Heat

I'm seeing two different paid Netflix browser channels on Roku. Do you use one and if so, do you like it? Is the amount you pay a one-time charge, or a subscription?

Dan

I usually switch between the official Netflix browser and another one that cost $4.99. The name of it escapes me...

Anyway, it's good... not great. I like that it shows you which titles are going to be removed soon (and the exact date, no less!), along with which titles are going to be added in the coming weeks. There's also an option to convert your instant queue into multiple lists (ie: for different family members), but I haven't bothered doing that yet. Is it worth $5? I guess. It's only a one-time fee... or a yearly fee... I can't remember, actually. There's a "LITE" version of the browser, so you can try it out before you pay for it.

TheBigDave

I use the Instant Watch Browser for Netflix. I think it was $2.99 when I bought it. Don't know if they raised the price since then, but there's a free Lite version.

Anyways, I think it's worth every penny. Easily the best way to browse the Netflix streaming catalog. There are listings for Coming Soon and Expiring Soon. I love knowing which titles are expiring so I have a chance to watch them before they drop off my queue.

One of my favorite features is the View Related Titles link for each listing. It shows similar movies by Genre, Actor and Director. I've found some great stuff I would have otherwise missed.

I only have two minor gripes. When you add something to your Netflix queue, it takes about 15-20 seconds to register. That kinda drives me nuts. And I wish you could start watching the movie from there. Instead, you have to close the app, open the Netflix app, find the movie in your queue, and then you can watch the movie. But neither of these things are a big hassle.

Here's the designer's website. You can see a couple screenshots and get more info.

http://roku.permanence.com/

Heat

I wish that the Food Network channel was still available. Oh well.

Anyway, the Instant Watch Browse channel is the main one I see, and I think it's just $2.99. I'll go ahead and get it, I'll get $2.99 worth of use out of it. There is a second browser called "MultiQs Supercharge Netflix", for "less than $5 per year" so it has a recurring charge which I don't like.

And here is the catastrophergirl's roku channel list showing the private channels, a good resource:

http://catastrophegirlsrokuchanneldata.blogspot.com/

TheBigDave

I tried MultiQs when it first came out. I think the first month was free or something. Anyways, I didn't like it. I don't remember why. But I quickly went back to using the Instant Watch Browser.

TheBigDave

I had the Food Network and HGTV apps. They weren't very good. It was just pulling videos from the website. Most of the videos were just short clips in low quality.

But if you really wanted it, I think you can still get it using Playon. I've got HGTV and Travel Channel on my Playon. I think there's probably a script somewhere for the Food Network.

printerati

Another vote for the Instant Watch Browser. I check it several times a week to get an idea of what's coming soon, and especially what's expiring soon. The $2.99 was worth it just to know why things were disappearing out of my instant queue.

islandclaws

I just downloaded the Instand Watch Browser the other day and love it. WAY better than the Netflix interface. I've already found loads of titles I wouldn't have caught otherwise. Well worth the $3.

gmerreighnjr

MultiQs is good that i can make a folder for my kids and a folder for me and my wife and seperate what's in each one and it will launch your choice right from MultiQs instead of backing out and launching Netflix seperately

they've made some recent changes to what content can be viewed by a member of your account and you can now add movies from the Netflix website to a specific folder in Multis which is awesome--definitly worth the price

cungar

I've always wondered how these third party apps gain access to the Netflix database. Is it open source or something?

TheBigDave

http://developer.netflix.com/