Streaming 'Star Wars' cheaply via VidAngel

Star Wars-loving parents across America know the dilemma.

Do I cough up $80 to buy the Star Wars DVD series — for all six previous chapters — so that the kids can be up to speed before watching Star Wars, The Force Awakens, the latest release that’s breaking all kinds of box-office records? Even used DVDs — only for the first three chapters — are going for about $30 on Amazon. EBay isn’t much cheaper.

Netflix might be a solution. But that, too, presents obstacles. A year ago, Star Wars DVDs were like any others on Netflix. You put them on the DVD queue and they’re mailed in a few days. But with the previous chapters in hot demand, you’ll likely have to stand in line. A copy of Star Wars (A New Hope), the 1977 release that started it all, required a “Very Long Wait” on Netflix as of early this week, at least here in the Washington, D.C., area.

VidAngel, a video-streaming service based in Utah, might be a solution for the impatient — if you’re willing to go through a few extra steps.

It works like this: To circumvent any copyright issues, you sign up for an account and buy a movie — say, the original Star Wars — for $20. You own the movie, but VidAngel streams it on its website.

Once you’re done watching, you can keep it by having VidAngel send you the DVD. Or you can sell it back to VidAngel within 24 hours of viewing it for $18 to $19. So basically, you’ve just watched the HD version for $2. (The standard definition costs $1.)

You can ask for the $18 balance to be refunded. Or you can — like many other VidAngel customers — choose to keep your the balance in your VidAngel account, which will then be used for future purchases. If you rent the following chapter, The Empire Strikes Back, the $18 credit will be applied to the $20 purchase. And rinse and repeat.

You can send the movie up to the big TV by hooking up the laptop with an HDMI cable. You can also use Google’s Chromecast to stream content on the Chrome browser.

VidAngel, founded by CEO Neal Harmon and his three brothers, was started as a service for viewers who wish to watch movies with questionable and adult scenes cut out. So before starting the movie, viewers are asked to select and save their preferences on filters for that content. You can choose to eliminate profanity or sexually suggestive content, and even opening credits.

And thankfully, one of the filters also lets you blip out Jar Jar Binks scenes.