Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

DaveN

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2010
903
752
I was flicking through the program guide on my TV this morning and noticed the movie "Gladiator" on AMC. gladiator on AMC is 3 hours 30 minutes long. The same movie is 2 hours 35 minutes on iTunes. That means you are subjecting yourself to almost an hour of commercials to watch a two and a half hour movie - over one third of your time is wasted on commercials.

That got me thinking. Movie rentals are $3.99. Would I take a job watching commercials for $3.99 an hour? No way. Add in the cost of cable or satellite TV and the economics of cutting out the TV part of my cable connection is looking very tempting. The only thing that has been keeping me with cable is Turner Classic Movies which is commercial-free. I may be giving up TCM and just look at their schedule for movie ideas.
 

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
I was flicking through the program guide on my TV this morning and noticed the movie "Gladiator" on AMC. gladiator on AMC is 3 hours 30 minutes long. The same movie is 2 hours 35 minutes on iTunes. That means you are subjecting yourself to almost an hour of commercials to watch a two and a half hour movie - over one third of your time is wasted on commercials.

That got me thinking. Movie rentals are $3.99. Would I take a job watching commercials for $3.99 an hour? No way. Add in the cost of cable or satellite TV and the economics of cutting out the TV part of my cable connection is looking very tempting. The only thing that has been keeping me with cable is Turner Classic Movies which is commercial-free. I may be giving up TCM and just look at their schedule for movie ideas.

Right now that's about the only real reason I have DirecTV right now. I love TCM and especially since its commercial-free. I had a higher tier package at first and needed to reduce my cost, and went with the lowest package I could that still had TCM.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaveN

sodapop1

Suspended
Sep 7, 2014
188
1,303
Very good observation!

Several years ago, I thought about getting a 1-900 line for my home phone. At $1.99 per minute, I'd have no problem accepting every telemarketing call and I'd be sure to ask lots of question at the end.

The way I see it, if advertisers expect me to waste my time watching commercials for products of which 99.9% of them I would never buy, they need to pay me.
 

RhythmAndBlues

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2015
133
61
Right now that's about the only real reason I have DirecTV right now. I love TCM and especially since its commercial-free. I had a higher tier package at first and needed to reduce my cost, and went with the lowest package I could that still had TCM.

No commercials on TCM? Nice. Didn't think that was possible in the States...!!!

We have a channel in the UK called Film 4, which used to show consistently interesting movies commercial-free for £3.99 per month. Trouble was, nobody wanted to pay it, so it went free-to-air with commercials. I was absolutely gutted when that happened, and I haven't watched it since.

As you said, when you can rent/buy lots of good movies on disc and/or iTunes for less than five quid, why would you choose to suffer the commercials?
 

gooser

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2013
514
51
commercials or commercial free? makes no difference to me, that's why they make dvr's. i also like turner classics. $3.99 for a rental? that's why i use redbox.
 

RhythmAndBlues

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2015
133
61
commercials or commercial free? makes no difference to me, that's why they make dvr's. i also like turner classics. $3.99 for a rental? that's why i use redbox.

I prefer to own. Whether or not I think I'm likely to watch it again, if I want to watch it once, I'll usually stump-up for it.
 

DaveN

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2010
903
752
commercials or commercial free? makes no difference to me, that's why they make dvr's. i also like turner classics. $3.99 for a rental? that's why i use redbox.

Are Redbox movies blu Ray? The $3.99 is the HD price. Standard definition is $2.99. I was in Netflix's dvd by mail program for a while but ran out of ideas of what to watch. I'm retired and live in the country so making a trip to town costs me in gas and time so if I'm not going into town for something else, picking up a physical DVD isn't worth it to me. But I may be in an unusual situation where the Redbox machines are far away yet I have a fast cable connection.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
Some despicable low life would probably say using Netflix DVD then copying the disc would be the cheapest route for owning movies and shows. :)
 

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
4,806
Some despicable low life would probably say using Netflix DVD then copying the disc would be the cheapest route for owning movies and shows. :)

Now who would that person be?!?? #

Personally I stopped doing that when I found out I could get HD iTunes movies for, on average, less than the cost of renting them.
 
Last edited:

RhythmAndBlues

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2015
133
61
Some despicable low life would probably say using Netflix DVD then copying the disc would be the cheapest route for owning movies and shows. :)

Each to their own. I don't do that myself - though, thinking about it, with all the hours that I work I probably wouldn't have time. I'd rather pay.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
Each to their own. I don't do that myself - though, thinking about it, with all the hours that I work I probably wouldn't have time. I'd rather pay.


I am the same way. There was a time where I wouldn't pay for anything, ever, at all. Now I'm at a point in my life where just the inconvenience of pirating isn't worth my time. Never mind the legal aspects.

Although I still find iTunes pricing a little higher then I'd like. I'd probably spend MORE money on iTunes if they charged a little less because I'll often hesitate and not buy/rent something in fear of not liking it. What can I say, when you start off with no money once you have it your old ways keep you from spending it.
 

RhythmAndBlues

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2015
133
61
I am the same way. There was a time where I wouldn't pay for anything, ever, at all. Now I'm at a point in my life where just the inconvenience of pirating isn't worth my time. Never mind the legal aspects.

Although I still find iTunes pricing a little higher then I'd like. I'd probably spend MORE money on iTunes if they charged a little less because I'll often hesitate and not buy/rent something in fear of not liking it. What can I say, when you start off with no money once you have it your old ways keep you from spending it.

Yeah, very similar. I was a university student for more than a decade, so having no money was normal for me for a very long time.

And I agree with your comment re iTunes pricing - new releases cost as much as, if not more than, they would on Blu-ray, which I find a little galling. Hence, I only tend to pick-up things that I missed at the cinema, and "can't wait to see", at the release price - everything else hits the back burner until it falls to £7.99.
 

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Some despicable low life would probably say using Netflix DVD then copying the disc would be the cheapest route for owning movies and shows. :)

I'm not saying I do this.... but since you can get the 2 Blu-Ray Netflix for $15 a month, and can generally do 16 a month (receive one day, rip it, and then send it back in the next day), that makes it a pretty cheap way to build a library at home at less than $1 per....

Or if you really want to get your costs down. Going with the $26 package per month (4 Movies a time) means you can regularly do 30+ movies a month.

I mean one could do it that way.....
 

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
4,806
I'm not saying I do this.... but since you can get the 2 Blu-Ray Netflix for $15 a month, and can generally do 16 a month (receive one day, rip it, and then send it back in the next day), that makes it a pretty cheap way to build a library at home at less than $1 per....

Or if you really want to get your costs down. Going with the $26 package per month (4 Movies a time) means you can regularly do 30+ movies a month.

I mean one could do it that way.....

Ripping and tagging can get tiresome
 

RhythmAndBlues

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2015
133
61
I'm not saying I do this.... but since you can get the 2 Blu-Ray Netflix for $15 a month, and can generally do 16 a month (receive one day, rip it, and then send it back in the next day), that makes it a pretty cheap way to build a library at home at less than $1 per....

Or if you really want to get your costs down. Going with the $26 package per month (4 Movies a time) means you can regularly do 30+ movies a month.

I mean one could do it that way.....

I'm sure that Netflix have no idea that such things go on, and in no way incorporate this into their business model...

----------

Ripping and tagging can get tiresome

Jesus, you can say that again...
 

DaveN

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2010
903
752
Although I still find iTunes pricing a little higher then I'd like. I'd probably spend MORE money on iTunes if they charged a little less because I'll often hesitate and not buy/rent something in fear of not liking it. What can I say, when you start off with no money once you have it your old ways keep you from spending it.

OMG, it is my twin from different parents! I'm less hesitant to buy now because I picked up a discounted iTunes gift card at Christmas. It was a $100 gift card for I think $75 so effectively a $3.99 rental is $3. I hesitated today even with the discount. When you get to be my age, you have seen most of the movies that interest you and I haven't figured out a way to reliably find movies that I would like to see but haven't seen. That is the benefit of a continuous channel like TCM. It still has lots of movies I haven't seen and there are a fair number that I like quite well.

How do the rest of you find movies that you like?
 
Last edited:

mgipe

macrumors demi-god
Oct 6, 2009
675
145
CA
My biggest disappointment with iTunes movies is that many are not available to rent. The only option is to buy. There are few movies that I want to see more than once, so I can't justify paying five times the typical rental cost to watch a movie one time.

That's why Netflix gets my money instead of Apple.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
OMG, it is my twin from different parents! I'm less hesitant to buy now because I picked up a discounted iTunes gift card at Christmas. It was a $100 gift card for I think $75 so effectively a $3.99 rental is $3. I hesitated today even with the discount. When you get to be my age, you have seen most of the movies already and I haven't figured out a way to reliably find movies that I would like to see but haven't already seen. That is the benefit of a continuous channel like TCM. It still has lots of movies I haven't seen and there are a fair number that I like quite well.

How do the rest of you find movies that you like?

imgur.com is a good source of finding movies. Here is an example I just typed in movies and got the redundant title 'End of the world movies to watch before the world ends'. *EDIT Aha! I get it now! lol

http://imgur.com/gallery/CQh9I

What you should look for though is a list that has a few movies you like. That means the user that posted it has similar taste as you and the movies on the list you haven't seen might be something you really like since you have similar taste.

I've found some really really great stuff on there before that I would have never heard of otherwise.

You can also find list on reddit. Same thing, look for ones that have movies you already like. I prefer the visuals of imgur.com though, sometimes just seeing a picture or animated gif from a movie peaks my interests.
 

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Ripping and tagging can get tiresome

Eh it's minutes a day. And programs like subler allow you to queue up as many rips as you want and does them all without any intervention especially if you name the file right to begin with.

I guess I'm just cheap and have been burned by rentals (having young kids often means even committing to a 2 hour movie can be nearly impossible). And many of the kids movies get watched over and over again (God %#€^ frozen)....
 

gooser

macrumors 6502a
Jul 4, 2013
514
51
buying old movies? we have a couple of local pawn shops that sell dvd's for a dollar apiece. selection is limited but i can usually find a few that look interesting if i visit a shop once a month. lately i've been picking up a few cheapies off e-bay where you can search for a particular title.
 

jamesdmc

macrumors 6502
Oct 17, 2007
258
1
Cittagazze
I'd probably spend MORE money on iTunes if they charged a little less because I'll often hesitate and not buy/rent something in fear of not liking it.
With regards to purchasing, I'll wait until something goes on sale, then buy it. And I only buy something I'm pretty sure I'll watch more than once. For everything else, there's renting.

The $3.99 is the HD price. Standard definition is $2.99.
If they lowered the rental price to $1 for SD and $2 for HD, iTunes would get more more of my money, Netflix less. Quite often, I've scanned the rental offerings on Apple TV, considered renting a movie for the night (something that Netflix didn't have yet), looked at the rental price, and thought, "Nah, I'll just put it in the Netflix queue and wait for it".
 

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
4,806
With regards to purchasing, I'll wait until something goes on sale, then buy it....

Why wait when you can get new releases for the same or less than renting??

A couple months ago I picked up 5 HD titles for ~ $10
 

Acronyc

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
904
391
I don't have any cable/satellite TV service and haven't for years. I much prefer it this way. For me it is iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix. I buy the TV shows and movies I like on iTunes and use Hulu or Netflix for everything else. Cheaper in the long run for me and a lot less hassle.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.