5 Ways To Get A Free Movie Rental Code for Redbox

5 Ways To Get A Free Movie Rental Code for Redbox

3 Things to Consider Before Buying a Blu Ray Player

Blue Ray Vs. DVD Upconversion
So you’ve purchased the HDTV and you are eager to see your movies in the Blue-Ray format! This sounds like a fun thing every HDTV owner must try before they die, but before you buy it you may need to understand exactly what you are getting.

Here’s a good caution list (if not a checklist) to see if you must have the Blue Ray player.

1. Your HDTV is not a 720p set.
720p is a picture quality that is slightly better than to 480p (analog with progressive scan) quality. At this picture quality, you would see very little difference between the Upconverted DVD and Blue Ray formats. Once your gathered an expensive collection of Blu Ray discs you’d want nothing more than to upgrade your HDTV.

2. You Don’t Mind Black Bars

For decades, movies have been altered to “full screen” or “Formatted to fit your TV screen”. Now, the 16x9 revolution has forgotten the “full screen” concept entirely. Blue Ray and DVD movies are never changed to be “full screen” for the 16:9 viewer, even though almost every up-converting DVD player has a “zoom” feature to address this, but I have yet to find a Blue Ray player that has that simple feature.

Many HD enthusiasts will tell you seeing the movie in the “original theater aspect ratio” is ideal anyway, but HBOHD, ShowtimeHD, TNTHD, etc., eliminate those black bars found on the ‘extra wide’ (2:35 and 2:40) aspect ratios. Would you mind paying more to have the black bars so you can see the “complete picture”?

3. You Don’t Expect Life-Like Images From Film

I remember seeing the beautiful HDTV images piped into the Best Buy store. Then I remember the sales associate telling me ‘the 720p was good enough because most television broadcasts are actually in 720p and that movies aren’t shot in HD. Movies are shot using film that is inferior to the HD standard.’ These statements are both true. Only a handful of movies claim to be shot in HD, “Fahrenheit 911”, “Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle” come to mind), and the 1080p shows grainy images in even the highest production films (such as “Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End”. (I should note that some TV shows such as Heroes was shot and provided on Blue Ray with stunning 1080p quality.)

The Blue Ray industry would have a lot to brag about if movies looked as good as the NFL on CBS or those full-screen ‘fish shows’ displaying on HDTVs throughout the stores, but that’s not what they can offer.

Top 10 Ways to Improve Redbox

With Redbox machines popping up everywhere, sometimes in pairs, what should they do to strengthen their army of dollar-a-day bots? Here's our initial list. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

1. Faster Movie Return
This issue is one that Redbox has admitted it hopes to resolve. We have all been there waiting to return a DVD. It’s 8:59 pm, and the kids in front of you have spent 5 minutes browsing all the movies, debating which one looks best. You smile at their parents politely, but there simply has to be a way to end your rental transaction in a peaceful note.

2. Handling Damaged DVDs
We’ll all made the phone call to report a damaged DVD. For those that don’t have the time or the patience, this task is passed down to the next recipient. Should there be an option to return a DVD and report the damage at the same time? Should the rental confirmation email provide a direct link to report problems (and provide the common cleaning solutions) as well?

3. Taming the Four-Headed Monsters!
For those impulse moments when you want to rent a particular movie from redbox, it’s impossible to check availability at a Redbox location when there are multiple machines. Some locations have 4 machines, which has me begging the question, can’t the machines indicate live inventory or all the neighboring machines as well? If the success of Redbox has made finding the movie so complicated that you need to stand in multiple lines or call a life-line to check the availability online at your location, then improvements must be made.

4. More Genres on the Website - Uniformity Is Needed
I recently went to search for the DisneyWorks movie “Earth”. I was unable to find this movie under “Family” online. When I went to a Redbox location, I was surprised to see fewer categories, and it slowed down my search.

5. Enter your email or die! - but not really…
We’ve all seen it, and we’ve all done it. The movies have been selected, the credit card is provided, the ZIP code is entered and we think it’s time to leave. Then this wordy email prompt appears and we have that “deer in the headlights” stare. Normally once the message (which seems mandatory at first glance) is read, the renter selects that “No Thanks” button (cowering in the lower right corner of the screen), but it is a speed bump we see while we wait in line over and over again.

6. ISP Buttons When Entering Your Email
First of all, kudos should go out to the person who made previously used credit card pre-populate the email address. (I think that some unknown email addresses could upset some spouses, but that’s their problem!) With that feature duly noted, when you’re entering your email address, you know if you enter it incorrectly the email will never be received. For those entering a gmail or a yahoo email, the task of spelling out such a common provider is a timely pain. Selecting the @ button should provide some common ISP option buttons to select from.

7. Are You “In” or Are You Out & Begging Not to Pay For Another Day
Originally movies had to be returned by 7 pm. Then someone came up with the rational idea of making the return time 9 pm instead. The later time had to result in an increase in rentals, but I’ve found it difficult to return movies to an indoor location inside McDonalds just a few minutes before because employees like to lock the doors early. The picture of me knocking on the door and pleading that I just want to return a movie probably wasn’t their intention. All indoor locations should be changed to outdoor locations, or mention this limitation when the movies are being vended.

8. Making the Return Time Later than 9 pm
For adults that have kids, the most convenient way to watch a movie is at home once the kids are asleep. This 9pm return deadline means a parent renting a movie must watch the movie the day it’s rented. For those without kids, imagine how nice it would be to return a movie late at night and not have children still awake and searching for their movies in front of you in line.

9. Better Utilization of Email
Sitting in my Inbox I have dozens, if not hundreds of unread rental notifications and confirmations. I just read one to remind me of what it says. Why don’t these emails ever tell me something I didn’t know? Shouldn’t they enter me in a contest, promote another product, give me the right to change my mind and purchase it as used (when applicable)? Aside from serving as a peace of mind record in the event I’m overcharged, the benefits are limited.

10. User Rating System
We’ve all received the Redbox emails promoting the latest movie releases. One is the prominent star, and it‘s often the latest children‘s movie I have no interest in seeing. Imagine if the return receipt email let you rate the movie you rented, and it was used to promote the latest movie of the same genre being released. Promoting the right movie would not only benefit Redbox and the renter.

Do you have a beef with other Redbox issues? Please post your replies below.