Seriously, do people actually USE Blockbuster Online?

AsSiMiLaTeD

What a horrible experience overall compared to Netflix...

- TAT between movies is longer, takes an extra 2 days on average for me to send and receive movies. I live in Dallas and last I checked they are BASED in Dallas
- Their website is horrible, especially if you have to SEARCH for something. Case in point, head over there and search for The Universe history channel series and tell me how easy it is to get all 5 seasons on one search results page, then do the same thing on Netflix
- On top of all that, they're MORE expensive than Netflix

What the hell? What am I missing, why do people use their DVD mail service?

Mikey081057

Nope... prefer Amazon Prime and Vudu. I wish Oppo would give us Amazon on their BDP's

rooftop59

three reasons for me: 1. they do not charge extra for bds. 2. they have a 2 disc a month for
5 bucks plan which is what I have. I don't want or need more, so 2.50 for a 2 bds is perfect for me. 3. when I had a local blockbuster in Waco the in store exchange kills netflix. want a new movie right now? just head down to the store and pick it up as part of your plan. but only reasons one and two apply to me. so I am not a power user I suppose...

AsSiMiLaTeD

Yeah the in-store exchange was a plus when they still had stores, I live in a densely populated area and the closest store is 30 minutes away.

Well, they DO charge for BDs, it's just baked into their normal price...

cnh

And anyone who lives too far from a metropolitan area DOES NOT HAVE FIBER OPTIC CABLE LINES for super high speed internet. You know who (you, I) are/am! You know, that INFRASTRUCTURE that "we" don't need or that we should leave to a private sector that has no incentive or profit motive for laying cable in sparsely populated areas. Yet, somehow we used to be the envy of the world for our roads to "everywhere"?

I don't use B-Buster. Or Netflix. I may watch a couple films a month or more, so for recent films I can wait for the old Redbox for now. And I really can't stream a High Def picture even though I have players that are capable of this. Might? Be able to stream a DVD quality film with a hiccup or two.

cnh

Tbone289

I directly compared blockbuster and Netflix a couple of years ago. Blockbuster couldn't compete, for all the reasons you state.

heiney9

rooftop59 wrote: »

three reasons for me: 1. they do not charge extra for bds. 2. they have a 2 disc a month for
5 bucks plan which is what I have. I don't want or need more, so 2.50 for a 2 bds is perfect for me. 3. when I had a local blockbuster in Waco the in store exchange kills netflix. want a new movie right now? just head down to the store and pick it up as part of your plan. but only reasons one and two apply to me. so I am not a power user I suppose...

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Yeah the in-store exchange was a plus when they still had stores, I live in a densely populated area and the closest store is 30 minutes away.

Well, they DO charge for BDs, it's just baked into their normal price...

Blockbuster is hemorrhaging, they are closing 300 stores in the next few months. At the end of Februrary we will no longer have a single Blockbuster store. I live in the 3rd largest city in Illinois, so the store exchange option is going to become more limited in many area's

I have been with Netflix since the beginning and I don't see that changing unless they do something really stupid again.

H9

leroyjr1

Streaming Netflix and Hulu and for $16 for the two it's a steal. Other than that I'm at the redbox renting blu rays for $1.75. Streaming Netflix from my ps3 is nearly blu ray quality. A big step up from years ago.

jbooker82

Its part of my dish network plan.

rooftop59

SO I guess my reason 2 above is the only reason I have bb. I only watch 1-2 movies a month (3 young kids and I work a lot at night after they go to bed) and redbox blows when it comes to bd selection, so 2 bds for 5 bucks is perfect for me, and netflix's cheapest plan is 10 a month for bds, so that's more than I want to pay.

But if I did ever get rid of DTV, I would get the netflix three a month and drop bb because I agree that they ship so much faster...

TurboGTU

I won't even go to the blockbuster store in town anymore. I split my time between netflix, amazon, and redbox.

squeeb

Blockbuster is less expensive and more convenient (with in-store exchanges). However, if they close my local store I will probably go back to Netflix.

badchad

I did the one-month free trial (via mail). I thought the service was good. If I ordered a disc I got it in two days (e.g., order on Wednesday AM, got it Friday). I also thought the selection was fine, and liked the fact that blu-ray wasn't an extra charge.

I just couldn't justify the $14.99/month since I don't own any Samsung equipment to stream with, and there are no physical stores nearby.

Now I stream Netflix for $8.99/month and get discs from Redbox. For $1.59 nobody really comes close to Redbox prices unless you're watching 10+ movies a month. My only peeve with RB is that their discs lack features. No un-rated version of TED? give me a break.

seabeerob213

i just buy older movies on blu ray or get them on new release Tuesday when they're usually at an into price, i am always rewatching movies, and love to have them for trips and such

specd_out

I have always hated blockbuster. I grew up in a smaller town and we had our local rental place. Lots of movies and games at very reasonable prices. Then as our town grew up blockbuster came in and ran out that small business. Then proceeds to charge much more then what the small rental place charged. After that my parents almost never rented games or movies. Life sucked.

I am glad they are going under and that smaller companies with less expensive rentals and streaming abilities are putting the final nail in their coffin.

seabeerob213

specd_out wrote: »

I have always hated blockbuster. I grew up in a smaller town and we had our local rental place. Lots of movies and games at very reasonable prices. Then as our town grew up blockbuster came in and ran out that small business. Then proceeds to charge much more then what the small rental place charged. After that my parents almost never rented games or movies. Life sucked.

I am glad they are going under and that smaller companies with less expensive rentals and streaming abilities are putting the final nail in their coffin.

+1, i miss going into the top foods with my dad and picking out a sega genesis game to play for the week till our next grocery visit,

goofyGAguy

specd_out wrote: »

I am glad they are going under

Lots of people feel the same way about your employer.

AsSiMiLaTeD

So I've seen comments like 'blockbuster is cheaper' and 'they don't charge for BDs like Netflix' and have to wonder where you guys are getting your information.

BB charges $10, $15, and $20 for 1, 2, and 3 discs at a time respectively. Netflix charges $8, $12, and $16 for those same plans. If you add Blu Ray then their prices are the same as Blockbuster. So BB doesn't 'not charge extra' for BD, they just don't give you the option to not pay for it. So if I only want DVDs then Netflix is cheaper, if I want BD they are the same

gdb

I tried B'buster for a short period because I was "unhappy" w/Netflix, B'buster turned out to be just as bad or, worse. Netflix (upon rejoining) has sent me 2 blurays of Columbus Circle that were damaged or defectively made, and wouldn't play. Netflix still can't seem to provide me with disc #2 of Californication almost two months after it's release back on Dec. 18th ! What, did they buy 6 copies for the whole U.S. subscriber's group ? This tells me that Netflix may be bleeding a tad also.

DMara

I'm still using Blockbuster online because my Blockbuster local store account allows me to have one free online rental a month.

seabeerob213

Lack luster, and all others kinda of suck, why would you pay to use limited feature, used(dirty, scratched etc) discs, that in the end you have to return or pay retail+restocking fee, even for redbox. I did redbox and the machine broke when i had the movie, i got to pay for 4 days rental on a movie i had watched withing 5 hours of renting. Streaming is unreliable, and can never match the constant, uninterrupted playback of a good blu-ray in a good player. Dont even consider piracy a viable media source, and downloads aren't worth the trouble with all the stupid licensing restricting the devices/amount of devices the file can be used on, or even that you cant download in some places. These are my opinions based on my experience, yours will undoubtedly vary, and that is fine with me, so long as im happy with my stuff and you're happy with yours.

specd_out

goofyGAguy wrote: »

Lots of people feel the same way about your employer.

This very true. and on many of the topics I agree

goofyGAguy

specd_out wrote: »

This very true. and on many of the topics I agree

I will actually be sad when Best Buy finally kicks the oxygen habit.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I hope Best Buy doesn't go under. I've had fantastic service with them over the years and always buy from them when I can, even if they're a few bucks higher than online places like Amazon. People that walk into a Best Buy to play with products and then go buy them from Amazon to save a few bucks drive me crazy. I think that's very short-sighted, enough people do that and there won't be any more places around to go touch, listen, etc before you buy something.

gdb

YOU might have a good Best Buy.......mine is populated with idiots and A'holes that make a trip there a real nighmare ! The service/repair section is just as likely to do more harm than good to whatever is entrusted to them. :mad:

specd_out

gdb wrote: »

YOU might have a good Best Buy.......mine is populated with idiots and A'holes that make a trip there a real nighmare ! The service/repair section is just as likely to do more harm than good to whatever is entrusted to them. :mad:

This is the truth. The pay is low. 95% the people who work there could careless about the tech. They just need a paycheck.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Weird, I just don't get that around here. Sure they're mostly morons but what do you expect for 8 bucks an hour or whatever. I prefer to do my own research and don't care if the sales guys are knowledgeable, I prefer the experience to beat buy to, say, frys where everyone is in commission and guys there constantly hassle you to always put every little item on a ticket.

I generally like to be left alone when I shop though, so keep that in mind.

I find their warranty service to be good and find that they generally have the best attitude towards allowing returns or exchanges. I've also found that they're generally good at keeping things in stock and their online ordering and in store pickup to be more reliable than any other place I've tried.

specd_out

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I find their warranty service to be good

The warranty service they offer is very good. I never purchased protection plans before I started working there. But after seeing what it covers and they actually do cover issues changed my mind. I purchase it on everything and make sure family members do the same

sucks2beme

Block buster and me had a hate/hate relationship.
I used to always get my movies back about an hour before they were due.
Yet everytime I came back in to rent-late changes were waiting for me.
I stopped going there long before they went under. And danced on their grave.
BB hasn't been that bad. Not always real helpfull , though.