Netflix and "Rental" Disks

[ChadTower]

I'm still waiting for DSL or FIOS to be available.  That sort of access in my home is a pipe dream.

[RayB]

That sort of access in my home is a pipe dream.

Tubes dream.

[shmokes]

Wow.  I've been seeing something much closer to zero percent on my netflix rentals.  I think I've had one cracked disk and one that skipped a couple of times but was otherwise fully playable.  Everything else I've ever received from them has been flawless.

That was 3-4 years ago now.  It's not like you can tell by looking that a disc is going to fail towards the end of the movie.  Not like my DVD player was crappy, either as it was consistent across 3 of them and a couple PCs.  That's why I got into XBMC and started streaming everything.  It's a little more upfront effort but LAN streaming just works once set up.

My rate of bad Netflix discs was probably more like 5-7%.  But maaaaaaan . . . when you're an hour and a half into a movie and then suddenly . . . screetch . . . unreadable.  It just ---smurfing--- erases the other 93% of just-fine discs.  And it feels like it's happening like every other time.  That also factored into my use of XBMC.  Though I was already using it, I made it a policy that I would never watch a Netflix disc in the player.  If it failed during the ripping process I'd just tell Netflix to send another copy and I'd pop the bad disc in the mail, no harm done.  It was watching a good portion of the movie only to have the movie suddenly and unexpectedly cut off that just made my blood boil. 

Still love Netflix, though.  Don't get me wrong.

[ChadTower]

It was watching a good portion of the movie only to have the movie suddenly and unexpectedly cut off that just made my blood boil. 

Exactly.   I don't keep a library of movies around so it's not worth going to all the effort of ripping a disc just to watch it once.  I only watch a couple a month and often it takes more than one sitting.  I don't keep the TV on in the background while doing other things.    I rarely watch a movie more than once.

BTW, tried Redbox recently.  First disc I got we set up the cart to watch outdoors on the big screen.  45 minutes into the movie, bam, unplayable.   

[shmokes]

it's not worth going to all the effort of ripping a disc just to watch it once. 

I've got a pretty fast computer.  Ripping a movie only takes about 10 minutes.  And the effort of ripping only takes about 30 seconds on my part.  I can just delete it if it was crap.

[Malenko]

That sort of access in my home is a pipe dream.

Tubes dream.

 

[ChadTower]

Keep a bottle of polishing wax around. 

Tried that too.  Toothpaste, novus, etc.  Sometimes it would get us ten more minutes into the movie.

shmokes, ripping takes ten minutes on a readable DVD.  Being unreadable is an issue with unreadable discs, yes?

[shmokes]

Yes, but you'll find that learning the disc is unreadable before watching half the movie produces something more akin to indifference rather than the feelings of unbridled rage and hatred that are produced by having the movie pixelate and then freeze halfway through a viewing.  It really makes all the difference.

[Mikezilla]

All of my expieriences with Redbox have been terrible, granted, it was only 3 times, but still. 3 strikes and youre out. F you Redbox!  3 dollars down the tubes! 

[knave]

All of my expieriences with Redbox have been terrible, granted, it was only 3 times, but still. 3 strikes and youre out. F you Redbox!  3 dollars down the tubes! 

I've had the opposite experience, Used Redbox for the past two years never had a bad disk. I did have to call their customer service twice though. Both times I got to an agent quickly and they took care of the issue. Not bad for a buck per movie. I like the instant gratification. They have the new releases that netflix streaming doesn't...so between the two I can watch anything.

I'm sure if you called them they would refund your $3.

[boykster]

I've never used Redbox, but i to use XBMC and pre-qualify the movies (ie test that they are good on a PC) before I start watching them.  I completely agree, there's nothing worse that getting an hour into a movie and having it crap out on you. 

[ChadTower]

Yes, but you'll find that learning the disc is unreadable before watching half the movie produces something more akin to indifference rather than the feelings of unbridled rage and hatred that are produced by having the movie pixelate and then freeze halfway through a viewing.  It really makes all the difference.

It's better but it isn't good enough.  All of this rapidly advancing technology and they still don't pay enough attention to 100% reliable content.  What good is a fancy setup if you have trouble getting the damn content?

[shmokes]

Well, of course, you're opting for the compromise to save money.  If you purchase your movies outright you will have your 100% reliable content.  In the end, you're opting for a used product rather than a new one, and with used products you always run a much higher chance of defects.  If you're REALLY jonesing to see a particular movie there will still be disappointment if the rip fails and you have to wait another day or two to get a replacement.  But that's never an issue for me.  I don't watch movies nearly as fast as they come, so if it doesn't work there's always a line of other movies waiting for me that I've been wanting to see.  And then, the failure rate is really low (and even seems as low as it is when it doesn't stick you in the middle of watching a movie).

[Gray_Area]

My gripe is sometimes the reverse: I want to skip to the movie menu, but that feature is grayed out.

[shmokes]

Just one more reason to rip before you watch.

[Havok]

Hey shmokes - what program do you use to rip?

[shmokes]

DVDFab.  It's excellent. 

[Ginsu Victim]

DVDFab.  It's excellent. 

+1

[ChadTower]

I've got a pretty fast computer.  Ripping a movie only takes about 10 minutes.  And the effort of ripping only takes about 30 seconds on my part.  I can just delete it if it was crap.

2.8ghz, 2gb ram.  Just dropped my DVD of The Dark Knight in there and started DVDFab.  Two hours fifty minutes.   

[drventure]

I generally rip the movie using DVDFab free version, then use Vob2mpg to convert to an MPG file, then transfer it over to my tivo and I can watch/pause/etc as much as I want, easily.

When I'm done with it, delete.

I generally don't watch movies over and over, so I don't really keep any ripped movies for long.

And for my daughter, even though we own the dvd's, I rip them to TIVO so she can easily pick, watch/pause them without having to mess with the disks. a 320gb drive in a TIVO series 2 is a wonderfull thing (though I'm getting to a point where I'm +really+ eyeballing a Tivo HD and upgrading to 2 2tb drives....

[ChadTower]

I still run two series II DirecTivos here.  Great devices once you get content sharing reenabled on them.  Can't transfer outside content onto them as drventure describes, though.

[jamesjones626]

I've got a pretty fast computer.  Ripping a movie only takes about 10 minutes.  And the effort of ripping only takes about 30 seconds on my part.  I can just delete it if it was crap.

2.8ghz, 2gb ram.  Just dropped my DVD of The Dark Knight in there and started DVDFab.  Two hours fifty minutes.   

  Is there something wrong with your computer?  It shouldn't even come close to taking that long to rip

[shmokes]

+1

That's seriously wonky.   It shouldn't take fifty minutes on that machine, let alone two hours fifty.  I'm guessing at the least you've got it set to double-pass rip, which takes twice as long as single pass (and doesn't yield nearly enough improvement to justify doubling the time, imo).  Even at half the time, though, it's taking way longer than it should on that machine.  My machine is 2.66 Ghz, though it's a Core i7 so it's a fast 2.66 Ghz.  And I have a ton of RAM.  Like I say, my rips usually don't take more than 10 or 11 minutes.  You may not be running a Core i7, but it shouldn't be taking more than 15 times as long to rip a movie.

[ChadTower]

That was the estimated time.  Turns out the actual duration was 2:04.  One pass conversion, fixed bitrate 1311kbps, audio 64kbps.  Basically the default divx/mp3 settings.  I wonder if this particular disc has extra encryption on it.  Target hard drive is usb2.0, too.  That could matter.

Just popped in Texas Chainsaw Massacre to test a movie with a lot less data and/or encryption.  Estimated time an hour nineteen minutes.

It's a straight P4 2.8, I believe.

[knave]

That P4 is not near as fast as that i7, I'd expect that P4 to rip a regular DVD in about an hour.

[ChadTower]

Just got back home.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre disc took 89 minutes.

[J_K_M_A_N]

Is everyone talking about ripping AND converting a movie? My system takes about 5-8 minutes to rip a movie and another hour or so to convert to xvid (depending on length). if you are talking about ripping a movie and it is taking a long time you may have to remove the rip lock on your dvd drive. Go here for the instructions and firmwares. Personally, I download a firmware and use this to see if you can unlock it. It can sometimes alter the firmware for you. Even a factory released one. Not always though.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

J_K_M_A_N

[ChadTower]

Yes, ripping from DVD-VOB to Xvid AVI.  I don't have the type of disc space to keep around noncompressed movies.

[J_K_M_A_N]

That is what I thought but I just wanted to make sure. I know some people don't know about rip lock and it can take an hour to just rip a movie.

J_K_M_A_N