HD Titles @ Blockbuster (1 Viewer)

[Chris Huber]

Hey guys, I belong to BB right now for regular DVDs. I was wanting to go Samsung 5000 route for dual playback. I can see that whenever a new movie is released, blockbuster online almost always has it in a HiDef format.

How is it in the stores? The new release section in ours seems to only have SD DVDs.

Whats your experience with BB instore and onine HiDef experience?

 

[Clinton McClure]

Since the BB fiasco several years ago with ludicrous late fees (in a lot of cases, for movies turned in on time), the unwillingness to carry unrated and NC-17 content, the shunning of OAR to appease the J6P crowd and the refusal now to carry HD-DVD, I have not been and will continue to not be a BB customer.

*Edited to explain my comment about the late fees and to add NC-17 content (which I had omitted in my original post) to the list of movies BB refused to carry.

 

[CRyan]

Mine has a fairly good selection of blu ray. So I use them for all my hidef rentals - online and instore. Love it.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I have Blockbuster Online and Netflix. Sometimes one service will have a film that the other doesn't. That goes both for HDM as well as SD DVDs.

Doug

 

[David Sal]

Instore, some blurays of the biggest movies and no hd dvd. Online, looks like they have almost anything of both formats.

 

[drobbins]

My store in KY only has bluray and that's all I have seen on line. In the store they have a selection of 50+? movies, but not many copies of each.

 

[don monteith]

Our Block Buster here in Weatherford, Texas has Blu-ray and I just found out that they are now starting to carry HD as well. They already have the Bourne Ultimatum ready to put out on the 11th. That came straight from the store manager.

Don

 

[Patrick.C]

One of my local Blockbusters is carrying HD in addition to BR. But the BR selection dwarfs the HD by at least 3 to 1.

 

[TonyD]

thats an old argument and no longer applies.

the late fees were only ludicrous if you didnt return your movie when it was due.

they do carry many unrated titles now.
in fact if there is an unrated version when a movie has ur and rated BBV will carry the ur version.
what they dont carry is nc-17.
this has always been the policy.
they no longer and havent for at least 3, nearly 4 years only stocked full screen movies.
if a title is relaesed as a separate full screen and widescreen, bbv will only carry the widescreen.

there was 250 bbv stores that carries both hd dvd and b-r.
now those same store still carry both but bbv has indeed chosen blu as their
format of choice.
if a bbv has recently started to ccarry hd dvd, then it is very likely a franchise run site and not a corp owned site.

online offers all 3 formats.
although i have found many new release hd titles seem to have a long wait or coming soon for a long time after it is released.

 

[Clinton McClure]

In a lot of cases, Blockbuster was notorious for charging late fees for movies returned ontime. Happened to me.

 

[TonyD]

well, thats not what you said in the first post.
if you dont want to rent at bbv fine but really why do you keep rationalizing it.

yes sometimes a returned dvd will not get checked in properly, things happen.

if the store this happened to, with you, didnt give you your fees back then that was an issue with that store.

shouldnt this be in the store feedback section anyhow?

 

[Clinton McClure]

I apologize if I did not explain myself completely. I was rushed for time. Don't mistake me for trolling, I'm just telling my experience (which is something Chris asked when he originally posted). Some of their shady past may be moot now in some of the stores or even online, but their policy of only carrying BR for rent and sale in my neck of the woods stands. The store closest to me does not carry HD-DVD, nor do they choose OAR over P&S/fullscreen if there is a choice. Rationalizing why I do not shop there is like rationalizing why you don't buy a car from a dealer who tries to screw you over or why you don't pay full price for late pizza. It takes a long time for that bad taste in your mouth to go away, which is why I have been a loyal customer of Hastings now for close to 10 years. They've always made the better decisions about what to rent (up until they decided to rent BR and not HD-DVD) and they carry a much better and larger selection of titles to this day.

Anyway...Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

 

[TonyD]

is hastings a rental chain also?

 

[GregK]

BB online is an excellent source for Blu-ray titles. I've been using them for about 8 months now and have not had any problems with scratched discs. ..A few occasional cracked discs ..but that's sometimes the nature of the Postal system.

The only slight downside for me is the newest and more popular Blu titles can often have a very long wait on line. This is where the local Blockbuster stores can come into play. Here in Fort Wayne, two of the BB stores are also renting Blu-Ray discs. While their selection is certainly limited when compared to the On-Line offerings, the locals do carry most of the recent hits in Blu-Ray. So call around and see if there's a Blockbuster near you that also carries Blu-Ray.

Regarding Clinton's experiences with BB, I also had the same problems.. but that was a couple of years ago. Blockbuster now carries unrated titles if that option is available, and if the title is available in widescreen, that is what they'll carry.