Comcast OnDemand

I rarely go to the movies anymore since buying a High Definition Television and Surround Sound. I just can't justify paying $10 to see a movie in a noisy theatre with a sticky floor when I can watch a movie in the comfort of my home. I usually get free dvd rentals using credit card points and we watch most new releases on DVD. There are some movies that we really aren't that interested in or aren't sure if I will like. This is where OnDemand comes in handy.

I hear a lot of people complaining about the "useless" Comcast OnDemand service. I actually like OnDemand and watch the free content quite a bit. There are literally hundreds of free movies that you can watch for free. Most of them are not new releases but I always seem to find some classic that I have somehow missed watching.

If you subscribe to a premium channel like HBO you also get a few new releases a month to watch for free as well. These are usually the movies that we didn't want to spend our free rental on. If we don't like the movie nothing is lost. HBO also lets you watch old episodes of their series like Sopranos and Sex and the City.

The pay OnDemand movies are pretty competitive price-wise with video rentals. The only disadvantage I see that they have is the lack of special features and content that comes on dvds. I don't usually watch the special content so it doesn't really matter to me. I think I recently saw a commercial that they are including special content with the latest Harry Potter movie so it is probably something they are starting to include. The biggest advantage I see with OnDemand is not having to leave the house to rent and return the movies.

New OnDemand movie releases are $3.99 and New releases in High Definition are $5.99. I have watched a couple of the pay OnDemand movies but have never paid for them. Every few months we seem to find free OnDemand coupons in our local paper, so we use those whenever we get them. We also have a book of free coupons that we got when a Comcast rep came to our door taking a survey of what Comcast services we have.

I have yet to watch any of their High Definition movies OnDemand but plan to soon as I am interested how the quality compares to the standard definition movies. Unfortunately the only network show you can watch in High Definition is CSI. CBS is the only network that is currently providing shows OnDemand in my area. I seem to remember a while back the other networks were offering content as well but they don't seem to be available anymore. I think I also remember they were charging $1/per episode which seems pretty reasonable to me. Obviously it wasn't profitable though since they discontinued it. Too bad.

Overall I think OnDemand is a pretty valuable service, they seem to be continually adding content which means there is always something new to watch.