Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Netflix vs Blockbuster online.

Does anyone have experience with both these services? I'm debating dropping Netflix (wait times to long) and going with Blockbuster. Since my mail goes to to post office, exchanging in store with some online rentals may be a better option for me. Any opinions on both services would be appreciated.

I like Netflix, but my local "hub" is right here, so I send a movie back, they get it the next day and send my next movie out on that same day, and I get it on the 3rd day. Pretty fast.

However, I really only got NetFlix for HD-DVD rentals. I mean, I can stop at my local McDonalds and get a new release DVD for $1, and I drive past a McDonalds about 6 blocks from my house every day.

Same thing here. There very fast and I've never had to wait for a movie. I wouldn't know about blockbuster...

I guess that a benefit of Blockbuster would be the in-store rentals and returns as an option. So if timeliness is important, that could help to supplement the time requirements.

I’ve never ordered HD or BR. Never order new releases online.

For Netflix:

Plan - You are currently in the 5 at-a-time (Unlimited) plan with unlimited time to watch instantly $29.99 (plus any applicable tax)

Comments:
-Used for 2 months.
-Usually average 10(+) disks a week.

Pros:
-Much bigger selection especially TV shows and Anime.
-Better suggestions on what I might like based on ratings.
-No waits on any disk yet.
-Some online content allows previewing series before ordering.
-Search dialog box offers suggestions as you type (nice for Dyslexics like me).
-Audio format listed.
-Screen format listed.
-Better customer reviews of disks.
-Movies broken down into more subcategories.

Cons:
-None yet

For Blockbuster:

Plan: 3 at-a-time, Unlimited mailings, Unlimited in-store movie exchanges $34.99 / month (plus taxes).

Comments:
-Used for 1 year.
-Usually average 6(-) disks a week.

Pros:
-Use in store exchanges for new releases.

Cons:
-Blockbuster is in serious financial trouble and may not be around.
-Usually takes 2-3 business days to arrive but delivery times very inconsistent.
-Many very long wait. Waited on some disks in TV series for 10 months. Reordered from Netflix and got them in 2 days.
-No info on disk’s sound format DD 5.1 etc…
-Inconsistent hard to find info on screen format 16x9 etc…
-Running out of in-store disks interested in exchanging for.

Cons for both sites:
-Can’t search by audio or screen format.

Summary:

Netflix is best for selection, availability of non-new releases, number of disks you can have out at a time, shear volume of disks you can turn over in a period of time.

Blockbuster is best for new releases (in-store trades).

Hope this helps (sorry no HD/BR experience)

Dean

Being a member of both Netflix and Blockbuster I can strongly say Netflix is better IMO. Being able to drop into Blockbuster and grab a new release is nice. However Netflix shipping to me and back is overnight. Whereas Blockbuster takes at least 2 days to me and back. Also the Blockbuster queue seems to often ship the movies out of order even though they show available sometimes they skip over.

I'm on the Netflix 5-a-time and the Blockbuster 3-a-time by the way.

Thanks for the responses everyone, for now I think I'll stay with Netflix and see if the service improves, Netflix up until last month was next day service, now everything takes at least 2 days, that could also be my local post offices fault.

I've have the same issue from time to time and I've noticed that Netflix always sends the next movie as soon as it gets the previous one back. Everytime there's been delay it was caused by the post office holding on to the dvd for too long...

Hey HomieDad, thanks for starting this thread, because I had wondered the exact same thing. I'm a Netflix subscriber who is a low-volume user, but I've noticed the wait times on HD-DVDs and BR discs have been creeping up.

Thanks also to the repliers. Guess I'm sticking with Netflix also.

I like netflix for the most part. I think 2 or three times I have received an email saying "the movie you requested was not available from your local shipping depot." It will be sent on th enext business day from "insert far away city here". In these cases it take a while to get the movies. Otherwise it is pretty fast.

Yeah, I've never had a problem with Netflix, but then, most of the movies I get are kinda obscure. I like how they show you what the most popular movies are in your area--I live in a city full of bad taste.

I've been using Netflicks for awhile and am pleased with the service.

I'm guessing you also have their site bookmarked.

I was curious, and Netflix has registered "Netflicks.com", which directs you to them. Smart.

Duh, I didn't get the joke until now.

Speaking of Netflix

Interesting article in the WSJ last Friday describing the need for a dramatic expansion in raw capacity, or bandwidth for the net because of YouTube etc.
It mentioned " Netflix, which is gradually moving from the post office to the net, last year shipped 1.8 million DVD's every day. If converted to HD, Netflix would have mailed 5.8 exabytes of motion pictures, or almost half the size of the entire U.S. Internet of 2007."

An exabyte(a one-quintillion byte unit of information or computer storage) is 50,000 times larger than a digitized Library of Congress.

Maybe that's why your deliveries are a little slower. That's a lot of movies shipped in a day

Does anyone have any experience with Canadian equivalents? (zip.ca and cinemail.ca, others?)

I'm more interested in non-new releases, and some stuff you (shockingly) can't find easily at the local blockbuster. I tried to find "Dr. Strangelove" a while back. I explained to the clerk that it was a movie from the 60s, with Peter Sellers playing a bunch of different characters. He said "we don't have a lot of those old movies, but we have lots of copies of 'Norbit,' it's kinda like that." I have never been back.

That is hilarious!

I've been with Netflix almost since they went public and am very satisfied. However, I do live near one of their hubs so my experience may be tainted. Also, I have never tried the PC download movie watch thingy so I am not sure if it matches with BB.

The only criticism I have is that lately I have been getting a lot of movies that are severerly scratched. The skip or start from the start. To be fair, I have an old Sony DVD player, so some if my be my equipment... /shrugs.

Hilarious indeed, LOL!

i just went with netflix. i have received three dvds so far; one HD DVD, one BR & one SD DVD. two were severly scratched up and one of these (HD DVD) would lock up. the BR played flawlessly.

i am not sure where the hub is, but it took a day for the movies to ship to me. when i sent them back it also took a day. this impresses me and i hope the quality of the DVDs gets a bit better.

later.

I've only had on bad HD-DVD from Netflix--it froze up 4 or 5 times. That was when I had the HD add-on for the Xbox, and I think it was susceptible to bad discs.