Online film rental companies

M

Mrs. Chris Brown

New member
Hi everyone,

Maybe this should go in the Advice forum, but I thought people here might have some knowledge on the subject.

Was wondering if people can recommend any online DVD rental companies, such as lovefilm and the like. I see a lot of films at the cinema so it wouldn't necessarily be for a lot of new releases (although there would be some) but mostly for films from a few years ago. There are lots of classics that I've never seen! Having said that, I don't get to see every new release at the cinema (sadly) so I would want some new releases.

So, who's the best? I want a company that's not always going to send me stuff from the bottom of the list whilst ignoring my top choices.
 
Lovefilm are great. They used to be awful but have been much better over the last year or so. I normally get discs from my top choices (aorund 8/10 discs).
If I rent a tv series I generally keep getting the discs until
I've had them all - never left waiting weeks to see the next episode. :)
 
I was about to ask you guys about a similar matter. I was with Lovefilm briefly and found them completely inept, vastly irritating and generally infuriating.

I am with Amazon right now and have been for some time. Overall I have been really happy with them. If they do sell out to Lovefilm though, I'm leaving them. I have no desire to have any affiliation with that company at all.

I'm looking for someone to jump ship to, obviously not Lovefilm. At the moment I pay
 
I'm with LoveFilm & have had no problems at all. I've been with them for just over a year now. I'm on the unlimited 2 a time package & it cost about
 
Yep same here! I've only had one duff disc since I joined, and the rate I, ahem, "watch" :p what i'm sent I get through 20+ DVRAB a month, which is less than
 
Im on a 3 month Lovefilm trial currently. If you send the discs back say on a Monday, the next one usually arrive in the post on a Wednesday so its a good service.

A lot of the discs are scratched though so if you want to rip the dvd to your computer you may have some problems with the picture pausing like i did. Not Lovefilm's fault obviously, its because people don't look after the discs.

I found the Voucher they sent me misleading though. It said 'Get unlimited films, games and TV series delivered direct to your door'. But when i joined i found that i couldnt get any games on the free trial unless i changed package and then that would make the free trial void.

Another thing, their site is really slow im on broadband and it takes ages to even log in.
 
Anybody have experience with Amazon's service? I know they've recently been acquired by lovefilm, but currently their plans are slightly cheaper.

I was going to ask about Blockbuster too, but their website has put me right off. Won't even let me look at the available packages without entering my details for their free trial.
 
That's exactly what put me off!

I've been with Amazon for over a year. They haven't yet been acquired by Lovefilm thankfully. I've been really happy with them. They don't do games though which is unfortunate.

I think it is reaching the point where there will just be Lovefilm and that's it. The dvd rental service offered by Sendit.com is "powered by lovefilm" too.
 
Yesterday i got 'Vertigo' sent by lovefilm. After about Chapter 8 the film started pausing and freezing and became unwatchable so i took the disc out and rubbed it with a tissue, put in back in and it played fine after that. maybe try that.
 
I have been with WhSmith/Lovefilm for years. At the beginning everything was great (this was when your choices were numbered and not banded) and I used to get a lot of my top priorities quite quickly, although i didn't get new releases very straight away. Then everything went downhill a bit - I was getting things from lower down my list, not new releases until they were over 6 months old and then they changed to the three level priority system, which made things worse.

Then about 6 months ago things changed for the better. I don't know whether the managed to iron out the kinks of the merger or whether they reward long-time customers with more high priority DVRAB, but things got much better.

I have always been pleased with the service, but since it has got better I am over the moon. I even managed to get the Simpsons Movie the day after it was released (which we were very pleased with).

I have a few worRAB of warning about Lovefilm
1. Stick with them and you will be rewarded eventually with higher priority DVRAB
2. They do have a fair usage policy which is harsh on people who have more than 3 DVRAB a week. It is called throttling and it limits how many they send out.
3. On occasion there may be a day's wait before they dispatch another disc, but you get used to it. This has also improved recently and they are doing it much less.
4. For some reason, the first DVD in any TV series can take absolutely ages, but when you have the first disc the rest will follow very, very quickly.

That's all folks.
 
The 'fair usage' clause these online DVD companies have really contradicts the 'unlimited' nature of their packages.
They should say 'unlimited unless we think you have had too many discs'.
I know it is all in their small print but what they term fair usage is often vaguely defined.
 
I used to be with Lovefilm and they were OK.
I finished with them mainly because I had no time to watch DVRAB any more.
I do remember they were especially good for catching up on TV series on DVD such as The West Wing, Hustle etc
 
Does anyone else find Lovefilms website extremely slow. nearly all other websites including RAB are very fast in comparison. I very much doubt i'll stay with lovefilm when my free trial enRAB.
 
I've been with Amazon's two week free trial on and off for about the last 3 years. ;)

Aside from about a third of the discs they've sent me being unplayable due to all the scratches, I've never paid them a penny, copied every single disc and saved hundreRAB of quid on not buying boxsets.

I think Amazon's a great service and am horrified they've sold out to Lovefilm which I've dealt with previously and were a nightmare.
 
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