Blockbuster To Rent Movies On SD Cards… I’ll Stick With Netflix!
It seems that Blockbuster, the once darling of the movie rental business, is really grabbing at straws. Ever since Netflix started to take off with low pricing of DVD rentals and streaming of on demand movies, Blockbuster has been playing second fiddle in the rental market. With Redbox renting movies at a buck a pop, this has added to the problem that Blockbuster is facing.
But in what can only be described as a last ditch effort for survival, Blockbuster is going to rent movies on SD Cards at $1.99 per rental. The thinking is that consumers who have card readers built into their TVs, which I personally have on my Panasonic Plasma set in the living room, can use the card media to watch movies with. I also have card readers in my laptop computers so this may be an easy way to watch flicks on an airplane.
A recent article also states:
Other obstacles remain. Many phones use micro or mini SD cardslots, and don’t take full-sized SD cards. Many TVs still aren’t built to play video of SD media, and most laptops don’t have them either, meaning that watching an SD video on the road means taking a long a USB card reader. Another problem: not everyone will enjoy the irony of driving somewhere to pick up a data-card the size of a postage stamp. Still, SD cards do represent a marked improvement over DVDs in durability and re-usability, so if they caught on it’d hardly be a step backwards for movie buffs.
The SD kiosks themselves will be built and operated by NCR corporation, in partnership with MOD Systems. Blockbuster already employs a network of NCR-build kiosks for autonomous DVD rental.
So what do you think? Is Blockbuster on to something or is this a last attempt to stay afloat?
Comments welcome.
5 Comments
Smarty pants
November 10th, 2009
at 10:37pm
I think it will catch on, unfortunate I still prefer NetFlix. I’d prefer NetFlix to use SD cards too because it would be easier that streaming on the go, but that doesn’t mean we can’t stream either because thats why we have it so we don’t have to wait for our DVDs.
Justen
November 10th, 2009
at 11:16pm
DRM issues? That’s my first question. Do they have HD editions? Do I have to install some insane software to make it work? Can I use it in Linux? Like you said, is there any sane reason to pay Blockbuster 2 bucks to get the same movie I can get at Redbox for 1, or stream from Netflix as a feature of the account I’m already paying for?
I gotta say, sounds like a big, stupid gimmick to me. I worked at Blockbuster part time while studying software development, I’m pretty familiar with their harebrained schemes and this is not at all out of the ordinary for them. The only thing I can come up with is that it might be cheaper for them to make the SD cards, but I have a hard time believing that considering the cost of the discs.
Ron Schenone
November 11th, 2009
at 5:17am
Thanks for the comments.
Justen – good points.
Roderick
November 11th, 2009
at 10:28am
I always thought that hairbrained schemes are what make companies survive turbulent times such as the one that we are now facing. Besides, there are always a way around DRM and no one knows quite sure if Blockbuster will think there the strategy of only utilizing one type of medium [SD Card] and explore the idea of imprinting videos into various media cards. Nevertheless, there was an idea of Blockbuster allowing customer to upload videos to the media of their choice for the same price.
Smarty pants
November 12th, 2009
at 3:41pm
I just found that they already have made a little kiosk and it will acually cost around four dollars and you provide the SD cards. but that is what I heard.