Samsung launches local unlimited Blu-ray and 3D movie rental service for customers

TL;DR: For the price of one Blu-ray disc a year, Samsung lets you rent unlimited Blu-ray titles delivered to your home.

UPDATE: Added screenshots of the web-based Blu-ray browser and a walkthrough of how to get your discs.

Wow. Apparently, Samsung sees the HDTV industry the same way most consumers do. Everyone is buying really nice televisions but nobody is watching Blu-ray movies because they’re just too damn expensive. So what Samsung did was create a Blu-ray rental service to cater to all their customers who bought one of their Blu-ray players or flat panel TV’s (with a Blu-ray package). If you bought one before August 15, sorry but you can’t avail of this service (FFFUUUUUUU!!!!).

The service is called Blupass and it isn’t for sale. It’s a value added Blu-ray and 3D disc rental service which you get after you purchase a player or TV-with-player bundle after August 15 2011. The service basically creates a community around Samsung’s cinephiles (which by the way is extremely brilliant) allowing them to rent from all 500++ titles available in the Philippines.

Pricing after the jump.

Sherwin de la Cruz of Tradeport holding the Blupass card. You WILL get this if you buy a new Blu-ray player so please, if they don’t give you one, you SHOULD have one after Aug 15 2011.

In a nutshell, the service is very similar to Netflix in the USA but exclusive to Samsung. After purchase, you will need to sign up for a free account at http://tradeport.com.ph/blupass. You will then need to enter the serial number of your Blu-ray player and the Blupass card code which is given to you after purchase. The Blupass kit contains the complete list of titles and a catalogue of Samsung products.

Here are the costs involved:

** From August 15, 2011 to December 31, 2011, any customer who purchases a Samsung Blu-ray player or Samsung Flat Panel TV (LED, LCD, and Plasma TV) that comes with a Blu-ray player package, will automatically receive a Samsung BluPass card **

Metro Manila
* Delivery made the day after order with cut off at 6:00PM

Silver (PHP 1,490)
6 months membership
10 rentals a year
1 disc at a time

Gold (PHP 2,990)
1 year membership
Unlimited rentals per year
1 disc at a time

Platinum (PHP 3,990)
1 year membership
Unlimited rentals per year
2 discs at a time

Central & South Luzon Area (Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal only)
* Delivery made ever Wednesday of the week; cut off is every Tuesday before 6:00PM

Silver (PHP 1,990)
6 months membership
10 rentals a year
1 disc at a time

Gold (PHP 3,490)
1 year membership
Unlimited rentals per year
1 disc at a time

Farther Luzon and Visayas – Mindanao
* Delivery date is after 3 days via courier service

Silver (P 1,990)
6 months membership
10 rentals a year
1 disc at a time

All discs are delivered and picked up from a location specified by the holder of the account. All transactions are done online via the Tradeport / Samsung website.

IMHO, this is an epic service. So many companies are trying to go “social” on the Internet but they just don’t get it. Samsung definitely gets it and it has nothing to do with Facebook or Twitter. They just created their very own community of home movie cinephiles. The only bad side I see to this is that since there are only 500-something titles which you can only rent one at a time, you won’t be able to do an 8-disc Harry Potter movie marathon for instance. But hey, baby steps right? This is a great service for Samsung loyalists and an irrefutable come on for others to choose Samsung.

Official Press Release:

Samsung BluPass Promo Press Article

Here are screenshots of the order page:

After signing in, you will be able to browse the complete stable of titles available online. Note that the service allows you to queue Blu-ray disc titles with no limit. That means that if a disc is currently unavailable the system will automatically choose the next title you place under priority. You can do this under the “queue” tab which allows you to move titles around or delete them from the list.

The final step is entering your address and confirming the date of delivery of the title you want. In this case I’m renting Halo: Legends.