I am about to give up on Netflix. Lately I’ve been getting more and more notices that such-and-such a DVD has a “Very Long Wait”. And they’re not kidding - the wait is usually in months. Another common message is one requiring that the requested DVD be put on a “Save” list since it is not currently in Netflix’s catalog, but it can be “saved” so that if it ever is available, you are on the list. And this wait is usually of the “many, many, years” variety. In fact, I can’t recall any DVD that I’ve requested ever being acquired by Netflix.
So I’m looking for a replacement for Netflix. Anybody have any experience with other rental sources? I’ve noticed that there are quite a few of these services to be found on the Internet, but I trust advice from Dopers a lot more than some advertising fluff on the Internet.
I was a Netflix subscriber for over a decade, but cancelled the DVD service a couple years ago and then the streaming service more recently when I acknowledged that I was barely using it any more. Now, I get mine from the library. It’s free and if your local library doesn’t have it, they can often order it or use interlibrary loan.
I’m still quite pleased with DVD-Netflix. The streaming version is terrible for older movies and TV shows. That said, I would still be interested in an alternative or additional source.
I’m on the four-at-a-time plan, and normally go through four to six discs per week. Yes, the “very long wait” usually means ad saecula saeculorum, but I have had a few of those eventually come through. Most of the ones that I “save” eventually do become available, but they tend to be newer movies and current or upcoming seasons of TV shows. I keep about a year’s worth of viewing in my queue, so if a particular DVD in a series has a “wait”, I just shift the other discs of that series down a few(or fifty) places while keeping their relative spacing in tact(I don’t binge-watch.)
I have had something moved from my Saved queue to my regular queue.
Very few of the things I watch are available on streaming, but I like old weird stuff. And as Netflix loses more streaming rights it is going to get worse. I have streaming for the new MST3K and a few other things, but if I gave up one I’d give streaming up before I gave up DVDs.
My library has lots of DVDs but nowhere near as many as Netflix. It would be fine for recent reasonably popular movies, but I don’t watch many of them. Otherwise it is spotty.
Until I saw your thread, it hadn’t occurred to me that there were any alternatives to dvd.netflix.com. (There used to be big ones. I think Walmart and Blockbuster had similar services.) So I Googled and was surprised to find a couple of small ones, which of course I can’t recommend as I’ve never used any of them. I’ve been a member for fifteen years and can see the changes as they’ve shrunk the service. (For one thing, I used to be able to return a disc on Saturday, have it received on Monday and have a new one on Tuesday. But lately, I have to return the discs on Friday to have it received by Monday.) Note, though, that in a few cases, I’ve found titles available for sale (usually as used discs) for only a couple of bucks. So if it’s something I want to watch but can’t rent from Netflix, I’ll buy it.
A decade ago blockbuster had a deal where you ordered DVDs by mail, but instead of sending them back in the mail you could bring them to a blockbuster store and exchange them for videos there. It was pretty sweet. Get 3 DVDs in the mail, then take them to blockbuster and get 3 DVDs from there.
Like other people, I didn’t even know there were alternatives to netflix for DVD by mail anymore.
I’m a luddite through and through, and so just signed up for Netflix DVD service a couple of years ago.
The biggest change I’ve noticed is that, just in the relatively short time I’ve been using it, it takes a lot longer for the DVD’s to get switched out after I drop them in the mail. If I drop a pair in the mail on a Monday morning, I’m very lucky to get the new discs by Friday. When we began using the service, I would drop them in the mail on a Monday, on Tuesday morning I’d get an email to the effect of “we see you’ve mailed us some discs, so to expedite your viewing pleasure we’re sending you the next discs in you’re queue!” and we’d have the new discs in Wednesday’s post. Not anymore. I get a confirmation email on Wednesday that they’ve received the discs, on Thursday I’ll get an email stating my new discs are on the way, and if I’m lucky they arrive on Friday. Usually it’s Saturday.
They also used to send us an extra disc if it was at the top of our queue and had been sitting at “very long wait” status for a while. I’d get a random email saying that the disc is finally available so they’e going to be really swell and send us a freebie. Yay us. Now, that doesn’t happen anymore. If a disc is listed as “very long wait” it just stays in the regular spot in our queue and if it comes up as available, great. I’ve noticed the discs with “very long wait” status are usually new releases or weird obscure movies, so I’m guessing it’s a simple supply and demand issue.
I am a little frustrated with how many discs are unavailable. I’ve had several discs moved from my queue to the unavailable list, many seemingly popular movies like On Golden Pond, which was just taken out of my queue and put on the unavailable list last week.
IIRC Netflix used to have an arrangement (at least in some areas) with USPS where once a disc was mailed USPS would notify Netflix and they’d ship the next disc in the user’s queue before the old disc actually arrived at the distribution center.
Googling, they used to have fifty distribution centers and now have only 17. That explains the delays you and I are seeing now. Also, I remember reading about how they had people manually process the incoming and outgoing discs. (Supposedly Reed Hastings, the CEO, tried the job once but was way slower than the people doing this full-time.) Now, supposedly much of the processing is automated.
I use Gamefly to rent games, but they also have movies. Can’t complain about it really- shipping takes about 3 days, give or take, and the availability of even obscure games is decent.
But I don’t know about their movie selection. They might just mostly have big-budget mainstream movies. If that’s what you’re into, it’s a valid option
They still do have this arrangement, and Gamefly successfully sued USPS a couple years ago in order to be included in the deal. AFAIK Gamefly and Netflix are the only rental services that get this sort of preferential treatment.