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Blockbuster online OR Netflix

Kevster89

Kevster89

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2008
140
1
I am contemplating which to use.

I have heard good and bad things regarding both services. I have even heard that both tend to slow down the shipment of movies to you if you tend to watch and return them quickly, as in after a day or two of receiving them. This is garbage in my opinion.

For those of you that are using/have used one of these services, or better yet both, what are your thoughts? By week's end I am looking to subscribe to one of these services.

Thanks everyone! :) :apple:
 
I use netflix, and it is excellent. The movie selection is enormous (even though a good 50,000 of those movies are complete junk), and the online section has a good amount of movies, and its still growing. I've been using it since 2005, and it is so great to not have to deal with late fees, or going to the store and spending hours going through the aisles determining which movie you want to see.

Even though there are no late fees, I still watch the movies and send them back very quickly, and they haven't slowed down shipping movies to me, ever. I definitely recommend Netflix over Blockbuster, just because of all of the ways you can watch their movies online (Computer, 360, DVD/Blu-Ray Machines).
 
I have netflix so I cant exactly be unbiased. i never even tried blockbuster online. Netflix seems to be pretty speedy with delivery (3 business days AT MOST, and i think it only happened once). Sometimes there might be a queue because of new releases, but they get delivered pretty quickly. Also, when I started with netflix, they were the only one with blu-rays. and now they stream to 360, so two BIG factors for me :D
 
I have both. I once had netflix and cancelled to go to Blockbuster because netflix throttled me and I could never reach their customer service to understand why. Blockbuster has been great but doesn't offer as many documentary films as I like. I got netflix to get airline miles and I find netflix's selection bigger.
 
I have Blockbuster right now, but if I had to do it over again, I would go for Netflix. As it is, I'm slightly disinclined (lazy) to switch because I have so many movies queued up with BB. My thoughts....

- The trade at the physical store is nice, but there are various problems with their stores -- the clerks at BB physical stores are altogether too often jerks and so dealing with them is not enticing, and they have long lines, it's a big PITA to have to re-register your account at each new store, etc, and also only some of the plans support this feature. Also the plan itself is confusing, particularly because the terms that apply to the ones from the video store are different (late fees, you can't return the video you got at the video for another video, but instead must wait for one to come in the mail, etc)

- Also their online system is basically useless, because the movies aren't free as part of the plan, unlike Netflix as I understand it.

I used Netflix ages ago (I tried them out circa 1998 or 1999 and canceled my service after a little while), and if I were choosing again I would most likely go with them instead of BB.
 
Chalk me up for another Netflix.

^^ Tried Blockbuster, but ultimately wasn't happy with the service (jerks in the store, lack of streaming). Netflix has always been great.
 
Thanks for the many helpful replies and suggestions thus far! Your advice is definitely steering me closer and closer to choosing Netflix over BB.
 
Facets

For those that prefer foreign, independent, experimental, documentary, animation, or obscure films there's a non-profit organization based out of Chicago called Facets Multi-Media. It's mission is to preserve and distribute these types of films in the US. For those that live in or near Chicago, they have a cinema where they screen films as well. They also have directors screen and discuss their films.

http://www.facets.org/
 
Kevster89 said:
I have even heard that both tend to slow down the shipment of movies to you if you tend to watch and return them quickly, as in after a day or two of receiving them. This is garbage in my opinion.
Click to expand...

This came up as an issue a while back. From what I read, the "throttling" only occurred when you were watching an insanely high number of movies, indicating that you possibly were ripping the DVD and sending them back, or something similar. A few people may have legitimately been viewing their DVDs at that high rate, of course, but that was Netflix' defense.

I've been using Netflix for years, and have never had any problems. Their catalog is much more impressive and encompassing, the DVDs ship quickly, and I've never been questioned if I report a DVD as broken or undelivered (only happened 2 times in ~4 years). The Instant Watch is especially appealing to me, since I watch a lot of older DVDs that are more likely to be available for Instant Watch. Of course, Netflix is working on providing more and more titles to stream online, and in HD, so no complaints here.

I've had family members who tried Blockbuster Online. It seems the benefit of turning DVDs in to the store, and the coupons they'd receive, didn't make up for the lack of certain titles, the customer service, etc.
 
Another Netflix user here. I've been a subscriber for years and couldn't be happier. I usually have a 2 day turn-around and the instant watch feature is really nice.
 
I use Netflix, been using them for 1 1/2 years now. Great service, great selection, fast delivery. I do get the occasional two-business-days delivery, but they are rare enough that I don't mind.

I have 137 movies in my queue! :eek: I don't think I'll ever get through them all! :D
 
My family used BB since they introduced their in-store movie pass years ago. We switched to the online w/in-store exchange when we moved a couple years back. I switched us over to Netflix this last fall simply because they offer more for the price.

BB had decent shipping, my local store was never crowded, and I know people who work there so the 'jerk' aspect was reduced. Netflix just won me over with Mac and Xbox streaming along with the bigger selection. Also, I am near a Netflix distribution center so turn-around in shipping is consistently 2 days and sometimes next day compared to 3-4 with BB.

DVD Queue: 40
Instant Queue: 127
 
I use netflix and like the service and speed of delivery. My only gripe is that the new release section is not up to date so I routinely will look at BB online to see what the new releases are
 
We've been using BB for over a year and have been happy (somewhat) and the in-store trade is nice. The selection is fair but not as great as NF and some titles sit in que longer than I like. Been thinking of switching to NF. My bro-in-law loves it.
 
I have Netflix and I love it. I don't know how the pricing is on Blockbuster but Netflix is dirt cheap if you watch a lot of movies.
 
MacHipster said:
For those that prefer foreign, independent, experimental, documentary, animation, or obscure films there's a non-profit organization based out of Chicago called Facets Multi-Media. It's mission is to preserve and distribute these types of films in the US. For those that live in or near Chicago, they have a cinema where they screen films as well. They also have directors screen and discuss their films.

http://www.facets.org/
Click to expand...

Outside the mainstream of major US/worldwide releases, Jaman is also excellent.
 
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