Online DVD Rental Services

BLOCKBUSTER REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Chart

Blockbuster has been playing catch up to NetFlix in the online rental game but in our opinion they have finally caught up with NetFlix by leveraging their position as the top in-store rental company to offer some unique features that make Blockbuster the best option for those that live near a local Blockbuster store and still want the option of picking up a movie there. Blockbuster has been able to virtually match NetFlix in terms of number of titles and speed of delivery. Recently, Blockbuster introduced their new Total Access plans, which offers extra value by allowing you to return your DVDs to the local Blockbuster AND instantly exchange them for another movie from the store at no additional cost. This is all just part of your monthly service plan, all of which are priced almost identically to NetFlix's plans. Of course, you can always just mail your DVDs in as well and receive the next one in your queue back by mail or just return the DVD to the store and have the next one arrive by mail, but this in-store exchange option allows you to get the next movie you want instantly. Blockbuster's newest plan is called Blockbuster By Mail which is for those who want to stay away from stores altogether or don't live near a Blockbuster store. Since this plan is only by mail there is no in-store exchange. This plan is notably cheaper than the Total Access plans but does not include the convenience of returning your movie to a local Blockbuster store. Blockbuster has done a nice job with their web site as well, offering a recommendation engine based on your ratings of movies that you've seen, user reviews and trailers for some movies. They recently improved the site, making it easier to browse, select, rate and get recommendations on movies. They still lack critics' reviews and a friends' ratings option, both of which NetFlix has, but other than that their site is great. Blockbuster Online has a nice self-service help system, email support, and phone support if you run into problems.

In terms of plans and pricing, Blockbuster offers options very similar to NetFlix. All plans charge a monthly fee and vary by the number of DVDs you can have out at one time and the maximum number of DVDs you can rent per month. There are 2 types of Total Access Plans; Total Access-Limited In-Store Exchange and Total Access Unlimited In-Store Exchange. The Limited In-Store Exchange Plans limits you to the number of movies you can exchange in the store per month. The Unlimited In-Store Exchange Plans give you the option to continuously exchange your movies within any Total Access participating Blockbuster Store. For a limited time Blockbuster is offering a 2 week free trial when you signup through this website. After the 2 week free trial you will be signed up for the $9.99 per month plan which allows you 1 movie out at a time with a maximum of 2 movies per month. Blockbuster's most popular plan is the Total Access Limited 3 movies out at one time plan for $19.99 per month. This is a $40 value and by signing up through our site take advantage of the exclusive 2 week free trial. Other Blockbuster plans are as follows:

Total Access Limited In-Store Exchange Plans
$9.99/month (1 at a time, 2 max/month, 2/month In-Store Exchange)
$11.99/month (1 at a time, Unlimited/month, 2/month In-Store Exchange)
$16.99/month (2 at a time, Unlimited/month, 3/month In-Store Exchange)
$19.99/month (3 at a time, Unlimited/month, 5/month In-Store Exchange) Most popular plan

Total Access Unlimited In-Store Exchange Plans
$21.99/month (1 at a time, Unlimited In-Store Exchanges)
$29.99/month (2 at a time, Unlimited In-Store Exchanges)
$34.99/month (3 at a time, Unlimited In-Store Exchanges)

Blockbuster By Mail Plans
$3.99/month (1 at a time, 2 max/month, No In-Store Exchanges)
$8.99/month (1 at a time, Unlimited/month, No In-Store Exchanges)
$13.99/month (2 at a time, Unlimited/month, No In-Store Exchanges)
$16.99/month (3 at a time, Unlimited/month, No In-Store Exchanges)

You can change your plan at any time after signing up by contacting Blockbuster at 866-692-2789. Blockbuster does not rent games (except for the free in-store rental coupon) or adult movies so you'll need to try another service such as DVD Avenue or CinemaNow (no games) if you are interested in those genres. Overall, Blockbuster Online offers an excellent service. While the online service alone is virtually the same as NetFlix, the in-store exchange option makes it the best value for anyone with access to a local Blockbuster store.

NETFLIX REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Chart

NetFlix invented the online movie rental business in 1999 and has been a leader ever since. With over 85,000 titles and 41 distribution centers throughout the U.S., they offer more movies than anyone else. They claim to reach more than 90% of their members with generally one business day delivery (our research has found that members usually do get their DVDs within one day and almost always within two). NetFlix has put a lot of time and money into developing a fantastic site that gives you all the tools you can imagine and more for picking the right movie. They offer free online movie trailers, critics' reviews, user reviews, your friends' reviews, a recommendation engine based on how you've rated other movies that you've seen, and have recently added the capability to watch over 4,000 movie titles directly on your PC. This new feature allows its members to instantly watch over 4,000 movie and TV titles on their PC instantly. This is included in all plans at no additional cost. The service allows you to stream certain titles directly to your PC so you don't have to download them (but you do have to be connected to the internet). The number of hours you can watch per month will depend on your plan and will range from 5 hours per month for the cheapest $4.99 per month plan to 24 hours per month for the more expensive $23.99 per month plan. This is a nice addition to their service, although watching movies on a computer is not exactly a great viewing experience and you cannot download the movies, only stream them. They also do a great job with customer service, offering an automated self-help system as well as email and phone support if you have any problems.

NetFlix offers an array of plans to choose from, all following the NetFlix-pioneered model of keeping each DVD as long as you like and getting a new one shipped to you when you send one back to them. This enables them to offer free shipping and no late fees so you'll never pay more than your monthly subscription cost. All plans charge a monthly fee and vary by the number of DVDs you can have out at one time and the maximum number of DVDs you can rent per month. All plans come with a 14 day free trial for new NetFlix customers and you can cancel any time so it's a no risk proposition. The plans are:

$4.99/month (1 at a time, 2 max/month, 5 hours streaming movies on PC/month)
$8.99/month (1 at a time, Unlimited/month, 9 hours streaming movies on PC/month)
$13.99/month (2 at a time, Unlimited/month, 14 hours streaming movies on PC/month)
$16.99/month (3 at a time, Unlimited/month, 17 hours streaming movies on PC/month)
$23.99/month (4 at a time, Unlimited/month, 24 hours streaming movies on PC/month)

NetFlix's most popular plan is the $16.99/month offering. (NetFlix offers additional plans you can switch to once you sign up for the free trial - visit our FAQs for details.)

NetFlix's sole focus is on movies, and they are the best at online movie delivery. However, if you want to also rent games with the same service, you should go with someone else such as DVD Avenue that rents both. NetFlix is also not for you if you want to rent adult DVDs as they have stayed out of that part of the business. Additionally, NetFlix cannot match Blockbuster's ability to offer in-store movie exchange and free in-store rental coupons as part of their service. If games or adult movies aren't of interest to you and you have no desire to ever visit the local Blockbuster again, NetFlix is the best choice you will find.

DVD AVENUE REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Chart

DVD Avenue has done a nice job of creating plans that include both regular movies, games and adult titles. Their regular movie selection is quite good but still a little smaller than the competition. So why rent from DVD Avenue? Their adult and game selection is very good and they offer very reasonably prices plans that include adult, games and regular DVDs. While that is probably their biggest selling point, they do have some other nice features. Their search function is quite flexible, allowing you to search by director, title, actor or synopsis. They have all the new releases and offer user reviews, although since they have fewer subscribers there are not as many of these as there are with more popular services. They do not have movie trailers. As mentioned previously, their plans all allow you to rent anything in their inventory (movies, games, adult) for a very reasonable price. All their plans follow the typical DVD Rental service structure, offer unlimited monthly rentals and are priced as follows: $9.99/mo. (1 at a time), $14.95/mo. (2 at a time), $19.95/mo. (3 at a time) and $24.95/mo. (4 at a time). DVD Avenue has just one shipping center based in Maryland. So if you live in or near Maryland, your DVDs will come quickly but anywhere else you'll have to wait at least a couple days. They do not offer a free trial. Bottom line - while DVD Avenue does a nice overall job, the only place they really offer a better service than the competition is in adult films and games.

CINEMANOW REVIEW:Go to Site | Back to Chart

CinemaNow is the pioneer and leader in the nascent movie download service market. Instead of getting a DVD, this service allows you to download or stream a movie to your computer and watch it there or on another device that your computer hooks up to. The main issue with this type of service is the viewing experience. You will need to have a souped up Media PC (the service doesn't support Mac OS) to be able to play really high quality video on your computer. If you do have one, though, the service is extremely convenient because you can download or stream a movie instantly. CinemaNow's subscription plan allows you to stream (but NOT download) as many movies as you want per month and includes access to a large variety of the latest adult titles as well. If you are set up with a good system to watch movies on your PC, this is a great deal at $29.95/mo. or $99.95/yr. Since they offer a 3 day free trial, we encourage you to try it out and see how you like it. They also offer movies for rental and purchase on a download basis. Some of these can also be burned to a DVD. The rental prices range from $.49 to $3.99 and the purchase prices from $9.99 to $19.99. This service is an interesting one and we encourage you to test it out.