A Blu-Ray Player: The Frugal Option?

TV can be a major expense for many households.  Long ago when I was growing up, people paid money to a cable company for the privilege of accessing hundreds of TV channels.  If I wanted to watch a particular show, I had to either watch it at a specific time, or set up a recording on a VCR.  These cable packages were notoriously expensive too, requiring more money to access certain channels.  HBO was one of the most pricey options, as an example.

Along came Netflix, where I could either get DVDs in the mail or stream just about any show I wanted with no ads.  The service was about $10 a month, and the only downside was that there was typically a few months’ wait after the season ended to get access to a particular show.

However, that era has come and gone.  In 2024, it’s nearer to the old cable package option, just with streaming services.  Each studio sells their own streaming service, and access to shows outside of those studio-specific services is limited at best.  Most of my friends and coworkers subscribe to multiple services.  We don’t, and still have more content to watch than available time.  The only streaming service we currently pay for is YouTube, since we like many of the smaller content creators that wouldn’t otherwise be published on a major studio.

How?  Well, with one of the best money-saving hacks yet: a Blu-Ray Player.  As of this writing, I see many models available brand new for around $70.  That doesn’t even consider purchasing one new, or that many folks already own one (e.g. in the form of a game console).  For the price of just a few months of streaming services, this powerful tool could also be yours.

Why is this such a money-saving hack?  Guess what, nearly anything I can think of to watch is available from my local library.  Disney movies for my daughter?  Check.  Looking to catch up on Game of Thrones?  Not my jam, but check.  Star Trek Discovery?  Yep, that’s more my jam, and check.  There are only two downsides to this approach: one, sometimes I need to put a title on hold if it’s not available at the moment; and two, I need a way to play the discs I get from the library.  I’m never in any particular hurry to watch a specific TV show, so waiting from time to time isn’t a turn off for me.  And a Blu-Ray player is a one-time expense (well, it’ll wear out eventually, so maybe a once in 10 years expense).

I also have a small selection of movies that are on frequent rotation.  These were all purchased from either Half Price Books or Disc Replay used for under $10 each.  Generally, I’ll get a title from the library and only consider purchasing it if we watch it more than a handful of times.  These also make great gift ideas, and indeed many of the titles I own were Christmas gifts from family.  Borrowing movies also gives us the freedom as parents to tell our daughter that a title had to be returned to the library if we found it annoying or that it represents poor values.  I’m looking at you, Despicable Me.

Another option that I see frequently mentioned is a Plex server.  I do have a Plex server for the movies I have purchased, and the convenience of my own movies acting like a streaming service is handy.  However, I can’t say that I’d recommend this approach to a typical person as it requires a fair bit of technical knowhow to set up.  Once initial setup is complete, each additional movie is a whole process of copying, converting, naming, and sorting.  It’s also at least $200 for an external hard drive and USB Blu-Ray reader to get started…assuming I already have a desktop computer that makes sense to use.  If not, figure at least $100 for a suitable computer such as a Raspberry Pi 5 (with case, SD card, and power supply).  Today I enjoy the technical challenge as well as the cataloging process, but I also may very well change my mind and just use the discs in the future.  It’s sure a lot less hassle to pop a DVD or Blu-Ray into a player and hit Play.

So that’s my recommendation for today - get a library card if you don’t already have one, and check out the freely-available selection of movies and TV shows on offer.  Pair this with a simple Blu-Ray player and you likely can save $30+ every month!