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By Manuel Villanueva: Last update April 16, 2008
 
Web www.manuelsweb.com

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April 16, 2008

March Rental Stats

Service Monthly Cost
(tax included)
Rentals
Delivered
Broken
Rentals
Cost/Rental* Rentals/
Week
Netflix $18.01 11 0 11@ $1.64 ea 2.5
Blockbuster $21.19 8 0 8@ $2.65 ea 1.8
GreenCine $21.95 6 0 6@ $3.77 ea 1.4
Total $61.15 25 0 25@ $2.45 ea 5.7

Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator.  Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during March 2008.  Specific rental problems listed here


March 26, 2008

Problem Rentals: Service Comparison

Service Rentals Broken
Rentals
Unplayable
Rentals
Lost
Rentals
Wrong
Rentals
Duplicate
rentals
Total
Problem
Rentals
Percent
Problem
Rentals
Netflix 1083 32 2 0 6 3 43 4.0%
Blockbuster 543 21 1 3 8 0 33 6.1%
GreenCine 382 0 0 7 0 0 7 1.8%
Total 2,008 53 3 10 14 3 83 4.1%

Problem rentals list.  Percentages and ratios from calculator.  Substitute problem rentals for broken rentals.


March 7, 2008

February's Stats

Service Monthly Cost
(tax included)
Rentals
Delivered
Broken
Rentals
Cost/Rental* Rentals/
Week
Netflix $18.01 11 0 11@ $1.64 ea 2.5
Blockbuster $21.19 10 0 10@ $2.12 ea 2.3
GreenCine $21.95 12 0 12@ $1.83 ea 2.8
Total $61.15 33 0 33@ $1.85 ea 7.6

Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator.  Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during February 2008.  Specific rental problems listed here


March 6, 2008

NetFlix DVD broken? Don't go to pieces...

It seems I'm not the only one sick of broken Netflix rentals.  Mike Adams writes about it as well.  Of course, it's satire much like my recipe for making Netflix DVDs.

The NetFlix website offers an amazing catalog of pre-scratched, cracked, broken and otherwise marred DVDs, along with an impressive recommendation system that says things like, "People who liked the cracked Oceans Eleven movie also enjoyed the crushed DVD of Fantastic Four."

Mike offers some sound advice: "Don't go to pieces" just learn to live with it.  Read the article.


March 3, 2008

Netflix: "Anime DVDs Are Defective" (bookmark)

Netflix's Web site (community.netflix) has gone on record that anime DVDs are "made on the cheap" and defective.  This announcement was made in response to my complaint of 32 broken Netflix rentals (since all of them were anime).  I hardly believe that is true.  I turned to anime and manga guru Ask John for guidance:

Q. I'd like to know if anime DVDs are more prone to break/crack versus DVDs in general? I rent anime DVDs by mail and they arrive in plain paper envelopes. Many of these DVDs arrived cracked (picture). Ninety-nine % of my rentals are anime. Are anime DVDs manufactured by the same industry standards?

A. As far as I know, the physical quality of the plastic discs that movies are recorded onto is consistent between the anime industry and Hollywood movie industry. DVDs are DVDs. There aren't "extra-durable" DVDs or "cheap plastic" DVDs.

The reason why rental DVDs often get broken has nothing to do with the quality of the DVD disc materials. It's explained by expenses. Due to postal rates, mailing a DVD disc via a corporate mailing account is relatively inexpensive. Adding a hard plastic case, or a piece of reinforcing cardboard literally more than triples mailing costs. Through a corporate mailing account, envelopes with a certain degree of rigidity cost more to mail. Envelopes over a certain weight get bumped up into a significantly more expensive category of mail. Envelopes of a certain thickness get automatically bumped up to a more expensive category of mail.

If a company has to cover the cost of mailing a disc to and from a customer, the disc alone may cost 30 or 40 cents to mail each way. Adding just a mere piece of reinforcing cardboard may increase the postage cost to a dollar each way. Adding up that additional expense for each of thousands of mailings can be enough to put a mail rental company out of business.

For many mail rental companies, it's significantly cheaper to absorb the cost of discs broken or damaged in transit than pay the increased postage of sending discs in durable envelopes.

I have frequently used Ask John for anime research in this journal.  It was neat having him personally answer one of my questions.  Please visit AnimeNation Anime Forums for more information:  DVD Manufacturing Standards

References:

What are the sizes and capacities of DVD?
Storing Data on a DVD
DVDs In Detail
A Guide to Polycarbonates
Polycarbonate Brand Names
Polycarbonate Plastic
Encyclopedia of optical engineering By Ronald G. Driggers
Strength of damaged polycarbonate after fatigue
Tensile Property Testing of Plastics
Taking the Mystique out of Polycarbonate
CD & DVD Disc Manufacturing
Hard Coat Protection for Recordable Discs


February 10, 2008

January's Stats

Service Monthly Cost
(tax included)
Rentals
Delivered
Broken
Rentals
Wrong
Rentals
Cost/Rental* Rentals/
Week
Netflix $18.01 14 1 0 13@ $1.39 ea 3.0
Blockbuster $21.19 15 0 0 15@ $1.41 ea 3.4
GreenCine $21.95 6 0 0 6@ $3.66 ea 1.4
Total $61.15 35 1 0 34@ $1.80 ea 7.8

Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator.  Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during January 2008.  Specific rental problems listed here


January 26, 2008

Broken Netflix DVD # 32

Broken Netflix Rental # 32

Don't Leave Me Alone Daisy disc 2 arrived cracked from Netflix.


Amazon Offers Anime Online

Amazon is promoting their Unbox with free episodes of Death Note, Astro Boy, Samurai Seven and others. By the way, these news stories come from Anime News Network.


January 7, 2008

More Anime Online

Viz and Cartoon Network have teamed up to offer free anime episodes online at ToonamiViz and Cartoon Network have teamed up to offer free anime episodes online at ToonamiJetstream.com. Titles include Naruto, One Piece, and Zatch Bell.

January 3, 2008

Free Anime Episodes

link to Anime NetworkAnime Network® continues streaming free anime episodes including Kanon, Air TV, and 009.  The Anime Network announces launching it's own broadband service:

HOUSTON, TX - December 19, 2007 - Anime Network, America's #1 Anime Channel, today announced a new broadband service to stream high-quality anime on the Internet. This new service is free to the consumer, who can expect to find over 20 full episodes of classic and brand new anime series available at any given time. For the full range of Anime Network's Internet offerings, visit www.theanimenetworkonline.com .

Related post: Free Anime Online 11/21/07


January 2, 2008

December Stats

Service Monthly Cost
(tax included)
Rentals
Delivered
Broken
Rentals
Wrong
Rentals
Duplicate
Rentals
Cost/Rental* Rentals/
Week
Netflix $18.01 13 1 0 1 11@ $1.64 ea 2.5
Blockbuster $21.19 11 0 2 0 9@ $2.35 ea 2.1
GreenCine $21.95 6 0 0 0 6@ $3.66 ea 1.4
Total $61.15 30 1 2 1 26@ $2.35 ea 6.0

Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator.  Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during December 2007.  Specific rental problems listed here

Blockbuster's new pricing scheme is confusing.  Blockbuster has five 1-at-a-time plans with prices varying from $3.99 to $21.99.  I'm I concerned about Blockbuster's higher prices?  Not really.  Prices come second to service.  You've never heard me complain about GreenCine's prices.  However, Blockbuster's availability has been a serious issue lately.  Service from all three services wasn't very impressive last month.  I experienced lost rentals from GreenCine, wrong rentals from Blockbuster, and broken and duplicate rentals from Netflix.


December 31, 2007


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