TiVo users! Rejoice! Soon you’ll have access to Blockbuster On Demand content as if Amazon, Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, and Jaman services weren’t enough. I hear that sometime today, the service will go live on Series 2, 3, HD, and HD XL boxes but so far it isn’t up on either my HD or HD XL units. Not that it matters all that much. I’m not going to use it anyway.
The movie rental fees range from $2.99 for “classic” or old films to $3.99 for new releases. The library will be expanded over the coming weeks to include more content.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for digital delivery. It’s the future, but Netflix and Amazon already seem to have a wide selection of content with some available in HD. I doubt Blockbuster will be able to provide a better experience than those two and there isn’t even any mention of HD content in the press release, which kills any appeal at all to me. If it’s not HD, I’m not going to spend money on it.
Check back later for a hands-on with the new service. Hopefully that will be sometime today.
Frankly your assessment is ridiculous. You doubt Blockbuster will be able to provide a better experience than those two? The functionality for downloading Blockbuster movies will be identical to Amazon, and the content Blockbuster provides will be newer than Netflix’s. Netflix has repeatedly stated that they don’t see Blockbuster as a competitor because of Blockbuster’s focus on new releases over catalog items.
I like using Amazon VOD (and even Jaman!), but I’m looking forward to having a great selection of reasonably priced new release rentals available.