Netflix vs. Satellite TV: Netflix Wins!

Ever since I bought my 50" plasma flat screen, I've been examining ways to pipe some content into it. I don't have cable or satellite television feeding it right now, and the analog broadcasts are pretty much out of the question at my location. Blockbuster is right around the corner, but that can add up, and the public library has only so many DVDs. What to do?

I had information on hand for two possibilities: satellite television (any network you can think of) or Netflix. It was a matter of weighing pro's and con's versus the reality of my lifestyle.

Of course, satellite TV seems like a great pick: instant variety, flick it on and there it is, cheaper than renting DVDs all the time. For a very basic package, it would run me about $40 per month. For a few dollars more, I could get a DVR to go with it.

Netflix, on the other hand, obviously lots less. For about $17, I can have up to three of their DVDs at once, and I can receive an unlimited number of them throughout the month (as long as I send back at least one of the three I have on hand).

But here's the thing: I work. Lots. As in, I'm home often enough to cook some dinner and maybe catch a movie or one or two hour-long TV shows. So it comes down to a question of access. By that, I don't mean the possibility of seeing X, Y, or Z production on whichever network, but of being there at all to even flick on the TV in the first place.

Immediately, satellite TV loses a lot of its appeal. While it does provide access to tons of networks and promgramming, what good is any of that if I can't be home to see it? Sure, I could have the DVR record it, but I still have to have time to watch what it records. If I don't get to it in time and the next episode of whatever show rolls around, and if the DVR is clogged by this point, now what?

And that's at least $40 each month.

Netflix, on the other hand, can put three DVDs in my lap at the same time. If I can't be around to watch any of them, no biggie. If an entire month went by and I couldn't watch any of them at all, still no biggie. They take my $17 and just wait for me to mail back one or all of the DVDs I have.

So I've come to a certain conclusion, and now I have Netflix. For a lot less money than satellite TV, I get something that I can watch only as often as the latter, but that will not run out of recording room or otherwise expire on me. I'm just as entertained as I would have been otherwise, but I'm saving roughly $23 each month.

This is good stuff to think about when the latest whizbang gadget is being dangled in front of your eyes: do you even have time to really enjoy it? Examine this closely as you may find that there are better uses for your money that deliver as much enjoyment as an alternative (the alternative may really just cost more while not being available to you because of whatever else you do anyway).