Blockbuster online movie rental service ?

[rlemmon]

Has anyone used blockbusters on line rental service. If so were you happy with it ? I am done with netflix. I am sick of waiting to or three weeks for a dvd.
Thanks

[AtomSmasher]

Netflix usually gets my movies within 1-2 days from when they sent them, when I switched to blockbuster it took 5-7 days.  It just depends on your location, some people will get great service from one, and some will get great service from the other.  If your not happy with netflix, then definately switch to blockbuster and see how it goes.  You can also turn in the movies they mail to you in the blockbuster stores and rent another movie from there for free, which helps a lot if your not getting the movies fast enough.

[Dervacumen]

We've been using Blockbuster for at least a year or so.  I've no complaints, and highly suggest it if you have a brick and mortar store around you.  We frequently take our 3 via-mail-movies to the store and exchange them for 3 other titles at no cost.

[rlemmon]

Atomsmasher,  It only takes 3 days for them to arrive when they send them. The thing is they don't send them. Every thing starts out ( in my que) as a short wait and then moves up to a very long wait.  The thing is they throttle there service, newer members get movies sent sooner while older members get backburnered. Its a dirty trick, Its in the fine print of the user agreement but i don't remember were.


Dervacumen , I don't have a blockbuster store. The only thing here is a video warehouse. Everything i rent from them skips and i have to make a trip back to get another copy. I think I will give blockbuster a try anyway. I rent too many movies for it to be cost effective for me to pay $4.00 a rental.

Thanks for you help guys.

[shmokes]

I've been a Netflix member for years and I've never felt like my service has been throttled.  It may have been, but my queue has over 400 titles in it.  All but two of them show an availability of "now" except two of them.  Numbers 200 and 269 in my queue show "Short Wait".

And I rip my movies and send them back without even watching them first, so I go through quite a lot of movies.  Whenever I read something like this I can't help but think that the throttling thing gets blown a bit out of proportion.  I think throttling only happens to titles that are in very high demand, and only to people who are sending them back so fast that it is obvious that they are ripping them.

Anyway, like others have said, your quality of service with either service is going to depend on your proximity to a distribution center.  That makes Netflix a better service for most people because they have more distribution centers than Blockbuster.  That said, I'd be pretty tempted to switch if there was a brick and morter Blockbuster in my town.

[ChadTower]

When I used netflix, whenever I started to turn movies around quickly, they'd start to take 3-4x longer to arrive.  I'd slow down, they'd take two days.  I'd send them back quickly again and it would take a week.

Then I used Blockbuster for about a year and it was great... better selection than you'd think and the ability to get in store rentals was very useful.

[AtomSmasher]

Atomsmasher,  It only takes 3 days for them to arrive when they send them. The thing is they don't send them. Every thing starts out ( in my que) as a short wait and then moves up to a very long wait.  The thing is they throttle there service, newer members get movies sent sooner while older members get backburnered. Its a dirty trick, Its in the fine print of the user agreement but i don't remember were.

Thats the reason why I switched from Netflix to Blockbuster, although I've since switched back.  If I remember right though, Netflix was sued a year or two ago for throttling its customers, so now they don't do that.

[shmokes]

I seem to recall that they were sued and so they had to stop throttling without telling the customers that this would happen.  I believe that they continue to throttle, albeit now with a disclaimer on the site saying as much.

[pointdablame]

around my area in NJ, they are both fairly quick.  I've used both now, and would just switch services whenever i felt i was being throttled.  Solved the problem for me.

Blockbuster's new Total Access is really cool though, I'd probably go with them if I were using a service right now since I have a lot of Blockbuster stores near me.

[LPZ]

Total Access is the best.  Take your mailed in dvds to the store to get new ones and when they scan you mailed ones, the warehouse sends you your next ones.  My wife got us in this and I didn't believe it, but it works.  That's why it's called total access.  We do the 2 dvd plan and we pass a blockbuster every 2-3 days or so, so the plan is great.

LPZ

[romperwomb]

I did try blockbuster about a year ago and it took longer to get my movies. About 5-7 days with them.  Netflix 1-2 days, but like others said it would depend on how close you are to the shipping depots.

I've never noticed any throttling with netflix, but I usually keep my movies about a week.   

I finally have access to the "Watch it Now" online movies on Netflix.  It's kinda meh.  The selection sucks so far.  But it is pretty awesome that it is included in with your normal service.

I'm still waiting for one of the two to start offering game rentals!  That would be great.

[AlanS17]

For what it's worth, I have Netflix and it's great. It doesn't take 2 days from the time they ship it. Rather, it only takes 2 days from the time I drop it in the mail. If I return a movie on Monday, I have a new one by Wednesday. Can't beat that. Plus the selection is better than Blockbuster for a lot of foreign films and anime. And I love the Netflix website. They only do one thing, and they do it extremely well.

I've never actually used Blockbuster online, but I like the idea. I may still give it a try. I expect the turn-around would be equally short with them. I live in DFW, and I think it's the corporate headquarters of Blockbuster.

For anyone with a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, you'd be crazy not to have such a service. Those discs simply cost too much to go out and buy. Yet renting them online costs the same as regular DVD's.

[boykster]

netflix for me is all about queue management and timing.  I have a large queue, and I continually add the upcoming releases to my queue by checking videoeta.com every few weeks.  Then I move the new titles for next week to the top spots, knowing that new dvd's almost always come out on tuesdays.

I mail my previous weeks movies back on friday, the receive them monday and mail out my new movies on mon/tues.  Even though the movies come out on tuesday, they offen issue new movies to customers on monday......

The timing is entirely dependant on transit time to/from you local netflix mailing depot.

A friend of mine uses a different technique.  He keeps his queue completely EMPTY.  He adds new movies to them the day he mails back his previous titles, and even if a movie is "short wait", because he doesn't have anything in his queue, he usually gets them anyway. 

[emerica]

I've had both and prefer blockbuster for the same reasons as some of you. I like the fact that I can take my movie to the store and get a new rental. I also like the in store coupons for free games.

Turn has usually been a day or two. I'm sure living a few miles from a distribution center has helped. Both services distribute from new brunswick in dirty jerz.

[Dartful Dodger]

Does Blockbuster online only carry movies with "family safe" edits?

[AlanS17]

Does Blockbuster online only carry movies with "family safe" edits?

You afraid they won't carry your favorite pornos?

[Dartful Dodger]

Does Blockbuster online only carry movies with "family safe" edits?

You afraid they won't carry your favorite pornos?

I own my favorite pornos.

I'm afraid they edit all their movies, no matter what they're rated.

[FrizzleFried]

I had Netflix...switched to Blockbuster...hated the website and the fact that they DON'T HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE NEW RELEASES LIST (at least a year and a half ago they didnt) so I switched back to Netflix.

[ChadTower]

I own my favorite pornos.

I'm afraid they edit all their movies, no matter what they're rated.

I've never heard of Blockbuster, as an online or retail service, doing anything of the sort.  Their retail selection usually implies that but that's more because they only carry 20 different titles in the store at any given point.

[AtomSmasher]

I own my favorite pornos.

I'm afraid they edit all their movies, no matter what they're rated.

I've never heard of Blockbuster, as an online or retail service, doing anything of the sort.  Their retail selection usually implies that but that's more because they only carry 20 different titles in the store at any given point.

I have heard that before, but a quick google shows it's only partially true.  Blockbuster doesn't edit the movies, they just request tamer edits of the movie from the studios.

http://www.coldfusionvideo.com/goodies/blockbuster.html

Blockbuster does not "edit" movies. To do so would be illegal, and lawsuits cost money. Instead, because they have enough outlets to give them considerable bargaining power, they negotiate with the distributors and studios to carry tamer, rated versions of unrated films

[AlanS17]

So they're like the Wal-Mart of online movie rental. That's still pretty lame.

[ChadTower]

No they're not.  They just don't carry unrated versions.  That is nothing like Wal-Mart.

[AlanS17]

Either way, I'll stick with Netflix until someone gives me a good reason to switch.

[FrizzleFried]

What ever happened with that NETFLIX class-action lawsuit?   I got an email saying they were going to bump me from 3 movies to 4 movies out at a time for x number of months,  but I never actually seen the benefit (as of yet)?!