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Blockbuster is offering a free 4 week trial of their online rental service with coupon code erewards1mspecial. Click on "Have a Promotional Code?" to enter code. Receive 3 DVDs at a time plus unlimited in-store exchanges. It's $35/month after the trial period; or select another plan from $12/month.
$12
cool, netflix only offers a 1 month trial. This is way better because 4 > 1.
After the trial period is over, Netflix will cost you less, $7.99 + tax for streaming, and an extra $2.00 a month for unlimited DVDs by mail, see http://www.netflix.com/HowItWorks. I don't know how Netflix makes money at those prices, but it must be hurting Blockbuster.
Tried this trial offer last time it was out just for a month of free rentals. I ended up canceling after a week or so when then continually sent the wrong dvd 4 times in a row and then just removed it from my list because they couldn't get it right. Wasn't planning on keeping the account anyways as who in the right mind would spend $35 a month on DVD rentals.
"..who in the right mind would spend $35 a month on DVD rentals. "
No one. But, for 3 at a time video game rentals + movie rentals, it's not that bad of a deal. You can always drop down to 2 or 1 at a time and I bet they have the option of only movies or only games too...which will be cheaper of course.
I've had blockbuster before and never really ran into any problems with being sent the right movie/game(aside from occasionally sending tv series in the wrong order). I have netflix now, but mostly because I really enjoy the instant watch on my PS3.
Warning about the games.. They USED TO not have games until 1-2 months after the game was released, which really sucked. And a lot of the time the games are "Short Wait" or "Long Wait" and you get the 4th+ game in your queue. Maybe they've improved the service since I tried it out about a year ago, I don't know.
I'm in on this. I'll let you guys know how it is.
I wonder how many weeks it will take Blockbuster Express to fix the dead kiosk in Southern California. Going on day 2 now.
I know everyone has a different expierence with the mail service of these dvd companies. My Own Personal Expierence with Blockbuster has been far more positive over the last 20+ months or so, than it ever was with Netflix. BUT, I am also grandfathered in on the 3-2-1 plan...
(3-disc/game at a time, 2-$9.99 pre-rented dvd to keep, and 1-instore game/movie rental ever month, PLUS unlimited exchange of mailers for $22.3
...they had offered me a long time ago. They said I would have to switch about the time the games went online full time. Yet, the price and plan are still in effect. So, YES, the NEWEST games are nearly impossible to rent online. But, I have a local store 2 minutes down the road(not affected by the Bankruptcy) and I can get games there. Certain employees will even let you trade mailers for them.
As for netflix. In the early days it was great and fast. But once they started throttling me(no new releases). Thats when I switched and have no need to look back. As for there streaming, I tried a trial offer(few months back) on the PS3. It sucked...DVD quality at best with buffering issues. VUDU is far better with HD Audio and Video. Netflix may have that now too, couldn't find it back then.
Again, I have been lucky with Blockbuster. YMMV
4 weeks = 1 month
I just switched back to BB after Netflix raised their prices...I didn't get a big screen tv to watch their bad quality streaming. Also with BB you get Blu-ray and games and 5 in-store trade ins a month for the same price as netflix. That being said BB's library seems to be limited and I'm not sure if that is because of the bankruptcy they are not buying new titles or what...still it seems that netflix raised their price because of streaming which the quality sucks so I guess for now BB is still a better deal for me....
Added 23 PS3 games to my queue and here's what it looks like right now:
6 don't come out until 2/14/11 - 2/22/11
3 Very Long Wait
1 Long Wait
2 Short Wait
1 says "Unavailable" which makes me wonder why I could add it at all...
8 are Available and 2 are Processing to ship
The 6 that haven't come out yet are games like Mindjack, GT5, and CoD:BO. Dead Space 2 and Mass Effect 2 are available 5/10/11 to give you an idea of when new releases can be rented.
"VUDU is far better with HD Audio and Video."
Great picture quality, but at what price? $4-6 for a 1080p rental, $3-5 for 720p, and $2-4 for SD. Granted they do have new releases and Netflix normally does not, but you get Netflix instant watch for a fraction of the price($8/month just to stream).
"Also with BB you get Blu-ray and games and 5 in-store trade ins a month for the same price as netflix."
I was actually surprised that this was accurate. Back in the day BB was noticeably more expensive. Here are the plans for both companies:
Netflix:
$7.99 - Instant Watch only
$9.99 - 1 DVD at a time + IW
$14.99 - 2 DVD + IW
$19.99 - 3 DVD + IW
$27.99 - 4 DVD + IW
+$3.00/month will give you Blu-ray renting access
Blockbuster:
$11.99 - 1 DVD/BD/GAME at a time + 5 in store exchanges
$16.99 - 2 + 5 in store
$19.99 - 3 + 5 in store
$34.99 - 3 + unlimited in store exchanges
I'd say, if you're into watching TV series and Anime, Netflix is the way to go. If you have to have Bluray quality, go with Blockbuster. If you want to rent games, Gamefly is still king of that domain(all games are rentable on or near their release date and less waiting on popular games).
Whatever you do, don't order The Punisher from Blockbuster and expect the 1989 Dolph Lundgren because you will only ever get the 2004 Tom Jane version. A buddy of mine quit BB over this.