Watching Movies For Less

Ticket prices at the Movie Theater got you down? Interested in watching hard to find movie titles? We may have a few suggestions for how you can get your film fix now that your local video store may be out of business.

redbox

If you still enjoy having a physical DVD to put in your player, choosing a title from redbox may be for you. With convenient locations all over the country (most often found at grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies), you can rent new releases and even video games for only $1 a day.

I’ve used redbox on occasion, usually if I’m in the mood to see a movie right now or on a Friday when my friends and I are looking for something to do

Pros: Convenient locations, No wait for DVD arrive, Cheap rental, Easy to play movie on traditional DVD player and TV, Can return to any redbox, No subscription

Cons: Inconvenience of returning the DVD, Lack of older film titles, Film you want may be sold out (although you can reserve titles online), Late fees

Netflix

If you watch a lot of movies or if you are true cinephile, you may enjoy subscribing to Netflix. This service allows the subscriber to create a movie queue and sends DVDs to your home based on this queue. With a variety of different membership levels, you can choose between having 1, 2, or 3 movies at a time as well as also benefiting from unlimited streaming movies online.

I subscribe to Netflix because I like old movies; I’ve stuffed my DVD queue with the most Netflix allows, 500 titles. My husband uses the streaming movies feature to watch anime and newer titles. Some months we probably pay less than $.50 per title watched in our household and other months we pay Netflix $15 for no movies at all.

Pros: Availability of older and hard to find titles, Immediacy of streaming movies, Can be very affordable if you take advantage of the monthly service, Variety of subscription options, No late fees

Cons: Some wait time for titles shipped, Monthly subscription, Some technology requirements necessary for streaming movies, Can be expensive if you do not take advantage of the monthly service

YouTube

This week YouTube announced that they would be expanding their rental service, adding 3,000 movies titles. This is a newer service and YouTube has not announced what titles will be available.  Some titles are free but most new titles are $3.99 per title, which is similar to the purchase price of pay movies through a satellite or cable TV service.

Pros: No subscription (to DVD service OR satellite/cable), No late fees

Cons: More expensive than other options listed here, Technology requirements, Currently lack of title selection

We’ve talked about Hulu here before so I won’t repeat myself. What other services do you use? What do you think of the services listed here?