@!#?@! Xbox 360 (along with others) movie rant

[HammR25]

A few nights ago I thought I might stream a movie through my 360. I'm looking through the movies and I notice a few select @!#?@! movies keep coming up throughout the list over and over again. Then I notice they've got the word advertisement below them. If I'm already doing a search in an effort to give you my money it's probably not a good idea to irritate me while I'm doing it.

 

I also can't figure out why anyone would actually pay $6 to stream an HD movie when they've never cost that much to rent from a physical store. Sony does the same thing on that one. It obviously works since they've both been doing that for several years now.

 

I also don't understand why they have some old movies on the services as well but one can't rent them, one has to "purchase" them for $10 just to watch them. This isn't just MS either though. The same thing happens on all the services. They probably could make the excuse that they don't really want to stream movies no one watches but a person can already download a movie and then watch it later. There's no reason they can't do that for these other movies as well. I guess they'd rather have $10 from one person and not get my $4 at all even though they're not losing the use of a physical copy of the product when they rent it to me for $4.

 

The advertisement thing pissed me off enough that I was going to rent a movie on my PS3 instead but then I remembered I'd have to give them my credit card number first. Scratch that one too.

[godslabrat]

You pay the extra money to rent a movie via the interwebs, because handling physical media is for cavemen, communists, and lepers! You'll pay that $6, and you'll do it gladly, lest you forget that Sony/Apple/MS/Netflix only want to give you an exciting new digital future! Stop asking such fool questions as to why things COST what they do, just open your wallet!

 

Stop being the reason progress slows down. We have always been at war with Eastasia.

[iswitt]

This is yet another reason to avoid streaming movie services. My friends are always like, "Why don't you have Netflix? It's only like eight bucks a month. Get with it man! Stop being so cheap!"

 

And the I'm like, "I can get all these movies at the rate of $0.00 a month by simply going to my library, who already paid for all of them, and not have to give anyone my credit card information."

 

Just use DVDs.

[moycon]

Untill someone puts a gun to your head and forces you to buy something, I'd just not worry about it.

You have alternatives, by all means use them.

 

VHS tapes are like $10 per 25 VHS movies on Ebay. I'd suggest loading up!! At one time they cost $29.99 - $89.99 per movie! Can you imagine??

I wish it was like the old days, when we weren't getting ripped off....

[HammR25]

Untill someone puts a gun to your head and forces you to buy something, I'd just not worry about it.

You have alternatives, by all means use them.

 

VHS tapes are like $10 per 25 VHS movies on Ebay. I'd suggest loading up!! At one time they cost $29.99 - $89.99 per movie! Can you imagine??

I wish it was like the old days, when we weren't getting ripped off....

Yep, just like you posting the same thing every time someone wants to rant about something. No one puts a gun to your head causing you to be a sarcastic jerk. I knew before I posted the thread that you'd post another one your dumb posts about no one really being forced to buy anything.

[Lord Helmet]

I guess it's just me, but I'm far to lazy to get in the car on go to the library or video rental place to find a movie only to have everything I want to watch checked out.

 

I haven't bought a DVD (or Blu-Ray for that matter) in well over 3 years now. It's just too damn convenient to go download only.

[moycon]

No one puts a gun to your head causing you to be a sarcastic jerk.

 

I'm being a sarcastic jerk because I pointed out the obvious? Ooooook.

In the future I'll refrain from giving you an alternative (ie: dumb) opinion and adding anything to your posts.

I guess I missunderstood your intentions of posting this to an online forum,

[cparsley]

Make sure your referring to Xbox's service (which is Zune and Zune only) and not any of the others like Vudu, Netflix, etc...

 

As for the costs, look at the studios, as they set what has to be charged in order to allow them on the service, only a small amount actually goes to the front end provider, regardless if RedBox, Zune (MSFT), PS, Hulu Plus, etc.

[Austin]

The on-demand movies are far too expensive IMO, even just to "rent". I can happen by a RedBox while I'm at the grocery store and try out just about any new release if I really wanted to, just for a buck--why would I pay $5 to stream it for a 24 hour period? Eh.. I digress. Most of my movie watching these days comes from Netflix's streaming service. I easily get my money's worth with it.

[jetset]

Forced obsolesence. Eventually streaming will be the only option and you'll be acclimated to the price. It's the same reason people plunk $12.99+ for "albums" on Itunes when you can pay the same price and get an actual CD with artwork, case/cover, and the physical media.

[doubleminor]

The only streaming service I use is what's available through Dish Network (Dish Online), their PPV and HBO Go. I swore off Netflix years ago after they sent me broken and wrong discs multiple times in the DVD by mail service.

 

I still go out and buy DVDs.

[aikainnet]

I personally use Hulu, but I still go out and buy DVD's when I want to watch a movie.I hate renting anything... I don't wanna trade my hard earned money just to give the item I traded for back. If I am going to spend money on something, I am keeping that something.

[Mendon]

I live in a small rural town that has no movie rental stores. We do have several Red Box and Blockbuster kiosks but that's it.

 

On three occasions I tried out the kiosks and on each occasion there were two or three people standing in line waiting to use the machine. I found the wait time to use the machine to be a real turn-off as people can take a looooong time to make a selection, if they even do.

 

And then I found its a bigger turn-off to have to stand in line and wait your turn just to return a movie.

 

I pay $4 to $5 to stream a movie from either DirecTV, Amazon, or Zune. I paid $1 to rent from Red Box and Blockbuster. For me, between the cost of gas, time spent driving to rent & return, and then standing around at the kiosk trying to either rent or return a movie, its worth the extra $3 or $4 to stream a movie rather than rent a physical copy.

 

As for the other services:

 

Hulu offers almost nothing that interests me and I don't want to pay $8 a month for commercials.

 

HBO Go is nice as you can catch up on previous seasons of series like Deadwood, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc;

 

Netflix I may drop very soon as their selection of movies that interest me is really getting low... far too many times I type in the name of a movie I'd like to watch and it comes up "only available on DVD; click here to upgrade".

 

As for buying DVD's/Blu-rays.... only occasionally and it has to be a movie I know I'll watch over and over and it has to be in the bargain bin ($5 to $10).

 

Mendon

[cimerians]

My thoughts on shows and movies:

 

Downloads: For me movie or TV show downloads is not worth it...yet. (I'm still finding better quality transfers on physical media but I'm running out of space)

 

Streaming: is ok for the price (Netflix) but the selection is a bit lame.

 

Renting & Buying: I only download or buy a physical copy of a movie that I really like and stream through netflix or redbox everything else. I rent through Amazon, redbox or Netflix. Nobody else.

 

I try to never subscribe or buy into ANY survice that includes advertisements. In this day and age though its getting harder and harder to do.

(I block the 360's ad's with the help of a DNS service and don't subscribe to Hulu)