One of the greatest technological advancements in the last few years has got to be Netflix. It’s some of the best money I’ve ever spent, and it’s cheap too. For close to eight bucks a month you get access to thousands upon thousands of titles ranging across hundreds of topics and categories. This all comes across a variety of different access points, I’ll review each. I can watch something like “Scarface” on my laptop, livestream and instantly, then I can throw on “Dexter” on the TV through a console and watch as many episodes as I want without any additional charges. To go over some of the access points, Xbox360: Great graphics and the streaming is pretty flawless. The access is friendly across the controller too, not as much of a hassle as I thought it would be to type in titles for searches with the client-side keyboard they have on the Xbox360 software. One complaint I could see people having is that you have to have an active XboxLive account to use netflix on the 360, this could potentially raise the cost of your netflix from 8 a month to 18, but that’s only if you bought the xbox just so you could use the netflix. If you have a 360 and you don’t have XboxLive, it’s worth it to have anyway, so it’s more of a deferred cost.
Nintendo Wii: The graphics are on par, but I think if you did a side by side comparison you would get better resolution out of the 360 or a computer. The upside to this is that the Wii has a lot of fun games that make it worth buying along with the use of Netflix. Wii Sports by itself (Which comes with the console) is almost enough for some people. There are also some of the other pioneering motion-control games on the Wii that can be interesting, but my general prejudiced opinion of motion control games is that it’s like trying to control a mentally handicapped lapdog duck-taped to a slowly deflating space-ball. At first it’s at the very least entertaining to watch the failure, but eventually that pops. The real plus is that you don’t have to buy any monthly internet service for the Wii to use your Netflix.
Playstation3: For sake of not alienating any readers, I won’t get too much into the blocky, handicapped controls that the Ps3 uses to hinder a primarily FPS player like myself. The graphics are top notch, maybe even better than the 360, but you do have to have a PlaystationNetwork account to use it. Originally you had to have a disc running in the Ps3 to use Netflix, but I’m almost positive they’ve patched that issue by now.
Computer/laptop: By far and away the easiest and best way to use netflix. Most people have ways of connecting their laptop or computer to their home entertainment systems, and the interface of a computer is so far above the interface of any controller-based search engine of any type that it’s not even worth getting into. Everyone already has internet, deferred cost unrelated to the Netflix account. The best option for sure.