I went to the local Blockbuster Kiosk today, and noticed that all of the new releases had disappeared from the listings. Also, the "In-Stock Guarantee" was gone. I checked the terms and conditions page online, and now it says this : The Effective Date of the Rental Terms and Terms of Use is June 23, 2012 ... These rental terms are brought to you by Redbox Automated Retail, LLC (doing business in Texas as DVD Rental by Redbox LLC), which we call "Redbox." They explain the rules for renting items from a Blockbuster Express kiosk (which we call "Blockbuster Express Kiosk Transactions"). ... We make no guarantee that an item will be available for rental at any kiosk at any given time ... The Blockbuster Express trade name is sublicensed by Redbox Automated Retail, LLC from NCR Corporation, which is licensed by the BB 2009 Trust. NCR Corporation and Redbox Automated Retail, LLC are not affiliated with Blockbuster L.L.C.
Now, there are no stores or kiosks anywhere in my area that I can buy or rent new DVDs. These kiosks put all the video stores out of business, and now I can't get new movies from any kiosks! Movie studios don't want me to pirate new movies, but I can't rent or buy them anywhere now either. That doesn't give me any choices to view them!
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jasonatq1520radiocom
Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 11:08a
The video store industry has gotten kind of weird lately. Even Blockbuster stores for the past few years have gotten smaller in size to the point where they don't carry a lot of older titles like video stores always traditionally have in the past. I was looking one day for a couple of very popular 80's classics that any store should really have it and surprised me what all they DIDN'T carry. Since that smaller store effort started, it almost seems like they were sort of handing that catalog business over to competitors like Netflix but that leaves people with 0 options to get them locally and instantly. Like you, now that store is totally gone anyway. And then Movie Gallery closed soon afterwards.
People say DVD is dying, and maybe it is, but I almost see the need for there to be a new video store chain. Someplace that features new releases on the 1st day, has a good healthy variety of old stock, affordable rental prices - not crazy like Blockbuster with $5 or $6 rentals (when discs cost them $20, theres just no need for those rates as Redbox proves), etc.
bigfathead
Senior Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 2:49p
fyi..
I got refund on my groupons to Blockbuster express months ago expecting this to occur. The problem with Blockbuster is the Kiosk system scratches disks and if often out of service.
Redbox is a very strong business..in fact the latest yahoo headlines stated its stock value is climbing faster than Netflix...why...the non commitment purchase at Redbox....no subscription.
DVD rentals are still popular...and Netflix should have bought blockbuster and then they could have ditched their mail service issues.
When they put in the Redbox across the street from a local video store...the store went out of business. Redbox is like buying a candy bar that everyone in your family can eat. You only need to rent one bar
adam-i-am
Senior Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 3:13p
jasonatq1520radiocom said: People say DVD is dying, and maybe it is, but I almost see the need for there to be a new video store chain. Someplace that features new releases on the 1st day, has a good healthy variety of old stock, affordable rental prices - not crazy like Blockbuster with $5 or $6 rentals (when discs cost them $20, theres just no need for those rates as Redbox proves), etc.
Family Video is a pretty big chain and they would appear to be what you are looking for. Maybe you will get lucky and they will open one near you.
aadam101
Handsome Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 5:20p
jasonatq1520radiocom said: but that leaves people with 0 options to get them locally and instantly.
Huh? There are dozens of places online where you get the movie instantly. You have more options than ever before for most titles.
cjtrue
Addicted Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 5:38p
Looks like they got more work to do. The new terms state they will charge the daily rental rate for the first and each additional day but the shopping cart shows the old two different prices, still only $1 for each extra day. Anyone's guess what might show up on your card if you keep it longer than one day.
jasonatq1520radiocom
Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 7:52p
aadam101 said: jasonatq1520radiocom said: but that leaves people with 0 options to get them locally and instantly.
Huh? There are dozens of places online where you get the movie instantly. You have more options than ever before for most titles.
I wasn't referring to any kind of stream stuff with limitations of where and how you can watch it. There is a large section of people who wont do streaming stuff for whatever reason. Heck, my mom and grandmother aren't even comfortable enough with Redbox and wouldn't have any devices that stream movies. They have a DVD player. They pay DirecTv $5 now whenever they want to watch a movie. Too much. My ISP is a cable company and they have a ridiculous 50GB monthly cap. My only other broadband choice is AT&T. They too have a cap (a better cap but still a cap).
I was referring to discs that one could hold in their hands from a local rental store. In my area, Redbox is now the only choice. If you don't want last months top 20 movies (they don't have this months, or last years...), you are out of luck. No chain video stores anymore. No independents either.
gooody
Thrifty Member
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 9:00p
I n our area recently they have 2 RED BOXes side by side- I feel the demand is much and sometimes you have to stand in queue to get a movie.
MechanicalMan
Texts w/Favre
posted: Jun. 24, 2012 @ 11:45p
jasonatq1520radiocom said: My ISP is a cable company and they have a ridiculous 50GB monthly cap. My only other broadband choice is AT&T. They too have a cap (a better cap but still a cap). Are you serious? I can't imagine a cable ISP having a cap that low; that's hard to believe. Surely they offer a service with a higher cap..? You could have a cap up to 250 GB with AT&T. My own cable ISP officially has a 250 GB cap, but (unlike AT&T) they don't enforce it. I exceed the cap in most months. Last month, I used 281 GB. That is why my cable company does not need to worry about losing my business to AT&T.
way2ch33p
Shopaholic Member
posted: Jun. 25, 2012 @ 7:49a
bigfathead-
How did you get Groupon to refund your money? I'm in the same boat as OP with no Blockbuster Express locations within 30 miles.
wp746911
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jun. 25, 2012 @ 10:05a
Well blockbuster/video stores still serve a purpose. I'd say Redbox/Netflix streaming is about 80% good enough- they took away blockbuster's bread and butter and now the 20% is left unserved. My biggest issue is getting good blu-rays. I have a nice TV/stereo setup, and like to see as high end AV feeds as I can. Streaming/online is just as good- but even the best downloaded/streamed HD movie is maybe 4gb, with some of the lesser ones being 2gb and less-not nearly good enough- compressed audio, and block blacks. Sure Redbox has a few blurays (maybe 20?) but this pales to blockbuster with hundreds of blu-rays. Also there are many titles which Redbox and Netflix still won't carry. I'd say in about 5 years I don't see much of a reason for a physical store- but right now there still is.
TheFinalProphecy
Broke Member
posted: Jun. 25, 2012 @ 12:27p
bigfathead said: fyi.. Redbox is like buying a candy bar that everyone in your family can eat. You only need to rent one bar Really? lol
For the folks talking about back-catalog titles from the 80s and such, how is your local library stocked for these? That's usually my go-to for older titles. Some titles I've watched the entire series (4 seasons) of The Wire (HBO), Bridge to Terabithia (2007 family movie that Redbox doesn't carry), and 1776 (a 1972 musical) all on DVD.
Our Drug Mart chain drug store does very cheap movie rentals and has a decent selection of titles from the 90s and 2000s as well as new release DVD and Blu-ray. Back catalog DVD are 99 cents for 7 days, new release are $1.99 for 3 days.
There are also 6 different Redbox locations within 2 miles of my house. I rented Captain America about a month ago and the title was available at 2 different close Redbox locations.
One other tactic I've used before is to buy/sell virtual-renting DVDs from eBay. Our household wanted to watch Glee 2nd season (this was before it was streamable from Netflix/Amazon). I bought it new from eBay for $17 shipped we watched it over the course of about 3 weeks, and I sold it for $14 (after deducting shipping and eBay fees) using the same shipping bubble mailer it came to me in. Total cost of rental, $3 for 3 weeks.
Our household is pretty happy with the movie availability today.
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