Back in the olden days of the video era, the only way to rent a movie was to drive to a brick-and-mortar store to pick up a tape or (later) a DVD. Nowadays, we can get discs shipped to us by mail or instantly stream movies from the convenience of the internet. Which of the major rental services do you, our video-savvy readers, prefer to rent your movies from?
I don’t do a whole lot of renting, personally. I’ve always had a collector’s mentality and prefer to buy rather than rent. However, sometimes I just want to catch up with a questionable new release without the burden or expense of buying a movie that I may not feel worth owning.
As a dyed-in-the-wool videophile, I prioritize quality over convenience or price. As such, I was never much satisfied with the artifact-ridden Netflix streaming options. Fortunately, I found VUDU, which offers near-Blu-ray quality streaming, as well as 5.1 sound on almost all movies. (I rented ‘Source Code’ this past weekend, and it looked pretty great.) While it may be more expensive than Netflix, for the amount of renting I do, I feel that it’s worth the money.
Where do you do most of your renting? You can vote for multiple options if you’d like.
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Phillip Lozen
My local library has Blu-rays and does a pretty solid job of getting new releases.
Prayformojo
I am trying to give RedBox a go, but they seriously lack in the blu-ray department. Wish my library had the Blu-rays, but I can’t complain they have a great video game collection.
Alex
Family Video is pretty big out here in the midwest. They usually have a decent selection and their older movies are either $1 for five nights or (for the crappy ones) 2/$1 for five nights. They also rent kids’ movies for free, send oodles of coupons in the mail, and give teenagers free rentals for every ‘A’ on their report cards. It’s a pretty darn good deal, and with the death of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, they have a lock on the in-store market near me.
Jane Morgan
Netflix. 250 blu-rays per year. I don’t see the point of anything else.
I taught my kids the golden rule. If it’s not 1080p, we don’t watch it.
Alex
Do old TV shows get a pass on that? Missing out on ST:TNG sounds like a rough childhood. 🙂
Luke Britt
But a less-nerdy childhood, for sure.;^)
EM
Rumors abound (e.g., http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa195.html#072611) that a high-def remastering of TNG is in the works.
William Henley
Good. Voyager is watchable in SD, TNG almost isn’t (at least the earlier seasons). Only thing I can think of is telecine in the 80s was not as good as the 90s – AFAIK, both series were shot on film and converted to tape.
Dail Whiteley
i just downgraded my netflix to just streaming for three things. i’m really into doctor who right now , there isnt anything i cant wait for and three i’m broke. 🙂
William Henley
Agreed. I also went to one disc at a time with Blockbuster. I got sick of Netflix not getting new-catalogue releases, and Blockbuster is cheaper. And I can get a game on ocassion when I am movied-out.
Chaz Dumbaugh
I buy most of the movies I watch, otherwise its Netflix and Hulu for most else, I dont mind waiting a few more months to find good deals on Blurays that I’ve been wanting to add to my collection, when I’m not doing this I’m playing games on Steam or something, so I have plenty to do otherwise 🙂
Shannon Nutt
I used to get Blu-rays in the mail from Netflix, but went streaming-only about a year ago…now the only Blu-rays I get are the ones I buy. I use Netflix, Vudu and Amazon On Demand (I also get free stuff there since I’m a Prime member) for watching films…it’s much cheaper for me to pay $4.99 per HD movie than to pay Netflix monthly, as some months I may only rent 2 or 3 films (if that) in addition to what I’m already getting in my streaming packages.
Also, why isn’t HULU an option? I watch a lot of Criterion stuff there.
Jason
I use Netflix for watching television shows and anime and the occasional movie. I have Prime with Amazon so I’ve used their VOD a few times. I’ve only used VUDU because I’ve picked up a couple of blu-rays at Walmart that had free credits. I prefer to buy movies but will stream it if I’m on the fence about adding it to my collection. Oh yeah I stream everything via my Boxee Box.
EM
I picked Netflix/discs and “Other”, the latter being my local library.
Thulsadoom
In the UK I use Lovefilm, so I clicked ‘Other’. They’re owned by amazon, but most of their business is disks in the mail (Though they also do VOD).
They’re pretty good, limited only by my sheer laziness in getting to a post box… 😉
August Lehe
Sorry, but I guess I fall into the “maybe some day” category. Rarely look at the REDBOX since I noticed it contains no BluRays.
William Henley
Check out their website – some locations do stock Blu-Ray. That being said, their selection is limited.
Sam Maw
Other: I get movies from my county library. They get everything; you just have to put a hold on it and it usually takes a long time to get to you. But it’s free!