Comments on: Why renting Blu-ray movies makes perfect sense

Do you rent films in Sony's Blu-ray format for high-definition viewing? The quality of streamed films and regular DVDs does not compare, and buying Blu-ray Discs is too expensive.

[mchinsky]

Once again, this guys posts are all hidden left wing agendas. Just read the last post that kissed Obama's butt regarding moving away from youtube. Now he subtly reminds us how the movie he rented was a full of crap bush bash fest known as "W" by the "objective" Oliver Stone.

[sevenalive]

Wow I guess these hard as* conservatives really get pissed when they lose.

[gerrrg]

Looney Toons.

[eadeguzman]

sevenalive -- please don't use labels. mchinsky is speaking for himself and himself only.

mchinsky -- no politics here. Yes, Don may have exposed his political inclinations. But you can't really tell if he liked or disliked or agrees or disagrees about the movie or not. This is a tech site. Let's keep it that way.

[xcopy]

now this is funny....

I'm not defending democrats, but you have to be either stupid or selfish to be a republican.

I now know which of the two you are....

[Spartan_458]

Maybe a "Republican," but not a conservative.

All the Republican Party is nowadays is the Democrat party from 15 years ago. The Democrat Party is now the Socialist party. So yes, you would have to be stupid to be one.

Conservatives believe in having freedoms and being able to make choices for yourself. I'm sorry if you call me selfish for wanting to make my own destiny how I want to make it, but that's your problem. I like not having the government telling me what to do and babysitting me. That's what liberals want. So if you're a liberal, and you want that, by all means, go ahead. I'll stick to being a mature person and making my own choices instead of being a whiny baby who cries to its mother (the government) whenever it needs something.

[Dalkorian]

That's funny Spartan, really. Bushit proved retardicans only believe in two things, God and terrorism. All that other bull you just spewed from your lie hole is doing nothing else but stinking up the place.

[Inconnux]

Dalkorian that may be true for republicans today but perhaps you should read your history. Look at the writings of people like Ben. Franklin. The republican party has strayed FAR from its roots... Lincoln is probably rolling in his grave.

As for Obama, his ideas are from the failed economic ideas of Keynes. They failed to do anything during the great depression, and they won't help today.

[MyTThor]

So the fact that the only thing he said about the movie was negative is an endorsement of some sort? That's a VERY well hidden left wing agenda.

[popa pineapple]

Theoretically the two party system is a good idea, but the lack of any rational leadership on the right is sinking the whole concept. Come on, right wingers, give us something more than guilt by association smears and name calling. You're looking like a bunch of idiots with not a coherent idea in the bunch, and that includes you, Rush.

[pbamma]

As far as I can tell, Don Reisinger is a tech columnist who has the best pulse on the trends of this industry. I remember the quick take over of DVD over VHS around 2000 in my local Blockbuster. I usually get my Blockbuser rentals through the mail, but also have the added benefit of going into my local store to trade in one of my rentals for something I want to see "right now". Last week, I noticed the Blu-ray space double in my local store. I'll be happy when DVD is gone personally.
Go Obama. How's that for hidden.

[edmundh]

I second that. Go Obama. Please.

[CaptThom]

I love love love the BluRay format, but agree with the author that the purchase price of the discs is still way too high to justify regular purchases. i haven't had good luck with BluRay rentals -- the least bit of dirt or dust on the disc causes my Sony player to freeze. So, my compromise? But those movies that definitely benefit from the format (Dark Knight, anything from Pixar -- Wall-E is spectacular on BluRay), then I buy movies on DVD that I want in my collection but either aren't on BluRay or don't warrant hi-def (classic movies, anything starring Seth Rogen). BluRay's format is terrific, but really, do I really need (or, for that matter, want) to see Eugene Levy in hi-def?

[socrfan]

My question is with rental fees so cheap these days, why buy a movie you will watch a few times at most and then use as a dust collector? If it's the occasional movie or series you have always loved to watch and want to keep that's one thing but to buy movie after movie is just a waste of money.

[MadLyb]

You left out a critical reason for renting Blu-ray, quality of the disc.

I am a very infrequent renter and prefer to purchase movies, but Blu-ray is expensive, so I have reduced my purchases, but the real eye opener was an early Blu-ray purchase of a favorite movie and the quality was simply not there. I could watch the DVD upsampled on my Oppo and it looked as good as the Blu-ray disc that cost 3 times as much. The movie is a little older, but another release from the same timeframe was remastered and looks incredible.

So, caveat emptor kicks in and if I am unsure, I rent the movie first to evaluate it before purchasing.

As to downloads, I'm with you completely. If I don't like music downloads (quality, DRM, data retention, etc.), video is even more cumbersome and don't even get me started on streaming. I watched a movie at a friend's where he was streaming it from Netflix and it stalled twice which completely ruins the experience. It reminds me of the good ol' days where we had to flip the laserdisc over.

[vikinzer]

I have to agree that from a rental standpoint Blu-Ray makes a lot of sense. I personally don't think that Blu-Ray will ever make as much sense for purchasing films as the industry would like though. I have friends who are only now replacing VHS because they have gotten sick of how much space they take up. Not even so much the video quality. With a DVD you can play it on your blue ray player, it doesn't take up any more space than a blu ray (that half inch off the top of the case is just silly), and I really just can't ever see myself replacing my current collection. Even once I make the jump to Blu-Ray I can only see myself replacing big special effects extravaganzas. While hard core video/audiophiles will drop the cash to replace, I don't think most people will. They'll just end up with hybrid collections.

[putkowski]

Some movies aren't worth the storage they take in BD so it's better to just get the regular DVD.

As disk storage prices continue to come down, this will matter less.

[jimmyhoops]

Two words: Blockbuster Video! I've been renting Blu-Ray discs from Blockbuster since they started offering Blu-Ray rentals at my local store last year. I disagree with you that the quality difference is marginal....it's more like night and day. I'll often times wait a few days until the Blu-Ray version gets returned to the store than pick the SD version from the shelves, even if there are a bunch of SD's available. To me, the increased video quality and uncompromised sound are well worth the wait.

Somehow, I feel deja vu when reading your column. I think that one of your predecessors brought up the same argument when the video store shelves were full of VHS and Beta Tapes and the new kid on the block-DVD's occupied a fraction of the store's inventory.

I, personally, refuse to watch a DVD when there is a Blu-Ray version available. To me it's well worth the wait!

[Inconnux]

Blockbuster is getting close to bankruptcy, so enjoy them while you can.

[pbamma]

Blockbuster Refinancing Debt:
I hadn't heard about the bankruptcy thing yet, so I've searched out a recent link posted March 4th...

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10467659/1/blockbuster-no-plans-to-file-for-bankruptcy.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEFI

[k9jdk]

There IS a difference between DVD and Blu-Ray and imo its a big difference. Not only video but audio as well. Rent what you feel you'll not buy. Buy what you feel you'll want to own. You do have a choice.

[ArtInvent]

I've always been pretty mystified why anyone would buy a movie in any format, unless it's for their children to watch over and over again. (Kids have short attention spans and it's nice to have a repertoire of 'instant babysitters' on the shelf. And they won't be needin' no BluRay.)

As an adult. the number of movies I watch more than once is extremely small. Maybe one in 50. Plus now with on-demand online options, you'll increasingly be able to watch any movie any time you want, and of course in a few years that will all be in HD quality as well. BluRay seems to me to have about 3 years of good mojo before it starts looking like the last dinosaur of physical media.

BluRay does look very nice at the moment, but I'm a videophile and I'm still not that tempted to get a player - the selection is STILL quite limited the really big popular movies.

[4nortons]

I totally agree. If you have a Blockbuster Total Access account or a Netflix account, you have access to pretty much every DVD ever released for twenty bucks a month. And they store them for you, cataloge them for you, replace them when they are too damaged to play, upgrade them to newer better formats for you, etc.. It's a no brainer for sure. Buying movies is really silly. Really, really silly.

[Vactor413]

How do you stream movies over AppleTV? I know you can download them, but I know of no streaming option.

Come on Don!

[camp88]

You can stream movies from your computer through Apple TV. All content in iTunes can be streamed. I don't know that this is what DR meant, but streaming is an option.

[stp777]

Don't forget that by renting the film vs. streaming, you gain the ability to enjoy all the special features and commentaries most discs are blessed with.

[sdf0013]

Netflix. Enough said. Okay. $1 extra a month. No big deal for the quality. Just be sure to rent older stuff too so they don't keep you at the end of the disc on a per-title basis.

[R1one]

I have 3 words, Netflix, Netflix and Netflix!

[ripar1]

er, I have a blu-ray player and DON'T rent. And I don't purchase much. Why? Because I have a huge library of DVDs that I have no intention of replacing. And, after building that huge DVD collection, I've realized that I only want to purchase a few high quality movies. And considering the dearth of decent movies over the past few years, my purchases have been few, maybe one a month. I don't need to own crap like Fantastic Four. Especially considering most of the movie channels are HD now. I'll watch movies like 10,000 BC on tv. Actually, after having watched that, I'm pretty sure my IQ declined. No way anyone should ever purchase something like that.

[tomorryzc]

Netflix can be play on xbox, besides convert dvd to xbox, Netflix HD Streaming Previewed in New Xbox Experience http://www.convert-video-dvd.com/news/netflix-hd-streaming-previewed-in-new-xbox-experience.html#115

[kelmon]

Seriously, I don't care about Blu-ray. When Blu-ray can be downloaded (a statement that does not make sense, I understand), then I will be interested. However, in the meantime then I favor on-demand offerings from cable/satellite companies or download services for the simple reason that it is more convenient than planning a trip to your rental shop and then worrying about returning the disk.

As long as the quality is "good enough" then convenience is always king.

[csmwww]

I hope the 9 out of 10 folks that only have a traditional DVD player and rent a Blu-ray based on your unqualified recommendation only to find out they can't play it recognize the value of your general commentary. Unqualified here intentionally applies both to the fact you did not qualify it, and that this oversight leaves you unqualified to provide general advice.

I hope then that the few more Blu-ray-less readers that go out and buy a Blu-ray player based on your recommendation only to find the resolution/size of the TV(s) they have are insufficient for there to be a valuable difference, also realize the value of your commentary.

Perhaps you might consider qualifying the parameters of your advice.

Ironic that one criticized of being a left-wing liberal, does not even bother to consider/acknowledge the masses who are not in fact Blu-ray ready, and for whom traditional DVDs are still the proper value at the moment.

[pbamma]

I believe that the masses in the United States will be undergoing the switch to HDTV due to the DTV change over mandated by the government pushed back to April of this year. HDTV has got a lot else going for it, like thin wall-mountable size, football looks great on it, it's relatively cheap ($1000.00 can get you a great 50inch 1080p set).

Indeed, whenever I rent a Blu-ray disc from my local Blockbuster, the clerk says, "Do you have a blu-ray player?... Sorry, I have to ask." I get that people are confused that a BD disc doesn't play in DVD player. I think the scale will tip by the end of this year.

[markdoiron]

Downloaded video content sucks. Long live downloaded video content! The problem is the streaming--that's what sucks. Compression and delivery lags ruin the experience. But, that does not have to sound the death-knell of downloaded video content.

What's needed is the ability to rent a video, download it in true high def over the period of a few hours, then watch it. You don't think this business plan will work? Netflix has already proved that people are willing to wait for their content. By making the content available for download overnight or during the day (order the movie that morning to watch with the family that evening), there's quicker delivery, no waiting weeks for a popular title, no shipping and return shipping costs, no media costs. What's not to like? --mark d.

[sanjayb]

Hmmm.........Not that long ago Don was saying that streaming was king and Blu Ray's future wasn't very bright. And no argument from the contrary would sway him. Now he recommends renting Blu Ray. How soon will it be before he recommends buying Blu Ray movies. Don is starting to see the light.