Movie Rentals in Pittsburgh

Redbox rental DVDs block extra bonus material

This is one of those WTF moments. The message in the pic above was displayed after trying to watch the DVD extras on a movie rented from Redbox. Pretty lame, huh? Redbox is turning into another example of a good idea gone bad. It’s bad enough that the movie selection is usually stale and consists of mostly B-rated flicks – but to make matters worse, the DVDs don’t let you see the deleted scenes or hear the director’s commentary anymore?

Redbox

• Rentals are $1.07 per day. Return rentals by 9pm the next day so you don’t get charged for an extra day.
• You can rent and return movies 24/7 as long as you can find a Redbox that is outdoors and you can reserve movies online – this means you can avoid that creepy feeling of the people behind you looking over your shoulder, making you too uncomfortable to rent that chick flick you’ve been secretly wanting to see.
• New releases don’t let you see the extras (see above).

Alternatives to the Redbox

Dreaming Ant

• Pittsburgh based rental place, conveniently tucked away in the back of Crazy Mocha coffee shop in Bloomfield (map).
• Free membership. Rentals are $4 for 4 days (it’s the same as Redbox but you’re forced to pay for 4 days).
• You can check their site to see what is in and out before you drive there!

Blockbuster Video

• The rentals are like $4.99 (new releases) for 3 nights or $ 2.99 (older stuff) for 3 nights. Overpriced.
• Only two locations remain in Pittsburgh (Baum and McKnight). For how much longer?

Netflicks

• You have to wait about 3 days until you get your rentals in the mail – not the best choice for a spontaneous ending to a blind date. Then again, this is Pittsburgh, so there probably isn’t much blind-dating going on.
• New releases aren’t readily available, so it might be a while before you get to see the latest flicks. However, they do have over 100,000 other titles to choose from.
• Watch out, because you can still get charged even if you don’t use it for a while.

There used to be a place in Shadyside called Classic Video but now it’s an eatery called Juice Box Cafe. We would like to add on to this list with other local rental spots. If you know of some places not on this list, please add them in the comment section below.