DVD Movie Rentals – Blockbuster vs. Netflix, Are They Worth the Cost?
Do you remember when renting movies involved leaving your house and browsing the isles? For the majority of movie watchers, renting DVD’s has turned into a monthly bill. Depending on the pricing plan chosen, you can now spend anywhere from $9.99/month to $47.99/month for the most expensive of plans offered through Netflix and Blockbuster. Are these pricing plans worth the cost? Are we really watching enough movies a year to justify, at the very minimum, $120 in annual fees?
Rather than comparing the two DVD renting giants, here is a link to a great great side-by-side chart done by CNET.com describing the differences. As you can tell by comparing the pricing plans, they are both very similar in price and offers. Blockbuster varies slightly by allowing in-store rentals and allows subscribers to return movies directly to the store, which allows for less downtime between rentals.
As appealing as unlimited monthly movie rentals sound, I have concluded by and far that these services are not worth the cash, especially considering increased competition from the likes of Redbox. Currently, my wife and I watch on average about two rented movies a month. We exclusively use a Redbox machine located in a nearby grocery store. Redbox of course offers movie rentals (including new arrivals) for $1/day. Obviously, for us, none of the online pricing plans can beat $2/month.
The majority of Netflix and Blockbuster users are watching more than two movies a month (hopefully). However, I question if you can keep pace with your pricing plan. In other words, if your plan allows for unlimited rentals and two movies to be rented at a time for lets say $15/month, you would have to watch at least five movies a month or sixty movies a year in order to get your money’s worth (assuming non-member rentals average around $3/movie). So, if you are one watching at least sixty movies a year, by all means continue paying your DVD monthly bills.
I realize there is a convenience factor involved with not having to return movies to the store. Unless you live miles from the closest video store, I doubt this really plays a big role. In fact, many Blockbuster subscribers are returning their DVD’s to the store anyways. Other things to consider if you are deciding to subscribe to one of the services below, is how much time do you really have available to watch movies. For me, with every season comes another sport I would rather watch than movies – after watching a baseball/football/basketball game, I’m done with the TV for a while.
Perhaps, you are milking the most from your online video subscription. However, if you have any reservations regarding your ability actually get your money’s worth, steer clear. The last thing you want is a feeling of having to watch movies at the end of the month, in order to feel better about writing the check. Movie watching is meant to be enjoyable and like all good things, is best done in moderation. $
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Comments
I was using Blockbuster when I was in school, but now that I have about 400 more things to do I really don’t have the time. I put it down to the absolute lowest option and I think I am still not taking advantage…When it comes to movies…RedBox is an interesting option.
Now that Apple is really gearing up to deliver content into our homes, its going to add a whole new dimension to this issue.
My wife and I use redbox exclusively now because we can get free rentals from there almost every time we rent. Can’t be a price of FREE can you?
here’s a link to a post where i describe how to get free rentals
I switched from Netflix to Blockbuster, but then canceled them both when I realized we weren’t using it enough to justify the cost.