Quality children's programming / paying for Hulu Plus

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jonathan18

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#141285 7-Mar-2014 11:04

Hey - a couple of questions I hoped readers may be able to help with:

Kids' programming

I signed up to trials of both Netflix and Hulu Plus this week, having purchased an Apple TV; I had hoped that, as well as serving (much) of the viewing needs of me and my partner, there'd be a good range of kids' programming.

By "range" I mean not just more cartoons, but programmes of at least some educational value - and preferably with real people! Ever since Kidszone left Freeview, the range available for my kids (2.5 and 6) to watch has got terribly narrow. I've looked through the programming on Netflix and Hulu and can't find much with any "educational" content, and certainly few kids' programmes that aren't cartoons.

Am I looking in the wrong place - is there stuff which I haven't found? Would Netflix UK (or other providers) offer better options in this regard?

Paying for Hulu Plus

Having read the various threads on this, I'm aware of the issues surrounding paying for Hulu Plus; I was surprised therefore that I was able to sign up for the week's free trial with my standard NZ (National Bank, ie ANZ) credit card. Is it that Hulu will always/sometimes accept the credit card for the trial period, but reject it when it tries to debit the first payment?

If it does reject the NZ card, is the best alternative using a One Smart card? I have one but have never activated it, so only want to go down the avenue if it's the best option (and this will only be if we go with Hulu rather than Netflix; currently I'm still concerned that Hulu is missing many of the shows we'd watch and, if they do have them, often they're missing many of the recent series).

Thanks in advance for any replies.

trig42

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#1000674 7-Mar-2014 11:52

Not sure about the kids content sorry, but I signed up for both Hulu Plus and Netflix.

I cancelled Hulu shortly after - I just found it didn't have that much I wanted to watch. What was there seemed pretty up to date, but it was very US based (unsurprisingly) and it had ads.

Otagolad

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#1001831 9-Mar-2014 19:09

A couple of suggestions:

1. Assuming your using unblockus or similar, download the BBC iPlayer app on your iPhone/iPad (assume you have these as you have an apple tv) and stream the cBeebies channel to your apple tv - do this by starting the cBeebies programme on the iPhone/iPad and then airplay it to the apple TV - there's heaps of good kids content on there.

2. Search in Hulu/Netflix for PBS kids programming.

3. in addition to an apple TV get a Roku 3 and it had the PBS Kids channel.

jonathan18

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#1002024 10-Mar-2014 10:54

trig42: I cancelled Hulu shortly after - I just found it didn't have that much I wanted to watch. What was there seemed pretty up to date, but it was very US based (unsurprisingly) and it had ads.

We've come to the same conclusion after about three days! Based on the intrusion of the ads alone, plus not seeing a huge advantage in content, we're going to drop Hulu Plus and stick with Netflix.

Otagolad: A couple of suggestions:

1. Assuming your using unblockus or similar, download the BBC iPlayer app on your iPhone/iPad (assume you have these as you have an apple tv) and stream the cBeebies channel to your apple tv - do this by starting the cBeebies programme on the iPhone/iPad and then airplay it to the apple TV - there's heaps of good kids content on there.

2. Search in Hulu/Netflix for PBS kids programming.

3. in addition to an apple TV get a Roku 3 and it had the PBS Kids channel.

Useful information, thanks. We're using Getflix, which does provide access to BBC on demand content; I confirmed this as the video plays fine on the iPad via the browser. Still I'll have to set up yet another iTunes account (a UK one) to enable us to download the iPad app but will try this out this evening (can I use the same email address for different iTunes accounts? I'm assuming not, given log-in is based on email address.) I'll also try Channel 4 for other children's content.

I am really surprised how little child-focused content isn't animated - I'd imagine the BBC stuff will give me the widest range for such content. I'm just totally sick of my kids watching cartoons - and Netflix has just given them a wider range of the same kind of programming! That said, for them getting an iPad has simply meant another way of delivering video, as they'll choose Youtube et al over playing a game (which I'd be much happier with). We're planning on buying them an Android tablet for Xmas as I think this will be much easier to control what and how much they consume - would that be a fair call? iPads seem to suck in this area.

Otagolad

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#1002068 10-Mar-2014 11:45

The BBC is far better with "non-animated" stuff - my kids are younger and they love "I Can Cook" for example, which is far better in my mind than "SpongeBob" etc. Also, if you love programmes like Top Gear etc. you'll be able to watch them as soon as they air in the UK.

I think you'll need a separate email address - I have UK, US and NZ iTunes accounts and each has its own email address.

As regards Hulu+, I think it is excellent, however that is because our family was previously based overseas in an area where all the programming was the USA channels (we even had Dish Network) so on our return here we found it very difficult to have to wait 6 to 9 months before the current season in the USA would start in NZ, let alone the time for brand new shows to air. We now watch our favourite USA programmes the day following their airing in the USA - my wife loves that she can watch Grey's Anatomy and Revenge the day after they've been shown in the USA.

If it wasn't for the Rugby and Cricket on SKY we would cancel SKY and just go with Freeview HD and Netflix and Hulu+ with BBC, ITV and Channel 4 from the UK.

surfisup1000

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#1002123 10-Mar-2014 14:05

Otagolad:
If it wasn't for the Rugby and Cricket on SKY we would cancel SKY and just go with Freeview HD and Netflix and Hulu+ with BBC, ITV and Channel 4 from the UK.

Me too.At least with respect to cancelling sky.

sultanoswing

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#1002488 10-Mar-2014 23:36

surfisup1000:
Otagolad:
If it wasn't for the Rugby and Cricket on SKY we would cancel SKY and just go with Freeview HD and Netflix and Hulu+ with BBC, ITV and Channel 4 from the UK.

Me too.At least with respect to cancelling sky.

So do you guys wanna be guinea pigs and get rugby.livesport.tv and / or Willow TV (http://www.willow.tv/EventMgmt/Default.asp) for cricket, and let us know if we can all just ditch Sky? :)

Coil

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#1002504 10-Mar-2014 23:42

sultanoswing:
surfisup1000:
Otagolad:
If it wasn't for the Rugby and Cricket on SKY we would cancel SKY and just go with Freeview HD and Netflix and Hulu+ with BBC, ITV and Channel 4 from the UK.

Me too.At least with respect to cancelling sky.

So do you guys wanna be guinea pigs and get rugby.livesport.tv and / or Willow TV (http://www.willow.tv/EventMgmt/Default.asp) for cricket, and let us know if we can all just ditch Sky? :)

Eww Cricket..

The Rugby link doesnt work.

This looks interesting:
http://www.time4tv.com/2011/06/bbc-one.php

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sultanoswing

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#1003072 11-Mar-2014 22:36

Sorry, try www.rugby.livesport.tv :)