I have seen a couple movies at the theater over the last few days and was reminded of how much that costs. It is a worthwhile expense for me because the picture and sound quality is so much better than I can get on my current TV and I don’t want to spend the money to buy a nicer setup.

While flipping through the ads in the paper the other day, I looked at the prices of the HDTVs. The room where we watch TV is not very huge, maybe 14 by 14. Maybe. So, I don’t really need the biggest thing out there. Something in the upper 30s and maybe up to about 40 inches would probably be as big as the room could support. To get some of the 720p HDTVs would cost between $700-$1500. I began wondering what the ROI would be for buying a decent home entertainment setup and renting videos instead of going to the theater.

Tickets cost $8.50 per person. Popcorn and pop runs somewhere around $8 per person. So, let’s say my wife and I planned on going to one movie a week (something we used to do pretty regularly before we had kids). That would end up costing us about $33/week for just a basic trip.

Let’s say I spend $3000 total for the TV, speakers, cords, etc. Then, I need movies. I’ve used Netflix before, but I think I would probably go with Blockbuster just to get the in store rental option included since there is a store less than a mile from my house. The 2 DVDs at a time plan would cost $15 per month, which also includes unlimited in store rentals. We would probably eat the normal snacks in the house so there would not be any expense there.

Going to the movies every week for two years would cost us $3432ish and that does not include us ever taking the kids with.

Over two years, the at home option would cost $3360 and include bringing the kids whenever we wanted.

In two years, we could definitely recoup the costs of a $3000 entertainment center, but have to give up the experience of going to the theater. It won’t be in our 2007 financial plans, but I might have to think about that for 2008.

 

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