Crackle over Netflix

[Simon]

Currently I am a Netflix subscriber and as most people know Netflix is nearly impossible to view on Linux. I use my PS3 for my Netflix. My friend at college told me about Crackle which allows you full free access with some commercial interruption. The videos require no specialized player, no fee, no account, etc.. It looks like you can see a lot of shows and movies on Crackle, but just like TV there will be commercials to pay for them.

I am still in the "research" phase, but from the looks of it, I might drop my Netflix for Crackle. Opinions are welcome as always.

[vinnywright]

it uses flash , it has lots of commercials , it's a bit lighter on the system than netflix for linux , and has a smaller selection than netflix ,,,,,,,but I am bookmarking it anyway it's not to bad but I probably will not drop netflix.

VINNY

[eggbert]

Netflix works pretty well for me with the "Netflix desktop" wine thing. Works on both my laptop and desktop, so would not say its nearly impossbile at all.

Netflix selection seems pretty crappy lately, however.

[dmeyer]

Currently I am a Netflix subscriber and as most people know Netflix is nearly impossible to view on Linux. I use my PS3 for my Netflix. My friend at college told me about Crackle which allows you full free access with some commercial interruption. The videos require no specialized player, no fee, no account, etc.. It looks like you can see a lot of shows and movies on Crackle, but just like TV there will be commercials to pay for them.

I am still in the "research" phase, but from the looks of it, I might drop my Netflix for Crackle. Opinions are welcome as always.

Try Hulu. Its really kickass plus you can train it to only show advertisements linked to your interests.

[Simon]

@Vinny: Yes, I noticed the selection seems less and I guess "lots of commercials" is a personal opinion. For example; I watched Gattaca on Crackle (currently not available on Netflix) and I was subjected to the same 2 commercial spots, ten times during a 106 minute movie. If you view the same on a regular TV cable network, they shove 8 minutes to the 30 at you. This is why 1 hour TV shows are only 44 minutes long commercial free. So at any rate Crackle beats out my cable TV. I am not going to drop Netflix right away either, since I need to at least finish watching some series. However one downside to all these is this fact; the content can and does change often. I was watching a series and didn't get to finish because they dropped it.

@Eggbert: Yes, I use Wine for some games I play, but Netflix uses the Silverlight player that doesn't play well with my hardware. I could go with VBox option, but I can use the PS3 for both Netflix and Crackle and still be on the PC. Netflix would be a lot better if they just used a standard player or gave us an option. If you mean the quality of the picture is poor, I told Vinny, I turn off my HD option because a lot of the stuff I watch never came out in HD. Also pause the show a while before you watch it will create a bigger better buffer.

Try Hulu. Its really kickass plus you can train it to only show advertisements linked to your interests.

Doesn't Hulu both charge a monthly fee and show you commercials too?
Because one good reason for me to stick with Netflix, is the fact of commercial free shows.
EDIT: ok I checked out Hulu and found the following minor issues; free to watch but the commercial lasts 90 seconds per block as apposed to just 20 or 40 on Crackle, but that would give me 90 seconds to grab a beer and take a leak. Anything adult content I have to actually log in and have an account, yes I am so paranoid I know "they" are watching me. Hulu is ok but just more commercials and a user account is required to use it fully. I would never pay for a Hulu account since they still run commercials and for the same price Netflix is ad free.
---end edit---
Thanks people for the great feedback on this!

[oshunluvr]

Hulu wins over Netflix in variety of content (opinion only of course) and they have a native Linux desktop client which runs very well. They do have commercials, but I don't recall them always being 90 secs, more often 30 secs, but I haven't been on in awhile. Also, you can block most or all of the commercials using a simple hosts file so all I get is a black screen with a message on it - at least I'm not listening to them.

For me: the fact that Hulu supports Linux users through a client means they get my money. Netflix has an Android app, but can't or won't be bothered to make us a client. Oh, and I don't care if they're watching me or not.

[Detonate]

I have Netflix and Hulu. And I almost never watch either. But my grandkids and my wife watch both a lot via my Roku box hooked to the big screen in the living room. I watch the news on live TV and a few shows via my tuner card on the computer. I have not tried Crackle, but it is available on the Roku. Might take a look.

[oshunluvr]

I spent part of a weekend awhile back watching Asian Samurai "B" movies on Crackle - what a hoot!

[DoYouKubuntu]

I was under the impression that Netflix couldn't run on Linux--I mean without using wine to run their windows version. Did I miss something?

[vinnywright]

I was under the impression that Netflix couldn't run on Linux--I mean without using wine to run their windows version. Did I miss something?

nope you dident miss a thing ,,,,,,,except that their is now a special build of wine just for this , yes it uses mono and silverlight , but it works ok , we watch it a lot @hear

links as follows ,,,, http://lifehacker.com/5963726/netfli...al-desktop-app and http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-run...inux-tutorial/



VINNY

[DoYouKubuntu]

nope you dident miss a thing ,,,,,,,except that their is now a special build of wine just for this , yes it uses mono and silverlight , but it works ok

Thanks, Vinny. Looks like I still won't be using Netflix any time soon. No Linux version, no me!