PADI Open Water Diver DVD?

[scubadiver888]

The situation can vary from region to region, or shop to shop, but there's no requirement by PADI for you to purchase the DVD. Standards only state that the student must have "a manual to keep and take away"... not a DVD. In many places, the dive school just show the DVD to students in the classroom.

Yup, and by them watching it in the classroom as a group we can confirm that they have watched it.

They say that I have to watch it before the class. They wanted me to pay 25 to rent it or 50 to own it.
They gave me the rest of the class material for free.

Like DevonDiver and Hawkwood noted, you aren't required to own the DVD. You have to watch it. The shops I have worked at would prefer you to buy more gear and not the DVD. They have the students sit together and watch the DVD in a classroom. At the end of sections the instructor talks with them to make sure they were paying attention.

The fact this shop is requiring each student to buy or rent a copy of the DVD seems like a money grab to me. Since you don't have to own the DVD, you could borrow a current DVD from a friend/brother/etc., watch it and give it back to that person. Mind you, if you told the shop you did this and didn't really there would be no way for them to prove otherwise. This is part of the reason the shops I work at just show the DVD for free.

Another option I might have done as a new student would be to rent the DVD from the shop, finish my training and spend all my money buying gear and service from another shop. They'd get $25 and not much more from me.