I currently subscribe to both of Netflix's services: streaming and DVD-rental. With the recent price hike for Netflix's streaming + DVD customers, I wondered if there was a cheaper alternative to Netflix's DVD rental service. A colleague suggested I check out Vudu which advertises streaming video "rentals" - the idea being that one could replace Netflix DVD rental with the equivalent video streaming rental.My streaming video setup includes the Samsung BD C550 bluray player which has had a Vudu app for a while. So using Vudu without buying any new devices was eminently feasible. I picked the top two items from my Netflix DVD queue - "Its always sunny in Philadelphia, season 6" and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" - to test for availability on Vudu. It turned out that neither was listed as available. However, Vudu did have season's 1, 2, 3 and 5 of "It's always sunny..." but not season's 4 or 6. And the price seemed right at $2 for a two night rental.
Amazon video, which does not have an app for my Samsung player, did have "It's always sunny..., season 6". But Amazon had the title available only to buy - $18 for the equivalent of two DVDs or alternatively for $2/episode - not to rent. Even season 7 was available at $2/episode - Netflix doesn't have season 7 yet. Amazon's pricing is somewhat steep compared to Netflix's $8/month for One-DVD-at-a-time, even though the Amazon service is more convenient given that one doesn't have to wait for the DVD to arrive in the mail.
Unfortunately, "Tinker, Tailor..." was not available at Amazon video, the same result as Vudu.
The investigation above suggests, that Netflix's DVD rental service still has a leg up over alternatives, by way of breadth (over Vudu) and pricing + app availability (over Amazon). However, Vudu could blow past Netflix DVD with some library expansion. Amazon could too, with a more widely available app and by continuing to bundle more titles with Amazon Prime.
Vudu's library shortcoming notwithstanding, I am tempted to stop Netflix DVD (but keep Netflix streaming) and use Vudu for my video rental needs. I wonder how many other Netflix DVD subscribers are going through the same calculation...
Related Articles
0 comments:
Post a Comment