STC

Need some help here guys. Need opinions on DVD rental services.
Mods can move this if its in the wrong forum, but I dont know where this goes.

Currently I use Blockbuster Online. Been using there for 4-5 yrs now. I pay $13/month for 2 DVDs (Blu Ray or DVD doesn't matter) sent to my home, I can take those DVDs back to the store and take out 2 more DVDs, then the next DVDs in my queue will be sent to me. Also I get 2 in store only rental coupons each month. Reason I want to change services is that my closest Blockbuster just closed down, and the closest one to me now is 20 mins away. I dont want to drive that far and I do not want to do RedBox.

I have researched Netflix, I know its $7.99/month for unlimited streaming + an optional $2/month for 1 physical DVD mailed to my home at a time. Here are my issues:
* I dont have a PS3 or XBox to stream Netflix content (I'm thinking of buying one though cause theres a lot of games I want to play now)
* My TV and Blu Ray player doesnt allow streaming.
* If I stream through the Wii, it only does 480p.

The most important thing is that my wife likes the bonus content on DVDs.
If I do get Netflix, does the streaming content have bonus features?

Any other DVD renting services out there that you guys use and can recommend?.

Eddie W

It's important to note the Netflix streaming & a physical DVD rental service is NOT the same thing. On Netflix streaming the options are limited to more obscure movies, older titles, and TV shows. You won't see a new release showing up on realease day as a streaming option. Also the quality varies from horrible to ok.

You also do not get bonus content. There are some advantages however. You'll sometimes get movies streamed that are not on physical disc, or in HD that aren't out on Blu Ray. For instance, last night I doscovered that "That 70's Show" is available streaming in HD 16x9, even though it has never been released like that on any physical format.

It's also worth noting that many studios now mandate a 28 day lag between release date & the date Netflix can provide for (physical) rental. Blockbuster has day & date rentals.

thelonelyisland

Both Redbox & Netflix have a 28 Day new release wait and Redbox/Netflix/Blockbuster only have Rental Editions for rental. I went to a gas station and they had an orange box called "Spot." and it had brand new releases and if you rent 2 DVDs, it's 89cents a disc. And the DVDs are not rental editions, all have special features. And the blu-rays are also 89cents when you rent two.
$1 when you rent 1.

STC

I didnt realize there is a 28 day lag for new movies. That isnt good, and may be a deal breaker. We dont go crazy watching movies, but, I like to watch new movies within 1-2 weeks of release.

critterdvd

Sadly the 28-day wait is just a fact of life anymore when it comes to netflix and almost all rental outlets. Even my local 'mom and pop' place has stopped stocking titles until their 4th week of release.

STC

Blockbuster has DVDs for rent the day they are released.

Rexxriot

The library. It's free and you should be able to get stuff from other libraries, so the selection should be pretty good. It's probably not the fastest way to get new releases though. For instance, I put in a request for Machete around when it was released in early January and it just came in for me last Saturday. If you're patient, it's great.

orangerunner

Here is an article from the Vancouver Sun newspaper outlining a DVD rental service that streams the DVD content over the internet from their place of business in California.

It doesn't sound like a very practical idea from the company's perspective as they would require lots of physical space and staff to load and unload thousands of DVD players 24 hours a day.

It's rather long but an interesting read:



Movie buffs in Canada don’t have as many choices as their American neighbours when it comes to catching a recent flick at home.

However, a California company could be changing that with a new Internet movie service that gives you all the selection and features of renting a DVD from your local store or kiosk.

Except the movies are a bargain at two bucks a pop or $1 per movie if you pay for packs of 10, undercutting the price for most new-release DVD rentals and digital-on-demand services from iTunes, cable companies and others.

The DVD doesn’t sit in the player in your living room but instead at Zediva headquarters in California’s Silicon Valley, where DVD players by the hundreds are waiting for you to choose one and take over the controls, just as if you had picked up the DVD at your local rental shop.

It’s like holding a remote control for a DVD player that’s in California, while the movie streams through the Internet to play on your computer or TV screen.

So far movie watchers love it.

“We had a terrific response; suffice it to say it was far larger than anything we expected,” said Zediva founder and CEO Venky Srinivasan.

It’s not rocket science — although Srinivasan has a PhD in chemical engineering and was at one time a rocket scientist at NASA — but a fairly low-tech solution to a digital dilemma: How to rent and watch new movies online as soon as they’re available on DVD and with a price and convenience factor that will draw customers away from existing services.

Zediva’s solution bypasses limitations on the digital delivery of movies. Yet Srinivasan says the company is no different from the local video rental store that buys copies of movies and rents them out. Zediva offers new releases at the same time video stores get them, a shortcoming for services such as Netflix that offer a monthly all-you-can-watch subscription but with content only new to you if you haven’t stepped inside a movie theatre for a few years.

The innovation has struck a chord with consumers who swamped the Zediva website when New York Times columnist David Pogue wrote about the service as it emerged from beta this month to take on public registrations. Demand quickly exceeded supply and Zediva had to start wait-listing new customers while it worked feverishly on building capacity. It’s still taking people on its waiting list and while Srinivasan wouldn’t disclose numbers, he said they are working through the list.

Srinivasan regards Zediva as just another step forward in the evolution of DVD rentals. First you had to go to a store to rent a DVD, then services such as Netflix and others offered movies by mail, and kiosks in Safeway followed.

“We think of ourselves as the next evolution in the chain, to bring DVDs to customers over the Internet,” said Srinivasan.

Just like movie rental stores, Zediva buys copies of the movies it rents out and like a store, only has so many copies to share around before it runs out.

“Our focus is on the latest movies, the top 100 movies,” said Srinivasan.

With consumers given the option of watching a movie any time over a 14-day period and the ability to check a movie in and out over that time without paying extra, there’s probably a far quicker turnaround than there is with rental DVDs piling up on the kitchen counter waiting for someone to return them.

Asked if he expects any objections from the movie industry, Srinivasan said his company is just doing what video rental shops have been doing for years.

“It is not a digital copy, this is fully authorized DVDs we have purchased on the open market,” said Srinivasan.

“We have budgeted lots of money, we plan to buy lots of DVDs. We hope they will think of us as a large and important customer.”

I signed into Zediva recently and the choice was comparable to a video rental shop. From the top 10 latest releases, which were all available when I signed in, I clicked on The Fighter, which recently won two Academy Awards and was nominated for seven. Within a few minutes, the DVD recorder assigned to me had the movie running and I could operate the controls just as if the DVD was in the player sitting by my TV. I started to watch it, checked it back in to get back to work and was able to check it out again the next evening. The player will resume where you left off viewing if you choose that option.

MrSmearkase

Yup, another vote for the library here.

Travis McClain

I love Netflix. If I'm eager about a specific title I can always check out the Blu-ray Disc or DVD version. Streaming is awfully convenient, though. We stream through the Wii and are generally contented by the quality. We don't have HD service from DirecTV, and I think the Netflix streaming looks better than our SD satellite picture. It's generally comparable to DVDs (though sometimes it can be dreadful; last year's Alice in Wonderland was so bad it kept me from really getting into the movie).

The selection is the big concern about Netflix streaming. If you're focused primarily on recent, mainstream hits you'll be very disappointed. But if you're curious about lesser known titles, there are a lot of gems to be found. I've seen numerous movies in the last year that I hadn't even heard of previously, and I would never have made an active effort to watch them on disc. But there's something to be said about the convenience of streaming. I find myself far likelier to indulge a whim and take a chance on a movie through streaming.

As for the bonus content, it's not available for streaming on Netflix. Interestingly, though, if you're into the Criterion Collection, their catalog is going up on Hulu and their bonus features apparently are being included along with the main features. The downside is that the Criterion Collection is behind a paywall; you've got to pay $7.99 a month for access to it. (Actually, the biggest downside is that the arrangement is exclusive and the Criterion titles currently available for streaming from Netflix are being removed by year's end.)

I'm perfectly satisfied with the streaming library, but I can appreciate the complaints others have about its selection. I'm content to stream movies to see what they're about and whether I like them, and if I respond strongly I then know to look for them on DVD later, where I can explore any bonus content. Also, it's worth noting that some streaming titles aren't even available on disc. Some are out of print, some are MOD only; others just haven't even had a disc release.

Lastly, I echo the support for your local library. Even if the selection is small today, support for expanding DVD selection has been strong in the last few years. And while I'm on the topic, I'd encourage those of you who go through periodic purges to trim your libraries to consider donating titles to your local branch. We can't always wait for someone else to improve things.

davidh777

Probably best suited for the store forum, where we have threads for Netflix etc.

I've had Netflix for over 10 years (used the trial when I got my DVD player, I think). I'm satisfied with the service though not thrilled with the delayed new releases and the price hikes. I finally realized I wasn't cycling through the discs fast enough and went from a four-out plan to two. Even though I was grandfathered into a cheaper four-out plan, it was still expensive, especially when I added Blu-ray.

Streaming I consider a bonus. I don't find a ton of things I want to watch on there but my kid does. And yes, it's all catalog releases. You won't find new releases free when you have to pay for them a la carte on itunes or Amazon.

Long story short: Not thrilled with the spend, but still subscribing and haven't bothered to look for anything better.

thelonelyisland

my library charges $1 for old releases; $2 for new releases. they lowered the prices last year from $2 for old; $3 for new. I liked it better when they had all dvds for $1.

Quatermass

Be advised, as more and more people adopt streaming, the cable providers will have to start "metering" your connection and charging you accordingly, so streaming will most likely not be free. There's simply not enough bandwidth to allow everyone in the US to download as much as they want all the time. This probably won't happen in the next year or two though.

orangerunner

Often your cable provider is also your internet provider. This company does not want to see their cable revenue shrink so it's in their best interest to meter your internet useage and charge you proportionately.