I recently signed up with Blockbuster Online (the result of an online promo - don’t ask). The honeymoon is almost over, though; most of my current queue is listed as “Short Wait” (2 weeks) and “Long Wait” (2-6 weeks). It’s getting pretty annoying.
There’s also no indication of how to actually give a wait-listed movie top priority in your queue: if they’re shipping you your next movie, and there’s an “Available Now” movie farther down the queue, they’ll ship you that one instead of waiting for the “Short Wait” one. So when a “Short Wait” movie becomes “Available Now”, do I have a tiny window of time in which I can be shipped it before it becomes unavailable again, or does it become reserved for me until I need it?
Is Netflix any better? Are there generally fewer delays?
I’m also opening the thread up for general Blockbuster vs Netflix comparisons, now that more people have had a chance to try Blockbuster’s service.
Looking at my Netflix queue, the only two discs that aren’t “available now” are disk 1 of season 1 of 24, which has a “long wait” and “12 Angry Men” which has a “short wait”, and both of those disks are pretty far down in my queue. Generally, I get a new disk around 3 days after mailing back an old one. Of course, I mostly rent tv shows and old movies, so take that into account. I’m pretty sure Netflix’s policy about unavailable movies is the same as Blockbuster (skip it and send the next on your list), but it’s never happened to me, so I can’t tell you for sure.
IME, wait times are much less with Netflix than with Blockbuster. I’m on Blockbuster now because I kept gettign damaged discs from Netflix. However, many people on the SDMB have said that they rarely or never get damaged discs, so it could be just my location (both Netflix and Blockbuster ship out of Worcester, MA).
RenMan, switch to Netflix! I had BB online too, and my queue was the same. Short wait, Long wait, Very long wait… It really aggravated me, so I checked out Netflix (which also offered a 2 week free trial). Everything is available! And the recommendation system seems much more accurate than Blockbuster. Just go ahead and try it out. You’ll see what I mean.
As of the last time I checked, if something at the top of your queue has a wait on it (short or long), Netflix will actually wait a day to see if a copy comes in before shipping you the next available choice on your queue.
I adore Netflix! I have only had to wait for Garden State, *Napoleon Dynamite * and *Star Trek: TNG * Season 1 disc 1. The first two were obviously very popular and the third, I think, was just a random occurrence.
I have heard this is the best method for not having to wait so long for the popular stuff/new releases. As soon as you know the movie is coming out on DVD and it is available for selection on the web site, put it at the top of your list. Let it sit there. By doing this right away, you should be putting yourself near the top of the list for the first set of people that will receive it. In my experience (and I have not practiced the above method), I have not waited more that a week to a week and a half for a “long wait”.
Also, with Netflix, I have received only one slightly damaged disc (Silence of the Lambs, which I’m sure was almost played to death) and one wrong disc (South Park Season 3 disc 1 instead of Season 1 disc 3, or whatever).
And say I ship a movie back on Monday. Tuesday I get my notification/rating and next shipment emails. Then I get my next movie on Wednesday (maybe Thursday).
Is it true that BB only allows you to have something out for 2 weeks? Netflix lets you keep movies nearly forever.
No, I think you can keep movies as long as you want with Blockbuster. It’s games that you have to return early I think, though I’m not sure about that because I’m not a gamer.
Well, thanks so far, guys! So far, I’m inclined to switch to Netflix, based on what I’m reading. Anyone care to come in and champion Blockbuster? After all, I don’t mind paying a couple bucks extra for Netflix, but I will miss those in-store rental coupons.
Doesn’t look like you can rent video games online from blockbuster, I searched their FAQ database (under customer service) and found it in there.
There’s a place called GameFly that is basically Netflix for video games. I’ve never used it and I don’t know if it’s any good, just wanted to point that out for anyone interested that happens to read this.
Netflix here. 236 items in my queue, ranging from the currently popular to the damn obscure. I have four on a wait:
Death of a Salesman - Long Wait
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live - Short Wait
Return to Oz - Short Wait
Get Shorty - Short Wait (It’s at the bottom of my queue because of Be Cool, and I’m sure that’s the reason it’s on wait, other people having the same idea)
So it is definitely solid. Three of my four on wait are discs that only a very limited number are owned by Netflix (Return to Oz? There can’t be more than two people that want that movie from Netflix at a time!), and the fourth is on wait because of a sequel about to come out in theaters.
My 85-item Blockbuster queue has 51 items listed as Available Now, 19 Short Waits, 12 Long waits, two at Very Long Wait, and one Coming Soon. So based on the responses of the Netflix users here it does seem that they currently have an advantage here. For me, however, it doesn’t really matter. I keep my queue stocked enough that I’ve never really experienced a delay due to a movie being waitlisted. In fact, I don’t pay much attention to the queue at all. I actually kind of like the surprise factor. If I’m really anxious to see a specific film, well, that’s what those in-store coupons are for.
Okay, all this made me go look at my queue. (I like the surprise factor too sometimes.) I have 237 movies on my Netflix queue. There is a short wait for Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition, and long waits for *Gigi * and Someone Like You.
Sometimes I notice that kids movies tend to have waits more often than others - maybe like Return to Oz. Surely lots of kids want to watch that, Only Mostly Dead!
For further reference I have 293 Available nows ; 11 Short Waits (Elizabeth, Brazil, Unforgiven, Tao of Steve, Life is Beautiful, The Deer Hunter, The Jerk, The Basketball Diaries, Trainspotting, Mean Creek, Ran, Easy) ; 2 Long Waits (Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X) ; and 1 Very Long Wait (The Motorcycle Diaries) on Netflix, meaning 95% of my movies are available when I want to see them.
As far as number and waits, my Netflix queue is very similar to Aesiron’s. I live in Denver, where there’s a Netflix distribution center, and I’ll put a movie in the mail on monday, they’ll get it and ship the next on tuesday (and send me an email telling me to look for it on thursday), and I’ll get it Wednesday. A 2 day turn-around, without fail.
I love them.
Now if only many, many, other people would love them, and their stock price would go back up to where I bought it.
I use Netflix. I have 262 movies in my queue, ranging from obscure to new release. Every one is currently available. I had one movie once listed as “Very Long Wait” at the top of my queue; it shipped the next day.
Interestingly, my queue has a lot of movies that other people list as having waits – such as Get Shorty, for example – but my distribution center has no wait for it.
I have 79 movies in my Netflix queue. All say available now. I have had two movies from them that were damaged, and we received replacements within 3 days for both of them.
For my first post, I tried to find an amateur study done on Netflix’s “wait” rationale across accounts. The broad stroke is, the more profitable you are as a customer (if you have your movies sit at your home for two weeks before watching them, so you only go through 4 or 5 in a month), the more likely you’ll get any movie you want, no matter how new or otherwise in demand. If you’re a loss to them (at best, we’re looking at about 6 movies per WEEK), yeah you’ll wait for anything that there’s any demand for. If they lose your business, they actually make out better financially.
The study conductor had his primary Netflix account he had been using for a while, at a heavy rate (3 or 4 per week), and decided to test out by getting a number of friends at different levels of use to request the same movies he had on “long wait”, as well as opened a brand new account of his own. He found, across the board, that the "long wait"s for him as a poweruser were short or none for lesser renters.
As far as Get Shorty goes, yeah distribution center probably matters. I’m sure it’s better (both easier to keep satisfaction on ship times, and shipping cost) for them to ship a movie only available from a San Fran center to a user in the bay area than it is to ship to a user with the same renting frequency in NYC. But how many movies do you average per month, druid? Usually I’m at about 9-12 per month. Right now I’m a lot lower because my DVD player is broken and my computer is no fun for watching movies.
I just got my first botched delivery from Blockbuster today - an address stub only, no DVD.
Thanks, everyone for posting your queue stats. Those Netflix numbers look pretty good. Severian, I’d agree with your assessment that Netflix users have an advantage - your own Blockbuster queue is almost 46% delayed!
Hmmm… a lot fewer delays vs higher price and no in-store coupons… I’m still leaning towards switching. And yet… I fear change
The only advantage I see with Blockbuster Online is that they carry “special edition” DVDs that Netflix does not. (Question: Is Amadeus Director’s Cut on the wait list? I’d like to start up a trial membership just to watch that!!!)
Netflix will always skip over anything that’s marked “Short Wait” or higher if it’s at the top of your queue. (South Park S1 disc 1 has been on “Very Long Wait” for over a month now!) Sometimes, they will also skip movies that aren’t waitlisted, but that’s fairly uncommon. And it’s true that they will purposely slow down the turnaround times if you rent a lot of discs, especially towards the end of the month.
They are excellent at getting popular new releases out the door quickly. Music DVDs, and certain “cult” movies (like Battle Royale, or Saw) tend to get waitlisted – “Live Aid” was on Very Long Wait for over two months! Also, certain titles (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and the Pantera DVD) will suddenly go from “Available Now” to “Very Long Wait” if the person dies unexpectedly.
Only Mostly Dead – that movie you spoke of, it wouldn’t happen to be The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, would it? I’ve got that on Short Wait too.
