Netflix issues apology, 5% discount
March 26th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
Online DVD rental service Netflix is issuing a 5% discount to all subscribers as a result of a technical issue in their automated shipping system on Monday March 24 that caused all DVD deliveries to be delayed by one day.
The discount was announced in an email sent to all subscribers this morning:
Dear Joseph,
As you may have heard, our shipping system was unexpectedly down for most of Monday. We should have shipped you a DVD but were unable to. Your DVD was shipped today, Tuesday, March 25th, instead.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We will issue a 5% credit to your account in the next few days. You don't need to do anything. The credit will be automatically applied to your next billing statement.
Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.
-The Netflix Team
We applaud Netflix for taking these proactive measures to ensure the satisfaction of their over 8 million subscribers.
Visit our online dvd rental service guide and comparison to learn more.
Best Buy to offer blu-ray rebate to HD DVD owners
March 20th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
The blu-ray high definition dvd format became the default standard format after rival HD DVD players were officially discontinued earlier this month. This move rendered the HD DVD players little more than $400 paperweights since no additional movie titles would be launched in the format.
Best Buy electronics stores are stepping in with a bit of a silver lining for those consumers that purchased HD DVD players from the national electronics retailer in the form of a $50 rebate. Any HD DVD players or accessories that were purchased at Best Buy prior to February 27 are eligible for the rebate. Information on the Best Buy HD DVD rebate program is available at their website.
Another major retailer, Circuit City, also announced that they will honor returns of HD DVD players purchased within the last 90 days.
Clearly both retailers are hoping that these HD DVD owners will transition to the blu-ray format now that they have had a flavor of the benefits of high def dvds.
Current and new blu-ray owners will also be able to benefit from the recent growth in blu-ray format movies available at Netflix, the popular online movie rental service.
Learn more about dvd rental services by visiting our online dvd rental service guide.
Netflix to invest in expanding Blu-ray movie inventory
March 14th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
Netflix, our top rated online dvd rental service, expects to increase their blu-ray high definition dvd inventory by 1,300-1,500 titles including both new releases and older films.
According to the company's CFO, Barry McCarthy, high definition dvds only account for a small single digit percentage of movie rentals at Netflix. The move to increase the number of dvds on Sony's blu-ray format is likely driven by the fact that the competing HD DVD format is being discontinued by Toshiba.
Blu-ray dvds have are about 28% more expensive that standard dvds, which will increase Netflix's overall costs to provide movies in the high definition format. the company has no immediate plans to increase pricing as a result. In fact, Netflix actually dropped subscription prices last summer.
As blu-ray players drop in price and more movie titles become available on the format, we think Netflix will be an excellent option for consumers that want a high definition movie experience at home.
NetFlix beats Apple to the unlimited download punch
January 14th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
NetFlix announced today that they will allow unlimited streaming of movie and TV downloads as part of a revamp of their Watch Now streaming service. This is likely a preemptive response to the new iTunes movie rental download service that is expected to be announced this week.
Said NetFlix CEO and Founder Reed Hastings:
We named our company Netflix in 1998 because we believed Internet-based movie rental represented the future, first as a means of improving service and selection, and then as a means of movie delivery. While mainstream consumer adoption of online movie watching will take a number of years due to content and technology hurdles, the time is right for Netflix to take the first step.
NetFlix plans to roll the new functionality out over the next six months and eventually moving beyond computer screens to portable devices and television sets. Later this year they will begin selling a set-top box built by LG that will allow for streaming directly to the TV.
In the meantime, NetFlix is our favorite overall online movie rental service and we strongly believe it represents a great value in its current form but will only get better as these new features get released.
Read our free online guide to movie rental services to learn more.
Our review of Apple's new movie download service – Stick with NetFlix!
January 9th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
Apple is preparing to announce a new online movie rental service later this month that will allow consumers to download movies through itunes and view them on their personal computers and apple devices such as iPhone, IPod and Apple TV.
Both new releases and older titles will cost $3.99 to rent and can be viewed for a 24 hour period. Warner Bros and Fox will be providing movie titles and several other studios are rumored to be involved but have not yet been publicly confirmed by Apple. The overall number of movie titles that will be available at launch is unknown at this time.
While this new service is a great step forward in the online movie rental space, it seems extremely restrictive and likely won't offer a significant convenience or value over dvd rental services such as Blockbuster or NetFlix. Check out our free online DVD rental guide for more information on these providers and more.
HD DVD vs. Blu-ray – Who will be the next Betamax?
January 9th, 2008 - Posted by Joe
Two different high definition DVD formats are competing to bring HD quality DVD entertainment to your home. because we have been reviewing online dvd rental services for some time, we decided to take a look at each of the competing technologies, HD DVD and Blu-ray, in an attempt to bring some clarity to our readers.
High definition televisions, or HD TVs, began to gain prominence in the early part of this decade thanks to a decrease in purchase price of HD TV sets along with a significant increase in the availability of high definition programming offered by major televison networks and cable providers. However, it quickly became apparent that standard DVDs, even in high end DVD players, couldn't take advantage of the many benefits that HD TVs offered viewers. Due to some squabbles related to technological specifics, two standards emerged to solve this problem.
From our perspective, The Sony backed Blu-ray and Toshiba backed HD DVD formats offer consumers nearly identical benefits including major larger storage capacity, drastically improved HD picture quality and the potential for more interactive elements (using a broadband Internet connection) than a standard DVD.
The real differentiation comes when you start to review the availability of movie titles for the two competing high def DVD technologies. Blu-ray has agreements with six major movie studios including Sony Pictures, Buena Vista, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM, Paramount and, most recently, Warner Bros. HD DVD, on the other hand, has only one major movie studio, Universal, producing DVD content for its players.
Warner Bros had previously published high def DVDs for both HD DVD and Blu-ray, but made the move exclusively to Blu-ray as a reaction to purchase trends they had seen developing wordlwide. Said Kevin Tsujihara, the president of Warner Bros Home Entertainment in America:
We were the only studio publishing both formats, but the consumers that were buying were gravitating towards Blu-ray – particularly in the UK and Japan.
Our two highest rated online movie rental services, Blockbuster and NetFlix, offer high definition DVD movies in both formats, but the number of Blu-ray movie titles is much larger given the sheer number of studios that are releasing movies exclusively on that format.
Our opinion is that Blu-ray will inevitably own the market for high definition DVD and become the defacto standard. So, if you absolutely had to purchase a high def DVD player today , Blu-ray would definitely be the way to go.
That being said, we suggest that consumers wait before jumping into high definition DVD for the meantime. Blu-ray players are still relatively expensive at about $399 and movies cost about $40 a piece. These price will inevitably drop over the coming year which will make the upgrade from standard DVD even more attractive to most consumers.
In the meantime, we strongly suggest that all our readers that frequently watch DVDs at home sign up for an online dvd rental service which will save time and money. We have reviewed several online dvd rental services and you can read our reviews and comparisons in our from online DVD rental guide.
Blockbuster to increase prices by as much as 40%
December 21st, 2007 - Posted by Joe
Subscribers to Blockbuster's online dvd rental service were notified this week of new increased pricing that will go into effect beginning December 27, 2007. The price increase will vary by the type of plan that current Blockbuster subscribers have, but some plans will cost as much as 40% more.
The blog Hacking NetFlix pulled together this information on the increases based off of reader feedback:
Some of the price increases were modest: $9.99 to $11.99, $14.99 to $16.99, $17.99 to $19.99, and even $21.99 to $29.99, but the biggest increase was on the 3-out unlimited plan: $24.99 to $34.99.
Blockbuster is also eliminating the free in store rental coupon that was included each month with many plans. The loss of this unique Blockbuster perk also increases the effective cost of the membership since subscribers are essentially getting one less dvd per month.
Given the increase in price, some consumers may find a better deal at NetFlix depending on the type of plan they currently have and the number of DVDs that want to have out at any given time. Keep in mind that Blockbuster is unique in that some of their plans also include in store rentals from an Blockbuster outlet (even though they are doing away with free in store coupons), something that NetFlix does not offer. so, if in store rental are important to you it is probably best to stick with Blockbuster (although you may want to downgrade your plan if you don't think you need the extra movies for the price).
We have reviewed all of the major online dvd rental services, including NetFlix and Blockbuster, and encourage our readers to read our in-depth reviews and comparisons to find the right service particularly given the pending Blockbuster price increase.
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