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How many rentals have you NOT finished watching?

J

JimmyDreams

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 24, 2007
296
0
Ok...

I've had my :apple:TV about a month now, and so far, I've rented 2 movies that I've never finished watching. I'll fall asleep and then the hectic day-to-day static makes me forget about the fact that my 24 hour clock is ticking...by the time I get back to the movie, it's timed out.

I don't foresee me renting them again until such time as I completely forget that I've started watching them before.

Just wondering how many other people have 'wasted' a rental or two....???
:eek:
 
I just rented one so far "the brave one" after I couldn't get it at blockbuster and my blockbuster queue had it in waiting. the download was very fast, put it right on my nano and then plugged that into my tv to watch it that night. worked perfect and I might replace my blockbuster subscription when they get more movies in there.
 
I have to say, besides the limited selection, this 24 hour period is one of the biggest problems with iTunes rentals. With DVDs it happens not infrequently that my family will sit down to watch a movie and be interrupted not to resume for days. The 24 hour thing basically forces us to make time for it. They should have a shelf of like 3 movies that stay until you replace them like roughlydrafted.com suggested. If they are going to be so restrictive, they should at least offer rentals as soon as the DVD is released. I know the movie studios are forcing these restrictions.
 
the one movie i rented, i didn't get to finish
if rentals lasted 48 or 72 hours...movie rentals would be perfect
 
I don't really understand why Apple should need to consider people's individual circumstances and trivialities. If you fall asleep and then are too busy to complete viewing the movie within the rest of the time you have then that's really not Apple's fault.

As I understand it, after renting a movie you have 30 days to begin watching it, at which time you have 24 hours to complete watching it before its deleted. You can pause a movie and come back to it during outside of this time, with the understanding that as soon as its finished it will be deleted.

This provides users with more than enough flexibility. If you do not think you will be able to finish watching the movie within this flexible timeframe then do not rent. No matter what time system Apple came up with people would still be whinging, even though it's not Apple's responsibility to ensure you complete watching a movie within a certain (and arbitrary) timeframe.

As to the OP's original question, I can only guess it'd be a small percentage of users who do not finish viewing a movie within the 24 hours you're given to watch it.
 
pondie84 said:
I don't really understand why Apple should need to consider people's individual circumstances and trivialities.
Click to expand...

Very understanding response. Some people actually have jobs that demand that they drop what they are doing immediately and can take them away for hours or days. They don't have to consider these trivialities, but it can cost them business which isn't so trivial. The 24 hour limit is arbitrary. They could have set it at 12, 48, 72 etc. Personally, I think 24 hours is about the lowest number they could have set it. I would have expected 72 hours. This isn't a physical store where you not returning the movie keeps them from renting to someone else. What keeps them from allowing you to keep the movie more than 24 hours after you start to view it? It's not like you can pass the movie around to anyone else easily. You can't even get the HD rentals off your :apple:TV without hacking it. I wouldn't doubt if these numbers change over time.
 
cohibadad said:
Very understanding response. Some people actually have jobs that demand that they drop what they are doing immediately and can take them away for hours or days. They don't have to consider these trivialities, but it can cost them business which isn't so trivial. The 24 hour limit is arbitrary. They could have set it at 12, 48, 72 etc. Personally, I think 24 hours is about the lowest number they could have set it. I would have expected 72 hours. This isn't a physical store where you not returning the movie keeps them from renting to someone else. What keeps them from allowing you to keep the movie more than 24 hours after you start to view it? It's not like you can pass the movie around to anyone else easily. You can't even get the HD rentals off your :apple:TV without hacking it. I wouldn't doubt if these numbers change over time.
Click to expand...

I would LIKE to have the time limit extended. As you say, where is Apple's 'loss' if I have the data longer than 24 hours? It's not affecting their bandwidth, and even the BIGGEST movie freek I know won't rent the same movie with 2-3 days...

That said, I understand the limitations and I'm not mad at anyone but myself for not finishing my rentals. It's completely my fault (and the fault of the FAA for working my ass overtime EVERY week). But while some bean counter in Apple's marketing department might be saying "24 hours will cause X number of people to FAIL to finish watching, and so they'll re-rent the movie thus generating us $X in extra revenue".....to that I say bull*****. All you're doing is setting some arbitrary number and pissing people off. Sure, I MAY rent the movie again in the future, but then again, if I fell asleep during it once already, it must have been a real yawner (pun intended) and I'll remember that next time and NOT rent it!!!:D

I love my :apple:TV...strange rental rules won't make me like it any less.
 
I've watched all mine all the way through (3 so far). However, I do agree that the limit should be extended. 48 hours isn't asking for too much, and I don't see why any studio would have a problem with that.

For myself, I tend to rent during the middle of the week so that the movie completely downloads, and then watch the movie on the weekend when I know i'll have time. I've had Blazing Saddles sitting on my :apple:TV for 12 days now. I just haven't felt like watching it yet (been very busy like everyone else).
 
I personally wouldn't mind if Apple somehow kept track of how much of a movie I have watched, allowing me to view the movie in more than one sitting. Or, like Movielink.com/CinemaNow.com, allow users to 'extend' the rental period for an extra buck or two.

Thus far, I haven't had a problem watching a movie in one sitting, and will only stop watching a movie if I find it boring. But like someone else said, we all have other responsibilities(kids, work, fire, drug raid, etc) that might eat into our rental period. At least allowing us to pay a little extra to extend the rental period (say, the price of a traditional video store 'late fee'), might be a good compromise.
 
cohibadad said:
Very understanding response. Some people actually have jobs that demand that they drop what they are doing immediately and can take them away for hours or days. They don't have to consider these trivialities, but it can cost them business which isn't so trivial. The 24 hour limit is arbitrary. They could have set it at 12, 48, 72 etc. Personally, I think 24 hours is about the lowest number they could have set it. I would have expected 72 hours. This isn't a physical store where you not returning the movie keeps them from renting to someone else. What keeps them from allowing you to keep the movie more than 24 hours after you start to view it? It's not like you can pass the movie around to anyone else easily. You can't even get the HD rentals off your :apple:TV without hacking it. I wouldn't doubt if these numbers change over time.
Click to expand...

Yes but Apple cannot be held responsible for peoples' work commitments. The choice of time, as you describe it, is arbitrary. You make the case that you think 72 hours would be a better time-point. You also say that jobs can take people away for 'hours or days'. 72 hours could conceivably fall into your statement of 'days'. Should Apple be held responsible for everyone's personal situations? There's no real reason 72 hour rentals would be any less prone to people being kept away from watching the video outside of Apple's control.

The choice was Apple's to make. They made it. If you don't like the limitations of the timing (which you can work around by pausing the movie and going back to it) then don't rent.

This whole thing just sounds like people yet again wanting to have a whine about business decisions (and yes... Apple is a business) that they have made. Now, I think it would be reasonable to allow customers to pay a late fee (at a percentage of the rentals' cost) to continue watching a video they're got rented. However, it's entirely up to Apple how they conduct their business and I'm happy to deal within those limits.
 
I rented 3 HD movies so far and had no problem finishing them.

Pretty much I let the whole movie downloaded completely, and watched it when I have a 2 to 3 hrs free time.
 
Rented just to test

I rented one movie just to test and write about it on my movie blog and I understand completely your concern. It took me exactly 13 days until I was positively sure that I could watch the movie within the 24 hours limit. Think 48 hours would be a nice limitation.


Erick Pessôa
 
So far, I have watched all of them... The closest I came, was that I didn't finish watching one on an Airplane trip, and then almost forgot to finish watching it the next day.

I wish the studios would relax the rental terms a little...
 
Busy or lots of family?

pondie84 said:
I don't really understand why Apple should need to consider people's individual circumstances and trivialities. If you fall asleep and then are too busy to complete viewing the movie within the rest of the time you have then that's really not Apple's fault.

As I understand it, after renting a movie you have 30 days to begin watching it, at which time you have 24 hours to complete watching it before its deleted. You can pause a movie and come back to it during outside of this time, with the understanding that as soon as its finished it will be deleted....
Click to expand...

Great idea... (really) I'll often not wait for the 'the end', I'll hire my movies and stop before the closing credits, thanks :)
 
dizzlemizzle said:
the one movie i rented, i didn't get to finish
if rentals lasted 48 or 72 hours...movie rentals would be perfect
Click to expand...

agreed 48 - 72 hrs is what we need.
we have a 2 month old and it is hard to plan movies for one sitting.
 
I've rented 4 and watched them all in one sitting each. I do wish the "watching" period was longer but then I'm single and don't have anyone except myself to blame if I don't finish watching a movie.
 
I rented Eagle Vs Shark and watched it right away.

My friend rented (through iTunes) 3:10 to Yuma, had to stop, and couldn't get back to it in time.

I think 24 hours is too short of a time. They should give you whatever Blockbuster does - a week or whatever for 3.99, or 4.99, because right now the only thing they have going for them above Blockbuster is that you don't have to drive to the store...but they are adding hassles like the 24 hour limit or having to wait for an HD download which subtracts from the advantage.

They can't do anything about the download time but they sure can INCREASE the plusses they have over Blockbuster by extending the 24 hour period.

I think some may re-rent to finish but I GUARANTEE you many more will just not rent it to begin with. I am sure that the 24 hour limit is holding some people back. And, since it's completely arbitrary that's a dumb business move.

Apple TV is great. Renting from it is nice...but why not do everything you can to make renting from it stellar and the only way to go?
 
I was in the process of downloading Live Free or Die Hard and thought it glitched.
I was going to watch it as soon as it gave me the thumbs up. Which it did, but then went black. It was the first week everything was released so I figured I would try again later.

A week goes by and I am trying another movie. Looked at where everything is downloaded to and there is the Die Hard movie. It said I have 18 days left to view my order.....Glad I checked. I did watch it and it looked great.
 
I only rented one and watched it a few days later. It's a pretty simple process. I think the key is only starting the movie when you're pretty sure you can finish it. So far I've been very happy with my AppleTV purchase!
 
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