Question about mail order dvd rental places.

[jack_ryder]

(x-posted from murasaki_1966)

We are thinking of joining one of the Netflix-like services in Australia.

Do any of you subscribe to such a service? How do you find the service? Is it worth it?

Basically, I have a lot of films I want to watch, but I don't always have time to watch them within the time that the DVD store lends them for. I need a bit more flexibility. I tend to buy things for this reason. So, in an effort to curb my DVD habit, I'm looking at joining such a service. Then I can work out if I actually like the film enough to buy it.

Comments

[kaaronwarren.livejournal.com]

No idea about Netflix, but have you see this competition???
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/indepth/radioplay2008.shtml

[jack-ryder.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for that. I've passed it on to ferkster and we'll see what we can come up with.

[kaaronwarren.livejournal.com]

You're in with a good chance, I reckon. Have you written radio plays before? Do you think it's a very different thing to the other kind?

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

They've written radio plays before, and they got produced. I can recite whole sections....

[kaaronwarren.livejournal.com]

I've got a good feeling about this...

[jack-ryder.livejournal.com]

We actually won the FBI Live Radio Play competition twice in a row (our plays were performed live in the Sydney Opera House Drama Studio and broadcast by FBi - a Sydney community radio station.)

We've wanted to get back into radio - we have a serial we've been sitting on for ages. Not really adaptable to a one hour play format, but I'm sure we'll come up with something.

[ashamel.livejournal.com]

I haven't done anything similar. I am starting to think buying movies after watching them -- which is basically to say, getting a copy that will quite possibly never be stuck in a machine -- isn't so useful. But that may be crazy talk.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

We already do this. We see the film, we buy the DVD, then we don't watch it again.

[kingtheseus.livejournal.com]

Netflix is brilliant in the US, and I really miss it. I haven't tried a company like that in Australia though. Please let us know how it goes.

[jack-ryder.livejournal.com]

Will do. Quickflix (http://www.quickflix.com.au/quickflix.aspx) seems to be the best one (and has the largest range - we tested it with films murasaki_1966 wanted to see.)

Won't be happening until the new year though.

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

Bigpond Movies is useless. Their website is a nightmare. Quickflix are OK. The problem is you're limited to Region 4 movies (don't get me started on the evil that is region coding), so it's great if you just love mainstream Hollywood blockbusters. On the other hand you do have a better chance of finding off-beat stuff with Quickflix than you'll ever have at a video store. Whatever non-mainstream stuff does get released her in Australia,they'll have it.

Webflicks are hopeless. Their range of movies is pitiful. You only have two choices really.
Also, Quickflix do unlimited plans, where you just keep sending the discs back and they keep sending them out. With Bigpond Movies you can't do that. So in fact there's only one choice, and that's Quickflix

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much our conclusion too. Thanks for the great analysis.

There is mainstream stuff I want to watch, but I don't feel like buying. So this seem like a good way of solving our problem. We will probably keep buying the off-beat stuff we like. We have the same problem with books: we'd use the library more often, if they had the sort of books I want to read....

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

I've already borrowed the three worthwhile books in the local library!

[ferkster.livejournal.com]

What a minute! You want to curb your DVD buying just because you haven't had a chance to watch any of them? What sort of insane talk is this?

You may not be able to watch them yet but one day you'll be sitting at home and thinking "You know what I wish I could watch, right at this very moment? All of the silent shorts Buster Keaton made with Fatty Arbickle."

And then where will you be?