OT: Blockbuster online vs. Netflix

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:53 pm

I want to get some feedback to see if others are having a similar experience to what i'm having with Blockbuster online. I subscribed sometime around december and at first it was pretty good. Almost all of the movies in my Q were "available now" and i rarely had to wait to get a movie shipped to me. However, in the last couple months things have changed a lot. I usually have around 25 to 30 movies in my Q and very few are available now. Many have "short waits" (which aren't very short if you ask me) and a number of them have "long waits" or even "very long waits". As of right now, out of 25 movies in my Q, only 2 of them are available, and that's some Seinfeld discs from season 1 & 2. Every other DVD is not available. This is getting kind of rediculous. Most aren't even big new releases. Is anyone else having a similar problem, where nothing seems to be available anymore? Maybe it has to do with the fact that i live in a major city and the nearest distribution center is simply undertocked for such a large subscription base. I live in Los Angeles BTW.

Anyone have Netflix? How's the selection and availability?

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:56 pm

netflix all the way!

TheMightyPuck · Post by **TheMightyPuck** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:39 am

I love Netflix. 3 days from me sending old to me recieving new. 4 if there is increased sunspot activity. My only caveat is I don't tend to rent popular choices so I'm not sure how that would be.

Edit. Everything I've searched and rented for has been immediately available.

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:22 am

TheMightyPuck wrote:I love Netflix. 3 days from me sending old to me recieving new. 4 if there is increased sunspot activity. My only caveat is I don't tend to rent popular choices so I'm not sure how that would be.

Edit. Everything I've searched and rented for has been immediately available.

Sounds good. I may be switching over pretty soon. They probably have some free trial period so i'll try that before ditching blockbuster. I tend to rent all types of movies. I really only have one big New Release in my Q and that's Find Neverland, and of course it's not available. The one really cool thing about blockbuster is that they give you two free in store rentals per month via a coupon you print online. You can rent games with them as well. Kind of nice for when 1)I want to rent a game and 2)when i just can't wait for a certain movie to become available.

maddoc1979 · Post by **maddoc1979** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 9:50 am

The only nice thing about my VERY short experience with Blockbuster online was the instore coupons. I've used Netflix now for a few months and it's awesome. Extremely quick shipping (I get movies a day after they've shipped). I've not yet had to wait for a movie (I just bumped The Incredibles to the top of my queue the day before it came out and I got it right away). Everything seems to be instock and their selection is great. I'm more of a mainstream movie watcher, though I do like some independents, and they seem to have everything I've every searched for and most importantly, it's been readily available.

Sure, Netflix is a couple bucks more a month, but I'm extremely satisfied.

Doc

ImDaIcon · Post by **ImDaIcon** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 9:58 am

I am kind of in the same boat as you with Blockbuster. 22 Movies in my Que right now ZERO are available. The 2 free in stores rentals are a huge bonus but if they cant ship the movies I want then 2 free rentals in store are a joke. I signed up in January and everything was amazing. Out of 30 movies I requested all but like 5 were available. I think they have just seen a huge addition of subcribers and havent been able to have supply meet demand.

Last week I had the first season of OZ in my que. Disk 1 at spot #1 and disk #2 and #3 way back at like 24 and 25, because I didnt want to risk getting disks 2 and 3 before seeing the first one. Well you can prolly guess what happens....they send me disk 2 and 3 and list disk 1 as a short wait. I emailed them complaining that an online rentals service should actually have movies available and explained to them how I purposely put disks 2 and 3 at the bck of my que so I wouldnt get them before disk #1. They apologized and gave me a free month of service. I had to use one of my in store rentals to get OZ disk #1. If the service isnt better in a month....then I'm gone. But you may want to email them with your disappointment. You may get a free 30 days out of it.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:28 am

Well, they have been advertising for Blockbuster online a lot lately. They probably couldn't handle the influx of new customers. You'd think they would start upping their per movie totals as they are expanding their client base. I wish I could use a service like this but I don't trust the mail system out here and I don't want to be liable for a movie I never received if it goes to someone elses house and they keep it.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:51 am

right now I am currently using both services. I have been using Netflix for about 2 years, but I decided to try Blockbuster because they had a free month and were $3 cheaper a month than Netflix.

If you get a game with the two free coupons, Blockbuster is giving you $14 a month back. Net cost is 99 cents a month. The problem with Blockbuster and their new "no late fees" campaign is they never have anything in stock. People are just using their new policy as a 2 week rental system.

But back to the online movie rentals. Initially, Blockbuster was very slow and I had made up my mind that I was going to cancel as soon as the free trial was over. I live about 2 hours from the distribution center yet it was taking 3-4 days for me to get my movies. It has gotten much better as they are on par with Netflix in terms of delivery time, but like others in this thread, my que is filled with movies that they can't deliver.

I think overall in terms of quality of service and being able to fill your needs, Netflix is the better choice right now, but it's tough to pass up those $14 in free rentals each month that Blockbuster gives you. That being said, I'll probably be dropping Blockbuster when the month is up.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:51 am

I could probably count on one hand the number of times a Netflix movie wasn't available when I wanted it (I've been a subscriber for 2 years). And they have everything.

My only complaint is that their movies can get pretty beat up -- scracthed, even had one show up that was cracked. But I'd say at least 90% of the time, they play just fine.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:13 am

I have Blockbuster, they have been fine. What I like about their service is that you can have 3 titles at once for, what was, a lower price per month than Netfilx's 2 titles at a time. I guess Netflix is now a few bucks cheaper but is still only 2 titles at once and only so many per month total.

The only titles that I have had a wiat time on with BB are some older more obscure titles. Any new release or newer flick has come right away.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:20 am

I have been using gamefly for games. do any of these services combine games & movies? Sometimes there aren't any games I am interested in renting and would love to rent a movie instead.

maddoc1979 · Post by **maddoc1979** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:32 am

I pay $17.99 a month for Netflix, get 3 out at a time, and no limit to how many a month I can take out.

Doc

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:09 pm

JackB1 wrote:I have been using gamefly for games. do any of these services combine games & movies? Sometimes there aren't any games I am interested in renting and would love to rent a movie instead.

There is gamezandflix.com and one or two others but their selections are poor and probably has nowhere the inventory of netflix or gamefly.

If Netflix added games, that would be killer but then again, games are $50 and easily scratched. I think Netflix has a deal with studios but probably would have to pay regular wholesale for games.

Yeah two game rentals is the equivalent of $14 (actually over $15 with tax) but you have to question how BB gets away with charging 6.99 or 7.99 for a game rental in the first place. If there were independent video rental stores, they couldn't pull that stuff but they've driven all of them out of business. Netflix probably also helped with that too.

mobiggins · Post by **mobiggins** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:33 pm

I tried Blockbuster for a couple of months--I've been with Netflix for a year and a half now--and didn't like it too much. The coupons were okay, but as has been mentioned, nothing is in stock anymore at BB stores, so they end up being kinda pointless. I like Netflix much better. Better selection, ( I like foreign films that BB didn't always carry) and much, much better availability of titles. I'd go with them.

mg · Post by mg » Fri Apr 01, 2005 6:59 pm

JackB1 wrote:I have been using gamefly for games. do any of these services combine games & movies? Sometimes there aren't any games I am interested in renting and would love to rent a movie instead.

how is gamefly - i've been thinking about trying them out. Do you have to wait to get new games?

PantherFan · Post by **PantherFan** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:12 pm

I've been with Netflix since 2000...That says it all.

WillHunting · Post by **WillHunting** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 9:35 pm

I joined Netflix last month because of 1 free month trial. It was very good, I watched over 12 movies in 1 month so it would definitely be worth it. I would continue if I have more time to watch movies, right now, I just want to play games with my free time