If you have read my long posts before you know how I love comparisons. I thought it was about time I did some value checking on movies. I’ve picked a few popular services available to all Canadians. Let’s talk price, value and expectations for each.
The Movie Network (Cable and Satellite)
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Cost is the most prohibitive factor here and I will get to that in a second. The Movie Network has awesome selection including some great series and near-new releases for movies. Also, they deserve a plus for the amount of Canadian content they carry. I would have scored The Movie Network a lot lower except for the OnDemand service you get included with it. No longer restricted to watching the programming schedule you can select which features you want on your own timeline. Find out more here. TMN might not be available where you are but with some national competitors like the Super Channel there is always something similar available.
Now let’s talk cost. At $20 for the service you also need to have a basic digital package with most service providers. For what you get it’s good but looking at other options makes you want more value.
My Rating: 5 out of 5
For $8 a month (plus the cost of at least a 5mbps Internet connection) and you can stream all the movies the carry for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The value is great but the selection has it’s naysayers and it’s champions. Personally, I love the choices. Of course it isn’t the newest of the new but for the vast library of television shows this service has is worth the cost of entry alone. Just this last week I enjoyed Paranormal Activity 1 and 2, hours of sketch comedy shows (while folding laundry), and watched my wife squeal in excitement at the availability of every episode of the classic 90210.
Throw in popular shows like Mad Men and Stargate, Stand-Up Comedy, and tons of kids features and I’d be willing to pay over double what I do now for this good stuff.
You can get Netflix on your computer, video games console (even works on the Wii), Tablet and even some smartphones.
Blockbuster The Video Store
My Rating: 1 out of 5
The local video store was a staple when I was a kid. You could rent a movie for a buck and return it the next day. Free popcorn to eat while you browse and staff that knew how to recommend a good flick. While I am sure there are still small corners of the country where these still exist the model of the video store has shifted. A single movie rental is half the cost of ownership and you take the chance of the movie you want not being in stock.
I can no longer recommend the video store as a viable option but if you have a small location you like to support please give me your thoughts in the comments.
Online Video Stores (iTunes, PSN, xBox)
My Rating: 4 out of 5
While the prices vary between online movie retailers I find that it’s kind of like eBook comparison shopping ; while a few popular titles might be cheaper now, overall you will end up at the same total down the road. These online locations offer renatls starting at about $2 for tv shows, $4 for classic movies and about $6 to $10 for high-definition new releases.
To be honest, I find renting digital content weird. You pay for something you don’t actually hold in your hand and you have to stop watching in 24 hours. I guess you could make a similar argument about buying digital movies.
The high rating? Convenience.
Pirating Movies
My Rating: How can you rate free stuff?
Of course this has to be mentioned. The prevelance of this activity in Canada tells me a lot of the saavy smartcanucks readers are downloading their content. Torrents, Newsgroups and sharing use to be a regular thing for me but the invention of movie streaming via PS3 and Netflix has eliminated my desire. Recent experience has shown me that I really wanted convenience in entertainment not a 100% discount.
I love discussion please add to my reviews below. How do you get your movies?
I borrow movies (new releases, classics, everything) and seasons of tv series from my library. I might have to wait a bit, but I’m willing to wait, since they are free!
I download for free. Whatever i want whenever i want. Also i watch streaming websites like veetle.com. Cheers!
In a movie theatre with free passes from Airmiles rewards
Netflix. If I miss a current tv show, I’ll stream it online… but Netlix is my favourite, by far. Amazing value. I love being able to watch entire series of tv shows – I’m on XFiles right now.
Also, a point of interest for Arrested Development plans – since it’s been confirmed that there is going to be a movie AND another season coming out – Netflix is in talks to be the production company… very interesting, even if they don’t get it, because it’s telling of the shift the company wants to take.
Library too. Streaming online content poses a risk for going over my daily data quota.
All I know is netflix definitely isn’t worth the money since they are not up to date with the most current movies… I do stream sometimes but am not a huge movie watching
I get all our movies from our local library. Yes, sometimes I have to wait awhile for the newer movies, but it’s free and they have a really great selection of classic movies, tv series and documentaries to tide you over while you wait for the new movies. It’s fantastic and I have no idea why more people don’t use this resource!
library for me also
I live 4 hours from the city and we no longer have a movie store, so I download. When I do get to the city, I see as many movies as time allows since I love the theatre experience.
Im a guilty pirate.. arg! lol
We have only basic cable, so whatever movies happen to run on the channels we get are what we watch. The only movie channel is Encore, the one which runs B and lower type movies. What we get is good enough for us.
Just don’t have the impetus to see the newest released movies – gah, I guess we’re old.
i download them, borrow them or (rarely) rent them on channel 900.
Library is a good place but the movies are old and sometimes when they release more recent movies you have to wait on a waiting list. I waited so long to rent dexter there was over 20 people ahead so I watched it online.
Netflix is my least fave because it is so outdated.
Movie Network is my fave because it is very recent movies.. however I find they put up seasons of things and are missing episodes.. I must agree it is very pricey however I got rogers to lower our television bill so we pay less than $10 for it.
my boyfriend and I just signed up for Zip.ca! where you get the movies to your home, depending on your plan can be as low as $10.00 a month, and it doesn’t affect your internet whatsoever, they come to your house as a DVD! so excited about it 🙂
You missed free to air dishes!
Illegal and do crash but great when they are working.
Have the new movied 3 days after they are released.
lilottawadevil, check the titles. It’s getting better every day… It has walking dead and snl, and newer movies all the time… Current new releases are true grit and love and other drugs. The selection is huge.
where do u download movies from?
Torrents for the past 8 years. Mostly d/l bluray versions over a fiber optic network 🙂 super fast
I don’t even own a DVD player anymore – I stream, watch Netflix, and download what I want on a portable hard drive & play through a media player plugged through an HDMI cable to my TV. I like to own, but I want it in digital format with no disk – just like MP3s.
Free is nice, but I also pay – I just want convenience.
Torrents (private trackers), Warez, or Stream (like movie2k0
I love Netflix. I think the problem people have with the selection is they missed the press releases when they started in Canada. Netflix said flat out that they weren’t going to have new releases and didn’t really consider themselves in competition for the newest blockbuster movies. With that in mind, I’m always happy when the newer titles show up. I go here http://app.whatsnewonnetflix.com/ to check for new added titles.
I’m a heavy library user, I like to buy dvd sets when the price drops so I can watch in my own time (my favorite deal lately was getting all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights for $15-25 each.)
I also like Queen St Video in Toronto. $5-8 for a full tv season and you get it for a week.
I wanted to say, give Netflix a chance. I had a memebership with them in the states from 2006 until last year when I moved back to Canada. They had the selection back in the day that they have starting out here and they got a whole lot better. They will here. Plus, my Pops used to teach film courses and he said that the Canadian copywrite stuff here is brutal. You can’t barely get permission to run Canadian movies here nevermind the American stuff. I’m impressed Netflix made it up North at all.
On another note: If anyone can pm me on good sites to watch stuff (aside from Netflix), I’d appreciate it. I’m not used to being cut off from most free tv shows.
Netflix Canada users: for $5/month you can get get access to Netflix US (using your same account) and other US-restricted sites, like Hulu, Comedy Central, etc. via an accepted IP address.
Simple to set-up and use. http://www.unblock-us.com/
I went from $75/month for cable and a lousy movie selection to $13/mo for Netflix and Unblock US and a much broader selection. US Netflix has many more kids’ shows too.
(not a paid advertisement, lol)
gotta have unlimited internet to use netflix … otherwise I’d be over my monthly limit. Switching away from Bell in the next couple of weeks and then will use netflix.
We use zip.ca and I’d give it a 3/5. It’s pretty cheap compared to renting movies but since I live in a rural area, it takes a while to get to us. For about $11 a month we get about 3 movies on average. If you’re diligent with rating movies you get free credit too.
Does anyone ever go to a movie theatre anymore? LOL I have a scene card and so most movies we see are free, or we go on half price Tuesdays.
Some really good ideas here, though. Think I’ll check a few out. Thanks for the movie tips!
Great blog post again mupiel! I’ve thought about going for Netflix so it’s always good to read about other’s experiences…and I just can’t seem to pay $6 for a movie rental at a store, it just doesn’t shout value to me. Also, I think the little kiosks (there’s one in Safeway here) that have movie rentals for $1.79 is a pretty good option too.
we buy most of our movies cause my hubby is a movie freak. We own over 1000 dvd’s and blu rays. I wish he would stream movies or download them, I’m quickly running out of room to store the movies in my small home! If we decide to rent a movie instead of buying I will go to the movie rental kiosk in Safeway where movies are only $1.79.
whoooooooooaaaaaomg ty to whoever mentioned unblocK US!
I love the theatre experience so I use free passes from airmiles and mail in rebates and ofter try for half price Tuesdays. Also borrow from the library.
we download or rent from library (rarely). I haven’t bought a DVD for years. I admit to being a little bit of a torrent junkie. I download on my Mac then watch them on my tv with my apple tv. With winter coming up, there is no shortage of movies to download.
We have a Boxee box hooked up to our tv. Through Boxee I’m able to access my Netflix account, along with all the free streaming content from Canadian channels. (which covers pretty much all big name new shows) it also allows me to network with my computer to play files from there. Boxee was a fantastic purchase.
I should note I have unlimited Internet through Primus. (my land line and Internet come to $50 a month)
Well, until recently I could only get the new to dvd movies from Blockbuster–I am rural and I could rent for a week at a time –time to watch and bring it back into town before it was overdue. Well, they are gone! So I started using a local corner store a couple of miles away–not a lot of quantity on new movies, but only 10k away! –BUT they burned down last week!—looking for a new place again! –thsnks everybody for all the ideas!
Torrents all the way here. For everything that I cannot get.
I don’t have Shotime and Dexter is my fav so I download it the day after. I find it is better. No commercials and I don’t have to hit FF on my PVR.
Movies too, I download the Bluray versions, stream them to my Sony Bluray Player and enjoy in full 5.1 Surround.
Also, having to data cap is a plus for this.
Thanks for the info on Unblock-us. I just signed up for the 7 day trial. It works! And you don’t have to provide credit card information to use the trial.
One good thing about Netflix is that there are 3 settings for bandwidth usage:
Good quality (up to 0.3 GB per hour)
Better quality (up to 0.7 GB per hour)
Best quality (up to 1 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour for HD)
I have mine set at the middle one and with a 32 inch HD tv I’ve never had any problems with the quality. Picture takes a minute to adjust when I first start something though.
I’ve tried Zip.ca as well and got frustrated with how long everything took to come through the mail.
I love the selection on zip.ca. I’ve managed to find some fairly obscure British comedy series like “On the Buses”, which has let me relive my childhood. 🙂
I watch them online for free
If you are missing Free to air channel check this usb im using for almost 1 year , I buy from canada but same thing i paid 20$
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sorry above link is not correct
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Library – hands down. The librarian gave me tips how to search for the most recent ones that have come in to the library (including new releases). I check that often and as soon as I see a new one in that I want, I put a hold on it. And, you get to keep it for 2-3 weeks!
Netflix is awesome, the movie channel is good as well. I’m very against pirating movies(and music), when u can get legal access to all kinds of movies for $8 a mnth on netflix!
We watch a lot of movies ‘On Demand’, Netflix and iTunes. I’m not sure about where others live, but where I live the cost of a movie rental in a store is fairly equivalent to ‘On Demand”. The benefit of ‘On Demand’ is I can do it from the comfort of my couch. I like Netflix for older movies. I’ve had it for a few months now and I haven’t got tired of it yet. I definitely get my money out of it. I use iTunes as an inbetween. If ‘On Demand’ and Netflix do not have it, chances are iTunes does. They all have their benefits. We don’t watch a lot of tv, but we do enjoy a good movie in the evening. My favorite part is not having to leave my home or remember to bring back the movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any late fees.
US netflix and some streaming sites.
There is a way that cost $5/month to route thru the US, + $8/month for the US netflix.
Just read Anne’s post.. I am only using the US netflix..did not know you could get access to the US one with a canadian account. That’s good news.
Happen to work at a local video store and the things I hear the most from our clientele are how great our selection is and how they love to chat with the movie savvy staff. It really is an experience for them going to a video store…their eyes catching boxart, or overhearing and joining in on a recommendation, leading them in directions they may not take if limited to the menu directly in front of them by shopping online. Plus, my store still offers some of those $1/day rentals and even weekly specials that bring rentals down to $2/movie…albeit no popcorn while perusing (thank god!so much vacuuming!) Interesting little timeline about Toronto’s video stores at http://www.thegridto.com/culture/film/a-brief-history-of-t-o-%E2%80%99s-video-rental-shops/
I used to work in a small privately owned video store and I think I will always prefer going and checking out the boxes for all the films and sad that they are starting to be phased out.
I will rent from the playdium/red box type kiosks sometimes, 1-2 bucks for a new release is nice and typically they always have the new releases because hardly anyone uses them.
I have netflix, but barely use it (even with unlimited internet) because of teh dated content. But love it for the stand up comedy specials and when I am feeling nostalgic.
I buy many movies, my DVD wall hosts about 1500 DVDs (and now blurays too). But I am trying to stop this habit for lack of storage space and funds.
I go to the theatre about 1-2 times a month (saw Puss in Boots last night – EXCELLENT!) for movies that I either really really want to see or are high action and always better on the big screen.
I have cable but do not subscribe to TMN, not worth the money IMO.
I refuse to download movies. I went to college for film & TV production and I feel like I am stealing from the industry. I HATE how much the big time people get, but the small underdogs a lot of the time have in their contracts that they too will get a portion based on sales so I hate taking money from them since I have many friends in the industry.
I use my boxee box for all my movie content… I stream netflix and then like someone else mentioned I can stream all other tv shows… best thing I ever purchased … we dropped our cable a long time ago.
Library – This is great, big selection, free or $1, the only negatives are some of the dvds are badly scratched and you might be on a long waiting list.
Netflix – I tried this, not a good selection of movies, it’s best for tv shows
Movie Theater – When I get free passes i’ll go which is about 6-8 times a year
Download – I used to mainly do this, but I have been cutting back just cuz I like to have physical copies for my collection
Video store – All on stores I used to go to in my area are gone, though I did buy alot of dirt cheap movies before Blockbuster closed
Pawn Shop – You can get alot of cheap dvds($2-$5 each) and blu-rays($8-$10) here
Amazon/Ebay – I usually get at least 5 new movies per month via Swagbucks, Irazoo, etc, and I get movies I want to support (independent and lower budget movies) and not big blockbuster movies
I download mostly blurays (dvds sometimes) and hdtv shows for free but I never use torrents. If it’s an independent film with proceeds going to charity, I will watch it in the theater and/or buy the dvd. 🙂
My library gets all the new releases the day the movie is released in store. I mean ALL of them. I can put my name on a wait list or I can walk in and pick up and “Express” copy (3 day loan) for FREE. Love my Library. <3
Torrents. But if I really want to see a movie in theatres I go for it and when I love movies, I don’t mind buying a physical copy.
Our family does not have cable TV. We watch everything over the net using a PC that is hooked up directly to a 32-inch TV. We use Netflix, and then http://www.streaming-guide.com for free online TV shows. The latter lists over 1200 free shows in Canada. Works like a charm.
Rogers video direct for me. Don’t know when the last time I hit the rental store, no worries about download usage and they have a lot of series movies and such. They ship the dvd to you, you return it in their postage paid envelope. Only downfall is if your wanting to watch a specific movie you have to wait longer than a rental place http://www.rogersvideodirect.ca
if zip had only raised their plan prices i would have joined as well, but there is no way i’ll pay an extra $1 per blu-ray, that might have been acceptable a few years ago when the tech was new and the movies were overpriced, but not anymore
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