HD Rentals: The Art of the Impossible (1 Viewer)

[James T]

I'm part of zip.ca as well(blu only). If it's in, they are pretty quick to send it out and I get it in about a day. But my most recent release I got was Dracula, which was released in what? October/September? I even canceled some that were on my list for months because I found it on sale or was given it on Christmas

As soon as it becomes more than one available copy in store for rent, I'm canceling. If you have patience and can wait months for the title, then it's a good deal, but I'm the type to watch a premiere movie the opening weekend and would prefer the same timeframe (or within reason) on rental

 

[PaulDA]

I view it as a supplement to my store, not a replacement. For titles that I want to see right away that are new releases, I'll go the local store and get them in SD (which still look quite good in my setup) if I have to. If I like the title enough to buy it, then I'll buy the HDM version (if available). But the in store HDM selection (in either format) is sparse, so I can wait for a lot of the titles in my list. And the same goes for the Criterion titles. My local store carries about 10 of the titles that interest me. The others on my "ziplist" are not at the local store, cost a fortune to buy (some are even OOP) and, as they are all classics and not recent, the order doesn't matter to me.

And for those living in rural areas, zip.ca and the like have to be considered godsends compared to what it was like before those services were available. I know if I lived in northern Cape Breton, I'd be very happy to have zip.ca no matter how long I had to wait for a title.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Does it indicate that Crimson Tide is Blu-ray? Because I've tried searching for it on Netflix and all it shows me is the existing DVD version.

 

[Jeff McMillan]

I guess I'm lucky. I have about 40 BR discs in my Netflix queue, and only one is not available now.

 

[PerryD]

I've seen "Assassination of Jesse James" and "Game Plan" as Very Long Wait since the day they were released. I keep my queue completely empty until I get the title I want, but I don't think I'll be getting these titles anytime soon even though I haven't gotten a movie from them in a while.

 

[Jacob McCraw]

You're not lucky - you're just not being throttled.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

It's all rather peachy when you join up...

 

[Jeff McMillan]

I'm admittedly one of those people who will keep out a movie 2 weeks or more. So yeah, that could be what's happening.

 

[WillG]

Hopefully at Netflix this is a sign of things to come since they officially chose Blu-Ray and to a larger extent now that the format war is over. For the longest time I had "Planet Earth" on my Queue. For the longest time it was a very long wait for the first disc on BD. Months we're talking. So finally it becomes available to me. I received it today and the disc looked brand new. So hopefully this means that they are going to be better at stocking BDs

 

[RickER]

Mr. OCD me, hates to see scratched discs. I never get a DVD that is not literally scratched to hell and back from NetFlix. It might even be a fairly new release. Fortunately all but 2 have played, a third was broken when i got it in the mail. But, i have only had one Blu-ray with 1 or 2 very light scratches (and it played). To me thats a testament to the Blu-ray scratch coat. Sometimes i wish DVDs, especially TV on DVD used a scratch coat!

 

[Brian Collins]

I think I just got moved to the throttled list. I'm on vacation (use or lose, so not going anywhere) and so I'm watching about a movie a day from Netflix. On Friday morning I got the standard notification that they'd received my movie and the next available disc would ship that day. Well, I never got the movie shipped e-mail, however I did get an e-mail reminding me of the terms of use page, so I took a look at my que. I have to wait until Monday for them to ship my next movie. edit: I should mention that this is the first time that a movie wasn't shipped the same day, unless they notified me that the next movie would be coming from a different distribution center (which they didn't do on Friday).

The terms of use do clearly spell out now that folks who get less movies have priority "when the number of shipments to be processed by that distribution center on that day is exceeded."

You can see from the below image that most of my selections are short or long waits. I add movies to my que generally the weekend they open at the theatres. I'll look at the top 10 each week and add movies that seem like they might interest me. So I'm generally not real concerned about when I get the movies...sometimes longer is better since I've forgotten all the spoilt material from the commercials.



further edit to add:
I figured I'd throw in a few more details concerning my situation. I'm currently on the 3 out at a time price plan. When I'm not on vacation, I generally watch 3 movies a week (sometimes I only get 2 in). I would assume this is about average (3 out plan=3 watched a week, 4 out plan=4 watched a week, etc). My distribution center is in Columbia, SC. Maybe that has something to do with the page full of short and long waits. Your distribution center might just get more copies of HD discs for one reason or another. I've been a Netflix member since 2004.

I wasn't really being serious about being throttled, it was just a rather large coincidence that I got that e-mail about the Terms of Use the first time Netflix was unable to keep up with my return rate.

 

[Gregory Vaughan]

Interesting. It's definitely whether you are throttled or not. Looking at the above list, it shows Michael Clayton BD as "very long wait", whereas it shows on my queue as "short wait". I have 9 other BD movies on my queue and all show as available now except Blade Runner, which is also "short wait".

I'm not saying that it doesn't suck for people who watch a lot of movies, but if you happen to be a low frequency renter (I tend to watch 1 movie a week) it doesn't appear to be a problem (and it's not just if you are a new member either, I've been a Netflix member since 1999).

 

[Bryan Beckman]

It's very interesting trying to figure out what Netflix is doing. Today all of the Blu-rays in my queue that had any sort of wait attached to them are Now available. Part of that could be that I'm on the $8.99 plan, and have held on to my latest movie for nearly two weeks, but I do think it's remarkable that they're now all available. My first thought was, "Well, maybe since they've decided on Blu-ray, they're increasing their inventories." But throttling could have something to do with it too.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Looks like Netflix just increased their Blu-ray catalog.

Blu-ray.com - Netflix Beefs Up Blu-ray Offerings

 

[Felix Martinez]

Looks like Netflix is raising their rates accordingly.

I recommend calling their toll free # 888-638-3549 and voice your opinion. Just be nice.

They're logging complaints, and this does seem to work. I recall a few months ago, Netflix was putting these obnoxious stickers around the hubs of discs, which was causing some playback issues. Lots of folks complained. Haven't seen those stickers since.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Given that I still cannot get new release Blu Ray in any reasonable amount of time and I usually end up getting the SD Disk at Redbox (God I hope they do Blu at some point) I won't pay the oncrease, I'll just keep the current account to rent TV and such.

 

[Paul Arnette]

I'm not sure 'accordingly' is really the correct term. That Netflix is attempting to see what the market will bear is probably more accurate. It is interesting to note that Netflix recently reported recorded profits, so I don't really buy the excuse that they have to raise prices to maintain a margin.

That said, I will definitely cancel their service if the average cost of a rental approaches the $4-5 mark. At that point, I can generally buy a BD and resell it and lose that much or less, which effectively becomes my rental price. My main problem with Netflix, apart from the availability of new releases, is that I can't seem to rent enough to achieve a decent 'ecomony of scale' while I still have a large backlog of my own titles to watch.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Frankly speaking, they could raise the price on the 3-at-a-time plan from $17.95 to $24.95 and I wouldn't bat an eye. I figured out about a week ago that between disc rentals and the online streaming I average $.34/hr for their services, which is a RIDICULOUS bargain.

I know everyone is looking for the next great deal, but I've been a customer for 7 years and I've received nothing but great service. I see little reason to change, personally.

 

[David Wilkins]

Looks to me, like the rate increase will apply only to BD titles, not an across the board per month increase for everybody. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not sure how they would work it out, but it doesn't sound like it will apply to all subscribers. It would probably kick-in when a person has the Blu-ray option checked on their account.

 

[David Wilkins]

Perhaps results vary by the stock on hand at your local area Netflix distributor. I've had pretty good luck with hi-def rentals from the Minneapolis distributor. From what I've read, their deal with the post office is mighty thin, and it's getting less and less likely for them to ship titles cross country the way they used to. I haven't had a shipment from anywhere other than Minneapolis, since the Fall of '07.

Having recently gone from the 3 at a time to the 4 at a time deal, there has been a slight reduction in "availability" of certain BD titles. However, there have been times when I've had immediate shipping on a title that shows "short wait", and once or twice on a title showing "long wait". It's all part of the mystery of Netflix.