Rental Discs Blocking Bonus Features - Reason to get Annoyed?

[tomalak301]

I had something happen tonight that I've never seen before and I'm wondering if this is an age old policy or if it's new and I should be annoyed by it. I'm trying not to get too annoyed at Small Minutia but I'm wondering if anyone else has ran into this.

I rented The Kids are All Right tonight and after the film it took me to the bonus features. So I'm a little curious and wanted to peak in at some of these features and when I clicked on one, it said "This disc is for rental purposes only and only includes the feature film. To View the features and extra content you must buy the blu-ray or DVD release"

Um, what the heck is that crap about. I know something like this was reported on Slice of Scifi (A weekly Podcast I listen to) a few weeks ago but I didn't think it was actually happening. I mean people have been renting films for years going back to the VHS days and now they have this new policy in place where even though you bought the film for a few days, you're still going to have to buy the film at full price to get the extra content? I'm sure this is a studio thing, but is there a reason at all why this is a good idea, or do I chalk it up to the Studios being greedy bastards? Or is this a rental thing all together?

 

[Gaith]

This is starting to crop up on Netflix, too; their Clash of the Titans dvd didn't even give a chapter menu.

My best guess is, Netflix and $1 rental kiosks are getting so popular that the suits think they're giving away the store. Very annoying.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm sure this is a studio thing, but is there a reason at all why this is a good idea, or do I chalk it up to the Studios being greedy bastards? Or is this a rental thing all together?

It could just be a rights thing. Maybe the rental companies don't have the rights to distribute the bonus features on certain films.

Or it could just be that the technology didn't exist in the past to prevent renters from watching bonus material.

Or things like Netflix and Redbox are really starting to get in the way of movie sales, and this is a way to force people to actually buy the things.

I haven't come across this yet myself. Of course, I rarely watch bonus features anyway, so I probably wouldn't have even noticed.

 

[OmahaStar]

This has been going on for years. Blockbuster and Hollywood Video have the same issue with their dvds. It all depends on the dvd producers. Some, especially those who load down their dvds with tons of bonus features, will remove all of them and have just the movie alone on a "rental version" ... If you rent - and even you buy a new dvd - from these places, you may be getting the rental version with no extras.

I don't remember the name of the film, but about a year ago there was an issue with a movie that came out in two versions, but the rental one is the version that was being sold in stores, so no commentary, no bonus etc, and it was pretty big news at the time. That's what brought the whole thing into the spotlight.

The dvd producers think if someone rents the movie, then maybe they will be interested enough to buy the dvd, and then they can get the bonus stuff. Problem is, a lot of the movies they're doing this on just plain suck.

 

[Starbreaker]

I've never run into this problem and I rent a lot of movies. I guess I'm bound to run into one now.

 

[Switch]

Let me guess: the ads are still there, right?

 

[bigdaddy]

I can't remember the last movie I rented but it 20 minutes of previews, 9 different ones, and you couldn't skip them. That's annoying to me. Netflix has had "RENTAL COPY" DVDs for awhile now. I usually don't care about them anyways.

 

[Mr Light]

I've gotten this all the time from Blockbuster and Red Box for the past few years. In fact, I'd say MOST of the movies I rent from Red Box are bare bones. Doesn't really matter to me though, if I like the movie enough to watch the bonus features I'm gonna be buying it.

 

[Trekker4747]

Let me guess: the ads are still there, right?

Well, of course they are, silly!

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

The answer is that Netflix is the movie industry's latest scapegoat as to why DVD sales are falling. So they sell special "rental only" copies to Netflix in the hopes that people will buy the DVD to get all the bells and whistles.

This is perfectly fine with me, because I never bother watching bonus features unless it's a movie I really, really like. I don't need to watch a 30 minute behind the scenes featurette about Don't Mess With the Zohan, but thanks anyway.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Meh. Most extras are crap, and I try and stream as much as I can anyway.

 

[Gaith]

I love extras, commentary tracks especially (I like to listen to them while cooking), so extras-free dvd tick me off. But does it tick me off enough to buy the dvds? No, it doesn't.

It's just a stupid, spiteful move that makes the studios feel like they're doing something to address the issue, no matter how meaningless.

 

[Trekker4747]

Honestly, I don't see the problem. If you're paying a couple of bucks to watch a movie why should you get all of the benefits of the retail version? That's like having your cake and eating it too. What's the incentive to buy the retail version?

Think of it this way, when you rent a movie you're basically paying to see it right now rather than waiting a month or two for it to show up on cable or to avoid paying 4x as much to watch it on pay-per-view. Why do you expect to get extra features too? You don't get extra features if you watch the movie on HBO or on PPV, do you? No. You just get the movie.

When you're only willing to pay a couple of bucks for a movie then you're going to get what you're paying for. Want extra features? Man up and buy the DVD.

And don't rip/torrent/steal the damn thing like a baby because you didn't get the special features. If you rent a movie you're entitled to nothing beyond the movie even if you've got a physical rental copy. I'm tired of this entitlement mentality people have when it comes to these things. Yeah we can probably argue that studios charge too much for a Blu-Ray or a DVD, fine. Stealing the movie isn't going to correct that, stealing it is why they're charging so much!

And, again, how much do you really expect from a movie you rented for a $1 our of a vending machine in the grocery store?

Special features are bonuses, they're extra. A reward for buying something. It can stay that way and it doesn't bother be a bit. The few movies I rent/get off PPV are movies I just want to see and don't care about special features.

 

[Avalon]

^^^ Okay, but...you used to be able to rent "bonus discs" from Netflix that had the bonus features on them and they counted as a separate selection on their own. That was just fine -- but I haven't seen any of those lately. Why shouldn't we be able to rent the special features just like we do the movies themselves?

Increasingly the special features are only included with the blu-ray version of the movie. I'm sorry, but I just can't afford to buy my own copy of every movie I want to see, much less the blu-ray copy/3-disc version just so I can see the special features. It's a damned shame -- I miss watching them.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Its pretty rare that I watch special features, especially on a movie thats I've deemed a rental.

 

[Gaith]

^^^ Okay, but...you used to be able to rent "bonus discs" from Netflix that had the bonus features on them and they counted as a separate selection on their own. That was just fine -- but I haven't seen any of those lately. Why shouldn't we be able to rent the special features just like we do the movies themselves?

THIS, especially since the bonus features cost a tiny fraction of the overall film production budget. I can understand $1/night dvds not having bonus features, but for Netflix not to offer them on separate discs benefits no one.

 

[Harvey]

This has been going on for years, but it's never been widespread. I remember renting Goldfinger probably ten years ago from Blockbuster but only getting a movie-only disc. And if the DVD is a multi-disc affair, the Blockbuster disc is almost certain to only come with the movie-disc.

 

[RoJoHen]

^^^ Okay, but...you used to be able to rent "bonus discs" from Netflix that had the bonus features on them and they counted as a separate selection on their own. That was just fine -- but I haven't seen any of those lately. Why shouldn't we be able to rent the special features just like we do the movies themselves?

THIS, especially since the bonus features cost a tiny fraction of the overall film production budget. I can understand $1/night dvds not having bonus features, but for Netflix not to offer them on separate discs benefits no one.

It benefits the production companies that want people to buy their movies. If restricting special features to "buy only" helps them achieve that, so be it.

 

[KB24]

I used to notice this a lot in the old days when there were tons of features to fast forward, and I have noticed it again recently with the new titles and blu-ray rentals from Netflix. Depending on the content or the movie, it is sometimes more of a problem.

Most of the time I get older or obscure things that aren't perhaps true rental copies, so most of what is on the set is intact. However, a lot of the big new titles not only seem stripped of features and chapter options, but they are packed with annoying ass previews and interactive connections instead.

If its something that I want to see the bonus content for and I have a lot of crap instead, it is a serious bother. If its something that turned out to be stinky and they were right to bare bones it and not waste my time, it's a plus.

My fear is that all rental copies are going to do this, or digital copy options will become restrictive of content. Content aside, its just annoying because we know its a gimmick and don't like gimmicks. Like the opposite, for example, when you do buy a set with all the features and it turns out they make some super duper special edition forcing you to rebuy later. :rolls:

 

[bigdaddy]

They aren't going to make a special disc just for the rental special features.

The reason why Netflix had a second disc for special features is because they would be part of a "Two disc collector set", now a days those are gone and you get a DVD version, a blu-ray and a digital copy on three separate disc.