On DVD rentals, props to Paley

To buy an adult movie ticket at the Pearl Theatre for a Friday night movie would cost $9.50, a price that could deter some Temple students from viewing a picture on the big screen. With Tristan Video and the Paley Library located on Main Campus, students are opting to rent movies.

Tristan Video, which opened in October 2005, is widely known for its cheap movie rentals, but when compared to the video collection at Paley Library it falls short in the sense of affordability.

For $3.50, students can rent a movie for two nights from Tristan Video. At the circulation desk at Paley, students and faculty can check out popular films like Moulin Rouge, 10 Things I Hate About You and The Godfather for free, by simply showing their Owl Cards.

Junior engineering major Fredy Barrera has rented more than 100 movies from Tristan Video since his freshman year. He is a frequent customer because of the store’s convenient location on campus, its cheap prices and wide selection of movies.

Although checking out is less expensive than renting, you get what you pay for.

Because the library staff stocks videos behind the circulation desk, a borrower must know what they want by either asking a clerk or by browsing selections online. This can be overwhelming, as the library only has a single copy of each video in its collection.

Sophomore journalism major Andy Sharpe, a student worker at the Paley circulation desk, said the library offers a better selection of foreign language videos, TV series and documentaries than most video stores.

With a collection of more than 5,100 titles to choose from, Tristan Video has movies that customers are likely find in stock.

At Tristan Video, customers can browse online or in the store. The store also displays new releases every Tuesday.

Tristan Video features discounts like renting three movies for $10.

Freshman journalism major Faith Duda would never rent three movies at a time.

“Unless I set a movie day with friends, I cannot watch three movies in two days,” Duda said.

Renting video games from Tristan Video is priced at $4 per game for a two-day rental.

“As a college student, I’d rather just buy a used game for a few bucks more at a video game store,” said freshman finance major Alexander Jones.

Students also use Web site rental companies that offer a maximum variety of movies for a monthly fee.

Freshman film and media arts major Justin McGoldrick uses Netflix.com.

“It offers a lot of movies and is really convenient,” McGoldrick said.

The hours of operation for both Paley and Tristan Video are almost the same. Paley Library closes at 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 a.m. on Sundays, compared to Tristan Video, which closes at 2 a.m on Saturdays and midnight on Sundays.

Although customers can rent as many videos as they want from both, they have only two nights to watch the rented films before they have to be returned to Tristan Video. A borrower can check out as many videos as they want from the library for as long as one week.

Tristan Video also charges a $2-per-day late fee, which English said encourages customer responsibility. The library charges a $1-per-day late fee.

Tristan English, owner of Tristan Video, said the library has not affected his sales.
“People don’t know about [the Paley collection],” English said.

Matthew Petrillo can be reached at mattp@temple.edu.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN EDITED FOR CONTENT.