The "mass" media landscape has become sufficiently fragmented that to me there's no longer any benefit to watching something when it's "new". It's "new" when I get around to watching it. Most of my friends have also cut the cable and use Netflix or something similar to watch things a year or two afer they come out, so what do we care if a bunch of strangers got to watch it first?

@beaglebot - You mean other than their entire selection of anime as far as I can tell? That's a pretty big chunk of foreign material that doesn't offer subtitles, unless things have changed in a big way since the last time I checked.

@Rzrshrp - They actually just added a bunch of anime as part of a big update about a week ago. Some relatively recent / popular stuff, too: Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater, Claymore, Darker Than Black, Last Exile, a bunch of others. My problem with their anime at this point is less about the selection and more about the fact that there's no option to enable subtitles. Anime aside, you'd think they'd catch more flak about this from the hearing impaired.

If I may offer some unsolicited advice: if you haven't watched it by now, it's probably safe to just skip out on Passion of the Christ. It's not a good movie. Even if you're totally down with experiencing the suffering of Jesus in a visceral way-- and if that's your thing then that's cool-- it's just plain not a good movie. It's not realistic or historically accurate, the bits of it that are most historically inaccurate have very little to do with the Bible so that's not an excuse, it reduces the life and wisdom of an amazing man (however you may feel about his divinity or lack thereof) into a series of fortune-cookie-esque proverbs, the pacing is terrible, the cinematography isn't particularly good... it's just plain not a good movie.

@AndrewM - It's irresponsible to treat rumors and speculation as fact. Sony has announced a deal to include GoogleTV in Sony-branded televisions, but has been replying with "no comment" any time anyone asks them about putting it into the PS3.

I didn't want to waste a disc (or wait for shipping), so I did a quick Google search for "Netflix Wii 1.01 disc image" and installed it to my hacked Wii. The search functionality works fine, but I don't think the lag you notice in the video is due to the guy's wifi-- I've noticed a significant increase in loading times since switching over from 1.00 to 1.01. Also for some reason they nixed that handy little slider-bar that lets you quickly skip around your queue. It's worth it for search, but it still kind of sucks that they had to remove a feature and decrease performance in order to add a feature.

Whatever Netflix is doing when they negotiate for streaming rights, they're doing it right. When a show is added onto Netflix streaming, I know that I can get that same show on my PC, my Xbox, my Wii, my iDevice (if I were ever to get one), whatever. I pay my money, and the catalog is always the same. With Hulu, I have to try to remember what's Hulu Web, what's Hulu Plus, what's Hulu TV, what's Hulu Mobile... eff that. If Netflix can get ALL the streaming rights to its shows, so can Hulu.

Maybe it's just me being cynical, but I can only imagine a Netflix / Hulu merger as a bloated, unmanageable monstrosity, a Cthulu replete with a multitude of left hands ignorant of the activities of their respective rights, and without any competition fearsome enough to force it to streamline itself back to efficacy. In other words, an absolute disaster for both the end user and anyone with a financial stake in its success. And Netflix buy Hulu outright? HA! Netflix WISHES it had pockets deep enough to spirit Hulu away from its Old Media corporate overlords.

A better tip: don't bother with the "official" Nintendo-branded component cable for the ridiculous $35 they're asking. The "universal" component cable that can be used with a Wii, 360, or PS3 that Kam mentioned above is just as good and goes for about $15 most places.

The thing about Hulu for Netflix subscribers is that there's only this tiny little window where their premium content is at all relevant. Brand new stuff I can watch just as easily on the free version of Hulu. Stuff that's out on DVD I can get from Netflix. There's not much in between that would make the subscription service attractive. The only other feature Hulu Plus will add that is relevant to me is the ability to watch on video game consoles. The thing is, it boggles my mind why they would put this feature behind a pay wall. In an ad-supported model, it's in the content provider's best interest to get their content in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Making people pay extra for service on some platforms (video game consoles, mobile phones) but not others (PCs) flies in the face of that, particularly as the overhead does not significantly increase as more platforms are added. I'm keeping a close eye on Hulu Plus because I believe that more competition in the subscription-model streaming video business can only benefit consumers in the long run, but so far I'm not seeing much reason to take the plunge.

There are exactly two things Hulu would have to do to make themselves worth paying for: nix the ads and get themselves into my living room via set-top boxes or video game consoles. They have done neither of these things, therefore I'm sticking with Netflix. Thanks for playing.

You'd be surprised: I worked at a (non-Netflix) call center for a while (worst job ever, btw) and they insisted on pretty formal dress. Slacks, belt, long-sleeved collared dress shirt, dress shoes instead of sneakers, the works. About the only thing they didn't require was a tie. It was obnoxious.

Interesting that they singled out the PS3 here, considering that the Wii works the same way. I wonder if they see more traffic coming from PS3 than Wii: they Wii has the greater install base, but I'd guess that a greater number of PS3s are online. Supposedly the reason for the disc swapping is that Netflix has some kind of limited exclusivity contract with Microsoft where they couldn't release a native app on another video game console for a couple years. Once that expires (which should be pretty soon if I'm remembering right), I don't see why there'd be any barrier to releasing a native app on both consoles that don't have one already. Personally, I had my Wii hacked for homebrew already, so adding the ability to run the Netflix app off an SD card or USB drive was a relatively easy hack.

That's why streaming is so nice. Netflix quickly went from a physical disc rental service with streaming as a nice side benefit to the other way around.

I'd pay $5 a month for Hulu in my living room with no ads and access to a big back catalog instead of just the newest episodes. Trying to charge more or offer less would be a harder sell, because I'm already a Netflix subscriber and they get everything Hulu gets six months to a year later anyway. I don't mind waiting if it'll save me a buck.

Wow, such hostility. Look, the man's statement may be silly, but it's just spin. Redbox's business model is such that they need to serve the largest common denominator, because that's all they have room for in a vending machine. Netflix's business model leads them to serve a broad variety of small niches because that's what's cheapest to license for streaming (especially without ads). It's not like Redbox thinks you're stupid and Netflix thinks you're smart, or Redbox hates you and Netflix loves you. They're each just doing what will make them the most money, and Lowe's job is to try to talk up Redbox and make it sound good.

Unless CinemaNow is always telling Netflix how good-looking it is, I think you meant "complEmentary, not complImentary." #corrections

Already done. Netflix + Hulu + Crunchyroll + network-specific streaming sites + $20 OTA antenna + a little Bittorrent when all else fails > cable. All I really need is a good way to get Hulu into my living room. Right now I use a laptop, but it's a hassle hooking it up and plugging in the remote control receiver just to watch last night's 30 Rock that I wasn't home to watch OTA. Next time I have some extra money I'm thinking about buying a nettop and using it as a dedicated Boxee box.

Typically speaking, I think most anime fans know what they're looking for and find it via the search function as opposed to browsing. Better categorization of anime would be nice, but not strictly necessary. The real problem when it comes to anime on Netflix is one of availability / selection (no Monster? wtf?) and the fact that when streaming, you are typically forced into the watching the dub.

The guides linked to in this post seemed to require a lot of prior knowledge about Wii hacking-- not exactly friendly for the beginner. Instead, I used this guide from Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5518518/how-to-back-up-and-play-your-wii-games-from-an-external-hard-drive You can use the exact same method to rip a copy of the Netflix disc to a USB drive and run it just as you would a game. And unlike a game, the Netflix app is tiny; you can run it off a 256 MB USB stick if you have one lying around. I used a 4GB stick so that I could also install EA Sport Active to run without the disc, meaning that I don't have to switch discs to play a game after my lady friend is done using it to exercise. Convenient!

I'm down with cutting a delivery day, but why Saturday? Seems like having the two days a week that you don't deliver be right next to each other is a bad move. Cut Wednesday or Thursday instead.

I don't tend to use Netflix to watch new-release movies (I use it as a substitute for cable, renting mostly TV shows on DVD), so I can't comment on that. Their anime availability seems like it's been suffering lately, though: there have been certain discs / shows that seem just plain impossible to get for months at a time. This has never happened to me until the last six months or so. I've never used Blockbuster's service so I can't really compare.

Not to be a grammar dick, but when the problem is right there in your headline, it's pretty noticeable. The plural of TV is TVs, not TV's. You don't need the apostrophe. http://apostrophe.me/