CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER HANSEN
Today I’d love to open up a discussion about video rentals. It’s something that has been plaguing me a bit, and I need to change what I’m currently doing – which is going to the shoppette. My husband and I never think about renting videos until about 7:30 on Friday night. And you all know there is nothing left by then. Not to mention the fact that I never end up renting any of the current movies because I can’t seem to time them when they come in.
Go Local:
Has anyone rented locally? Kaho wrote an article on Tsutaya. It was focused on CD’s, but they rent DVD’s there, I think. Has anyone tried it? Do the DVD’s work? Japan and the US are on the same system, but I’ve never tried to play a Japanese move in my DVD player to make sure it works. Also, has anyone been able to get a membership at Tsutaya who lives on base? And what about their DVD selection, if it does work? Are there American movies available? How much do they charge to rent per movie?
What about another location? Does anyone have experience in this whatsoever?
Netflix:
I know a lot of people use Netflix. It’s a viable option for us. The two drawbacks that I see are (1) I’ve heard that sometimes it takes a while to get the newer movies sent to you. Has this happened to anyone? Do you find it to be a problem? And (2) I wouldn’t have the ability to watch something that night if I wanted. Can you request a newer movie prior to it being released? Will you get it that week?
Plan costs (Unlimited plans):
1 DVD - $8.99
2 DVD’s - $13.99
3 DVD’s - $16.99
Does this really earn out? For instance, if you got the 1 DVD plan, can you exchange it at least 3 times by mail during that month to make the S8.99 cost effective?
iTunes
What I like about using iTunes: (1) the rental fee is reasonable, and (2) videos available when it want them and I don’t have to worry about it being checked out.
However, there is a huge downside - downloading. My internet connection is not the best. I’ve bought one episode of a TV show since we’ve moved here (mostly because of the downloading snag, or I would have bought more). It took four hours to download an hour show. I’m worried about how long it will take me to download a movie!
I will say, though, the quality of the download is AMAZING. Once it was downloaded, I transferred it onto my iPod and then hooked that up to the TV. It looked better than what they play on AFN.
I have yet to rent a movie through iTunes. I looked up the rules and want to ask a few questions to those who have.
Some of the rules are as follows:
You have 30 days to watch the movie after the download completes.
Once you've started to watch the movie, you have 24 hours to finish watching the movie (even if you start watching before the download is complete). You can watch the movie as many times as you want within this 24-hour period.
The rented movie will expire when either the 30 day or 24-hour limit is reached. Once the rental expires, the movie is automatically deleted.
You can move the movie between devices as many times as you wish during the rental period, but the movie can only be played on one device at a time.
For all the rules go here.
What I’d like to know is, if I transfer the rental onto my iPod, how do they know that I’ve started to watch the movie? Couldn’t I then rewatch it on the computer? If I plugged the iPod that I did watch it on back into the computer, will it register that I watched it? What about if I used a different iPod? Would I be able to transfer it to another iPod?
iTunes rental prices:
Library Titles: Standard Definition - $2.99 / HD - $3.99
New Relases: Standard Definition - $3.99 / HD - $4.99
Another question: When I looked up new movies they are all listed in HD. Can I not rent them in standard def (that would cut the download time)? Why offer a price for it, if it’s not available? Or do I have to make that a “choice” somewhere in my preferences?
Apple TV
Can someone explain Apple TV to me?
I mean, I get that it’s wireless and you download the movies/TV shows you buy/rent on it. What I don’t get is, what is the benefit of having it verses downloading the movie via the computer? What makes it so special? Does it download faster because it’s not tied to the computer? I don’t see how that would be possible, but maybe…?
If you buy a movie/TV show on your AppleTV, can you transfer it to your computer/iPod or vice versa? Or is it stuck there? I know if you rent with the AppleTV you can’t transfer it, but what if you bought it?
Apple TV prices: 40GB - $229 / 160GB - $329
I went to see if they sold the Apple TV at the PX/BX. I remember seeing them at the PX in the states. They didn’t have any in stock when I looked. I don’t know if that means they don’t carry them, or they just didn’t have them at this time. The woman I asked didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about.
Other Options
Anyone have any other rental options? I’d love to hear them.
But if you loved them and have never...
I use Netflix and have not had a problem with it. I have had the 3 DVD plan since we were in the States and continued on it. Note, that unless you mask your IP address to look like you are in the States, the on-demand movies that you can watch instantly won’t work, but that is fine with me since I don’t like to watch movies on my computer when I have a comfortable couch with TV in the livingroom.
My movies take a bit longer than they did the in the states. I would say that I would return a movie there and get a new one in about 3 days (we had a Netflix center about 1 1/2 hours from us) but here my center is in San Fran and it takes about a week to get them. I generally have at least one movie at home at all times (unless we have had a typhoon and I watched all of them at once). I get the email that they received the DVD and are sending out the next on the same day and then usually, I get the movie within the week or less.
For me, it was worth it to keep it, because I do watch enough to get my money’s worth and I can get the movies I want without having to be stuck with the selection at the shoppette. Every once in a while, we will get a movie from the shoppette, but we make sure to get our stamps so we get a better deal.
I also didn’t want to deleted my account because the queue for movies is awesome (keeps track of what you want to watch and you can even put movies in your queue that aren’t out yet). Seems every time we watch a movie, I end up with a list from the previews of others that I want to watch and I can just add them to my queue and forget about them.
I have friends that rent movies from Tsutaya. None of them speak Japanese so I am assuming the movies work on their systems and that they do have some in English. I don’t know how much they are though…sorry.
We also use netflix. We keep it so it is almost a constant turn around. We have the 3 movie plan and we try to have it so we have one movie on the way back to them, one on the way to us, and one at home. That way we have a constant movie rotation. You can also add movies to your queue that arent’ out yet. For instance, I have twilight in my #1 spot and it doesn’t come out for a couple weeks. You just put the name of the movie in the search and you can add it. If you send a movie back and the movie in #1 is available they send it to you. If not they go to the next available. There movie selection is great and the only downfall is I don’t have it that day (usually about 1 week, but sometimes it can be faster).
One more thing, you rmovie queue also lets you know if the movie is available now, a short wait, or a long wait! So you know if you are getting your #1 movie before you even mail in your movie.
We had BlockbusterOnline when we moved here from CA and they had a decent ship time as well. (Although we were used to having videos within 2 days back there. ha) They are priced fairly. Same thing with the masking the IP addy if you want to do downloads though. They allow you to “rent” the movie or “buy” it – in other words if you do the rental download you have a time limit; if you buy the download it’s yours.
The other suggestion I have is check out Foster’s library. They have a very good selection of DVDs of all sorts (and quite a few recent selections). Plus you can spend quite a while browsing their books if you’re like me – this is one of the best libraries I’ve gone to in years, and I’m a stickler for a good library.
We have Netflix, and we LOVE it. Our movies never take long to get here. I usually send them back Monday morning and we get our new ones in the mail Friday or Saturday. I’ve only had one problem with one being lost in the mail in the 2 years we’ve been here and they were awesome about sending out a replacement right away. It’s way better than renting from the shoppette!!
Off base places usually require a local address, so if you live off base you would be ok. Next, you would need to make sure your dvd player plays multi-region. Surprisingly enough the cheaper models usually do this quite well, meaning the $30 specials at the PX/BX.
Availability is an issue, usually the American movies are released later in Japan, by 2-3 months, and depending on the store, there are not too many copies to be had.
Geo (a popular movie, music, game store) usually has several copies of a popular movie on hand, Tsutaya as well, some of the smaller stores may not.
Prices for dvd rentals are usually as follows:
Y150-Y200 new movie, same day return
Y300 new movie 3 day return
Y150 popular movie (but not on the new release) 1 week rental
Y100 older movie, one week rental
Paul, where’s Geo located?
Heather, there are Geo’s all over the island. Look for a yellow sign with blue Geo on it. There is one on 85 towards Main City San A, one off the 329 bypass in Ishikawa, one in Gushikawa near Courtney housing on 75, another on 58 near Foster. Just look around. Great place to buy used games too…but make sure they work on your console. My kids buy the Japanese titles for their DS.
Huh. Okay, thanks Paul, I’m going to check that out!
I have both a Geos and Tsutaya membership. I believe that you do need a off-base address, and some proof of said address in your name. They both carry a large range of English titles, however you will need to make your DVD player `region free` or go and buy a cheap 3000yen Japanese DVD player. They dont seem to get new titles very quickly which is disapointing and if you visit often you can find the range gets boring. Also, dont rack up overdue fees, they are outrageously expensive!
My husband and I received Apple TV for a Christmas present and we love love love it. It is basically a giant iPod. It stays connected to the TV. You have to have a wireless cable connection from which the apple tv uses to download movies and tv shows. It will synch with your itunes just like an ipod does. The downside is, as you have mentioned – slow internet connection. But the benefit is once you download it, it will wait for you (also mentioned 30 days) so you can download earlier in the week. You have to get in the mindset to look often and download pretty much daily. Watch for specials like 99 cent rentals and movies for sale for $5.
i do netflix, we are on the 5 a month plan, it’s great we have a movie every weekend usually, and of they say the movie will be here on tuesday it’s normally here by Thursday, i’ve only had a few movies take longer, we’ve been doing it for months. you can also watch movies, even though you “cant” because were in japan, there are ways around that. i dont know if you want to promote that on here though, even though i think it’s perfectly legal….
Can someone tell me how to hide the URL so that I can watch the instant viewing movies on Netflix? It doesn’t let me b/c it says, “Only available in the US” when I try it. Any suggestions appreciated!
I second masking the URL, please spill the beans!
Go to http://www.hotspotshield.com
Download the program and then it will block your URL. It is a little tricky, so just play around with it once you have downloaded it. There are ads with it, you just click “I don’t see anything I’m interested in” and it will take you to where you type in the URL you want.
With Hotspotshield, it’s best not to install the toolbar. Works great though, works with all the major network sites too.
We love our Netflix. We just upgraded to the three a month plan and it is working out just right for us. Plus the shoppette rarely has the movies we want in Blu Ray. Personally, I don’t like the idea of downloading things on my computer that I am not 100% certain of so I opt to not watch things online.
We use Netflix too. But we do the 8 at a time unlimited rentals plan so that if we want we hold on to them.. But with just the 4 and all the crap rentals i was picking up last minute at the shoppette we were wasting more money. so we did the math and at $45 a month we get unlimited rentals and it works out. Also the Base library has a DVD section, granite it’s not much but if you want something to just pass the time, you can keep their movies for 1 week. Free!!! And who doesn’t love a free Movie!!!
We use Netflix primarily. We have the 6 at a time plan. We love them because we get blu-rays, good condition of the discs and a huge selection. It takes about 4-5 days to recieve a movie.
I also get movies from Foster library. Totally free. You can have 3 movies out at a time. Out for 3 days. They have no late fees. They just won’t let you borrow anything until you return the late items. I mostly get movies for my 8 year old daughter or chick flicks.
We have rented a few times from the shoppette on Foster and I won’t do it again. The selection is horrible and the discs are so scratched up and covered with food it’s gross.
Netflix is looking like the way to go. I had no clue that they rented Blu-ray. It ever occurred to me to find out.
I do want to ask you, Shannon, about the AppleTv… When you sync it to your iTunes, can you transfer the file from your AppleTV to your iTunes if you buy the movie? In order to free up space and burn a copy of it, or whatever? Also, do you find that using it (while it’s downloading) creates a lag time on your internet?
I think blu-rays have a $1 a month fee. I’m not sure, it’s so small I never noticed a change when we chose blu-rays.
Can someone please tell me how to get Netflix to accept my PSC address when registering?? I’ve entered it every way imaginable and it always comes back with a “not a valid address” or “not a valid box number” etc. etc. There’s always something not valid and it’s frustrating the snot out of me. Thanks.
Does anyone have a Blu Ray player with Profile 2.0/BD Live? I’m considering getting one but not if we’re going to run into the same licensing restrictions that make getting Netflix instant downloads near impossible. I’m going to try the hotspotshield idea though…But this is great timing on the posts. Thanks everyone!
PS: I’ve gotten the Hotspot Shield downloaded and sort of working, but the Netflix instant download is taking a very long time. Is that the norm?
I love my apple TV for the purpose of watching the TV shows that I miss here. I buy them by the whole series or season pass. With the season pass as each episode airs my apple tv will automatically download them and they are ready for viewing whenever I want. Almost any current show like top chef, hells kitchen, the bachelor,etc is ready to download on apple tv. As well as movie rental and movie purchases. I just love it.
Re: Netflix at the present time their software matches addresses with the USPS software and for some reason doesn’t do an automatic approval of FPO/APO addresses. BUT, Netflix IT staff is looking into how to fix their software to accept FPO/=APO addresses.
IN THE MEANTIME, a new Netflix account can be setup by phoning the Netflix Customer Service Center which is open 24/7. When you are connected (the wait time is a minute or less) advise the representive that you are calling from Okinawa and want to open an account. The numbers to calll are:
1-888-638-3549
if busy try this:
1-866-716-0414
They are interested in being able to service Military familes. Contact them, if you think you and your family are interested in films from Netflix.
Moe, hope this is helpful for you as well as for other families.
Also, forgot to mention that by phoning Netflix’s Customer Service Department to setup you account you do NOT need to mask your URL address and your account can also be taken with you should you be transfered to Europe.
I just got off the phone with Netflix Customer Service and they told me that they could not stream to overseas military. The customer service rep I spoke with said it was written in the contract and that there was no waiver. You guys must have got lucky or had some sympathetic staff. I was really hoping for the streaming capability.
With Netflix, they can mail the DVDs to you in Japan?? I’m confused. I thought they only mail DVDs in the U.S.
yep, Netflix will deliver here! We used netflix for about a year and we got DVDs all the time. We were not able to watch the shows online though.
I just called Netflix and they said that if you have Verizon for your internet provider you can stream instantly in Okinawa, other than that you can’t do it without masking the IP address.
Is it possible to have Verizon ISP in Okinawa?
Also, is there anyone out there who has experience using Tivo in Okinawa/Japan?