Any one use Netflix?

[Shirley Ujest]

I never have time to go to the video store to rent soemthing.

Anyone here actually rent via mail cd's?

Any opinions? thoughts? Warnings?

[vertigo]

I did use it and thought it was great. Pretty quick turn around and worked pretty seemlessly. I had the plan where you could have 3 movies out at a time and average about 9 movies a month.

I ended up dropping it only because I had seen all of the movies I wanted to see and there weren't enough new ones coming out to make the subscription cost worth it. I'll probably start up again in a year or so.

I highly recommend it.

[Hello Again]

I am a member and I think it's pretty sweet. I agree with vertigo that it only makes sense if there are a lot of movies you want to watch (I have the 3/per plan also but I average more like 12 movies a month). If you are interested in anime or foreign films or old British sitcoms or anything the local video store doesn't carry much of, it is really great.

As far as the service goes, absolutely no problems so far.

[Athena]

I can't live without it.

We're on the 5-at-a-time plan, and we've maybe rented two movies since getting Netflix over two years ago. One of those movies was one that we couldn't get from Netflix because it was not published on DVD. The other was something like we were switching around the TV and noticed a good movie was on TNT or something. We watched long enough to get engrossed in the movie but sickened by the amount of commercials, so we ran out and rented it so we could watch a "clean" version.

I absolutely love Netflix, because we *always* have a movie around to watch - no running to the rental store on that cold, snowy night when all you want to do is curl up and watch TV. They also have a MUCH better selection than most video rental stores. Not only that, but I don't have to put up with the slacker teenagers who work as slowly as possible at the local Blockbuster.

The turn around time for you, Shirley, oughta be great because they're sent out from Lansing for us Michiganders. Even in the UP, turnaround is maybe 5 days (which is great, considering the mail travels by dogsled up here.) Turnaround time for you oughta be 2 or 3 days.

The only drawback that I've heard people talk about is the costs. I'm the girl who racked up $12.50 in overdue fines at the library (which charges what? .10/day?) so once we factored in late charges, Netflix is cheaper for us than renting. But for people who are on time, it might be a little pricey.

[porcupine]

I like it a lot. I wouldn't rely on having a specific movie on a specific day, though, because sometimes things take a day or two longer to get there or or to you than you expect. I'm generally interested in seeing a lot of classics that I've never seen more than the latest and greatest Hollywood Blockbusters, and they have plenty of oldies.

[Einmon]

I'm so jealous that I can't use it over here in Europe...DVD rentals are pretty pricey here as well and I'm usually overdue.

[sj2]

Yes and loving it. What I like best is you can "save" movies that are in the theaters now and when the DVD is about to come out, they move it to your list. This helps a lot if you are like me and forget about the movies you wouldn't pay 8 buck to see, but would make a good rental. Also, this way you get the movies that come out immediately...no more running to the video store to find that the movie is out of stock (sigh).

One thing I do recommend if you are looking for good film to out in your queue is to check out the top 250 movies on IMDB. You'll be surprised how many you missed...I was. You can also check the top rentals of a given period to see if you missed any.

It's a good economic value for me, as I constantly forget to return movies. Stupid 5 days.

[sj2]

Ohh, we can play, "What does your queue say about you?" Kidding. Here is my queue (well there are 87 total)

Saving Grace
Hannah and Her Sisters
Enigma
Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her
Blood Work
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Citizen Kane: Disc 1
Spellbound
Changing Lanes
The Changeling
Amores Perros
The Boondock Saints
Wonder Boys
Boys Don't Cry
Life as a House

[CBCD]

I love Netflix. The service is great. They have an seemingly endless selection of Hong Kong Wire Fu movies.
Go Jet Li, go!

[sciguy]

I use Netflix, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. With their huge selection (it's something on the order of 10,000 titles) I've basically taken every movie I've meant to see but haven't and queued it up. Their suggestions based on my rentals have uncovered some interesting titles that I might not have seen otherwise.

I'm also really happy with their turn-around time, generally getting delivery one day after shipping (although I think there is a distribution center here in Denver, so YMMV). This means I can usually squeeze 12-15 movies into a month. God, looking back at that, I think I need to go out more

My only gripe is that for multi-disk sets, you can only order one at a time. I think this makes sense for things like TV series collections, but I'm hoping they implement a feature where you can get a movie and its bonus disk in one mailing.

[FisherQueen]

I am totally pro-Netflix. I was spending stupid amounts of money in late fees because I kept forgetting to return videos to the store. But I always remember to return my Netflix movies, because I want more, and because I don't have to go anywhere but the mailbox. I save money, because I don't go see as many first-run movies now that I have good movies coming to my home. It's good if you watch a lot of movies.

I've gotten excellent service from them, and the couple of movies that did get lost in the mail (or, I suspect, stolen out of the mailbox) they didn't charge me for.

[handy]

Nope. At this point, I want them right away, not mailed.

I get mine from Longs early tuesday, they are 99 cents. Early tue is when the new ones come out.

I hope none of you are in my area :-)

[KinSaba]

My brother gave me six months of Netflix for Christmas - what a guy, eh? I have to say I like it a lot, don't know about when I actually have to pay for it, though.

The one thing I don't like echoes sciguy :

My only gripe is that for multi-disk sets, you can only order one at a time. I think this makes sense for things like TV series collections, but I'm hoping they implement a feature where you can get a movie and its bonus disk in one mailing.

I want the bonus disk - if there is one - with the movie. Call me crazy...

[Shirley Ujest]

Thanks for the input everyone, I will investigate further.

Athena Dogsled, aye? Dang yooper.

[ElwoodCuse]

You have to have a really good estimate of how much time you can spend each month watching movies, which is why i dumped it. I had absolutely no problems with the service or the selection--I just didn't think I'd get to watch my money's worth of movies. I didn't have enough tiem to justify getting the more expensive plans where they let you keep more at one time, and for the amount of time in between getting the fewer movie plan it seemed easier to just go to the video store.

[Kaitlyn]

We're on the 5 at a time plan, and we spend a lot less to rent more movies than we would at Hollywood. We usually get about 15 a month, which would mean about $60 at one of the chains, for $30 a month with no sales tax. And the selection is fantastic, especially if you like Hong Kong actioners, foreign movies, tv season sets, anime, etc. We were on the 3 at a time plan, but found that the 5 day turn around left us without movies sometimes, while the five at a time means we've always got something coming when we send something back.

[initech]

Here's a little secret: if you don't watch quite as many movies, you can pay $11/mo to have up to four movies a month, two at a time. Not for everybody, but perfect for me.

Regardless, I can't recommend Netflix strongly enough. I even lost a couple of DVDs in the mail and they just shrugged it off (although I hear you get hassled a bit after you lose six or so). Give it a shot!

[yosemite]

Damn. This is better than an ad. I'm off to Netflix to learn more about them!

[CBCD]

Netflix also has lots of Kurosawa movies, lots of Catherine Deneuve movies, and more Hong Kong wire-fu movies than I've been able to load into my 45 movie long rental queue.

Right I have 3 movies out from them - The Lady and the Duke by Max Rohmer - fantastic!, Ran, (waiting to watch it with my 16 year old son) and Place Vendome, another in a long series of Catherine Deneuve in peril movies.

The more people that sign up for Netflix, the happier I'll be. That means they'll stay in business & prosper. I am on the 3 DVDs a month plan.

[LifeOnWry]

Originally posted by KinSaba
The one thing I don't like echoes sciguy :


I want the bonus disk - if there is one - with the movie. Call me crazy...

Ditto ditto ditto. My only problem with Netflix. We rented Monsters Inc. for my daughter, and planned our evening around it, without realizing we'd ordered ONLY the bonus materials disc.

[divemaster]

NetFlix is great. I signed up on Jan 8 and have rented and watched (checking website....) 24 DVDs since then.

For me, the best part is the availability of foreign films. My main interest these days is Asian movies. The local blockbuster/Hollywood may have one thin shelf, but Netflix has 100s!

Not to mention some of the more obscure titles (Spider Baby!).

Right now, I have 47 movies in my rental queue. Maybe 5 of these I could easily find locally (i.e., don't have to call/drive all over the DC area). Delivered right to my door.

I have found movie Nirvana.

[Yookeroo]

I also had a problem with constant late fees. And I could never remember which mnovies I wanted once I was in the store. Now as I think of movies I want to see, I just pop them into my queue. Plus the great selection. I love Netflix.

[prisoner6655321]

I love the rating system. They (kinda) seem to know what I like. When I find a great movie, they'll recommend something similar and I will usually like it too. Who's rated the most movies? I've rated 376. I'll bet some have rated more.
The best selling point of Netflix is that they have just about every movie you can want, as long as it's not too obscure. If I can't find a movie I can usually find it from http://www.dvdovernight.com/ which mails just like netflix, but you pay a rental fee and they have late fees. Usually you can be a day (maybe two) late without a late fee, but they will charge you eventually. There are also other websites that rent movies. But I like dvdovernight. Netflix is my #1 choice. After all I have a subscription with them.

With my turnaround time of usually 2 days (we have a netflix distribution center right here in the city) 3 movies out at a time is plenty. I almost always have a movie to watch. I'll mail a DVD on the way to work and have one waiting for me in the mailbox when I get home. Of course you have to have time to watch all those movies.

Anybody try Blockbuster's service that is similar? It's something like $5 more, but you can get the movies right away, which could result in you watching more movies. With netflix's 3 movie option I think the max you could watch would be 20 a month or so. That's like a $ a movie. With blockbuster you could easily double that and pay just $5 more. That's $0.63 a movie Of course you have to leave the house, and you know how we hate doing that.

Unfortunately, they still don't have some foreign movies. Well the ones that aren't region 1. I want to rent Luc Besson's Taxi, but I can't find it anywhere in America. Obviously there are some legal reasons netflix won't rent a region 2 disc to someone in region 1. I doubt they'll change that. Oh well. I still love netflix.

[HelloKitty]

NetFlix is great. I also used RentMyDVD for awhile, but they didn't have quite the selection that NetFlix does. They were a little bit cheaper, but I just ended up watching alot of movies that I had already seen rather than newer selections that NetFlix has. Both work pretty much the same way, though.

Plus, when I'm bored, I go on the site and just rate movies for awhile. It's fun!!

[Baldwin]

I've had good results with it. They'll reserve a movie for you if it has a scheduled release date, but isn't out yet.

[Gr8Kat]

I love it. I currently have 2 movies on their way here, 3 movies on their way back there (I upgraded to the $30 for 5 movies at a time account), and 67 movies in my queue. It's great

[Yookeroo]

I've rated 826 movies.

[sj2]

What I don't like is the packaging. I always seem to tear the return envelope. A bit frustrating, but worth it in the end.