# Does anyone still rent movies?



## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Rogers announced the other day that they were getting out of the DVD rental business. And Blockbuster went bankrupt a few years ago. Just curious to know if anyone still rented DVD's or if they use Bell Expressview or their Rogers box to get movies. And there are online possibilities too.

I have a DVD player, but in all honesty rarely use it.


----------



## dave2012 (Feb 17, 2012)

Too expensive to buy rent movies on Rogers/Bell boxes. We occasionally rent them from the vending machines in the grocery store for a day, zip em and load them up on the MAC's or iPad. Then we can watch them when mobile or on the big screen at home via Apple TV. Rarely use the DVD player. Never bothered with blue ray.


----------



## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Cal said:


> And Blockbuster went bankrupt a few years ago.


They went bankrupt only last year.

Anyway, I enjoy going to the movies [only to watch the good ones of course]. For others, I buy DVD's/receive them as gifts/borrow from friends.


----------



## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Yes, I rent them from the library. In fact I just picked up the last season (part 2) of the Sopranos today.

As to why the tax-payer-supported library lends out movies/video games etc is beyond me, but I like to take advantage of it. Maybe the library put Blockbuster out of business?


----------



## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

+1 for the library.
We haven't rented DVDs for several years now.
The library pre-orders all the latest stuff and all you need to know is the DVD release date and place a reservation just before that date.

There is no value whatsoever in buying regular movie DVDs these days (except for some truly special releases or collectors editions).

As for tax-payer-supported libraries, this is exactly the right use of tax payer dollars.
Among all the other asinine ways in which tax payer dollars are squandered away, this one delivers exceptional value for money.


----------



## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

I forgot about the library. 

Last year I borrowed The Twilight Zone series; loved the black & white ones!

I agree with your comments Harold; libraries are wonderful for all they provide!


----------



## JustAGuy (Feb 5, 2012)

Yeah, I pretty much use netflix for everything these days... except Canada's still got a fairly limited library on there. I haven't rented a physical disc since 2010, have never had cable, but I do still buy some things now and then.


----------



## mind_business (Sep 24, 2011)

I might have to give the library a try. We rent our movies from a local rental place. $5 for new movies (2 day rental). It typically costs an extra buck a movie through Rogers.


----------



## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> As for tax-payer-supported libraries, this is exactly the right use of tax payer dollars.
> Among all the other asinine ways in which tax payer dollars are squandered away, this one delivers exceptional value for money.


Fair enough. I guess the reason I find it odd is that I thought libraries were about books, not movies and video games.


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Big up on the library! I'm in there all the time, and just put holds on whatever movies I want. I also rent movies from iTunes if there's something I can't find in the library.


----------



## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

Haven't rented a DVD/BluRay for years. We rent movies on lines from Apple iTunes and watch on our Apple TV.


----------



## GreenAvenue (Dec 28, 2011)

Same here, I download everything, we haven't rented a movie in years. What I like about the downloading is that we see documentaries, movies and a lot of kids stuff as well (we have 3 children). I try to look for the best quality but the kids don't really notice when they are 'in the movie' anyway.


----------



## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I love my DVD player. I have a small DVD binder of some favourite movies of mine and keep it close to the TV for easy access when I want to watch a movie. I spend enough time on the computer that I like to have my collection of discs to watch. I've got some TV episodes as well as favourite movies, new and old. It's not a big collection, but it's mine and I don't have to jump through hoops and pay fees when I want to watch a movie.

As far as the rentals, I was doing that for a while but there are really not many such options available anymore. In the end I was finding it cheaper to spend $10 and buy the DVD brand new from ebay (and then have it to watch as long and as many times as I like) than to pay $6-7 to rent the late release for just 1-2 days.

P.S. Isn't it funny this thread comes up now Harold? lol


----------



## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> +1 for the library.
> 
> As for tax-payer-supported libraries, this is exactly the right use of tax payer dollars.
> Among all the other asinine ways in which tax payer dollars are squandered away, this one delivers exceptional value for money.


I also have a steady stream of reserved movies available at the libraries to the point that I rarely rented from Rogers. However, I've always been torn over whether video loans are indeed the way tax-payer money should be used. They have been duplicating a service (and a non-essential one at that) that is offered by private industry and this practice has almost assuredly assisted in the early decline of the industry (including several mom-and-pop video rental outlets). I just wonder if movies and video games should be a priority when text books are in short supply at some schools. 

However, the other face of the capitalist in me said, "If they are going to take the taxes out of my pocket to provide this service then I may as well make use of it."


----------



## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

We rented DVD's during the run-up to the Oscars. It's our annual tradition to try and watch every Oscar-nominated movie, so we rented a few discs to help us toward that goal. We also rent movies via the Xbox (which are not physical discs, but nonetheless it's still a rental since you don't get to keep it). Also, we subscribe to Netflix and watch movies that way. And we download occasionally. We've used the library for borrowing TV show DVD's but never for movies, not sure why.


----------



## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

We rent a ton of movies from the Zip Kiosk in Metro stores. At a toonie for the latest movies and a loonie for slightly older movies, it is a wonderful deal.


----------



## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

It looks like this thread should be moved to the frugal section, Lol.:biggrin:


----------



## Pigzfly (Dec 2, 2010)

Movie Gallery is also down the tubes. One where I live closed a few years ago... and it's no wonder. I think it was $9-12 per rental!! My spouse told me I wasn't allowed to go there anymore (we agreed on this).
A local shop has since opened at $5 for new releases and is doing quite well. The last time I rented a movie, it was to show at a club, so I figured a pirated version wasn't a fantastic idea.


----------



## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

Pigzfly said:


> The last time I rented a movie, it was to show at a club, so I figured a pirated version wasn't a fantastic idea.


Actually that's illegal too. All rental movies will have a disclaimer at the front saying "for private home viewing only". They want you to pay extra for public viewing rights.


----------



## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

I do enjoy buying Blu ray's and always think it's nice to have a physical library. Much the same as I like to buy CD's and not always download. 
I have rented and used Rogers in Whitby but when they closed down we haven't rented since. 

I would still rent but to me I just don't think there have been that many films that I would like to see but will always pick up dvd's / blu rays once they drop off from the initial release prices.


----------



## Koala (Jan 27, 2012)

I rent movies on occasion. I use the DVDplay kiosk, it's $1.88 per day, with tax. I don't rent enough to make netflix worthwhile, for now. I have a decent cable package from Shaw (student promo) but will consider netflix when I'm done school (and probably after my Shaw package expires). It's $4.99 to rent from my cable box (it used to be more) and the kiosk has better selection, is at a grocery store I use frequently for small purchases, and is about a 10 min walk. Unless I'm horribly sick, I don't bother renting with Shaw.


----------



## JustAGuy (Feb 5, 2012)

I used to be big into having a physical library. I've got hundreds of cds, dvds, video games, and books.

And then I moved a few times and I realized that owning so much crap is a burden more than anything else and I gave up my pack rat ways. I've been slowly trying to sell all my stuff on craigslist. Am in the process of getting digital replacements of the books on a e-reader, and already got mp3s of all the cds.

I would be much happier to have less clutter in my life.


----------



## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

I recently borrowed a wonderful double feature oldie from the library!

- Portrait in Black,
- Madame X [need kleenex for this one].

Fantastic movies with the fabulous acting of Lana Turner/Anthony Quinn/John Forsythe [sadly all gone now].

And of course lots of investment books, too.


----------



## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I get movies from the library as well. Yesterday, I got The girl who kicked the hornet's nest and Captain America.

Funnily enough, my bike pannier fell off on the way home and the nice lady cyclist who found it saw the movies and brought it to the nearest library - they were able to determine who had the movies checked out and called me.


----------



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

Libraries are great - there are even plenty of blue-ray DVDs too if you have one of those fancy tvs.

The only problem with the library is that 2/5 are scratched. There is no frustration like the frustration of having a movie stop somewhere in the middle, then taking 5 minutes to try and find the next part of the movie that will continue to play properly.


----------



## Jim9guitars (May 5, 2012)

You can also download movies from the library website(at least the KFPL in my area), along with audio books in mp3 and wma formats, all free. They also have some books in pdf format for download as well. The movie selection is still a bit limited yet, the audio book selection is great though. In my job as a truck driver they are a life saver. I haven't rented a DVD for a couple of years but I have picked up a few from the library in the past year.


----------



## Dibs (May 26, 2011)

I work part time at my local library, in the audio-visual section so I always get to see what comes in and what is popular. Our loan statistics have been steadily rising over the years as well. Montreal also has the bibliotheque nationale de Quebec, which has a humungous collection of english and french movies to choose from. No real reason to rent movies.


----------



## Fain (Oct 11, 2009)

I usually just go to Flea Markets or Chinatown and pickup pirated copies. 7 movies for $20, all DVD quality and you haggle also if you buy more.


----------



## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

at my work we have a big cabinet where everyone puts the DVD's they don't want. If you want to take one home, you just do and return it whenever. I grab one out of there once in a while. There's probably 2000 titles already and we just started it a few months ago.


----------

