The range and variety of DVD rental companies out there can make chosing the right one for your needs a somewhat daunting task. Even with all the Free Rental Trials out there, which at least give you a taste of what to expect, most of us don't want to be cancelling one company to join another every two weeks even if it does mean over 12 months of free rentals if we do...
The aim of this guide, therefore, is to help you chose the right DVD rental company for your needs. We tell you the major things you should be looking for and hopefully we can help you find the company best suited to you.
The Rental Catalogue - and why bigger isn't always better.
If you are only into mainstream movies then you'll probably find every film rental service will have the films to rent you desire. If on the other hand you are particularly fond of soemthing like arthouse, Hungarian cinema or anime, then you might be well advised to look towards one of the larger catalogues or specialist rental companies.
At a basic level we always advise to look at the companies with the larger databases first but with one caveat: although they may list all those titles, it doesn't mean they have them and if they do, it doesn't mean they have very many copies of each title! Some companies are known to exaggerate how many titles they actual have...
Most companies also allow you to browse their catalogue before you become a member and this is something we recommend you take the time to do. Not only do you get a feel of what they have to offer but you can also toss in a few test titles into their search engine. If they aren't found then you probably want to look elsewhere.
Delivery Times - and why one man's tortoise is another man's hare.
In order for you to get the most out of your monthly subscription and to avoid the frustration of waiting for the postman you are advised to look for a rental company in your local area. This applies mainly to readers from the United States, who may have to wait up to 10 days for delivery from companies at the other end of the country which simply doesn't make the subscription worth having. Netflix is a great choice here as they have distribution centers all over the US.
The UK DVD rental services do not suffer quite so badly but it is worth noting AnotherDVD is located in N. Ireland and there's a couple in Scotland which can delay delivery times by a day for southerners and vice versa.
As we say above, one man's tortoise is another man's hare. One person may comment a company is incredibly slow, whilst another may be impressed by the lightning fast turnaround. Usually this is a location thing, so do check for local companies first before joining ones located futher away, as, no matter how good their reputation, all DVD rental companies are at the mercy of the postal system.
Rental Charges - and why comparing is healthy.
One of the main reasons for chosing an online rental service is for the money it can save you on renting movies each month. However, although ALL internet rental companies will save you cash, you will also save more by shopping around and comparing subscription packages.
When comparing, you need to take into account the following:
• Number of rentals you are allowed to have at home at any one time.
• How fast the turnaround is. The faster, the more titles you can rent each month and the more cost-effective your rental package.
• Whether games, adult movies etc. are included in the price, or whether they're either not available to rent, or incur an additional charge.
• Availability of titles - a small catalogues might mean you end up heading down to your local store because the title is not available to rent at your choice of company.
• Any additional charges.
So, for example, if you only want to rent 1 DVD out at a time, perhaps you watch 1 or 2 DVDs a week at the most, then the subscription package from Movietrack is great value. For 3 DVDs, you should probably be looking at Lovefilm or ScreenSelect. Although the latter two are more expensive than some of their competitors for the 3 disc rental plans, they also have the catalogue size to ensure your choices are available, even obscure ones.
Game Rentals - and why players have such big pockets
Gamers are in luck when it comes to movie rental as there are also companies out there who offer combined subscription packages, renting a combination of DVD movies and video games under the same subscription plan. Most companies offer this at no extra charge at all. GameZnFlicks in the United States offers the No.1 service of this kind, whilst UK residents are best off looking at Mailbox Movies or one of the specialist game rental services like Games Frenzy or Game Tart.
The advantage of renting games from video game rental companies online is that you get to keep the title as long as you like...for example, until you finish the game...and it also means if you're renting it for your kids, you don't have to be fretting about them missing the return dates and paying fees on it. Picking up a DVD + Game rental subscription deal can really save you a lot of cash, even compared to the normal rental packages.
Free Trial Offers - and why playing the field will make you more popular
Many of the DVD renting companies listed here both in the UK and United States are offering free trial periods when you first join their services. You pay nothing for x number of days with the option to either cancel before that period ends and pay nothing at all, or to do nothing and begin paying for your monthly subscription as a full member.
The sites listed at DVD Rental Services currently offer over 14 months of free DVD rentals via these trial offers.
That's over a year of 100% free movie rentals if you're feeling naughty, or it's the ideal opportunity to try out all the services on your shortlist so you can choose the best one. We encourage you to do this, because they all have something slightly different to offer and sometimes it's the little things which make one service ideal and another unusable based purely on personal preferences.
In addition, you will find some of the companies you have taken a free trial with will then contact you again and offer you MORE free weeks if you come back and give them another try! Everybody loves a freebie and free movie rentals has just got to be a good thing.
Overall
A guide like this one and the information offered on this site can only take you so far towards finding the best dvd rental service for your needs. We can show you what to look for in general terms but it will be the little personal preferences which colour your judgement in the end. We hope this guide has been of a little help towards guiding you down the right path and invite you to read our rental service reviews and to check out our quick side by side comparison of the top online movie rental services in order that we may help you still further.
Good luck and happy renting!
