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Netflix vs Hulu


natofborg

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With Netflix raising their prices yet again, by four dollars a month this time, I thought I'd look into Hulu as an alternative. I've never subscribed to Hulu and really don't want to give them payment info for a free trial just to access information about what they have available to stream. 

What are the pros and cons of using Netflix vs using Hulu? Any opinions out there? 

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Where are you getting $4?

"Netflix is raising its prices for the first time in two years, increasing the cost of its most popular plan by $1 to $10.99 monthly.

Subscribers of the $11.99 premium plan, which lets you run Netflix on four screens (instead of the standard plan's two) and get 4K video, will see an increase of $2 to $13.99.

The price of the basic plan, which costs $7.99 monthly and delivers standard definition video to one screen, remains the same."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/10/05/netflix-raising-price-its-most-popular-plan/734837001/

I subscribe to Netflix. Hulu IIRC is geared more to TV series both current and past. Hulu now has some original content. Personally I've never been interested in Hulu as most current TV series hold no interest for me and I have little interest in watching old TV series. But that's me.

 

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2 hours ago, JD said:

I subscribe to Netflix. Hulu IIRC is geared more to TV series both current and past. Hulu now has some original content. Personally I've never been interested in Hulu as most current TV series hold no interest for me and I have little interest in watching old TV series. But that's me.

Same here. Also Netflix is currently making a huge push on original content. Hopefully I will like at least half of it but I have several series I haven't got around to yet so I'm happy for a while.

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52 minutes ago, ksedwar said:

Same here. Also Netflix is currently making a huge push on original content. Hopefully I will like at least half of it but I have several series I haven't got around to yet so I'm happy for a while.

I've heard it said that this is the second golden age of television with all the original content being produced. Netflix is just one of the producers. You have Amazon and others coming into creation(Apple?). When you take into account the other content from HBO, ShowTime, etc. I can see why they make the claim. I like crime shows in all forms both fiction and non-fiction. With Netflix I've watched crime  TV shows from Sweden, the Ukraine, Australia, Norway, Russia, Japan, Britain of course, There's a lot of content on Netflix. More so than Amazon.

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I think too that the new internet based companies like Amazon and Netflix are giving unknown film makers exposure when they may have never had a chance with the traditional Hollywood machine. Without Netflix I would never know many shows even existed. I like a lot of content from other countries too and am also drawn to the crime drama. The BBC has some great crime drama series. I watched this show called 'The Sniffer' a while back and really enjoyed most of it. I would have never imagined watching and enjoying a Ukrainian produced Russian language series with English subtitles. 

The Disney content was a good thing but I think they will do fine without it. Netflix and Fox seem to have trouble keeping deals too. I can't see myself subscribing to a Fox or Disney streaming service. Maybe for 1 month out of the year just to watch Star Wars sequels or other big movies.

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On 10/22/2017 at 11:54 AM, JD said:

Where are you getting $4?

"Netflix is raising its prices for the first time in two years, increasing the cost of its most popular plan by $1 to $10.99 monthly.

Subscribers of the $11.99 premium plan, which lets you run Netflix on four screens (instead of the standard plan's two) and get 4K video, will see an increase of $2 to $13.99.

The price of the basic plan, which costs $7.99 monthly and delivers standard definition video to one screen, remains the same."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/10/05/netflix-raising-price-its-most-popular-plan/734837001/

I subscribe to Netflix. Hulu IIRC is geared more to TV series both current and past. Hulu now has some original content. Personally I've never been interested in Hulu as most current TV series hold no interest for me and I have little interest in watching old TV series. But that's me.

 

Our plan has 3 dvds/blu rays out at a time in addition to the unlimited streaming. Our price went up by $4.00 a month on this month's bill. The only reason I don't cancel it entirely is because my husband is disabled and is home all day while I'm at work, so he uses it daily. But yes, when you add in the home delivery of dvds and blue rays your monthly fee is much higher than the $10.99 quoted on the site linked. 

Premium for $11.99/month
4 screens + 
 
Next billing date
November 21, 2017

DVD PLAN

Next month's plan
DVD Plan for $19.99/month
 
  • You are currently in the 3 DVDs out at-a-time plan ($19.99/month including $4.00 for Blu-ray plus any applicable tax).
  • Your current period price is $19.99 (including $4.00 for Blu-ray)plus any applicable tax.

 

So we are actually paying both the $11.99 streaming fee and the $19.99 DVD plan fee with a surcharge to rent blu rays. My husband still watches a lot of dvds that are not always available to stream on Netflix, so I don't complain about it. 

 

Thanks for for the feedback about Hulu. I didn't know that they mostly have tv series available. 

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  • 4 months later...

Well, Hulu is now the second most watched streaming service in the US with 47 million total unique viewers. Previously, Hulu had a limited free tier of services, but that changed last year. Hulu brought a lot of changes in its services, and mostly it’s for better. However, Hulu still supports ads.

 

Introduction of Hulu

  • Titles Available: 10,2500+ titles
  • Monthly subscription: Start from $7.99/ month
  • Concurrent Streams Supported: 1 to unlimited
  • Live TV: Yes
  • Ads: Yes
  • Original Programming: Yes
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I read the review, and it appears the only reason people would pick Hulu is if they want to watch a lot of tv shows.  With netflix you don't have to watch commercials, and it is basically the same price, and they have way more original shows.  Hulu does also have an HBO Showtime and Starz option, but for more money per month.  Does anybody here belong to Amazon Prime?  I dropped cable about four or five years ago, because it got to be too expensive, but I live in a condo building where most people subscribe to Comcast because the over the air reception stinks here.  I can rarely get in CBS, and I miss 60 minutes.  I do watch a lot of PBS though.  Even bare bones cable would cost me $20 a month.  When I originally had cable I had a deal for $29 a month where I got free HBO.  That price lasted for a year, and then it went up to $80 with free HBO thrown it.  I got it lowered to a lower tier plan for $39 a month, but that is still too much money, and so I dropped it.   I can get Amazon Prime for $99 a year.

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Yea Hulu is a replacement for network TV and Netflix is more of an extension to or alternative to network TV. Netflix has pushed out a ton of original content recently and I like that but half of it is foreign language with no English dubbing. I rarely want to just stare directly at the TV reading captions so it's kind of annoying that they have dubbing for several languages but not English. I don't have Amazon Prime but have been thinking more and more about getting it. Cox cable and Netflix keeps me entertained for now.

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  • 11 months later...

I think Hulu has something going on with Swagbucks right now.  I saw something today at Slickdeals about it,  I signed up for a BF special back in the end of November where I could get Hulu for $.99 a month for 12 months, and I am enjoying it.  I have been watching an original show with High Laurie called Chance on Hulu.  He plays a forensic neuropsychiatrist.  It is good.  I haven't gotten around to Handmaid Tales yet.  I also watch a few network shows ondemand when I miss them at their regular time.  The regular price of hulu just went down to $5.99, but you don't get live tv for that price, and it includes commercials.  I don't think the commercials on Hulu are that bad though.

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  • 2 months later...

We got rid of cable from 3 of our 4 TVs and took a premium package off of cable on the other one.  We get some basic stuff now, but not worth what we pay.  We have 3 Roku TV;s now, and they are not the greatest either, but we added Netflix and I really enjoy it.  I have always liked The Travel Channel and Destination America stations, but we don't get them.  I think by the time we add this and that, we will be nickled and dimed to death.  I won't do commercials if I have to pay for each station. 

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Have you considered dropping cable on the last tv and signing up for a streaming service.  Both of my Sisters did that recently and one of them was paying $140 a month for direct tv with no premium channels.  She now has Hulu plus for $40 a month.  There are at least four streaming services.  The only bad thing though is none of them have PBS, but if you have a decent roof top antenna that should be adequate. 

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My husband can't get by without MSNBC, plus the Tennis Channel.  I can live without both.  The thing of it is, I think we only reduced the bill by $40.  I would like to get a couple of the stations we had, but not for $40 more a month. 

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I just looked it up and there are several streaming sites that offer the Tennis Channel, including Sling, Play Station Vue, and Direct tv Now.  One of my sisters has Sling, and I know you can get MSNBC on Sling, you might have to pay extra for it, because my Sister bought an additional news package which was probably $5 a month.  

Sling is the cheapest.  Their basic package is $25 a month, and for an additional $5 a month who can get the sports package that includes the tennis channel, and you can also get the news package also for $5 a month.  For $35 you can get both the channels your husband wants, and right now they are offering a special for new subscribers. The basic program is only $15 a month for the first three months.

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  • 3 months later...

Well you can watch anyone you prefer. Each of the platform have their own ups and downs but if you are thinking of switching just because of the price raise, that should't be a problem. The price increase is $1 on average and I'm not sure why you are getting $4. Maybe double Check :) If you still facing this issue then fix hulu playback failure now.

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