Netflix....

[CheffoJeffo]

I've been test-driving Netflix streaming (only option we have in Canuckistan) for the past week and have been fairly impressed by the quality of the streaming over my puny 5Mbit DSL (I haven't upgraded because I am one of the few left still on the original unlimited usage contracts). Last night I watched a movie in my office while my daughter watched one in the living room. No skips or pauses.

I look forward to better selections, but have already watched a couple of really good movies that I would never have heard of otherwise.

For the same price as I will pay for a month (on free trial now), I could get a total of two rentals at Blockbuster. No brainer.

[Benevolance]

Is the Canadian selection getting any better? I looked when it was first released, and none of the videos I wanted to see were available. I'm tempted to sign up anyway, because they won't grow the library without a subscription base. And I really like the idea of a streaming video service.

[boykster]

streaming is the future.. don't fight it 

yeah we keep dvds for a month or two, hardly use them.  I want to go to streaming only but the wifey wants to keep the dvd option, not sure why.

I hear that some people get a dvd in the mail, have it ripped to their server to watch later,  and put it back in the mailbox the same day.

Are there site out there for BYO media server or something?  I'd love to set something up in my house...

Here's a massive thread over at AVS Forum re: building a media server. 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1071162

AVSForum guys will overcomplicate everything.  I just use FreeNAS and an old PC with a handful of drives in it.  I have 1TB in RAID1 - 4 500G drives.  Boots off CD, stores it's settings on an old usb flash drive.

Yeah, and a forum dedicated to building and restoring arcade cabinets isn't overcomplicating playing old video games 

That particular thread is probably the most comprehensive resource for all options out there for media servers, and yes, it includes some pretty over the top setups, but by reading about the uber-setup, you can often pick and choose the parts you want for your own realistic one.

I run fedora linux with 3ware hardware raid cards in a Norco 4220 case with removable SATA caddies.  Is it overkill?  Probably, but I dinked around with 'an old pc with a bunch of drives in it' for a while until I lost a software RAID setup and all of my data/media/a bunch of time fiddling. 

There's no one right setup - many many good ones out there.  Limetech's UnRaid, Drobo, FreeNAS, etc.

[pointdablame]

Kinda funny how someone on this forum was telling me NetFlix was making money hand over fist, damn all those licensing expenses.   

Or maybe it was you who said they were "bleeding money."  And you're still completely wrong.

[shmokes]

I don't use streaming much at all, I only have my wii as a player which means just 480 definition and my wireless connection is spotty, so movies freeze every ten minutes.

Do you pay extra for Bluray?  You only mention DVD, which is also only 480.

[SavannahLion]

You can't possibly tell me you prefer the old animation style with Ice Man and his giant tighty-whities and Firestar and her camel toe?!?!?  

And camel toes are bad because....?