Oh when O when will my Blu-Rays Arrive...

[David Winograd]

I had no problem paying the extra $1 for Blu-Ray, but I do have a problem not getting them.

I never had a problem with not getting regular DVDs but Blu-Rays are absurd. I've had The Incredible Hulk at the top of my queue since before it's release on October 21st. It's still there, along with nine others. Over two months is ridiculous. IF I opted for the regular DVDs I would have had them long ago.

It's not right for a business to start something while not ready to support it. When I heard of the $1 charge I thought it cheap. Now it's quite expensive. And a customer that has been around since around 2000, is quite unhappy with service.

How about you?

[Baff]

Supposedly (as of Dec.12) any time your top pick is unavailable locally they will send you your next pick as a bonus and your top pick from further away if available. The way I read it, if it isn't available anywhere, you don't get any bonus disc.

[David Winograd]

Yeah, I heard that too. So since I didn't see any change, I can assume that they bought so few blu-rays that it won't change anything.

[Spindaddydad]

Baff, that's different than how I interpreted the policy change. I read it as:

Whenever a pick must be shipped from a distant distro center, they'll send you the next one in your queue that is available from your local center as a bonus. This does not apply If your top pick is not available from either from distant or local.

[Spindaddydad]

David, I have not had any problems getting my Blu-Rays. I've not had one skipped over yet. Lucky I guess. Are you by any chance what they may consider a high volume user?

[David Winograd]

My name is David and I'm a high volume user. Yes, I can finally say it! (Hello David)

I usually turn over movies in a couple of days.

And all this time I thought I was a good customer cause that's what the nice lady at Netflix told me when I called with a problem.

Seriously though, I have to see how the new rules play out, but I don't see them affecting me if there are really so few BRs out there, that they really aren't in stock for months and I'm low priority.

[Spindaddydad]

I just received Tropic Thunder BD yesterday when it hit the top of my queue. It came out on DVD AFTER Hulk.

[mighty]

Not very often do I need to watch a new release the week it comes out. Unfortunately I had to wait for Chungking Express and currently on a long wait for Burn After Reading, which is on the top of my Q. The rest of the BRs that are in my Q all have either a short or long wait and some of them have been released for more than a month. Not one of them says available now in my Q.

[Spindaddydad]

Just read this (actually about 2-3 weeks old) about Netflix Blu-Ray availability:

Hollywood just isn't providing enough Blu-ray copies of newly released films as the company would like to get, according to Swasey. That's the first bottleneck. But the spokesman said the problem isn't all the fault of the studios. Once larger numbers of Blu-ray discs for a film are available, the company won't necessarily buy them.

"There is an expense to that," Swasey said. "These things cost money. We deploy money where we think it's going to be most efficient to keep subscribers and investors happy. It's always check and balances."

Swasey said Netflix is bullish on Blu-ray, but right now only a small percentage of customers are asking for the discs. So far, Netflix's Blu-ray service has about 500,000 subscribers. Netflix's traditional DVD business has 8.7 million subscribers.

[mighty]

OK. so it took around 2 weeks to get Burn. They just sent it yesterday. Spindaddy, sometimes i over analyze things, but from the statement above it seems BR subscribers are such a minority that we aren't a priority and some of us will have to just put up with the long waits. Thanks for the update on this. I find it interesting.

[THX1965]

Thanks for posting this interview. - Frankly, I don't quite buy the "not-enough-Blu-ray-discs-are-available-from-the-studios" argument. Of course, "these things cost money". That's why we're paying more to get the Blu-ray service. I'd even pay even more than $1 if Netflix actually had more Blu-ray copies in stock. Blockbuster doesn't seem to suffer form the same shortage of discs. I just signed up for their free 2-week-trial and I already have 3 new Blu-ray releases in the mail. No wait.

And I don't usually order a lot of new releases on Netflix. I am actually one of their dream customers. Lot's of smaller movies, foreign movies, documentaries, TV seasons and yes, the occasional new release - now on Blu-ray.

I'd hate to switch over to Blockbuster. As far as web site layout is concerned I prefer Netflix. But maybe it's only because I am used to it. We'll see. I'll give both a fair chance. It's especially important to me, since I don't have cable of satellite (by choice). Apple TV is a good addition too. - Just thoughts.

[HDCake]

New titles on BR from NF are SLOW, two words , RED BOX =]

~HDC