Has anyone else stopped renting movies and gone back to buying them.

I currently have both the 3 at a time plan with blockbuster and the 3 at a time with netflix.

I am considering dropping both, buying the ones that I want to watch and then just selling them back on ebay if I don't want them.

I went HD about 8 months ago and have recently started to watch SD again... in addition to my HD. Picking up a high end SD player (Onkyo HD805) makes the SD look watchable again... and not all that far off from HD (as long as I haven't seen the HD version :D)

I generally rent my TV shows from netflix. I get my HD DVDs and BDs from Blockbuster. I can sometimes use a whole month on just on season of a show depending how busy I am.

Calculating how much I am spending over $400 including tax (17.50 + 18.99 x 12 = $437) per year. I am thinking that I am better off just buying the darn things. And again, I can always sell them back on ebay and probably recoup most of my costs. I alway use ebay alot anyway. Pretty easy to sell videos, you just need to pick up the bubble envelope at walmart and drop by the Post Office when they aren't busy... really not all that much different than sending the movies back to netflix.

Where these guys really get you is that each disc in a season counts as one... so I have to go through 7 discs for a season of ST TNG.

I already have comcast HD on demand so I am pretty much set for ondemand content.

I thought about cutting down to a $10/ month plan, but I think it would be better to just cut the cord.

I am a buyer.....

My setup in my house is good enough/big enough that I would rather watch a movie at home than at the theater. There are exceptions (Indy 4, TDK, Iron Man) when I would rather watch ASAP or that some should be watched with a crowd.

My thinking is.

Movie theater.
$18 to get in (wife goes with me)
$12 for popcorn/drinks.
With the chance of having some idiot on the phone behind me.

Home theater
$20-30 on a Blu Ray disc.
My time schedule.
Pause button.

If it is a crappy movie. I sell it or trade it in.

If I enjoy it. It goes in the rack.

The rack currently has around 200 Blu Rays and 350 SD DVD's.

Put me in the rental column. I have over 120 HD DVD's. I have about 5 Blu-ray titles. I have disc fatigue. I can listen to music titles over and over again while running on my treadmill, ironing, etc. Re-watching TV (and especially) movie titles for hours at a time is a little less enjoyable.

I can understand reselling catalog titles that go for $20 for $12. However, those $28 day and date titles only fetch $14 or so used. The $8 a ticket at the movie theater isn't for the environment. It's paying to watch a movie before it hits home video. The comparison, IMHO, isn't valid.

After spending nearly $2k on discs (most of which are firesale titles or where bought because I got tired of waiting on Blockbuster/Netflix), I can definitely say I would rather rent just like I did most SD DVD's--especially in the era of Blockbuster Online/Netflix.

Rent! With Netflix's warehouse being a couple miles from me, the turn-around is good enough that the one-at-a-time plan is sufficient to keep me in movies.

So, this hobby costs me exactly $9 a month. Can't beat that.

i rent (netflix) and if a movie is REALLY GOOD, i'll buy it. that's rare, unfortunately.

as for bds at their current prices, i'll follow the same procedure, but even more carefully.
there are about 10-15 bds i will be buying very soon (i just got a bd player last week), the 'must haves'. other than those, i'll rent. just like i did with hd dvds.

I rent for one reason: I rarely ever watch a movie twice.

I am only renting via netflix (my queue is about empty) since HD-DVD went belly up and those are SD DVDs. Still sitting on the sidelines and it will probably be a long time, if ever, that I pick up BD. With all the satellite HD, cable HD and my current HD-DVD collection, I am finding little time to watch what I have available. Kind of losing interest in HD on optical media, esp. at current price points.

I do both. I watch around 25 "discs" (movies or tv on dvd/bd) per month. If i use the theater excuse, I could never justify in saying that I go to theater 25 times per month.

Here's My rule:
1) If i would have gone to theater to see it: Blind buy BD.
2) If I wouldn't have gone to theater, rent it on netflix and do one of the following:
___A) If I really really liked it... buy it
___B) If I liked it, and want to own it, wait for sale
___C) If i didnt like it, well you can guess...
3) Catalog titles... buy if I really really like it, wait for sale if i want it, or netflix it if I'm not sure.


Sometimes if the wait is too long on netflix but has super great PQ reviews on here, I'll blind buy it.

I much prefer buying movies over renting them, for several reasons:

-A wide selection of movies already on hand to choose from
-No worries about scratched or damaged discs that might not play
-I watch movies multiple times each (it helps that I forget most of their details the first few times I see them)
-I like collecting and owning things

Though I have rented movies on occasion since the Betamax days, I have still never got in the habit of doing it regularly. All the Beta, Laser Disc, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray movies I have bought from day one are still in my collection, except a few I disliked enough to sell, or ones I replaced with better versions.

Rent. For 20.00 per month, I can have out any two titles at a time, including BD for up to 30 days at the Hollywood Video 1/4 mile away.

No storage concerns, a vast library and overall convenience.


Sometimes I rent almost 2 a day and watch both.
IF I were to buy as much as I rent, it would cost me 25 times :eek: more, averaging 600.00 plus a month.

I buy and rent. I rent only from Apple TV HD, mainly because I use their library as MY library and I like the browsing interface.

I know that most movies I'll not watch more than once or twice, so disks are just a space hog. Having said that, my Blu ray collection is at around 50 in 6 months. I do not subscribe to BB or Netflix. Haven't bought a DVD in 6 months either (excluding movies/content for my 18 month old daughter)!

I find renting less of a hassle and more convenient overall. But I like to buy the collectors stuff.

I rent and buy. I rent BDs of movies that I know I may not like or seemingly have questionable video quality. I used to buy pretty much everything, but have been buying a LOT fewer BDs this year.

Rent mostly, must haves i wait for at least 3 reviews before purchase given all the crap they have been churning out lately;)

I'm better off buying as I have fairly specific tastes for movies. I have had friends who've insisted I go rent a movie for an evening. That's never really worked out so badly as it's given me the chance to review movies that otherwise seem impossibly over-hyped. All of the movies I own, I really like, so no money or time (I do re-watch my movies) wasted.

I'm also very careful about buying movies. I never have and never will buy a theatrical release of a movie if I know there will be an extended version or director's cut coming out at some point. My patience on this matter knows no bounds. I'm waiting for the director's cut version of Cloverfield right now, and that hasn't even been rumoured yet!

I never rent. If I am even slightly interested in the title the ability to see it any time I want outweighs the slight cost differential.
I never rented with DVD, and havnt with Blu. You just need to make sure you have a good storage - archiving system in place.

:D

If the price is right I will buy. <15 bucks. Otherwise Ill wait for it to come through on Netflix or get it off a HD movie channel on my TiVo.

I buy all my movies, i currently have 1,400 sd dvd and 500 blurays.

I buy all scifi and action flicks on bluray everything else is dvd

i've watch all my movies more then 20 times and i never get tried of them

i also have a very large collection of movies that i backup when i had a vhs collection wish was over 5,000 title

i don''t like renting and i don't like blockbuster (exept their 4 for 20) dvd sales i go to fye for blurays wish i can buy used for 15/20 bucks or amazon.

I blind buy the must have new releases like Stargate: Continuum and there are a lot of must haves coming soon but I am a bargain shopper as well. I have no problems buying used on titles I don't have to have on release. Buying used allows for some tremendous deals and I’m getting about 2/3 of my movies used at this point at far better than any bogo pricing.

I usually will never buy it new anyway though unless it is something really special. Plus you can get a pretty good deal if you shop around.

I just picked up Lost Season 3 on DVD new for $27 shipped off half.com

Alot of the questionable movies, I will probably just go back to buying from Bb with their 4F20 deals. Anything else like Iron Man or Batman, I would just get new on BD anyway. I am a pretty good judge of what I will like (Know thyself).

As I said, my Onkyo upconverts really well so SD is once again watchable. It is amazing how well it handles artifacts and reduces noise while still keeping detail.

And contrary to how much so many people complain on here about the high price of BD, I don't pay more than 15-20 for the ones that I want. You just have to get over not getting the movie on the day of its release. Of course, I have usually seen the movie in the theater anyway so it is more archival for the must see movies. Runs me about $18 total to see a new release in the theater in a matinee (which is what I prefer). We don't buy the popcorn or soda which really cuts down on the expense.

The other ones, I can be patient for. I have alot of backlogged movies to watch anyway.

I think the only thing that has kept me from staying with netflix as long as I did was that they had that watch instantly feature. But even with my HTPC upconverting it, it can't compare to a standard DVD in quality. An I have a 28mbit connection too.

The other thing that ticked me off about this service was this: My daughter and I watched Empire of the Ants back in October. Then in February, my son wanted to watch it himself as he missed it and was tired of hearing about the references to it (funny how those cheesy movies can stick with you). He went online to watch it and Netflix apparrently pulled it. Apparrently Netflix rotates the selection so it is not always online. This has always been a disadvantage to on demand services. I get the same thing with Rhapsody sometimes for my music. They have millions of tracks, but I do come across ones that I can't download from time to time because they are too old or obscure (A good example is the soundtrack to Hunt for Red October).

I do understand some people saying you can't watch DVD after watching HDM. I kinda felt the same way. Once you get a "real" upconverter (which generally will run $400+ like an Oppo 983, 981, XA2, BH200, UP5000 or Onkyo HD805), SD becomes very watchable again even at 94". I was really surprised how much better the Reon Chip did compared to my HTPC with the FFDShow filters or the HD-A3. Both were better than my old DVP642/37 via component, but still not as good as the Onkyo. So I have found myself watching what I consider B titles in SD and A titles in BD/HDDVD when available and reasonable. The only time that I have really noticed a big difference is when I have watched a good HDM transfer versus a poor SD transfer as in the Mummy Returns. I probably wouldn't have seen the difference if I hadn't seen both. As Cipher said in the Matrix, "Ignorance is bliss"

(Just cancelled Netflix..... going to cancel Bb by the end of the month.. just ordered two SD DVD TV shows in Lost and Hercules)

I buy all my movies, i currently have 1,400 sd dvd and 500 blurays.

I buy all scifi and action flicks on bluray everything else is dvd

i've watch all my movies more then 20 times and i never get tried of them


I know you are probably exaggerating on the 20x part, but I would like to point on that it's really a practical impossibility that you've come close to watching each disc 20 times.

1900 discs at an average of 90 minutes a piece 20 times over is 6.5 years of straight viewing. Even assuming that you spend 12 hours a day watching discs, that puts it at 13 years for viewing that much material 20 times over. DVD hasn't been out that long.

At the beginning of DVD, I bought and bought and bought. Now I've come to realize that I don't have anywhere near enough time to enjoy my current library let alone keep adding to it at the same pace. I pick and choose purchases carefully and end up watching the rest either in the theater, renting, or on cable at some point.

It all depends.

Some content is a must have.

Some content is a must have if the price is right.

Some content are worth seeing only once.

Some content you wished you never rented or bought...

I honestly never could understand why people buy vs renting.

Some titles many will watch multiple times so it makes sense to buy, but how many is that really? Renting has gotten so easy it just makes more sense to me.

Time and again I see large collections of movies on people's shelves, many of which haven't even been opened. Of the ones opened I often wonder how many will end up being watched only once or maybe even not watched at all.

But then again, I've never understood the intense need to own things that some folks have. Nor have I understood collecting anything. So I guess that explains it.

Maybe I will just keep the 1 an a time plan with blockbuster. I actually would prefer netflix, but I like Blockbusters online setup better. Unlike Netflix, you can choose which version that you want to watch. Whether it is HD DVD, Bluray or DVD. On thing that is interesting is that Bb recently starting selling downloads. This isn't something that I would as interested in.... but did find it interesting.

blockbuster does have that 8.99 unlimited and the 3.99 for 2 / month. I discounted the 2 month, but that really isn't a bad deal seeing that I would be buying about 1 movie every other week or so depending. I could use it for "throw away" movies.

I drive by my local blockbuster anyway about 2-4 times per week anyway and could easily stop in to purchase the 4F20 though. The 2 for $3.99 might be good for obscure movies like the King of Kong and such. Or movies like Howard the Duck (:D)

I buy all my movies, i currently have 1,400 sd dvd and 500 blurays.

i've watch all my movies more then 20 times and i never get tried of them

Hmmm. 1900 movies viewed 20 times each at an average of 2 hours per movie is 76,000 hours of movie watching. That's equivalent to about 3167 twenty-four hour days of full-time movie watching or around 9 full years of around-the-clock viewing.

:eek: Really????

Hmmm. 1900 movies viewed 20 times each at an average of 2 hours per movie is 76,000 hours of movie watching. That's equivalent to about 3167 twenty-four hour days of full-time movie watching or around 9 full years of around-the-clock viewing.

:eek: Really????

Just to point out, many of those could be duplicates (aka double- or triple-dips.) Hell, I have four copies each (3 SD, 1 HD) of both Reservoir Dogs and Dazed and Confused (there are others, but those two immediately came to mind.)

see header.
anyone know whats going on with n'flix and their shipping issues?:confused:
just got an email about it 5 minutes ago.
and no discs yesterday; there should have been.

It all depends.

Some content is a must have.

Some content is a must have if the price is right.

Some content are worth seeing only once.

Some content you wished you never rented or bought...

LOL! yep!

Since the late 1990's I have bought over 750 DVDs.

I have watched them all once (750 viewings).

I have watched ~15 twice (15 additional viewings)

I have watched ~3 more than twice (I will estimate around 15 additional viewings).

That comes out to ~780 viewings

At an estimated average of $8/DVD, my collection has cost me ~$6000 (750*8). Therefore each viewing has cost me ~$7.69 ($6000/780 viewings).

With Netflix, I get roughly 12 movies/month for $17, which works out to be ~$1.42 per viewing, or a savings of ~$6.27 per viewing. It would be more if I was buying BR discs.

If I would have been using Netflix this entire time instead of buying discs, I would have saved ~$4890.60 ($6.27 savings * 780 viewings). That's a lot of cash I could've spent on lapdances and beer.

So, I am now a renter, since I can look at those numbers and realize how much of a waste it is (in my personal opinion) to buy discs. I have nothing but $6000 worth of discs sitting on my shelf collecting dust.

I have bought 0 BR discs, and have no plans to buy any, other than a possible demo movie for friends/family.

I do both. I rent stuff that I don't have a desire to buy and buy stuff I do have a desire to buy.

The way I see it is that I am single, make decent money, movies/video games and boating are my main/only hobbies, I don't drink/do drugs/eat out and I have dropped 12-15k on my main home theatre equipment (not to mention the time/money to build the room) so it is nice to have a software collection to go with it where I can pick a movie based on whatever I may feel like watching at that time. I personally do not get dropping good money on equipment to not own any titles (especially if people come over and you want to demo stuff...you basically will rely on whatever disc you have rented) but to each their own. If I was married with kids, made less money or had more stuff I spent money on then I am sure my opinion would be different.

I have around hmm, 220-250 combined blu-ray and HD DVD titles.

I honestly never could understand why people buy vs renting.

Some titles many will watch multiple times so it makes sense to buy, but how many is that really? Renting has gotten so easy it just makes more sense to me.

Time and again I see large collections of movies on people's shelves, many of which haven't even been opened. Of the ones opened I often wonder how many will end up being watched only once or maybe even not watched at all.

But then again, I've never understood the intense need to own things that some folks have. Nor have I understood collecting anything. So I guess that explains it.

hehe I have never understood why people want to get married and have babies and how some guys get married and become P-whipped by their wives like they are 5 yr old kids asking for permission to buy stuff. I have never understood why people go to bars to pay 3x for a beer that they could buy at a booze store and drink at home. For that matter, I have never understood why most people are so into drinking especially wine which to me is gross. I have never understood why people dance. I have never understood why people watch shows like American Idol or other reality tv. I have never understood why people smoke cigs when it will lead to cancer or why some potheads obsess over smoking a bloody plant.

To each their own bro.:)

I'm a a buyer. Occasionally i may blind buy but if it turns out to be total poop, then i just sell it. I'll lose about as much money as i would have if i rented it. Rentals, i have done a few times with movies for my gf like 27 dresses, pride and prejudice etc ..

It all depends.

Some content is a must have. Dark Knight, Iron man

Some content is a must have if the price is right. Indiana Jones : Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Some content are worth seeing only once. Oceans 13

Some content you wished you never rented or bought... 27 Dresses :(

There is no way I can buy all the titles I want to see, I just buy the ones I want, so I have to rent for now.

I started Netflix about 3 months ago and though i'm on the one-at-a-time plan, i've had the chance to view numerous films that i'd like to see on BD.

What will probably happen in time is after i've caught most catalog titles i've wanted to see, i'll stick to purchasing the titles I want.

I prefer buying them, but I rent from time to time... I have about 300 SD DVDs, 40 HD DVDs and 13 BDs... A few months ago I had 500 SD DVDs, but I sold a lot of them, knowing they would be replaced by the high def version. My Blu-ray collection is just starting but it will grow fast!

I am looking at it this way. I buy my shows that I watch on disc for about $30 +/- eac which is about 150-200 per year. Then I pick up another 40-50 movies at about $5-8 each which would amount to 200-400. I sell about 3/4s of those back on ebay in the next year or two. and only spent about 200-300 per year.

I think I am going to drop down to the 2/month for $3.99. If I find I need a few more then I will go to the 8.99 plan.

For me personally, I think this will work. God knows I already have about every catalog movie that I want anyway..... with few exceptions as you can tell by my signature. There are alot that I am going to sell off over the next few months.

The thing is that I have been actively tracking my expenses over the last 18 months. I don't have a problem with what I am spending, but I figure for just a little more I could just get back to owning them. You never know which ones you are going to want to own. Some are easy like LOTRs. Others are a bit of a surprise like A Knights Tale. For these that I rent first, i am in some ways double dipping with these as I rent and then later decide to buy. So I don't really think it would cost that much in the end.

PS: If you have 700 movies and watch 2 per week that would be 350 weeks x $14 = $4900 at 2 at a time plan.... and one shipment per month. (You find out real quick that they throttle you if you try to get more than 1 shipment per week). And in the end, you have nothing to show for it. Not that I am suggesting that you pirate, but even that will run you an extra $1-2 at no loss of quality which would be about an extra $350-700. And now atleast that you have something that has some value. I have already begun to replace some of my DVDs with Bluray and offset them by flipping the old ones on ebay (amazing how much some folks will still pay for a DVD disk.)

I find amazon.com, half.com, inetvideo, deepdiscount and the blockbuster used deal still much cheaper than what I can buy most on ebay for. For example. Lost Season 3 was getting about $37 shipped on ebay and $34 shipped new on amazon. I shopped around and got it for $27 shipped from half.com. You just have to be a smart shopper.

I am surprised how much I enjoy having Stargate on DVD. I have gone back a couple of times to rewatch episodes: The one where Daniel visits O'neill in Baals prison while assended, the one where Harry and O'neill go through a furling gate and a whole slew of others. Some shows I tire of and end up selling back on ebay. I did this with 24 and actually got back the same that I paid minus the initial $5 shipping. I have even had some where I came out ahead. Once you learn how to list on ebay, it becomes almost as effortless as remembering to put the disc from netflix back in the mail. Seriously, how hard is it to sell 2-3 movies on ebay per week. Takes about 15-20 minutes total at most.

the other advantage of buying is that you might pick up movies that you might not normally add to your Que from the Blockbuster Bargain Bin. And some of those are flops... but some are surprisingly good. I probably would have never watched seabiscuit if not for that.

I am not trying to preach that buying is always better. I am beginning to feel it is better me. My dad shouldn't even rent as he just watches on demand. And some people probably should rent. It is just interesting to read why other people do one of the other.

Hope nobody is waiting for any titles to arrive anytime soon from Netflix.

Netflix may lose $1.8M to $3.6M in revenue per day over outage (http://www.reuters.com/article/CMPTRS/idUSN1412419520080814)

Netflix has been facing shipping delays and outages in its distribution centers for the last two days and is fumbling to find a fix. The tab is roughly $1.8 million to $3.6 million in revenue a day, according to Citi analyst Tony Wible.

However, Netflix shipped no DVDs on Tuesday. It shipped some on Wednesday but has shipped none so far on Thursday(8/14/2008).

hehe I have never understood why people want to get married and have babies and how some guys get married and become P-whipped by their wives like they are 5 yr old kids asking for permission to buy stuff. I have never understood why people go to bars to pay 3x for a beer that they could buy at a booze store and drink at home. For that matter, I have never understood why most people are so into drinking especially wine which to me is gross. I have never understood why people dance. I have never understood why people watch shows like American Idol or other reality tv. I have never understood why people smoke cigs when it will lead to cancer or why some potheads obsess over smoking a bloody plant.

To each their own bro.:)
yep, dem humans gots dere isshoos, awright!
:)

I've been way too lenient on D-Theater and HD DVD purchases. Time Machine? U571? I'm going to be more selective on BDs.

I've always been a collector, so "buy" is my style.

However, it has to be something that I know will stand up to watching multiple times. I haven't quite figured out what the criteria for that is, however. I can watch Casablanca, any Star Wars movie, Blade Runner (any of the 5 versions I have) Independence Day, Forbidden Planet, any of the LOTR movies, and a host of others countless times. I'll buy Iron Man and the super delux edition of Christmas Story as soon as they are available.

Yet Beowulf, The Mist, Dark Knight and a bunch of others fall into the "once is enough" category, or maybe the "wouldn't mind seeing it again, but don't need a copy of it" category.

I will rent occasionally, and do a PPV once in a great while. There is just something about having an actual physical medium that is appealing.

My habits revolve around my need for instant gratification -- and have evolved over time.

Up until a half year or so back I renting via Netflix with the 3 at a time plan. I also used to buy a lot of DVDs when they came out on Tuesdays if I thought they were going to be good. As I moved into the HD world there was a short period where I was very happy with Netflix. However, over time I kinda exhausted the list of older HD titles I wanted to rent -- and the new titles had ridiculous queues. I was finding myself buying certain titles and forgetting to remove them from my queue.

Then "HD rentals" came to the AppleTV. Talk about instant gratification. I could watch many of the latest movies in semi-HD and if I really liked them I would buy the BD if available. After a month or so of AppleTV HD I cancelled my Netflix subscription.

One interesting thing with me is that the more tiles I accumulate the less likely I am to go out and make impulse purchases. I now have enough movies that we often have something in the house that we are in the mood for. Also, since I have an OPPO 983 the qualiy of those old DVDs is quite impressive. There are many movies like TFE, Zoolander, 12 Monkeys, Ronin, that I probably watch at least once a year. It is only a matter of time before I will want to re-watch one of these movies. Not only would it be expensive to re-rent these movies it would be impossible watch the movie right away like I can with ones in my "collection." I now have about 400 SD DVDs and 100 HDM titles in my collection.

I rent - there are very few movies that I watch more than once. And if I want to watch it again I'll keep it longer or rent it again another time.

The kids on other hand like watching movies over and over so certain movies we will buy but as they need playing in their rooms, in the car or or a portable player I only buy SD-DVD

I'll buy some right away if they are going to be multi-watch movies. I never pay full price, Ill always wait for a coupon or a sale. As far as renting, we only rent via on-demand through our cable, so I still get HD movies, and can preview them before I buy that way.

I mostly buy.. The toughest is the imports I like to get as they are rather spendy. Often times double any blu I buy here. But most are not avilible in the US or may never be.

I mostly buy.. The toughest is the imports I like to get as they are rather spendy. Often times double any blu I buy here. But most are not avilible in the US or may never be.

I dropped my movie channels and went back to Netflix since I got a blu ray player. HBO is useless as they show the same movies over and over. I use Netflix as a screening device for possible Blu Ray purchases. I did come to the realization that buying a lot of movies is a mistake, at least for me. I think it was ego driven to "show off" my DVD collection to friends. The reality is that out of all my DVD's, I only watched about 10 of them frequently. I have restricted my blu ray purchases to concerts, which I can listen to while I'm on my computer. I will only buy movies I know that I'll watch more than once. I bought Casino Royale in Blu Ray because I'm a Bond junkie, and it was on sale for $15. I've watched that movie 3 times in the last 6 weeks, or at least some parts of it. I have Directv so HD content is abundant. I've also come to the point that I don't want to watch anything that's not in HD. You can make all the claims about conventional DVD's looking "almost" as good as HD, but I can tell the difference. If you don't mind the dropoff in quality from HD, DVD's are cheap right now. I don't see how there is any real market for used DVD's when they are on sale every week for as low as $5.99. IMO, there are very few "good" new movies being released each year. I'm hoping for more concerts in Blu Ray, especially with the new audio codecs.

hehe I have never understood why people want to get married and have babies and how some guys get married and become P-whipped by their wives like they are 5 yr old kids asking for permission to buy stuff. I have never understood why people go to bars to pay 3x for a beer that they could buy at a booze store and drink at home. For that matter, I have never understood why most people are so into drinking especially wine which to me is gross. I have never understood why people dance. I have never understood why people watch shows like American Idol or other reality tv. I have never understood why people smoke cigs when it will lead to cancer or why some potheads obsess over smoking a bloody plant.If you're not just being sarcastic, you must be dead.

Right now I just rent blu rays they are just to expensive to own. I am not going to hunt the internet for deals. I will start to buy again when I can walk into a store on new release tuesday and get a new release for 19.99. There are a few exceptions like the dark knight that I will purchase. Also I am sure there will be some great deals black friday so I will get some then. No way I pay 29.99 for a movie that is just way to much. Last time around I bought well over 300 DVDs.

I have gone from almost exclusively buying (starting back in the days of LD) to almost exclusively renting (HD DVD and DVD) first via Netflix and now via Blockbuster.

I just can't justify the expense of media anymore, especially as the concept of fair use keeps shifting away from customer interests.

Each rental costs me about $2. If I find a movie that I really like and/or intend to watch it again, I'll put it on my buy list and watch for it to go on sale. These days, that probably amounts to about 5% of what I view. There's too much crap out there that I would feel like a sucker spending $20 on something that I would never, ever want to watch it again. And I can't get $20 worth of satisfaction smashing it into little bits and pieces.

On the other hand, it also allows me the flexibility to be surprised by a good movies that I would never have purchased. Hot Fuzz is an example of this. Great movie. There's no way I would have bought it, but after having rented and enjoyed it, I bought a copy.

The money I save by renting goes right back into equipment upgrades or purchases. This is one nice way of overcoming the WAF when it comes to new gear.

Now, if you're willing to go through the used and resale route, buying might not be that bad of a deal, but I just don't have the time for that.

Scott

Renting, renting, renting! Only buy proven classic movies with good transfers, which are rare.

For newer releases, quality actors do not guarantee anywhere near a coherent story or decent photography. Sometimes I wonder if the "film makers" had a vision for the project, or just ended up with a bunch of footage and tried to put something together to get paid for the project.

It is disappointing to have waited so long for HD media, only to find that some films look like they were filmed with an old VHS camcorder. Even when filmed well, transfers are inconsistent, or, intentionally downgraded to make them look more like video.

I use BB for rentals. For $20 a month I get 3 at a time. Having a store down the street that has Blu ray, means I also can grab an additional 5 per month at no additional charge. The instore exchanges usually come from the new releases rack, so I don't have to wait for the newer stuff to dribble to the top of my on-line queue.

Renting seems really cost effective. Out of the 10-20 films I normally watch per month, I'd probably only buy maybe 1. Even if the film has beautiful pq and aq, most are not worthy of viewing more than once.

I have also shifted to 80-90% renting from about half and half if not a little higher on the buy side.

I have only bought a hand full of SD in the last two years. An example would be Firefly, the complete series when it was a Gold Box Deal on Amazon a couple weeks ago.

While I did re-buy many of my favorites on HD (BR or HD-DVD), for the most part the stuff released on HDM in the last 6-8 mths has been pretty sad.

Of the HDM I have bought in the last 8 months almost all were on sale for at least <$20 and were more than likely BR's that I hadn't gotten previously when they go on sale.

I find that I am very rarely wrong to have resisted a purchase in favor of a rental. A very recent example would be Starship Troupers 3. I love ST1, but 2 was so bad I decided to rent ST3 first. Thank god.

It's not that I am resistant to spend money, lord knows I am almost a professional at it, but I guess I am just a little tired of giving it away.

I am really trying to assess whether or not I would watch something again and again before I buy.

Cheers,

Richard

I mostly buy. The only thing i rent are anime series which are way overpriced in the first place.

I'm a rewatcher , so buy mostly ...
not wanting to rebuy too many . but dark city and raiders might get more blu
titles in the libray ! oh spiderrman is bought allready ..

Bob

I usded to buy and had over 300 titles. One day I looked at them sitting on the shelfs and thought how silly it was as there were only a few I would ever watch again and I had thousands of dollars tied up there. I ended up selling most of them. Now I am 95% rent.

I am in Canada and our broadcast/cable system is as borked as it could possibly be. So there are no good movie channels up here unlike in the US. We have one movie channel but it is all 'B' movies and mandated Canadian content. So that isn't an option.

There are two local video rental places within reasonable driving distance. Rogers has 8 BD's. And Block Buster has those 8 with maybe another 5 or 6. That's it for BD.

The of equivelent of Netflix up here is zip.ca. Last time I signed up with them I waited more that 5 weeks for any movie on my list. So that is out.

So if you are a movie fan like me you have no choice but to buy. But that just got me thinking the reason why sales prices are so much higher up here than in the US is be cause there is virtually no competition from rental and movie channels. Hmmm. Good thread.

I'm a buyer and almost never rent. I have this obsessive compulsive need to own my movies. It's a sickness, but I love it. :)

I am certain I would be better off renting them. But I always buy them.

I am in Canada and our broadcast/cable system is as borked as it could possibly be. So there are no good movie channels up here unlike in the US. We have one movie channel but it is all 'B' movies and mandated Canadian content. So that isn't an option.

There are two local video rental places within reasonable driving distance. Rogers has 8 BD's. And Block Buster has those 8 with maybe another 5 or 6. That's it for BD.

The of equivelent of Netflix up here is zip.ca. Last time I signed up with them I waited more that 5 weeks for any movie on my list. So that is out.

So if you are a movie fan like me you have no choice but to buy. But that just got me thinking the reason why sales prices are so much higher up here than in the US is be cause there is virtually no competition from rental and movie channels. Hmmm. Good thread.

Mmmm... I'm also a Canadian and frankly I don't know what you are talking about... We have First Choice (PPV), The Movie Network / Movie Central, not 'B' movie distributer and also distribute the HBO series, and about a dozen specialized movie channel (Scream, DriveIn, TCM, AMC etc...) here either via Cable or Satellite. Zip.ca is quite fast, registered on a friday and received my first 3 disk on monday. I receive about 6 movie per week with them. I also subscribe to Canflix and also receive about 6 disk per week from them also. Like all video club the new title are harder to get due to the increase demand. But for older title not a problem. Of course both you an I are making annecdotal comment about Zip.ca and YMMV but after reading a few threads about Netflix I say Zip.ca is about the same as Netflix.

It all depends.

Some content is a must have.

Some content is a must have if the price is right.

Some content are worth seeing only once.

Some content you wished you never rented or bought...

Well I usually disagree with you MovieSwede, but on this topic you hit the nail on the head. :eek:

I am certain I would be better off renting them. But I always buy them.
That pretty much sums it up for me too.
I'm into ownership.
J

Mmmm... I'm also a Canadian and frankly I don't know what you are talking about...

HD not SD.

HD not SD.

Cable does have few option, only First Choice and Movie Network on Videotron. Star Choice has more and Bell even more with 7 HD movie channels.

Cable does have few option, only First Choice and Movie Network on Videotron. Star Choice has more and Bell even more with 7 HD movie channels.

Not Comcast. I have all the HD broadcast channels as well as a number of premium channels. I think 25-30 in all, plus there are about 30 -50 free HD movies per month.

Not Comcast. I have all the HD broadcast channels as well as a number of premium channels. I think 25-30 in all, plus there are about 30 -50 free HD movies per month.

This is why I specified on Videotron. Cable is a scam anyway. No competion and locked market.

Im a buyer. I dont think I have ever personally rented a movie in my life. I have about 540-550 on SD and I have maybe 10-15 on BD. Im starting to replace the ones on SD that I really think are worthy of BD. Im also juggling the new purchases between SD and BD. I mostly just get action/sci fi/suspense/thriller on BD. I wont buy horror or comedy on BD. It doesnt seem worth it to me. I have slowed down a bit and trying only to get the ones I really want but when you can score SD for 5-10 when im not buying them on blu ray, ill buy them. I also refuse to pay anything higher than 18-20 for a BD. I buy most of mine from amazon.com so I can score alot of great titles on BD for half the cost.

Rent. I really don't watch tv- The only show I really like these days is Deadliest catch (I'm a sucker for Discovery) and Dirty Jobs. Pats football when in season.

My watching window is limited these days with no DVR.

Netflix 3 out does me well, and I have over 350 discs in Queue Lots of old TV0 the Avengers, Magnum PI, Miami Vice, Hogan's Heroes... Plus movies that I do not catch first run on BR. Love the PS3... In fact, have Spidey 3 at home now, maybe Sunday night... Yeah, Sunday night...

Renting is what I've been doing lately unless I feel the quality is good beforehand from folks I've come to trust.

Renting leads to no disappointment. Blind buys are risky to a point even if you love the movie..

Rentals for sure. Saves me from buying Turkeys only buying movies that I know for sure I will really watch more than once or the kids really like which usually means that its a DVD purchase for general playability (except combos wish Blu could do combos) Also rent from my Xbox and in general have been very happy with the quality of the downloads just need to let it load ahead for 15-20 minutes to avoid buffering on the high def movies.

I buy for right now. I rent if I'm having a movie night and I don't want the film that's been choosen.

The wife is suddenly warming up to this HDM stuff and I'm starting to hear terms like Netflix now. Maybe we'll pick up some that way and I'll start being a little more selective on what I buy.

Seggers

I am better off renting them and only buying my favorites. I have been alot pickier now and usually only buy my must haves when they are on sale or used at half price.

No more blind buying. I look at my collection now and think to myself that I could have bought an JVC RS2 for what I have in my hdm collection. :eek:

I buy it new. I don't usualy rent. The cooties... all those cooties.. on rentals...

Rent only except for favorites with multiple view potential & good transfer.

Blu ray is the best format available right now, but will eventually be replaced by something else that is bigger and badder down the road. Makes no sense to buy into formats to get content as formats come and go.

The inability to move content to new formats requires you to rebuy the same product over and over (Beta/VHS - Laserdisc - DVD - HD DVD/Blu ray. This cycle won't stop so my purchasing does.

Rent BD, Buy BD, drop over priced digital cable services.

Never rent. Only buy.

Watch tons of TV...have every cable channel imaginable. I like to have plenty of options available when I want them.

Renting is too much like going to a feedbag buffet...bumping shoulders with the rabble is no fun.

I'm a buyer. I haven't rented a movie in a few years. I try to buy movies I'll enjoy for a long time. I also like the collecting aspect, and entertaining guests with movies. For 1080p televisions, it's really not gonna get better than blu ray. The next format would only be an improvement if it's made for televisions with resolutions beyond 1080, and I doubt we'll see those tvs for years, if ever.

I rent 90 to 95% of the time, and only buy the "must have" titles. And when I do buy, I buy used over half the time since movies very quickly depreciate.

I'm done buying movies except for the rare classic like The Godfather. Looking at all of the tupperware bins full of SD-DVD's I do not want to repeat that "collection" with Blu-Ray. With Netflicks and Blockbuster Online I haven't purchased a movie since winter.

My obsession buying every movie I like is all LD's fault. No way to rent those in most cities, when I found a used shop I would clean them out...."Only $10 per LD!!!! Score!!!". That carried over to DVD.

I'm two steps away from just selling every SD-DVD I have to the local used media shop. I fail to see the point of having so many movies in my possession when I know 90% of them will never be watched again.

I rent to evaluate (no more "blind buys" - I got bit once too often with "Slither"), but in general I only buy. I enjoy collecting movies, and yes, I do cycle through my entire library periodically (LD, DVD, HD DVD and Blu-Ray). As a proud card-carrying member of "OCD enthusiasts", I log everything in a custom MS Access database, which tracks what discs have been viewed in each 5 year cycle. When every title in the library has been checked off, a new cycle begins...

I stopped renting forever ago it seems like.
I buy, I collect movies, I have a vast library already and like to add to it.

I was on the HD kick for a few years there, I must admit, I am back on the SD DVD kick these days.

Tough time to ask as the new release schedule has sucked in my opinion. Example? I am screening Sex and the City this Friday night in my theater. :(

Who knows.... I like some bad movies. I quite enjoyed Speed Racer and even heaven forbid Love Guru. I see myself watching both of those in the future again.

I am in a little bit of an oddity here though, I plan to move to the middle of nowhere as soon as I can muster it. I will want my library as large as possible. Heck I still collect and screen laserdiscs. :)

I love buying a great movie on blu ray. Not only will it look pretty good on my relatively ****** lcd monitor but it will hold up to a few tv upgrades to boot. Great value for the money I get them for.

I will buy a few movies on the next 4 or 6k format but I doubt I will yearn to rebuy most. 1080p is a pretty damn good medium and I am sure for most movies I will be perfectly happy with the blu ray forever.

How many times have you caught yourself watching a movie on cable when you have the DVD sitting on the shelf!!! :p

I rent. When I realized how many of my DVDs I did not watch more than once, I stopped buying them. Especially now that rental is a flat monthly fee through Netflix and Blockbuster, I find that I prefer to get a new title rather than revisit my collection.

Except that I will buy concert DVDs. Those I will usually pop in more than once.

I have not bought a single movie, ever. Even my favorite movies I have no desire to watch more than maybe once a year at most.

Well. I ended up downgrading to the 2 per month 3.99 blockbuster plan. I use that for blind watches. I have gotten back into buying.

I forgot how much fun it can be to collect these movies. I have comics so I guess in some ways that is the same.

What I personally realized is that I was renting more than I should have. I have about 200 movies now give or take about 50 or so... plus TV shows. Between rewatching my favorites, buying the new must gets (like Iron Man and the Bond movies) and the 2 per month that I am still getting from Bb, I am more than set.

I have also gotten into the habit of watching shows on disc. You get more special features as well as the commentary which is fun to watch sometimes. A good example is the commentary of Stargate Atlantis when they kill off Carson. The commentary on that was really good.

I'm a buyer. I've become an addict thanks to the HD-DVD fire sales. Also I've been collecting my favorite flicks from the 80's and 90's that I had on VHS (totally un-watchable now) on HD-DVD or SD-DVD. Also I do check out the used rental discs at Blockbuster (3 for $20 on current release around holidays is always a good deal). I usually have to do some minor cleanup but I haven't had any bad disc issues yet. I used to rent and rip, but I don't have the time nor is it really a big cost savings anymore.

If I do go Blu in the future I may try Netflix or Blockbuster. Howerver, for now I'm more than content with my HD-DVD library and upconverting SD-DVD.

If I do go Blu in the future I may try Netflix or Blockbuster. Howerver, for now I'm more than content with my HD-DVD library and upconverting SD-DVD.

I know what you mean. I am purple now, but still have a ton of HD DVDs that I still have to watch. And after I got the initial "replace everything with HDM" bug out of my system, I have begun rewatching old DVDs lately. Even picked up a few marginal must buy titles recently as well.

Looking back, I don't know that upgrading my DVD of Caddyshack would have been worth more than $15. I got it for under $10, but it wasn't near the HD quality of more modern films. Adventures of Robin Hood was great though for its time.

I still find myself getting more HD DVDs than BD. Sure, I get the titles like Iron Man and such, but there are still alot of good movies on HD DVD. If they only cost a few dollars less, then I might go with the Bluray instead, but some of these deals I am getting are simply amazing on HD DVD. I would say on average, I probably paying about $6-8 on HD DVDs and about $15-20 on BDs. In some cases, I end spending less on HD DVD than I would if it were an SD DVD. Another advantage of the HD DVDs is the combo. If it is only a difference of about $5, then I will usually go with the HD DVD if it is a combo as it will play on DVD players as well. I have .... I guess 4 players at the moment, but my family doesn't and my portables and laptops do not play HDM at this point either so it actually makes them more compatible.

As far as renting. I had at one time a 6 at a time plan with netflix. I switched to Bb and netflix with 3 each when Bb was doing the no extra charge in store exchanges. I liked the netflix on demand but the quality is just unwatchable on some films on my FP screen and would end up renting the movie anyway on disk half the time though they still looked good on the tube TV and couldn't really tell the difference. I eventually dropped netflix when they dropped HD DVD ( I also didn't like that I could specify format on an individual basis which Bb does). Blockbuster worked great, but I found I was starting to buy some titles with all the firesales going on and wasn't using my que to its capacity. I used it for watching TV shows on disk for years as well ... until I realized it would be just about as cheap to buy them and resell them back if I didn't want to keep them (we watched 1 ep a week with 4-5 shows going at once). I just bought Season 3 of Lost on DVD for $30 and Season 2 of Knightrider (original) for $10.

I even considered "archiving" them, but when you factor in the cost of a DL disk, time involved, media storage and such, it wasn't worth it to save $10 a season. And after all that, the chance of a burned disk lasting long enough is not a guarantee. I have had disks that check fine, but got corrupted on an episode towards the latter episodes. We can say we would replace them with something else in 5 years, but I still have movies from 1999 that I still watch from time to time. Unlike VHS, I have no plans to get rid of them. I actually don't think VHS was as bad as some say. Some transfers were pretty decent, but I got rid of them when my last player broke. Didn't see the point anymore. I don't see DVD going by the way side for years and the fact that BD players play them is a big advantage to their longevity which is something VHS didn't have.

I know what you mean. I am purple now, but still have a ton of HD DVDs that I still have to watch. And after I got the initial "replace everything with HDM" bug out of my system, I have begun rewatching old DVDs lately. Even picked up a few marginal must buy titles recently as well.

Looking back, I don't know that upgrading my DVD of Caddyshack would have been worth more than $15. I got it for under $10, but it wasn't near the HD quality of more modern films. Adventures of Robin Hood was great though for its time.

I still find myself getting more HD DVDs than BD. Sure, I get the titles like Iron Man and such, but there are still alot of good movies on HD DVD. If they only cost a few dollars less, then I might go with the Bluray instead, but some of these deals I am getting are simply amazing on HD DVD. I would say on average, I probably paying about $6-8 on HD DVDs and about $15-20 on BDs. In some cases, I end spending less on HD DVD than I would if it were an SD DVD. Another advantage of the HD DVDs is the combo. If it is only a difference of about $5, then I will usually go with the HD DVD if it is a combo as it will play on DVD players as well. I have .... I guess 4 players at the moment, but my family doesn't and my portables and laptops do not play HDM at this point either so it actually makes them more compatible.

As far as renting. I had at one time a 6 at a time plan with netflix. I switched to Bb and netflix with 3 each when Bb was doing the no extra charge in store exchanges. I liked the netflix on demand but the quality is just unwatchable on some films on my FP screen and would end up renting the movie anyway on disk half the time though they still looked good on the tube TV and couldn't really tell the difference. I eventually dropped netflix when they dropped HD DVD ( I also didn't like that I could specify format on an individual basis which Bb does). Blockbuster worked great, but I found I was starting to buy some titles with all the firesales going on and wasn't using my que to its capacity. I used it for watching TV shows on disk for years as well ... until I realized it would be just about as cheap to buy them and resell them back if I didn't want to keep them (we watched 1 ep a week with 4-5 shows going at once). I just bought Season 3 of Lost on DVD for $30 and Season 2 of Knightrider (original) for $10.

I even considered "archiving" them, but when you factor in the cost of a DL disk, time involved, media storage and such, it wasn't worth it to save $10 a season. And after all that, the chance of a burned disk lasting long enough is not a guarantee. I have had disks that check fine, but got corrupted on an episode towards the latter episodes. We can say we would replace them with something else in 5 years, but I still have movies from 1999 that I still watch from time to time. Unlike VHS, I have no plans to get rid of them. I actually don't think VHS was as bad as some say. Some transfers were pretty decent, but I got rid of them when my last player broke. Didn't see the point anymore. I don't see DVD going by the way side for years and the fact that BD players play them is a big advantage to their longevity which is something VHS didn't have.


I have several Criterion Collection DVDs, I still haven't decided if I'll upgrade them yet. I recently watched The Last Emperor on DVD with my wife and after a couple of minutes I was totally immersed in the movie that it didn't matter that it wasn't HD at all. Interestingly, my wife at some point thought we were watching a Blu Ray!

I buy must haves (mostly sci-fi, action) and rent everything else. I couldn't stand the thought of buying a **** movie for $20 plus tax then only getting $10-$15 off Craigslist or something. Do that once or twice a month and it cost more than my Netflix account, and I don't own the movie either way!

I buy must haves (mostly sci-fi, action) and rent everything else. I couldn't stand the thought of buying a **** movie for $20 plus tax then only getting $10-$15 off Craigslist or something. Do that once or twice a month and it cost more than my Netflix account, and I don't own the movie either way!

Thats why you buy them off craiglist or something for $10-$15 to start :)

I have, but it's a limited selection on CL most of the time. I usually buy the titles I want to keep either on sale or used.

BB rentals all the way. I put down a $6 Underworld Evolution today because even though I liked the movie and $6 is a steal, I probably wouldn't watch it more than one more time if I owned it. I mostly own box sets and DVD's with reference scenes to show off or calibrate the theater - maybe 40 total.

jp

It definitely can be way better buying when it comes to HD DVD. I jus picked up another 8 movies (including BSG S1 HD DVD) for less than $60 off inetvideo. came to $6 per movie and $10 for the show. amazing.

Sure, you can resell new movies and minimize your out-of-pocket expenses, but I guess the question then comes up as to how much your time is worth.

Has anyone else stopped renting movies and gone back to buying them.

I currently have both the 3 at a time plan with blockbuster and the 3 at a time with netflix.

I am considering dropping both, buying the ones that I want to watch and then just selling them back on ebay if I don't want them.

I went HD about 8 months ago and have recently started to watch SD again... in addition to my HD. Picking up a high end SD player (Onkyo HD805) makes the SD look watchable again... and not all that far off from HD (as long as I haven't seen the HD version :D)

I generally rent my TV shows from netflix. I get my HD DVDs and BDs from Blockbuster. I can sometimes use a whole month on just on season of a show depending how busy I am.

Calculating how much I am spending over $400 including tax (17.50 + 18.99 x 12 = $437) per year. I am thinking that I am better off just buying the darn things. And again, I can always sell them back on ebay and probably recoup most of my costs. I alway use ebay alot anyway. Pretty easy to sell videos, you just need to pick up the bubble envelope at walmart and drop by the Post Office when they aren't busy... really not all that much different than sending the movies back to netflix.

Where these guys really get you is that each disc in a season counts as one... so I have to go through 7 discs for a season of ST TNG.

I already have comcast HD on demand so I am pretty much set for ondemand content.

I thought about cutting down to a $10/ month plan, but I think it would be better to just cut the cord.

I have primarily been a renter since Blu-ray's inception. I did manage to accumulate a collection of 30+ titles, but I have since stopped buying and :)rent from Netflix exclusively on the 3 at-a-time plan.

I used to buy lots of movies but now I rent. I only buy my favorites and the classics