4 Disadvantages of Digital Movie Rental

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I’m old enough to have experienced the countdown to Friday night. Sitting at home and waiting for your parents to get off work so they can take the family to the local Blockbuster and rent a few movies. And if you were really lucky, you might even be able to get a video game. I mention this because I understand the appeal of movie rentals.

In the 1980s, a VHS release could cost over $50, with early DVDs costing around $25, or around $50 today when accounting for inflation. Renting a movie for a few dollars over the weekend just made more sense, especially when you didn’t even know you’d enjoy the movie you were renting. In the modern era, you might think these points still apply. The truth is a little more complicated.

There are many downsides to digital movie rental in 2026, many of which didn’t affect people who rented movies back then. From quality issues to price factors, the appeal of renting a digital movie comes with a number of pitfalls that could make the viewing experience less good than on physical media.

You go into the movie rental experience knowing that you’re not going to own the movie. The problem lies in what you pay. Looking at a recent release like the latest entry in the “Scary Movie” franchise, we see a strange discrepancy that I have difficulty understanding.

To rent the movie for a limited time, you will have to pay $19.99. That seems high, especially considering that renting new movies in the 1990s and 2000s cost $5, often less. But if you want to buy “Scary Movie” digitally, you’ll pay $24.99, a $6 difference between renting and owning a copy. Oh, and you don’t actually own the film, only a limited digital license.

And with the DVD version costing $25.99, you wonder why a file in the cloud costs almost the same as a printed, shipped, shareable disc. Now imagine hoping to watch the digital movie you rented, only for the platform to revoke your access. This is not a possibility, it has already happened. Sony recently removed 550 digital titles from its accounts, demonstrating how important it is to physically own the films you watch.

Pricing has become a real issue in digital rental and ownership. Where once it was known how much it would cost to rent a movie from a place like Hollywood Video, today digital rental looks a lot like the Wild West. A great movie like “Project Hail Mary” is currently available to rent on Amazon for a reasonable price of $5.99.

But sometimes you can’t even rent or buy a digital movie, and if you can, Amazon can take it down at any time. This seems especially strange when you consider that a digital movie is simply a file stored on a server. And sometimes a movie is only sold digitally, but is not available for digital rental. This policy makes no sense since the digital file already exists on the servers.

A comedy like “Beerfest” is only available for digital purchase for $12.99, or $6.99 for Prime members. But a star-studded movie like “The Great Wall” can be rented for $3.99. And if you want to buy it digitally, you can do so for $14.99. But if you wanted “The Great Wall” on Blu-ray, Amazon is happy to sell and ship it to you for just $7.99, at the time of writing.

Visual fidelity is a complex subject to discuss, especially when it comes to digital files and downloads. And that doesn’t even take into account which screen you’re using to watch the digital content you’ve rented or purchased. You might even be surprised to learn that your fancy UHD TV might not even technically be 4K, meaning you can’t fully enjoy the content you rent at a premium rate.

I have a ten year old Sony Bravia TV in my office. It’s great, but can only support a maximum of 1080p video. This means that UHD content would simply be wasteful, even with a dedicated player and discs. If you don’t have a real UHD TV, you’re just wasting money renting UHD content. You’d be much better served buying an often cheaper DVD or Blu-ray and watching that instead.

And then there are bitrate issues across platforms, meaning visual fidelity can fluctuate, unlike on a physical disc. You might be better off subscribing to a platform like Amazon Prime or Netflix, as they offer plenty of 1080p content that looks great on a TV, laptop, or even your phone.

I am a proponent of owning physical media. From games and movies to CDs and books, ownership means you have complete control over your media. We’re in an age where some lawsuits claim that you don’t actually own the digital content you purchase. No one can take away your content and you will never have to worry about losing access to it if you lose access to the Internet.

I have tons of movies that I can watch at any time, the only thing I need is a cheap player to play them. But when it comes to digital rentals, you’re often limited by where a movie is available and how you can watch it. Maybe the movie you want to watch isn’t for rent, it just bounces around on platforms that require a monthly subscription, sometimes even requiring additional rental fees.

Then there are potential playback issues with rental platforms, with Amazon and Apple having pages dedicated to what to do if the title you’ve rented doesn’t work. Just imagine trying to watch content without issue if your internet connection goes out or you’re on vacation in an area with spotty connection and your movie constantly buffers or doesn’t play at all.