Are you a Netflix subscriber? Share your experiences - £250 voucher up for grabs

[KatieBMumsnet]

Netflix would like to know what Mumsnetters think of their entertainment subscription service.

If you currently use or have used Netflix in the past, what do you think? Do you use Netflix on a regular basis? If so, how do you use it - do you mainly watch movies or are you addicted to a particular TV series? When do you watch on your own, with your partner or with your family?

What role does Entertainment play in your familys life and how does Netflix fit in?

What about the dedicated Netflix Kids section - do your DCs use this to watch their favourite shows?

If you have never tried Netflix before, what are your impressions of it? Is it something you'd try? If so, why? If not, why not?

Everyone who adds their thoughts will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher (this prize draw has already taken place).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw,

MNHQ

• NB: vouchers will be sent to the winner by MNHQ

we got it originally to watch 'breaking bad' and are keeping it because there is usually something to watch and the new/original TV series are great, BUT the selection of films isn't marvellous, especially old and/or foreign films, and the search engine watching through the Wii is v clunky; much better on laptop. we watch it variously on TV, laptops and ipad.

If you currently use or have used Netflix in the past, what do you think?

I use Netflix now and I love it. I have had it for a few months now though and think I am coming to the end of my time with it as I've watched most things of interest to me on there now.

Do you use Netflix on a regular basis? If so, how do you use it - do you mainly watch movies or are you addicted to a particular TV series? When do you watch on your own, with your partner or with your family?

Yes I use Netflix most days. I've watched quite a few TV series and also a lot of films, totally depends on what mood I'm in. I mostly watch it on my own but sometimes I will watch with my partner or child. We've found it especially good to watch Breaking Bad together.

What role does Entertainment play in your familys life and how does Netflix fit in?

I like it because we can watch our own stuff without annoying each other. DP has an account on his phone, I have one on my ipad and then we have the 3rd one on the PS3 so we can watch things together.

What about the dedicated Netflix Kids section - do your DCs use this to watch their favourite shows?

My little boy loves this! If he wakes up too early I can send him off with my ipad to watch his programmes. I like the fact its totally seperate from my adult programmes so he cant accidently watch something he shouldn't be.

I had a free trial fairly early on, and coukd not find a single thing I wanted to watch. I had expected US TV series, fairly recent movies as well as good classics. Nothing. Cancelled the free trial within an hour.

Sounds like it might be better now.

I use it almost daily but only for a few TV shows -- currently watching Numb3rs. I like the interface on my laptop, and can pipe the video and sound to the TV so that works fine, combined with a mobile app that acts as a remote. It doesn't work at all on my android tablet, which is very disappointing.

But the main problem: the selection is really not good enough in the UK, especially for films. I hope that they will read this thread and sort it out. This country-based licensing and release date system is now totally out-dated in general; services like netflix should get together and change the system. I'd pay more for decent selection. Now that you can't go to the corner shop and rent a movie, we basically can't see films that aren't playing at the cinema any more at all! Lovefilm didn't work for us; I don't want to decide in advance what I might want to watch next time (found I was never in the mood for whatever ambitious or depressing thing we'd picked). The only real option to see films is to download them illegally through bittorrent!Surely this isn't the option Netflix wants to push people into. I thought Netflix would be a viable alternative, and it is, for TV shows (sort of) but not for films. And it just seems artificial and unfair when you take your computer to another country and are told that you can't watch the show you were in the middle of the previous evening. It seems artificial because it is. There is no good reason for selection to remain so limited and for different countries to have different access any more.

We are big fans of Netflix so much so we cancelled our Vigin TV and got rid of our monstrosity of a TV taking up to much space in the sitting room.
Now we just have Netflix on our iPads we find it fulfils all our TV needs.

The downside to Netflix in our household is that DH takes his iPad I to the bathroom for long leisurely baths, my bladder almost exploded during his bath time with the Hobbit.

On a more serious note my DH isn't to pleased about the slow rate of new content and has threatened to cancel a few times.

Before Netflix, I was DVD-buying addict. Netflix is far cheaper but I still get to watch all the films I want to watch, plus I have come across so many more films that are well worth watching that I wouldn't have known about if I didn't have Netflix.
Netflix is worth having simply to watch House of Cards or any of the other of the Netflix series.

We used to have Netflix, and found it to be really poor value for money. The only thing we could find to watch on it was Arrested Development, and we'd have been better off buying the boxset.

Sky might seem expensive, but when there was literally not a single film on Netflix that we wanted to watch that we hadn't already seen in the few months we had Netflix, we soon realised Sky Movies was the better value option.

We've subscribed to Netflix for a while. We unsubscribed and used 2 different competitors, but found their catalogs and features to not be as good, so we returned to Netflix.

We use it on a weekly basis- usually at the weekend when we're all home together.

Movies are usually the number one watch, but recently, DH and I have been watching stand-up comedian shows- the choice of US tours available are great and we've watched things we wouldn't have bought on DVD.

What I really like is that with films being remade, a lot of the originals are on Netflix so we can compare and contrast

We most recently watched 'The Hunger Games' on Friday night as Saturday morning we all went to see 'Catching Fire'.

The films are properly rubbish. Am in the process of cancelling as finsihed watching dexter and breaking bad. Also the streaming / voice sycning was rubbish.

We are huge fans of Netflix in this house! Me and DP love watching TV series and films and DD (6) loves watching kids programmes on my tablet. I think it is great and definitely worth what you pay!

We got netflix for House of Cards earlier in the tear, and Breaking Bad more recently.

I watch with my dh, always tv series. The dcs (1 and 3) love Thomas the Tank Engine. One thing I find with Thomas is that it often pauses half way through a 5 minute episode, and that if an episode has been watched before, if it comes on again it goes straight to the closing theme tune.

Kids don't feel the same way about watching something twice as adults do!

If you currently use or have used Netflix in the past, what do you think?

We just finished the month's free trial for Netflix and decided to cancel.
We just couldn't find any recent films or tv shows that we wanted to watch. The children liked it for the disney films and being able to watch 'Cloudy with meatballs' numerous times. It is a shame that the UK doesn't hold as many titles and films as the USA version - which is far better.

What role does Entertainment play in your familys life and how does Netflix fit in?

We were able to watch it directly from the wii and the samsung bluray player which was good.

What about the dedicated Netflix Kids section - do your DCs use this to watch their favourite shows?

The children liked this and I liked that it was separate menu to the adults version.

I had netflix in the past, cancelled it, then rejoined after about 6 months.
It is great that you can simply terminate subscription and easily restart it again, as finances allow. No having to phone up, nice simple click.

I use it every day, especially on days off work when I can watch back to back episodes of TV shows. Currently going through the episodes of Dexter.

Movies I watch from time to time. Recently rewatched Muppets Christmas Carol which I had not seen for a long time.

I watch on my own but at work the children have discovered netflix and now seem to watch that more than live TV.

I did have trouble with finding out what was on netflix, especially before subscribing and even since subscribing it can be easier to use other services to find out about what is available, such as uk.istreamguide.com/... so please Netflix do not stop third parties having access to the Netflix API.

I think that more needs to be done to make people aware that netflix is not a place for latest release movies. There are other services for pay-per-view movie rentals. Netflix is more about TV box sets, back catalogue, documentaries, though does from time to time have some more things which are around a year since they were in the cinema.

I love how I can watch on iPad and pause it... then turn on AppleTV and it will restart from the point I stopped at.

We love Netflix, we like getting into a series and then settling down to watch a couple of episodes on nights that we're both in. Did BBC House of Cards this way, then got totally addicted to Breaking Bad. After Xmas we'll give the new USA House of Cards a go. When husband is away I get in the bath and watch Nurse Jackie or modern family with the iPad propped up on the loo.
The kids like it for their Sunday morning telly- fest, and they work through the recommendations.

Only problem seems to be that our broad band isn't quite wide enough so we get a bit of reloading, and sometimes can't get it to work at all (I think this might be when the au pair is using the Internet upstairs)

Came on to moan that it's frustrating I'd started watching gossip girl only to find out that the final series was missing, then found an email from mnhq telling me it was now available, now a happy camper!

If you currently use or have used Netflix in the past, what do you think?

We love it. It's got a wide enough range of films and TV programmes.

Do you use Netflix on a regular basis? If so, how do you use it - do you mainly watch movies or are you addicted to a particular TV series?

Yes, we use it regularly for a wide range of programmes. I discovered The Vampire Diaries through Netflix, I have also caught up with Downton Abbey through it as well and The Tudors. DH has watched Breaking Bad. The only problem is the lack of HD.

When do you watch on your own, with your partner or with your family?

It varies, I tend to watch while ironing though.

What role does Entertainment play in your families life and how does Netflix fit in?

We like to watch films as a family, but programmes as individuals. Netflix is a great way to do that.

What about the dedicated Netflix Kids section - do your DCs use this to watch their favourite shows?

DS adores the kids section, he watches Ninjago and Sonic.

Can you tell we like it?

We love netflix but find it difficult to cope without season 3 onwards of Modern Family....

My brother gifted us a year's subscription to Netflix. Generally, we like it. Our main criticisms are that there aren't many new films available and there aren't lots of films added regularly. It is almost identical to our LoveFilm subscription but at least with LoveFilm, we get newer films on disc. We are having problems with Netflix crashing our TiVo box at the moment but we can still watch it happily through our Wii. We do watch it quite a lot. I love the fact that I can put it on Netflix Kids and know that nothing totally inappropriate is going to pop up. We also like watching favourite TV series on there - very useful when the DCs go in and out of phases for different favourite TV programmes. It has sensible suggestions for things we might like to watch.

I use netflix all the time. I use it on the virgin tivo box app. The kids love watching their own films on Netflix via tablets or kindle fire hd. Dh and i watched tge fulk 3 series of downton abbey this summer after hearing everyone rave about it. I personally love made in chelsea but i am dissapointed they have only put 2 series of it on.

If kids want to watch a movie in their bedroom, ill attachthe kindle to tv and they have a great movie experience.

We love our sunday movie time, after dinner, dh and dds and I pick a movie and snuggle up.

The only negative is that when viewing from the kindle, the picture pixelates quite alot, only for a few secondsat a time.

I woukd recommend Netflix, its only £5.99 a month for good grownup or family entertainment.

I cancelled lovefilm after subscribing to Netflix as there is no comparison between the two.

Netflix has more choice and is very simple to use. Even my dd1 who is 4 can use it

We have Netflix as we don't have access to live TV. We got rid of Sky after trialling Netflix and have been really happy so far.
Not so keen on the new layout but hoping it will improve with time.
My daughter loves the dedicated kids section and there's enough there to entertain her.
Me and my DH like the series (battlestar , breaking bad, dexter, QI ) and I like the old rom-com films :)
We have recommended to quite a few people.

rhythm Ipad propped on loo and modern family - I do that too!

We have recently signed up to Netflix on the 1 month free trial and I think we'll continue with the subscription, primarily because we've become hopeless Breaking Bad addicts...it really is excellent. There are also several other dramas that I'm looking forward to watching in full...the killing and the bridge included.
My dh is quite impressed by the range of films but there isn't that much that appeals to me and I'm underwhelmed by the kids section. If it was any more expensive I wouldn't bother but since there is never anything on tv it's worth it I think.

I've subscribed to Netflix for about 12 months now. I like that you pay a one off monthly fee, regardless of how much you watch.

O like the new interface on the android app.

I used it to watch Poirot and Marple then was absolutely hooked by the original version of House of Cards. I'm now working through classic films e.g. ones with Doris Day or Carry Grant. I tend to watch on my phone, especially when working away from home. The sound and picture quality is really good on my phone.

I'm gutted its not the Netflix app on our smart tv (which we bought before subscribing to Netflix). It would be great if it was. We can still hook the laptop up to the tv though.

I've also just watched every episode of the IT crowd which was brilliant and cheaper than getting the box set.

We don't watch much as family as DS too small but I will have a lool for some Christmas films for us to watch.

Agree with other posters that it could do with some more recent films.

I subscribed to Netflix to watch Breaking Bad, with my husband. We now watch a few family films on there, and the kids use the Netflix kids section to watch Lego episodes and Johnny Test etc.

I find it a good and easy way to watch things on demand, especially now I can watch it through Virgin on my TV, but I was previously put off subscribing twice, as it's not possible to see the films & tv shows available unless you subscribe first.

I will continue to subscribe until I've finished watching Breaking Bad. I do find that their content is lacking; many of the series I'd like to watch are not on there (Game of Thrones, True Blood, etc).

I absolutely love Netflix, I've subscribed for almost a year. I briefly subscribed before but was unimpressed by content, but was lured back in by House of Cards and stayed.

I probably watch two or three times a week - usually an episode of a series, currently in the middle of both Breaking Bad and Damages. Former with husband, latter alone. There are loads more TV series I plan to watch when those are finished. We don't watch that many films but that's because we are usually too tired in the evening to watch a whole film [tragic emoticon]. I agree there isn't that much recent stuff available but there's a great back catalogue, especially foreign films, and I am really looking forward to catching up with a few things one day like in 2027 at this rate

I do watch films with my kids at weekends and love the selection of old family films like The Parent Trap and Mary Poppins. More please. More musicals too . Alone the kids watch episodes of various shows, not many in term time, quite a few in the holidays.

Like most families, we watch more and more TV on demand, very few things are watched "live" any more, with the exception of Strictly. So Netflix fits in brilliantly with this. We haev freeview and I have no intention of subscribing to Virgin/Sky etc, the Netflix sub is all I need to add just a tiny bit more variety to our viewing. Price is exactly right, any more and I would unsubscribe.