Netflix
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.