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Netflix competition for blu-rays
DiabloDude
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm finally capable of enjoying 1080p blu-rays, and get most of the movies I watch from Netflix. They charge about $19/month now to have 3 dvds out. They want $4 more per month to "add blu-ray access."
Is netflix still my best option for movies-by-mail in blu-ray? Are there competing companies worth looking at?
Is netflix still my best option for movies-by-mail in blu-ray? Are there competing companies worth looking at?
DiabloDude on
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Netflix is still the best option. I've looked at other possibilities, but nothing compared. Especially when you factor in the streaming selection Netflix offers (yes, even despite the lack of HD for most streaming selections, it is very much worth it).
Huh? Last I checked (like a year ago) the selection for streaming movies to a pc was pretty bad...
I just looked again, and it's great! Interesting.
My 360 was stolen a couple years ago (its a long story...) Now I have a PS3. Will a PS3 stream movies from netflix? Maybe it's a stupid question, I don't know. I haven't played many video games in at least a few years. That's way down from 3+ hours a day during about half my life... BUT, I haven't really been in the mood to see what all can be done with a PS3. Online or off. I've just set it up to display 1080p on my Panasonic plasma and putting out 5.1 sound to my receiver. Plays movies great.
Also, there's a Blockbuster just down the street from where I live. Should I even bother looking at their movies-by-mail service? Advertised upside is the ability to check things out and return them at the store... Without waiting for the mail to come and go. Downside I've heard is that they just don't have the selection you get with netflix. Has anyone compared their service and prices?
I used the Blockbuster service a while back for about 2 months. Movies rarely came in the order I had them in my queue, and far more often I would receive something 5-10 selections down. This would be acceptable if it meant I was getting movies faster, but I'd be getting something that was like 11th in my queue and it would be coming to me from Texas, or California (I'm in Chicago). The last straw was when I was sent discs for a television series out of order on more than 1 occasion, "Really? You sent me disc 3 of season 2 of X show and I'm still waiting for discs 1 and 2 from you? And you sent it from California so it took 2-3 days longer to get here? Really?" I had complained after the first time it happened, and got a couple of freebie in store rentals or something like that. When it happened again a week or two later I'd had enough.
Factor in things like the crap selection compared to Netflix, and the in-store exchange option wasn't nearly enough to make the Blockbuster program worthwhile.
http://www.themediamall.com/playon/plugins
PlayOn is one such software you can use, as plugged a couple times on the PA newspost. I have a 360, so I couldn't really comment too much from personal experience on how great it is.
BTW, I've decided to check the box that adds blu-ray access and $4/month to my account on Netflix. It is now done.
Gabe & Tycho like PlayOn enough to plug it periodically on the front page. I tried it during their Beta test period - when it worked, it was fantastic, but I had numerous problems/times where it just didn't function at all. I got the impression that I was in the minority based on discussions with other testers and the forums, but I never was able to get it working perfectly before the beta testing ended.
Alternatively, add a bunch of blu-ray movies, put them all at the top of your queue, and when they run out, turn it off and go back to DVD only until you build up more blus you want to watch.
I have a friend who's never complained about the wait times or the selection from Blockbuster (he too had a Blockbuster right down the street) and he never mentioned receiving things out of order. He lives in the Cincinnati Ohio area though so it may just be a question of location. One other side benefit that apparently comes with the Blockbuster plan is that my friend gets one or two vouchers a month that allow him to get a free game rental from the physical Blockbuster store.
Still, I wouldn't trade my Netflix for that. The 360 streaming is really great too since my TV doesn't support input from a PC and my PC monitor is a little small to watch/stream movies with groups of people.