alternatives to netflix

Not only do I get my documentaries from netflix, but other recreational stuff. I like setting up the list, the DVD arrives, and it waits until I get around to watching. I've had DVDs sit at my house for three months before I got around to watching them. The average is probably closer to two weeks.

I actually like the instant view stuff much better. I can arrange with Jocelyn that we will both watch the same instant view thing and then make a podcast. And there are other things on there where I can watch whatever I'm in the mood for at that moment.

I like hulu. I watch "House" there. And sometimes an episode of "The Daily Show".

I like youtube, but it seems to be missing a lot. they recently did some overhaul stuff. Maybe it's better now and I should look into it more.

I've been thinking that netflix is too expensive. And in the last few days they are complaining that my credit card is reaching it's expiration date. I've tried about eight times to put the new card in. And I've emailed their support folks. Oh well. It's gonna be done soon I guess.

I don't mind paying a buck or two to watch a movie. And I don't mind paying, say five bucks to have access to a season of some tv show. But it seems like the going rate for an online movie is $1 for old or crappy stuff and $4 to $6 for the new and good stuff. And tv shows appear to be $1 an episode. Yuck.

I know there are some powerfully frugal folks out there. What are some good options? (and I'm not even remotely interested in anything that is even slightly illegal)

Thousands of free movies at the public library. There's always some crazy guy who has seen everything, so they come with a reviewer.

I want someone to invent a device that feeds the movie directly to my brain so I can rest my eyes without missing anything.

Some websites offer full episodes of their programs. I watched "My Life as a Turkey" on PBS Nova (or Nature?) site... they have lots of others available. And I know many other tv programs are posted, in their entirety... can't think of the names right ....... so..... I just did a quick search for "which tv shows are available on the web?" and this informational (not 'enter your cc#) site turned up (eventually :)

http://www.tv.com/news/tv-on-the-internet-when-and-where-to-watch-fall-shows-on-the-web-26725/

BookTV.org (part of CSpan) has tons of their author interviews, etc., available. Same for Charlie Rose, at his website. There must be loads of others.

Don't know about movies, though - library might be best bet. (I'm waiting for the library to get "2012 - Time for Change" for me ;) Just got 'The Man Who Planted Trees'... and I've requested that they buy Geoff Lawton's.)

topdocumentaryfilms.com seems to have a pretty good selection of stuff. I ran across them about a week ago while eliminating netflix from my own budget. Must be something in the air... So far I've watched one nature documentary, which was actually a link to a youtube playlist. It works though, and it's free.

Dale Hodgins wrote:Thousands of free movies at the public library. There's always some crazy guy who has seen everything, so they come with a reviewer.

I want someone to invent a device that feeds the movie directly to my brain so I can rest my eyes without missing anything.

My library charges for their movies. . . . =/

Annah Isenberg wrote:
My library charges for their movies. . . . =/

Get on the board & change the policy!

Cj Verde wrote:

Annah Isenberg wrote:
My library charges for their movies. . . . =/

Get on the board & change the policy!

Good idea!

Has anyone tried Culture Unplugged - http://www.cultureunplugged.com/ ...?

I found The Agro Rebel there:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/930/The-Agro%20Rebel
The Agro Rebel :
Director: Bertram Verhaag | Producer: Bertram Verhaag
Genre: Documentary | Produced In: 2001 | Story Teller's Country: Germany
Tags: Environment, Global, Europe

Synopsis: Sepp Holzer, the Austrian farmer and forester practices "permaculture" a different kind of farming on his mountain property. With this certain form of organic-agriculture, he is very convincing and successfully. Contrary to all conventional rules and despite annual average temperatures of 4.5°C and an altitude of between 900m-1400m, he cultivates cherries, apples, mushrooms, kiwis, lemons, pumpkins, potatoes and zucchinis. This year he also started big permaculture-projects in Brazil, Columbia, Peru and Venezuela.

Appears to have lots of DOCUMENTARIES.

Example Farming:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentaries/watch-online/filmedia/films.php#view=thumb&page=1&tags=farming - many more pages of films

Hope it is legit / legal. Appears to have been around since 2008.

Maybe someone knows more about then I.

Regards to all
Monte Hines

GreenCine is also an alternative.

A lot of documentaries here:

http://www.thebestdocumentary.com/

It looks like most current-run TV shows can be watched on their own webpage, courtesy of the network. (This does mean there will be commercials, sometimes more than what appears on the broadcast).
example ..... I'll do a google search for "NCIS", and click the CBS link, which takes me to that page. There are several available to watch, usually posted within a day of original airing. Excellent quality, but with commercials throughout the show.

For commercial free TV, www.TVDuck.com has hundreds of TV shows and movies and specials, dozens of Cable offerings as well. I haven't figured out how to search from their main page without first joining some service, so I use this link to access the site:
http://www.tvduck.com/frame.php?epi=261033&view=460810
At the top on the screen, type into the "Search" box what you might want to see, or click one of the letters for a menu of available videos. I've watched everything from Season 1 Saturday Night Live and Laugh-In to current NCIS and Daily Shows, even HBO series like "Earth to the Moon." The quality is nowhere near HD, so keep that in mind if that is important to you.

Unfortunately, the site is rife with pop-ups and ads, so there are a few tricks to navigate relatively easily. I'll use the above page as example.
Click the link above and you'll see the access page for "The Unit - Season 4, Episode 11"
1 - Click on one of the (many) boxes reading "Watch This Link." (I like GorillaVid or MovPod best, as they seem to have the least pop-ups)
2 - You'll get a new tab (or window) with several small video screens. Because they are actually "gotcha" type ads, ignore them and look for the "Click Here To Play" button in the center of the screen. Click it.
3 - Next Screen, click the "Continue" button once the 5-second countdown elapses, which will get you .....
4 - a new screen with a video viewer, with an Arrow in the center of the viewer. Click that to begin streaming. Streaming might be instant, but some shows might need to spool for a short time.
5 - Before I watch the video, I'll close a couple pop-up screens generated with earlier button clicks. This "service" is made to be moderately difficult to navigate, in hopes the viewer will click into one of several pay services (there is nothing you are required to watch)
6 - once the video starts, it's ad-free until completion, be it 21 minutes, 46 minutes or even longer.

If you can manage a little hassle, there is a lot of current and historic TV available, free of charge.

Every so often, I'll find a link to what seems to be a "secret side" of YouTube, which hosts full-length HD movies, documentaries, series, etc. I lost the last link I had bookmarked, so hopefully someone here knows of a link.

Some alternatives:

Amazon Prime for $79 / year gets you:
* FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items
* No minimum order size
* Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows

http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime/?tag=dvdlibrary-20

Hulu / Hulu Plus

Lots of shows have their episodes available somewhere like Hulu, the network's site, or the show's site (e.g., The Daily Show).

Just FYI - I just heard from a techie that 'MegaUpload" website has been 'busted' in last couple of days. Apparently that was the feed source for many of the 'free tv episodes' sites that require an account with your name and email.

RedBox is $1 per 24hr. Usually a good selection of recent movies, but very slim on documentaries.

nancy sutton wrote:Just FYI - I just heard from a techie that 'MegaUpload" website has been 'busted' in last couple of days. Apparently that was the feed source for many of the 'free tv episodes' sites that require an account with your name and email.

Probably true from what I read too. That's a reason I like the TVDuck site , no name or address is required to use it.

Another possibility is a site like PaperBack BookSwap.

I haven't been there for years, but as I gave up on them, they were beginning to offer a Swapping service for CDs. I'd bet on them including DVDs now.

They were beginning to charge a fee as I left, and then there is postage to mail your items to the person wanting them. (But the USPostal Service is under attack...they aren't unprofitable... the rules are being written to disadvantage them... it is good to support this government service that benefits all of us.)

I'd google up the site for you, but you can probably do that as easy as I can AND then look to see if it is a good match to your sensibilities at the same time.

BTW, I stopped using them because my ownership style involves "falling-in-love" with certain books and certain movies which I read and watch over again as the mood hits me, AND because it as been a looong time since I've liked anything that isn't far off the beaten track. My latest one that I've fallen in love with is Notre Dame de Paris -- which is a rock opera based on Victor Hugo's novel in the style of '80's pop and in French.

For newer movies and programs I like LinkTV which is a station available on the satellite services. I don't think I would pay the DirecTV fee for it, but as long as my husband is committed to his Sunday Ticket, I'll look at it now and then.

Hey Paul, I just ran across a post on another forum (not sure why it was posted on a Wordpress theme forum...) about watching movies online and I remembered you had asked about it.

http://themes.bavotasan.com/support/discussion/1578/top-15-free-movies-sites-you-can-watch-online-or-download./#Item_1

One of my daughters has the NetFlix family plan. It is $7.95 per month (you download from their site, and watch). She said they allow up to 5 family members to use it, so she gave her acct info to her sister. They each have unlimited viewing (from different households) for the one low price.

Sandra Ellane wrote:Hey Paul, I just ran across a post on another forum (not sure why it was posted on a Wordpress theme forum...) about watching movies online and I remembered you had asked about it.

http://themes.bavotasan.com/support/discussion/1578/top-15-free-movies-sites-you-can-watch-online-or-download./#Item_1

Apparently the forum moderator didn't think it belonged either, thread has been deleted. Now I feel bad for posting this, so I did a Google search and found a couple links to replace.

These list a few legal sites where you can watch or download movies for free:

http://websearch.about.com/od/freedownloads/qt/freemovies2.htm

http://handysoft.org/blog/top-15-free-online-movie-sites

I love netflix. I have the dowload only membership so it costs all of 8 bucks a month. not bad and within my budget. I am sure that's not true for everybody. Hulu basic is free and I enjoy that for most 'tv' watching.

One thing to remember in any discussion of watching movies, tv, documentaries, etc. online is that unless you can tell for sure that an arrangement had been made with the producer of the program you might well be taking money out of the hands of hardworking independent film makers that are living on a thin margin as it is. This is particularly true of documentaries as independent docs make virtually 0 money and what they do make is often from sales of streaming or hardcopy.

knowledge should be free but the effort that goes into accumulating it ought to have some renumeration.