Online DVD Rental

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 Online DVD renting is a great alternative to the local video shop, as it is cheaper and there is more choice. Here's a guide to the major DVD rental services, and some of the good and bad points about watching DVDs this way.

How does online DVD rental work?

Most DVD rental services work roughly the same way - you generate a DVD list on their website and they start sending you one or more in the post. When you've finished with it, you return it in a prepaid envelope. The envelopes fit through letterboxes and into normal postboxes, so no need for any trips to the post office.

The major providers have a similar selection of DVDs, but they differ in the way they charge you for the service. Most of them charge monthly fees, and allow you to rent a limited number of DVDs per month. Or, for a higher monthly fee, you can rent unlimited numbers of DVDs per month. The second option is probably only good value if you are a really dedicated DVD watcher. One company, EasyCinema, does not have any monthly fees, but allows you to rent at a fixed price per DVD.

The major providers in the UK are LoveFilm, Tesco, Amazon, Blockbuster and EasyCinema. Of these, LoveFilm and Tesco give a choice of limited or unlimited plans, Amazon only provide limited plans, and Blockbuster only provide unlimited plans.

What's good about online DVD rental?

Renting a DVD works out much cheaper using an online service (about £1-£2.50) than going down to the local video shop (£3-4). Plus, you don't need to return the DVD the next day - you can keep it as long as you want (it will just delay when your next DVD is sent out).

The choice of DVDs is also much bigger online, almost any film or TV series you can think of is available. It is also very convenient, especially if you don't have a local video shop, as the DVDs come straight through your letterbox. There are also free trials available with most services.

What are the problems with online DVD rental?

Common complaints about online DVD rental are slow turnaround times, not receiving the DVD you want, and damaged DVDs.

Here is a typical turnaround sequence:

1) Receive your DVD on Monday.
2) Watch your DVD on Monday.
3) Send your DVD back on Tuesday.
4) They receive it on Wednesday, send you a new one on Wednesday.
5) You receive a new DVD on Thursday.

Many people experience turnaround this quickly, but slow turnaround can happen if there is a delay between the company receiving your DVD, and sending a new one. Of course, Royal Mail delays in either direction are also quite possible.

All providers ask you to rate your DVD selection in order of preference, and they should try and send you your top choices first. However, new releases are often not available when you want them, and you may receive lower choices on your list until your top choice becomes available. The preference system works well most of the time, but you have to accept some unpredictability.

Some people complain about damaged or lost DVDs. All providers allow you to report this quite easily and should send out a replacement without too much hassle. When a DVD appears to be lost in the post (going in either direction), you will have to wait 4 days after sending before you can report it. Then they will normally send you a form to sign to state that you are not holding on to a DVD, and will not charge you unless it starts to happen suspiciously often.

DVD rental from LoveFilm and Tesco

LoveFilm actually ‘powers' many DVD rental sites, including Tesco, EasyCinema, Virgin and WHSmith. LoveFilm claims to have the greatest range of DVD titles (65,000) in the UK.

LoveFilm offers three options for receiving unlimited DVDs per month. If you pay £9.99 a month you will only be allowed one DVD at home at a time, so the number of DVDs you can actually fit into a month will depend how quickly they send out your next DVD after you send one back (the turnaround time). For £12.99 you can get 2 DVDs at a time, and for £15.99 you can get 3 at a time.

If the idea of trying to get your money's worth out of an unlimited deal seems a bit stressful, you can pay £4.99 a month to receive 2 DVDs (one at a time), or £7.99 a month to get 4 DVDs (two at a time).

You can get a two week free trial with LoveFilm. They will take your credit card details and start charging you if you do not cancel by the end of the trial. If you have a monthly subscription and go on holiday, you can suspend your account for two weeks for free.

Tesco's service is basically exactly the same, except they charge slightly less (between 50p and £1 cheaper per month). Reviews of the two services vary widely, with some claiming that Tesco is better, and some preferring LoveFilm. A general complaint seems to be that Tesco has the worst customer service.

DVD rental from Blockbuster

Blockbuster have over 50,000 titles, and offer 4 unlimited packages - one at a time (£9.99), two at a time (£12.99), three at a time (£14.99) or five at a time (£22.99). You can get a two week free trial, and they allow ‘payment holidays' of up to three months, three times a year.

In general, reviews of turnaround time and efficiency are slightly better for Blockbuster than LoveFilm.

DVD rental from Amazon

Amazon have over 40,000 titles, and offer three subscription options - two DVDs a month (£3.99), three DVDs a month (£5.99), four DVDs a month (£7.99) or six DVDs a month (£9.99). If you want to watch more films one month, you can purchase extra credits for £1.99. However, you can't carry unused credits over to the next month.

They do a two week trial, and a bonus is that rental customers get 10% off DVD purchases from Amazon. There is no obvious option to suspend your account when you go on holiday, though you can cancel and re-activate fairly easily. Reviews of turnaround and efficiency are generally good.

DVD rental from EasyCinema

EasyCinema is also powered by LoveFilm, and has all the same DVD titles, but the way they charge is a bit different, and ideal for the occasional DVD watcher. You pay £1.99 per DVD, and buy a fixed number of credits in advance (either 4, 7 or 10 credits, for £7.96, £13.93 or £19.90).

The advantage of buying more credits is that you are allowed more DVDs at home at once (3 when you buy 10 credits). The only thing to watch out for is that your credits expire 90 days after purchase, so you can't buy 10 credits and hang onto them for half a year. EasyCinema don't currently do a free trial.

Renting video games and downloading films

LoveFilm also allows you to rent video games as part of your monthly allowance. They also have a limited selection of films to download from the website, which you can either rent (keep for 5-7 days) or buy (allows you to burn a DVD). DVD quality downloads are about 1.5GB. This means you can watch a film straight away, and have full control over which film you get, but this service is more expensive than DVD rental (about £3).