I wondered, since I always thought of Netflix dvd rental service as the place to go for the obscure if you're not in a big city with a cinephile store. (I'm not a subscriber) So I googled and found this article. It talks about the great shrinking Netflix catalog. So sad.

plllog -- Gread read. Thank you.

OK, so we aren't able to find anything on Netflix...what ELSE has good titles? Amazon?

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What are some of your favorite movies? What genres do you like? I tend to use Netflix more for TV shows than movies but I've always enjoyed the service.

I have Amazon Prime but the only thing I watch on it is Downton Abbey,but I got Prime for the free 2 day shipping.

We have Netflix streaming and DVDs and have had both since Day One of each. With that in mind, we don't watch many movies. I'm happy to have them available, as well as Amazon Prime, for when the mood hits. They're really pretty affordable.

It is true that Netflix's collections were more extensive and less changing in the past. The advance of competitors has made their service more of a hot issue among content providers and Netflix has become more selective with how they spend their content acquisition dollars. Just a month or so ago, I went to rewatch a European drama series I'd watched before and found that it had passed off the Netflix list the month before.

You've tried the local video shops, right? Amazon does have a lot of good titles.

Do you have an HDTV with an HDMI socket? Do also you have a good internet connection that allows for good streaming? If so, you might try getting an EZCast stick, or a Googlecast with the EZCast app. Then you can throw anything you can stream to your smartphone or tablet to the TV easily. You can also use a laptop or desktop computer but those are less easy.

Acorn has streaming video of the BBC/PBS type. YouTube has had a lot of interesting and obscure video, though I don't know about their current offerings. The PBS site has some, I think. And there's always Hulu.

There are also places where you can buy used DVDs for the same price as renting (possibly including Amazon), though I don't know about the postage cost and time to receive. You can resell them, and make back a lot of what you spend.

Perhaps you can organize a movie library among the snowbirds? Or maybe even in your town? Give one to get one?

I don't see the use for it myself. Daughter has it plys done stick thibg, yet for me the selections suck. They like it. I have yet to find anything I'd watch. I do like renting from Redbox.

Are there still local video shops? I almost never watch a movie but sometimes I think I'd like to, and there used to be a video rental place on darn near every corner, and even in some supermarkets and now I can't find any. The local Blockbuster went out of business. I just wondered if there is such a thing as video rental any more, except for Red Box and I never can find anything there that I want to see.

Many people find the DVD movie collections at their local libraries to be very satisfactory until they've worked their way through the available titles. That doesn't work for us, our movie watching tends to be more on impulse. Many of the newer streaming services that cater to the "cut the cord" market are okay for people who are trying to save money or are on limited budgets and are willing to compromise variety but they aren't for everybody.

When I tried Netflix about two years ago, I was only interested in their streaming selection which I found pathetic. All the new movies were only available as DVD's. I have enjoyed the selection on Amazon Prime, but I've gone through their free inventory of the types of movies I like, so I'm stuck again. When new movies become available to rent, I usually rent them through Amazon and stream them to my television through my Apple TV device. Sadly, many movies and television series that I would like to view again are not available on any of the streaming services.

I really don't watch movies much, so I don't know if my information is even helpful. But if you have cable TV or possibly Satellite (I don't know about Satellite because I have cable), there are quite a few channels that have movies. There are two Hallmark channels, HBO, and the like. I'm not that familiar with them, but it's worth a try.

I find that Instantwatcher comes up with some good titles sometimes

http://instantwatcher.com

I'm happy with what I find from both Netflix and Amazon prime. I can always find a movie that surprises me, a documentary, or quite often, a TV series.

I don't hesitate to rent one of the newer movies from Amazon, should we see something that appeals to us. The rentals are between $4-5, a pretty good deal for a cozy night at home.

What kind of movies are you looking for.....a particular genre that you both enjoy?

We have ROKU (you might want to do some research on those streaming units - https://www.roku.com/) and then pay a monthly subscription to watch Netflix ($7.99) and Acorn (British TV viewing - $4.99). We split viewing time about 50/50 between those choices. We also have basic cable TV and watch it the least, mostly PBS/Create.

We're big British/Australian/Canadian TV fans, and we also like documentaries of all kinds, but skip movies almost entirely -- so it's different strokes for different folks, but we certainly get what we pay for - and then some.

Our local library has a great selection of videos, so that is my back-up place for entertainment. You might want to check your local library for what they have available. I've never rented a video from Red Box - I'd go to the library and check their free selection before I'd do that....

I will check the library. I can't do streaming because I have limited internet. Renting from Red Box is cheap....like 1.98 or so and they are handy....at the pharmacies and supermarkets, but I can never find anything I want to watch. I like documentaries the best too

We have 2 friends who subscribe to Netflix Canada for $9 month. Looking thru their libraries there isn't one show that I would watch, much less pay a monthly fee for.

He who holds the remote is just now discovering the options we have. LOL

We have the same model Sony BluRay at home and and on Maui. We have never investigated the various options until we tried the Netflix option yesterday. (Bomb.)

We haven't cared because our library at home usually has whatever we are looking for (free) as soon as it's available anywhere. That's not the case here on Maui, and we are staying longer on Maui now. Here we can rent "Shane", "I Was A Male War Bride", etc. We got "Black Swan" from our branch of the Maui library -- one of the few 'recent' movies. We are also able to use our cable HD-DVR and watch recorded PBS programs at teatime.

Our BluRay boxes date from about 2012. This one talks about "2010" options, but I assume that since they still show up on the menu, they are all still currently available. The Sony channel is offering "Truth" -- current movie we just rented from Redbox for $1.50/day. Looked like it was $6 to stream.

Please walk me through the Amazon Prime membership as regards streaming movies. I see Amazon has at least one TV series we have been waiting to see: Season Three of "The Americans". It looks like it is $6 per episode. (Our library at home has this now, but we're not there, we're here!)

We usually split a movie over two days of teatime. If we chose "The Americans" Episode One of Season Three, and had an Amazon Prime membership, how long would we have access to that episode? Could we *stop* and *resume*? (With Redbox, we just pay for two days, as time stops at midnight of the day you rent.) What's the cost to have Prime? (I very seldom buy anything online, so never looked into this -- certainly not for Hawaii, where shipping is a week, not days.)

Thanks for helping guide two Seniors into the 21st Century.

Since I work in the University of Virginia library that is often where I will get movies that I want to watch. They have a very broad collection, but since they have only a few copies of recent, popular movies often I will find those will be checked out.

My one experience with Netflix was a few years ago at my SIL's at Christmastime. She and her husband had to drive their son to the ER and left us to finish making dinner and watch their other two kids. We planned to use their Netflix account to watch a movie, and thought of a couple of movies we wanted to watch. We search Netflix, and discovered they weren't available.

I know the preferred method of use is to browse through what (little) they have and select something, but after a few tries of thinking of a movie, and finding it was not available, it became a sort of perverse challenge. I failed. I was unable to think of any movie I was interested in seeing, that they had.

Amazon Video is available to everyone, so you can download the app to your iPad and rent or buy the video content you want. In the case of The Americans Season 3, you can buy the whole season for $19.99. Once you buy it, it is yours forever. Rental movies are available to you for 30 days to start watching, but only 24 hours once you begin watching.

Amazon Video offers some of its content free to those who have paid for Amazon Prime service which costs $99 plus tax per year. The Americans Season 3 is currently available for free viewing to Amazon Prime subscribers. In addition to certain free video content, Amazon Prime offers access to commercial-free Amazon Radio and two-day free shipping on many items (not sure about to Hawaii).

You could sign up for a free 30-day trial to Amazon Prime, watch all of the episodes of The Americans Season Three and check out other Amazon video content to see if you want to cancel or continue.

They have about 50 kinds of music that one can access at cbc.ca. Ben Hefner has a weekly program where he tells stories and plays mostly classical music. They have a number of podcasts of radio programs. Some of their programs are available on (Sirius?) 169 - but that's only to U.S. mainland, I think.

Don't know whether any of their TV programs are available, movies, etc.

CBC radio have a number of British, German, Australian and Irish programs that they broadcast overnight, but don't know whether they are available at other times or to download.

ole joyfuelled ... CBC radio addict: can do other things while (more or less) listen

I just checked, The Americans (3 seasons) is available for streaming through Amazon Prime. Yes, you can pause and come back later. Before movies and tv shows are pulled from Netflix and Amazon Prime you are given enough notice (usually months) that you will have time to watch.

Amazon Prime is currently $99.00/year. That also includes free 2 day shipping on many products you might buy on Amazon.

A hint: I have found that searching and adding shows to your watch list is lots easier to do using your app on your computer.

Thank you all. This is great! I think I know the Amazon/Amazon Prime 'rules'.

Does anyone watch via Sony? One of our nice guests registered this BluRay with Sony, but that was at least three years ago. I'd need to talk to them again, but only want to get *into* that if their channel is worth the effort (unlike Netflix).

We never rent videos. Actually I don't watch them. My husband has so many videos, mostly westerns. He does not like DVD's wants the tapes. We do not have cable, just antenna television. I find all I want to watch on it in the evening. If not, I do something else. You can find tapes and DVD's pretty cheap at Goodwill.

Sue