Has anybody converted to rentals?

I'm relatively new to blu-ray. New in the sense that I'm now finally enjoying the format - but not so much in the fact that I've had a PS3 for a few months now.

I've been rather reluctant to jump into Blu-ray because I don't want to rebuild my movie collection - which I have no doubt I would do (I'm a sucker for picture upgrades). However, I can't deny the detail and beauty of Blu-ray. The films I watch on the format look so much like true film.

Couple this with the fact that my tastes in film have grown so much in the past couple years that I've bought many more movies than I ought to have - and I've realized that the time has come to either dump my entire home video collection (about 200 VHS and 300 DVDs) and start from scratch (which would be almost impossible) or come up with an alternative.

For me that alternative has to be renting movies only (from Netflix). Buying was easy when I was younger since I was naive and imagined that DVD would be IT as far as the future of home video. My buying only progressed as the years went on. I'm at the point now where I want to not only experience more and more movies, but I want to see them in the best way imaginable.

Does anyone else do this?

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I started renting some again w/ the switch to Blu (as has many others it seems), but I don't think I will ever go w/ renting (or VOD/download) alone or even as the primary source of movies for my HT. Heck, I never rented much even before I started buying DVDs and getting into HT about a decade ago.

But yeah, I think many of us can empathize w/ you in figuring out whether and how much you should/will/want to upgrade of your existing collection. I'm still trying to figure that one out myself. So far, I've decided to sell off a bunch of DVDs that I probably wouldn't own if they weren't so cheaply available while trying to figure out what (and when, partly due to pricing/sales) to upgrade certain titles. And going forward, I plan to buy mainly BDs only (w/ very few exceptions), but will do so more selectively at a reduced volume compared to before.

Basically, I don't expect to spend less $ on film collecting going forward, just being more selective -- and well, maybe allocating a little bit toward one of the cheaper rental plans for most months like rent-2-per-month-for-$4-to-$5 and switching to one of the higher plans on occasion (like during the summer) when I need to do some catching up.

_Man_

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

As far as SDDVD's go Netflix has saved me a bunch of money. BR I'm being more selective in titles I purchase. There are just too many to buy!

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I too, accumulated a large library of DVD's, and have no regrets.

Since BD has come along, I find that purchases are a bit more selective, based on the film and the merits of the particular disc. It's a real treat to find a decent sale (which are becoming scarce), and at those times I let down the guard and stock-up on a few replacement titles.

It breaks down something like this:

15% purchase of "must have" titles upon release.
25% purchase when the price is right.
60% rental.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Like most, I'm being much more selective with my Blu-Ray purchases as well. I'm also renting a lot of "on the fence" titles since my local Blockbuster starting stocking Blu-Ray discs(and apparently I'm the only one renting them since hardly any are ever checked out). My days of crazy blind buying are effectively over.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Since you've got arguably the best blu player out there (PS3), there's certainly no reason not to buy blu discs, at least for new releases, and replace only the catalog titles you feel particularly passionate about. Even if you don't have an HDTV yet, your PS3 will down-rez blu discs so they'll be perfectly viewable on whatever set you own. No reason not to start future-proofing your collection now.

I wish there were more blus out there that I wanted to buy. There are plenty in the "wouldn't mind having" category, but few right now that I feel I must own, so I do plenty of blu renting via Netflix (do it now before they jack up the price later this year).

I nearly bought Robocop on blu the other day, but came to my senses--I don't want to support Fox's pricing.

Looking over the blu release sked for the next few months, my strategy, with a few exceptions (Starship Troopers, The Doors, Godfather, Iron Man) will remain, "Wake me up when they announce The Lord of the Rings."

--Jefferson Morris

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I too am being much more selective on my purchases, so I'm renting BD from Netflix. I've bought several BDs of favorites & I don't feel guilty about it.

But for most new releases, rental is fine.

With all my entertainment choices, I'm about to get selective with cable too. There is simply no reason to have to pay cable for all these crappy, horrible looking SD channels now, when all I want are the HD channels. Perhaps I'll look into satellite packages.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Not to mention it is a horrible transfer and NO special features. Even when that title has gone on sale at my local Fry's, I've told people who pick up the disc to read the cover that they would be much happier with the 2-disc Special Edition DVD released only a few months prior to the BD release.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

After spending years accumulating various media (books, music, cds, etc.) I've made a point to stop purchasing more than I can consume in a timely fashion. Now that I'm on the HD train I rent a lot more than I used to buy, and I'm fine with it, because a lot of the dvds I bought were watched only once or not at all.

I'm also discovering so many movies/tv shows that I enjoy that I don't have the desire/time to re-watch things as much as I used to.

In short: Netflix sure is great.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

That's something I've got to watch out for as well. I've noticed of late I'm buying alot of books - and I've yet to get to them. I think perhaps some regular trips to the library are in order.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Good advice. That two-disc edition was very nearly the last standard-def DVD I ever bought. But I've waited so long now that I figure I might as well just keep waiting for Fox to port the whole damn thing over in a proper blu edition. Although I imagine that won't happen at least until Aronofsky's Robocop sequel/reboot unspools (If just about any other director were working on that, I'd be screaming bloody murder, but I consider Aronofsky the arguable heir to Kubrick, so I'm intrigued to see his take).

--Jefferson Morris

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Ditto.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

i had no idea aranofsky was redoing robocop.

yes i have started to rent more then ever before over the last 2-3 years.

i ended up with well over 1500 dvds the first 7 years.
I've sold about 500 of those over the last 3 years and will continue to liquidate.

have about 100 or so on hd disc and also have been using netflix for
the majority of my hdm watching.

it is just too expensive and takes up too much space to keep buying them.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Thanks for the input guys. Seems like the best way to go for now is to move forward with new releases on Blu (while being much more careful and selective), and perhaps sell off dvd purchases I bought on impulse (and regret), and consider perhaps double dipping on the big ones later on down the line (Star Wars and LotR come to mind). As for other films I already own that I can't justify repurchasing (95% of my collection), I'll make use of Netflix as I planned.

One thing's for sure: I'd be double dipping on the upcoming SE of L.A. Confidential either way (it's been a long time coming) - so it might as well be Blu-ray.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

With me, it's just "business as usual"; which means:
* New movie in a genre I'm interested in : *** Must Purchase *** (Sci-Fi/Action/Adventure/Disney Classic Animation/Pixar)
* New movie in a genre I have only a mild interest in : *** Rent.*** (Romance/Drama/Mystery/Horror)
* Catalog Titles of interest: *** Place in Purchase Que *** (Meaning I'll purchase them when the budget permits.)

So, as always, its a mixture of purchasing and renting for me.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I've always mixed renting with buying, though in the first couple of years of DVD the rental option wasn't really available.

I take the same approach to BD, I don't need to own everything that gets released nor do I want to but at the same time upgrading my current DVD collection to BD as the titles become available doesn't bother me.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I buy most everything, almost never rent. Of course I rarely see a film in the theater so that money saved there goes towards the purchase of the film. I can own a film on Blu for less then taking the family out to the theater to see a film once.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Ron-P,

Out of curiosity, what do you do if you don't like the movie? Sell the disc?

--Jefferson Morris

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Of my 100+ Blu-ray discs, quite a few being blind buys, only one so far did I get rid of, Shoot'em up. I liked it but the rewatch factor is zero so I traded it for Twister with an AVS member.

Worse case, I sell it, but at that point I'm still money ahead.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Perhaps this needs a separate thread, but it does apply to people's discussion here:

Discussions that Netflix will increase rental price for BD.

In order for BD to continue growing, IMO then prices should be the same as DVD, not be higher.


Netflix to begin testing Blu-ray price increases | Industries | Consumer Goods & Retail | Reuters

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I broke a very bad habit by joining NF because before that I used to buy movies that I haven't seen and then got burned when said movie ended up sucking.

The last straw was The Village, I bought it and the film actually brought me to the point of anger at how much I hated it, the only film that I can recall to have that effect on me to date.

I've switched my account over to BD and every title that's available in that format I rent in addition to standard def DVD. To me it's the ideal way to watch many BD films since it would quickly turn into a money pit to buy every title that comes out because of the $30+ price.

With NF I don't pay that much and if the movie sucks then so what?

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

That sucks to be sure. But this actually makes me think my original plan was best (to become a renter). If I save on making purchases, I'll still be ahead money-wise.

Storage space-wise, it just seems to make the most sense for me. I'm starting to think of Netflix as sort of an "external film library".

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Pretty much how I feel, when it comes to films that *interest* me. From time to time I of course rent some titles (I don´t want to own every film I watch). But quite frankly I have more interesting titles at home than in the rental store, meaning over 100 titles (or something, it´s sad..) "to be watched", etc.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I rent almost everything. While I understand most won't agree with me on this, I see almost no value in purchasing a movie.

When I first got a DVD player many years ago, I started to build a collection of DVD titles. It wasn't long before I had nearly 200 titles (probably a small collection by forum standards). It occurred to me that I had spent well over $2K on this collection and that I would have been far better served by putting most of that money into my HT hardware.

I am probably more budget constrained than many here. Even when I buy now, I will rent first to make sure the transfer/movie is up to snuff.

It also helps that I have Block Buster store less than 5 minutes away from where I live, so it is very convenient to pick something up on a whim if I don't have it at home waiting to be watched from their online rentals.

-Keith

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I also went from mostly buying to mostly renting. When I first picked up an HD-DVD player and a PS3 a couple years back along with a new 1080p projector, I was buying a steady amount of high def content, as the deals got better and better (pretty much all movies available for $8 to $10 from Amazon) all of last year, I could help but buy them. Probably picked up nearly 100 high def movies last year.

But now this year that the average price of the movies is back above $20, I'm renting everything now. I bought only a few discs this year, the last one was the Dirty Harry Box from Warner using their 30% off coupon. I'm holding off on several titles that I want, waiting for the B1G1 sales to come back again.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

Well, I finally settled on what I'm gonna do. I've decided on certain films (which would qualify as my absolute "favorites"), and will get them on Blu-ray, while the rest will be coming to me via Netflix.

For now the titles I have added to my Blu-ray "collection" are:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
There Will Be Blood

Catalog titles to be added: Amadeus, Braveheart, Gladiator, The Godfather films (maybe), Lawrence of Arabia, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (and perhaps a couple more when I think about it)

I will also be purchasing The Dark Knight - but that'll probably be it from this year.

My goal is to move away from what I've done all these years, which is picking up every movie I like, and instead having a smaller "collection" of movies that stand out to me as my most treasured film experiences.

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

FWIW, I probably would own less if I didn't have a family w/ kids -- certainly would not be owning the SW prequels among other titles (and I may try again to resist getting the SW prequels when they arrive on Blu).

_Man_

Re: Has anybody converted to rentals?

I'm really glad to read this, because I bought that new SE about two months before I got my HDTV and PS3 and was kicking myself. Cool.

BTW, I have come to appreciate my Blockbuster online membership more since I got my PS3. The online availability has gotten steadily better, and I get 5 in-store rentals a month. Not too shabby for 20 bucks a month.