than one, plus they often have smart features which cut down on the number of apps you need to find from a streamer.

We're really happy with the amount of content we get, but there are drawbacks to going mostly streaming. You need a good, reliable internet connection, and you really need more than one service if you're more than an hour or two a week telly/film watcher.

You know, I don't have a lot of business acumen....why lie?

But it seems to me that a good business model makes it as easy as possible for the consumer to buy the product/service.

But these things....like these mobile phone deals....or even gas suppliers...you have to go to some website to try and sort them out.....

Booking a train....when did that get so complex?

And all these TV choices.....shouldn't there be an easy way to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it? We have the technology.

I think simplicity is what Virgin and Sky offer. Sky has a lot of money to invest in rights, so they get the best movies and some of the best telly from the US (Sky Atlantic). I think when we left Sky, it would have cost an extra £18 for Sky Movies (although our main bill might have been cheaper because we wouldn't have to pay for HD). We had Virgin years ago, but Virgin didn't have Sky Atlantic (and it was more expensive). Now BT has its own premium content channel, and I am not sure how the licencing works with Sky or Virgin or if you need to get it as a BT customer. But basically, most people would be happy with pay telly or even Freesat/Freeview. Licensing has always been a factor, and it's the reason why we used to get movies and television so much later than in the US. Of course illegal downloading forced the hand of big companies, so we get things faster now in order to encourage legitimate streaming.

I probably make it sound more complicated than it is. We don't go out to the pub, and there are times when I am so tired from studying that the only thing I want to do is drool into the sofa cushion and watch OITNB (maybe less so now, but my workload waxes and wanes). Things can be simpler if you have a smart tv or a modern gaming console, but figuring out what kit you would need to cord cut or shave is part of the fun for me. If we had more money, I'd still probably do it, just on better equipment. I think we live in pretty exciting times when it comes to content, and the streaming services are to partially to thank for it.

If you want to go simple: Freeview/Freesat/Old Sky box and a Chromecast, game console, or Roku will let you stream most things. But there are more complicated setups as well. If you're a single or spend a lot of time watching things on a laptop, then it's even simpler. Most things can be accessed through a computer. We do have to pay more than one company, but Amazon Prime membership is annual and NowTV have "passes" that cover 2, 3, and 5 months (but you have to do basic maths to make sure it's a bargain).

EDIT: We're also very lucky in the UK to have such well developed free telly services like Freeview and Freesat. I don't think there is anything close to that in the US, so a lot of content is just there for you if you buy a box and either plug it into an aerial or a sat dish.