It's been about a decade since I rented a DVD. I have purchased them very sparingly, and one time, a movie on BR (blu ray). I decided to try Red Box the other week, and to my surprise, they strip away many to all of the bonus features!
I thought this was just a ploy to get you to rent the BR instead (as when you purchase movie discs, they often have more bonus content on the DVD vs. BR), but looking online, the BR discs are in the same boat! So we're talking standard fare of bonus stuff including but not limited to interviews, deleted scenes, gag reels, reference material, etc. In some more extreme cases, even closed captioning and scene selection aren't there!
Some discs don't even have bonus features on the main menu, but for others, when you try to access them, you get a message saying.... "
This disc is intended for rental purposes and only includes the feature film. Own it on Blu-Ray or DVD to view these bonus features and complete your movie watching experience."
My thoughts...
Overall, I'm disappointed in this, but will probably continue to rent them (although not as much as I'd like would've). $1.50 plus tax is still cheaper than theatres (and if I need to drag it out a 2nd day, then $3). I get to pause and rewind at my leisure. If I get a DVD without close captioning, I'd rather not go without it, but I'll live (to the dismay for those who are hearing impaired, although to be fair, one disc did have a feature where what's going on is narrate like "
Jonathan takes the baby into his arms").
While it's not bank breaking to pay an extra 50 cents per BR disc per night, it's still a neutral point for me.
I recall DVD and VHS rentals from the 80s and 90s would be anywhere from $3 to $6 per rental, and it'd be for 3 to 7 days at a time. It can be inconvenient to get in the movie within a day, so the multiple days were nice, but Red Box charging per day can still be cheaper. Red Box has the convenience of being 24/7, and much more locations.
OTOH, I'm told up until recently, Blockbuster (yeah, they still exist, if barely
) had "full DVDs" with the extra features. So I'm told BB (blockbuster) now only has "rental discs", and so does the DVD portion of Netflix.
The film industry of course is trying to push us to BUY the DVDs or BRs for the extra features. Although some of that content may be nice, I could honestly make due without them, especially considering the savings. If there's a deep discount or good sale on them, I'll reconsider.
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