Sometimes Silent

I’ve been using Blockbuster Online’s service for months now but I’m just ending my 2 week trial period with Netflix after having heard good things about them for a long time.

Short story: I’m sticking with Blockbuster.

Longer story:

Netflix
I tried out Netflix because some friends in the area (who have not used Blockbuster Online) said they have a fast turn around since one of the location places is just one town (15 minutes) over. I had heard about the Netflix settlement (they were sued for purposely demoting fast returners DVDs) and figured that was settled and they wouldn’t do it again. Well, my Blockbuster DVDs still got here faster than my Netflix ones…and this was with me churning them over at the same rate. So that was one possible Pro for Netflix that turned out to be a wash.

One Pro that did pan out for Netflix is their website. It was easier to browse and add DVDs to my queue using Netflix and the friend recommendation system is nice. One caveat to this… while using Blockbuster’s website I didn’t have any complaints so it’s only something I noticed using both systems.

Finally, for a Netflix Pro point I figured they would have a wider selection of movies. As a test I searched for “The Last Temptation of Christ” which I had heard was not available from Blockbuster. I was wrong, it’s available from both services. Maybe time has made that movie not as controversial though?

Blockbuster
I started out subscribed to their unlimited 3 out at a time plan with the additional 2 free coupons a month. At the time I also got a coupon for a buy one get one free ice cream, and a free used DVD. The next month I got a coupon for buy one get on free popcorn and a used dvd for $5, another time I got one for a discount on a game. It continued like that for awhile but I haven’t seen another coupon like that for 2 months now, I only see my usual 2 free rentals.

After I got into some TV shows (darn it, I got hooked on LOST) I realized that 3 movies at a time plus the coupons was too many DVDs. I cut back to the 2 out at a time, 2 bonus coupons plan, at a very affordable $11.99 a month. The bonus coupons are great, they allow for immediate gratification on new DVD releases and spontaneous viewing choices. If I lived far from a Blockbuster I’d consider Netflix’s service but 2 movies out at a time for $11.99 even without the coupons is still a good deal.

Anyway, there’s my two bytes worth

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March 2006: Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

I’ve been a fan of this festival since I first stumbled upon it while in Banff (Alberta, Canada). It not only delivers great films but it’s a fun event for the outdoors community as well. The ones I went to in Los Angeles and in Santa Barbara inevitably had a drawing for free prizes as a nice bonus.

Additionally, someone mentioned that the segment “Radical Reels” was entertaining this year and includes a Jack Russell Terrier who climbs!?!

Technorati tags: climbing, Banff Mountain film festival

CNN/Money: TV Dad Salaries

I thought this was post worthy partly for the TV dad angle but also because it was interesting to see how close in salaries certain jobs were. For instance, Dan Conner, Roseanne’s Construction Worker dad ($38,202) compared to Family Ties dad, Steven Keaton as a Public TV Station manager ($40,713).

LOL!

Ok, this guy is funny. His “vanity cards” appear briefly (for two seconds I believe) as part of the TV shows he’s involved with and just list his beliefs. Here’s an excerpt from his first “card”:

“Thank you for videotaping “Dharma & Greg” and freeze-framing on my vanity card. I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some of my personal beliefs. I believe that everyone thinks they can write. This is not true. It is true, however, that everyone can direct.”

I know some industry friends who would get a kick out of that last line

Read on here:
Chuck Lorre Productions

Overall I liked the Oscars show.

Chris Rock was a little harsh on the “stars, not stars” bit but I’d like to see him as host again to give him a second chance.

I didn’t like them presenting Oscars in the audience.

I liked that they had Yo Yo Ma performing a piece to go with the usual In Memoriam montage.

I’ve only seen 2 of the 5 nominated Best Picture movies. I plan to see the rest though.

In general, and in no offense to those involved — and unless Million Dollar Baby ends up blowing me away — I thought 2004 was a weak year for film.

In my earlier entry I mentioned I would follow up on Blockbuster’s timing.

I returned my films, one on Friday, two on Saturday. I received my next two films today, Thursday. My 3rd will likely arrive tomorrow (it is a documentary). I still have the movies I picked up at the store, they are “due” Sunday. I also utilized my buy one ice cream get on free coupon. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. At any rate it was the first time I’d stepped into a Blockbuster or any video rental place in a really long time. I actually enjoyed it. I saw some films I wanted to put on my list and had a brief conversation with a woman who was interested in the same movie I was.

So far still so good.

New Information

A friend of mine told me more information about the NetFlix choices. It seems there really is an $11.99 choice:

8-at-a-time for $47.99
5-at-a-time for $29.99
3-at-a-time for $17.99
2-at-a-time (4 rentals a month) for $11.99
You may change your account status anytime by clicking on the Change link next to Membership in Your Account.

Any changes to your service will take effect at the start of your next billing date. Until that time, your Netflix membership will remain unchanged.

I believe to get to the $11.99 choice though you have to sign up with the regular one then move over to the other one at the next billing date. I think I will try it out still.

I did think of an advantage with the Blockbuster in store coupons though — I had wanted to make sure I saw Ray before the Academy Awards and thought I wouldnt get it in time so I could have used one of my coupons to get it from the store… except I already used them both. However I ended up getting Ray from my queue list anyway so my point wasn’t as strongly made. But… if I had friends over and we wanted a particular movie right “now” the coupons would still be handy.

Can Blockbuster Online compete with Netflix? I’m giving Blockbuster Online a try this week to find out.

I signed up with Blockbuster Online after reading the small print. My free trial is for 2 weeks and I must cancel before that ends or I will have to pay a full month of service before it can be cancelled again. I will have 10 days after cancellation to return any dvds or games I have checked out. Some friends at work told me that Netflix’s free trial is for a month…however I checked their site and found it was for two weeks as well with similar fine print.

Price

The basic service at Netflix is $17.99 a month for 3 movies out at a time. Blockbuster’s is $14.99. Blockbuster also gives you 2 in store coupons per month to rent movies or games for free. Neither service charges you for postage either way.

Selection

My initial thought was that I was going to do Blockbuster’s free trial, get my free movies then cancel and go with Netflix. Why? Selection. I have memories of Blockbuster’s censorship; specifically I recall my roommate trying to rent “The Last Temptation of Christ” and being told that Blockbuster did not carry that film. Years later… they have it available. So I decided to test a few other films: foreign films suggested by a Spanish speaking friend of mine, and a documentary I recalled from my Documentary class in college. They were both there. Finally, I tried “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”. No go with Blockbuster, it shows up on Netflix. However, my friend told me he tried to rent it but got a notice that they did not have enough of them in stock and were going to purchase more. We’ll see if he gets it.

Notice I only checked for film availability. If I had a game console (I do want one or two by the way in case anyone generous is reading this) Blockbuster would have a huge plus since Netflix does not rent games.

Timing

My co-workers told me that timing is everything in terms of getting your money’s worth with these services. It so happens that my work is near one of the hub post offices for our area. Because of this my co-workers seem to mail back films on Monday and receive their next films as early as Thursday. They noted the return address on the envelope though was a PO box in the very city our office is in.

I signed up with Blockbuster Online on Monday. I got my first 3 films today, pretty quick in my opinon. The return address says San Jose, CA so we’ll see how quick I get my next round of DVDs. My free in store coupons were available immediately, so I have the potential to see 5 films right now. I also saw a buy-one-get-one free coupon for ice cream at the store.

Services

Both systems handle their movie inventories by giving you your queue (list). You then put the films you want in order and they tell you if they are available immediately, after a short wait, long wait, etc. Both systems also have you rate films and then based on those recommendations, show you other films you might like. So far I’ve rated over 20 films and am quite amused when I check my recommendations list after each small batch of films. Just because I like some “kid” films (The Little Mermaid) doesn’t mean I like them all (non Disney animated films of other fairy tales). My friends tell me the Netflix list is similar. One thing Netflix does have though is the ability to split your queue so you can put films in genres for instance so you can time it to get one comedy and one action movie at the same time.

Preliminary “Final Thoughts”

By stats and value alone, Blockbuster is winning out. I’ll make a note of the return time though, as that will be a big factor. However, where Netflix is strong is in a community way. They have a friend system so you can see what your friend recommends. They also have a larger subscriber base. Somehow I feel a little “left out”. I suppose this feeling is similar to why certain meme type communities prosper, such as Livejournal for instance. Blogsome is free and a better deal (for customization opportunities at least) but Livejournal has that community already in place.

Lesson learned? Something also learned in the online gaming industry: popularity can override some discrepancies of cost.

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P.S. If you’d like to try out the Blockbuster Online service, and you’d also like a PS2, GameCube, Nintendo DS, or an Xbox, please sign up for Blockbuster through this giveaway offer.

A post about that and other offers is upcoming. Suffice it to say for now that they are legit offers.