How to get more value from Netflix

Netflix customers have announced -- loud and clear -- how upset they are about the latest price increase. Customers who continue to combine streaming and DVD rental will see a 60% price increase on or after Sept. 1.

A customer who's billed $9.99 a month now for unlimited streaming and one mailed DVD at a time will pay $15.98 -- $7.99 each for streaming and one-at-a-time DVDs. Big price increase. Same service.

Sure, we could quit Netflix in disgust, as many have threatened. But when we consider all the alternatives available -- we gave up paid TV more than a year ago and don't plan to go back -- we still prefer Netflix's service. The question now is: How can we get more value from it? Post continues after video.

Consider these options:

Go streaming only. That's $7.99 a month, less than you're paying right now. Streaming-only is what Netflix wants you to do because it's more profitable than putting movies in the mail. The downside is that the streaming selection is limited. Fewer than half the movies and TV shows in my queue are available for streaming.

However, that's what Julie Rains of Wise Bread said she's going to do:

When I told my family that Netflix prices were increasing, I gave them the option of choosing DVD or streaming (rather than both). The fast, unanimous decision was "streaming." The truth is that we use the streaming option more often because of its convenience, despite the deeper selection available on DVD.

Optimize that streaming experience. Will Chen of Wise Bread turned us on to instantwatcher.com, which tells you what's being made available for Netflix streaming and what's about to drop off. That's how I found out that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was in Netflix streaming mode.

Go DVDs only, a good alternative for people who aren't optimally equipped for streaming. Michael at The Dough Roller has updated his post on how to get the most value from Netflix's DVD-only plans, reflecting the new prices. Let's say we can make time to watch one DVD a night (unlikely in summer but very doable in wintertime). The one-DVD-at-a-time plan will provide nine nights of entertainment for a total monthly cost of $7.99, or 89 cents each, he says. If we move to the two-DVD plan, for $11.99 a month, we can watch 18 movies (if we use separate return) for a cost of 67 cents each. With the three-DVD plan at $15.99, that jumps to 27 discs at 59 cents apiece.

That's one cent more than the price of streaming plus one DVD, and much cheaper than Redbox (plus we don't have to leave the house).

Take a break from Netflix. You can suspend your membership when you don't think you'll be watching many flicks -- like the summer months. According to the Hacking Netflix blog, Netflix will store your queue for up to two years if you suspend, quit or switch to streaming only.

Or you can do nothing and pay the higher cost. Or quit. That's what James K. Willcox of Consumer Reports is contemplating.

At the very least, I'll be checking out other options, such as Redbox Blu-ray rentals, and other streaming services such as Hulu Plus and Amazon (free with Amazon Prime). I already have access to Vudu on several devices, and its HDX format offers better picture quality than I can get with Netflix.

Which option are you going with?

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