Demise of DVD rental - advice on going on-demand

AVForums

Help Support AVForums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Maxfly1

AVForums Member
*
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
57
Reaction score
1
Location
Pretoria
Hi, with the demise of DVD rental shops (2 Silverstar branches in my vicinity have closed in quick succession) I now have no other choice but to join the streaming movement! Been old school up until now but time to move on. End of an era, reminiscent of the demise of the 1 hour photo labs.

I have done some searches on this forum and others but have not gotten a clear solution.

What I have: Samsung F8500 Smart TV, DSTV decoder (model before Explora) with DSTV Access subscription which I really would like to cancel, no use for Premium and additional Box Office costs. Box office is extremely limited and only available on Premium.
I do not have ADSL and fibre is not available in my area. I have not had a Telkom land line for 13 years ? I hate Telkom! I am also in the camp of 2-3 gig data/month, soon to change!

Requirement: Approx 4-6 movies (at least 720p quality and surround sound if possible) and some series watching per month. Sport is not an issue.

Legally it looks as if my only options for on demand watching are Netflix (with the reduced SA content) or Showmax.

Not sure if my requirement could be met using wireless internet e.g. Cell C LTE package (50 or 100 gig) as I would prefer not going ADSL if possible. Not sure which Telkom deal will enable the Showmax @ R99/m which does not deduct data but as stated I would like to not deal with Telkom.

If my TV can be used as the platform then that would be preferred otherwise I guess I need something like Apple TV. Using the TV as platform will only give stereo through ARC to my AVR (I think).

Music wise I am sorted at the moment ? whole CD collection ripped to ALAC using JRiver MC via PC USB to my Rotel pre-amp, still buying CD?s and the occasional purchases from HD Tracks and where I have no choice from iTunes 256 kbps.

Relying on expert advice here on the forum, will be much appreciated as I do not want to end up in the wrong contract(s) and being stuck in it for 2 years. I may be very possible that there are other option I do not even know about.

Netflix/Showmax - is it only live streaming or can it download in order to remove buffering problems? Please bear with me if I am asking stupid questions or things which are very obvious to many of you...

Thanks
 

Latest posts

Top