Blu-ray: Do you buy, rent or do both?

Do you buy, rent or do both?


  • Total voters
    15

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
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Calgary, AB
I buy Blu-ray exclusively. I do NOT rent them, ever. This is a 360[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]° [/FONT]turn from my DVD days when rentals is all I considered. My DVD (and VHS) collection has never been higher than about 20 titles. My current Blu-ray collection sits at 142 titles with many more to follow. This must mean I do a lot of purely blind buys, yes? Well, actually no! I faithfully read many reviews (both pro and user) and base my purchase decisions on those. I can count on one hand those Blu-ray titles I bought which I kind of regretted. So for me, buying has worked out very well.

What are you? Buyer, renter or double-dipper?

John
 
Both with a third option as well (sort of), by way of Netflix streaming. We tend to keep a fair amount of movies in our Netflix queue with our preference set to Blu-Ray. I'll buy new titles if I've really anticipated the movie or read good reviews, and like you John, have had very few clunkers. I'll also buy older titles when they are available at a good price ($10-$12), to replace titles in my DVD collection. A couple of weekends ago I bought a new web enabled tv and have really been taking advantage of Netflix streaming instant service. Great way to see a lot of movies and not incur the expense of ownership nor the space to store them. I am by nature a collector though. Since I bought my Blu-Ray player (Oppo BD-83), I've ONLY bought new titles on Blu-Ray.
 
Both with a third option as well (sort of), by way of Netflix streaming. We tend to keep a fair amount of movies in our Netflix queue with our preference set to Blu-Ray. I'll buy new titles if I've really anticipated the movie or read good reviews, and like you John, have had very few clunkers. I'll also buy older titles when they are available at a good price ($10-$12), to replace titles in my DVD collection. A couple of weekends ago I bought a new web enabled tv and have really been taking advantage of Netflix streaming instant service. Great way to see a lot of movies and not incur the expense of ownership nor the space to store them. I am by nature a collector though. Since I bought my Blu-Ray player (Oppo BD-83), I've ONLY bought new titles on Blu-Ray.

I must admit I've been thinking about the NETFLIX option now that its available in Canada. For $8 a month it sounds like a fairly inexpensive proposition. Like you though..I am a collector by nature.

John
 
I usually don't watch movies multiple times. So I only have a random accumulation of DVDs and now Blu-rays, not really a collection. If I want to see something again, I just order it from Netflix and I have it in a couple of days. Netflix streaming works very well but hasn't yet matched DVD quality much less Blu-ray.
 
I usually don't watch movies multiple times. So I only have a random accumulation of DVDs and now Blu-rays, not really a collection. If I want to see something again, I just order it from Netflix and I have it in a couple of days. Netflix streaming works very well but hasn't yet matched DVD quality much less Blu-ray.

That's my ONE concern about Netflix and not the first time I've heard quality issues mentioned via streaming.

John
 
That's my ONE concern about Netflix and not the first time I've heard quality issues mentioned via streaming.

John

I think it depends on your ISP and the title in question. I've watched some older movies that were not the best in terms of picture quality, but most of the things we've watched seem at least as good as our regular high definition cable channels. I've had more issues with Comcast's video on demand than we have had with Netflix streaming.
 
I only buy movies which I like to watch a second time. Outside of that, we simply wait for cable and don't rent.

On Netflix, their service is based on technology which adaptively changes fidelity depending on the speed of your stream (technology from my old group at Microsoft :) ). So MiTT is right in needing good speed. That said, the data rates are quite low and streaming makes the job of the video encoder a lot harder so unfortunately artifacts are going to be present no matter what.
 
I rent BR movies since I almost never want to watch a movie twice.
I buy BR music since I have a more enduring interest in music.

Kal

There is no doubt my Concert BD's (I have about 45 at last count) get continual playback and have more appeal to me for the same reason you cited.

John
 
We buy movies that the kids will watch over and over. Have almost everything Disney... I also buy "favorites" that my wife and/or me will watch more than once. I have a small collection of action, horror, and comedy BDs. I also agree that concert BDs are the best bet for replay value. Probably own a total of 400 discs all told.
 

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