Netflix- start out at 10$ first month, 18$/month after that. Over 40,000 titles.
Blockbuster online- start out at 10$ first month, 15$/month after that. Over 30,000 titles. Also, 2 free game/video rentals a month at the store.
I know Netflix just bought Wal-Mart’s DVD mail rental service. What other ones are there? Also, anyone who uses Blockbuster online: it seems okay they cost 3 $ more, the two rentals extra kinda make up, even though I’m sure they’re not new release, but have you felt that BBO has a lacking of selection? They do have 10,00 fewer than Netflix, after all, and I plan on watching a lot of obscure films…
As far as I know, Netflix has the most extensive selection. It also, in my experience, has the fastest delivery times (I tried all three) but it depends on where you live.
Also, it’s Netflix that costs $3 more, not Blockbuster.
Oops, yeah. What exactly do you mean by the location thing? I live in a suburban enough city, not at all isolated, if that’s what you mean. I do remember their commercials saying that their dvds get to ‘most’ of their customers’s locations in the alloted time, so what did they mean by that?
If I understand the system correctly, both companies have multiple distribution centers around the country. Depending on how close you are to one, and how effect your local mail route is, your speed can vary.
They might also have some sort of special arrangement with the post office, but the end effect is the same… you won’t know how soon you’ll get your DVDs until you give 'em a try.
That’s incorrect. It starts at $10 a month and stays $10 a month (assuming you select the $10 a month plan :)):
[ul]
[li]$9.99 - 1 DVD at a time[/li][li]$11.99 - 2 DVDs at a time (limit 4 per month)[/li][li]$14.99 - 2 DVDs at a time [/li][li]$17.99 - 3 DVDs at a time [/li][li]$23.99 - 4 DVDs at a time [/li][li]$29.99 - 5 DVDs at a time [/li][li]$35.99 - 6 DVDs at a time [/li][li]$41.99 - 7 DVDs at a time [/li][li]$47.99 - 8 DVDs at a time [/li][/ul]
As for locations, as of last year Netflix had distribution centers in:
[ul]Baton Rouge, LA
[li]Chicago, IL [/li][li]Cleveland, OH [/li][li]Columbia, SC [/li][li]Coppell, TX [/li][li]Denver, CO [/li][li]Duluth, GA [/li][li]Flushing, NY [/li][li]Ft. Lauderdale, FL [/li][li]Gaithersburg, MD [/li][li]Greensboro, NC [/li][li]Houston, TX [/li][li]Kansas City, MO [/li][li]Lakeland, FL [/li][li]Lansing, MI [/li][li]Las Vegas, NV [/li][li]Louisville, KY [/li][li]Minneapolis, MN [/li][li]New Brunswick, NJ [/li][li]Phoenix, AZ [/li][li]Pittsburgh, PA [/li][li]Rochester, NY [/li][li]Salem, OR [/li][li]San Jose, CA [/li][li]Santa Ana, CA [/li][li]Southeastern, PA [/li][li]St. Louis, MO [/li][li]Tacoma, WA [/li][li]Worcester, MA[/li][/ul]
I only have experience with Netflix. I live one postal day away from the nearest distribution center, so it’s unlikely that anyone could get faster service than I do.
It takes one week to get a DVD. Drop it off in the mail Friday, they receive it Saturday, but since they don’t work on weekends, nothing happens until Monday. They acknowledge the receipt on Tuesday. They ship the next one in the queue Wednesday, but it may not be available locally, so it is sent from somewhere else, and takes an extra day. It may arrive Friday. Total turnaround time, 1 week. Total possible to rent per month, about 12, assuming you take only one day to view it, then return the following day. If you hold on to it for a few days, you might be able to rent only 8 per month. At $19/month (don’t forget sales tax), you do the rest of the math. Your local video store might be cheaper and even more convenient if you don’t like waiting a week to see a particular show.
Theoretically, without the delays of stuff sitting around the warehouse, it would be possible to ship a DVD on Monday, they get it Tuesday and ship another out the same day to arrive on Wednesday. Never happens, probably because they wouldn’t make enough money that way. Remember, delay plays heavily in their favor.
That said, most of the titles I get from Netflix aren’t carried in any video store within 50 miles of my house for any price, so I’m glad they exist. But within 2 years I expect to have video on demand thru fiber-to-the-home, and Netflix may cease to be a factor.
I have a different experience - I regularly get 2 day turnaround with Netflix. If I put a DVD in the mailbox at my local post office at 5 PM on Monday, I will get notification Tuesday AM around 9:30 that my next DVD is being shipped out. I will get the next DVD in my mailbox by 1 PM on Wednesday. It’s like clockwork.
I’ve got the five-at-a-time plan, though during periods of employment I usually downgrade to the three-at-a-time plan. My friend and his wife share the eight-at-a-time plan, each of them queueing four movies at a time. (He likes chick flicks and foreign films, she likes TV shows and action movies. Go figure.)
It’s pretty rare for me to have a turnaround that long. They usually receive my returns the morning after I drop them in the mail and ship the new ones that afternoon. I usually get them two days later, for a total turnaround of three-five days at most. It helps that they have a warehouse in Queens, though.
As CBCD pointed out, you’re wrong in saying that they don’t provide two-day turnaround deliberately. That’s exactly the service I get nine out of ten times. Occasionally it takes a day or two longer, but not usually.
As for the question in the OP, given the choice between Blockbuster Online and Netflix, I’d suggest he subscribe to Netflix, particularly since he expressed an interest in obscure films. Now, Amazon is rumored to be entering this market, and if it does, the service of choice may change. (My only complaint about Netflix is that they didn’t have several UK-only DVDs that I wanted to see.)
Netflix has really deepened their catalog lately. If you’re into obscure and/or foreign films (and old heavy metal concerts, for that matter) you can’t go wrong with Netflix. They also have a surprising amount of documentaries and instructional videos, even stuff you can’t find on Amazon. Blockbuster is really weak in all those areas, but do carry Special Edition DVDs that Netflix doesn’t. (At least, they’re listed on their website…I’ve never used their service, so who knows if they actually deliver them.)
As a new customer, your Netflix service should be great, with respect to availability and turnaround time; but after three months or so, expect it to start turning crappy. Of course, I really shouldn’t bitch at them, for all I know BB service could be ten times worse.
Wow, that’s insane. I regularly get a 2-day turnaround time as well. Maybe 1/10th of the time it’ll be 3 days, but I can’t remember it ever being slower than that. I’ve been using it for quite a while, too.
I never said the delay was deliberate, and I have no evidence that it is. I said it weighs in their favor to delay shipment.
But, since I live about 150 miles from the distribution center whose address in on the envelopes, and the post office says they expect 1-day delivery within 300 miles for 99% of the time, I can only explain the slow turnaround time if the Netflix staff lets either incoming or outgoing mail sit around for a while.
Maybe it’s just this distribution center.
And if they were really concerned about speedy shipping, they would have a Saturday crew. But not only would that cost more in personnel, it would reduce the amount of income per DVD; again, speed does not benefit them financially, only in better customer relations.
And once they lost a returned DVD. They don’t want you to report that for 6 days. When I did report it, they immediately shipped the next one in my queue, and two days later, they “found” the missing DVD. But I didn’t get any compensatory credit. I wonder how often this happens.
I’m also considering actually signing up for a mail DVD rental company (and for me, Netflix makes more sense, since there’s not a Blockbuster store in my area, so it would be a waste of the “two free in-store” thing).
My question is, though, how big are the packages/envelopes that the DVDs come in? Living in an apartment complex, our mailboxes are not huge (although they recently replaced them, so they’re probably big enough for the AOL disks now - I’m pretty sure I actually received one in my mailbox since they were replaced), and to have to go to the complex office to pick them up whenever they come in would be a PITA.
They’re just envelopes as big as a DVD (they dont send cases, just the disc in a paper sleeve). If a CD of any kind fits in your mailbox, netflix should fit too.
They should call that the rich cinephile plan.