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DVDs By Mail?
scubacuda asks: "DVD mail rentals are hot right now. Netflix, perhaps the most popular one, costs only $19/month (with free shipping). Since then, a whole new batch of similar DVD rental services have cropped up. What do Slashdot readers look for? Which ones are most reliable, have the best selections, provide free shipping and makes the best movie suggestions?"
Netflix now has a local return address (Tacoma, WA) , so I experiance a very fast turnaround, and I've never run across a DVD out of stock. For the 1 1/2 years I've used them, only one disk has arrived damaged, and one has been lost in the mail. Very satisfactory, overall. I don't know what else I could ask of them.
I liked the idea of as many DVD's as you want for $20/month", but I never felt I could watch enough DVD's to get my $20 worth. If I didn't watch about 6 in a month (Blockuster chaged about $4 per DVD), then it would be cheeper to rent at a video store. Plus, there are all the times where didn't have the time/desire/money to watch a movie; but I still paid for the right to rent them from Netflix. For the most part, when I rent DVD's; I'm hanging out with friends, and decide I'm gonna watch a movie a few hours before I do. It's damn impossable to get a DVD by mail the same day.
Granted, the selection was great, but I couldn't justify the cost in my mind. Since I rent only 1~3 DVD's a month.
You know who I think is crazy? All my ex-girlfriends!
My wife is a movie junkie, and so far she really likes NetFlix.
The really nice thing about them is that instead of standing around in a rental store trying to decide what to rent, you can sit at your PC and make your list. She already has a 22-item list, so she'll be busy watching movies for awhile.
Also, if you are bad about forgetting to return rentals on time, you won't get tagged for late fees. I turned in a movie to Blockbuster about 20 minutes late due to a snow storm, and they wouldn't wave the late fee. Ever since, I've rented from someone else if I had a choice.
NetFlix aparently have several shipping centers around the U.S. I initially signed up for their 10-day trial to see how long it would take for DVDs to get to us. Our DVD's come out of Houston, and take about 2 days.
Yes, your local video store is probably cheaper, but only if you return your movies on time. I was habitually late. Again, with netflix, no late fees. I'm actually saving money.
Your reality is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. - Baron Munchausen
I've been waiting around for my job to start for the past six months, so I've gone on a dvd renting spree. I have tried NetFlix.com, NumberSlate.com, and DVDBarn.com.
I started out with NetFlix and have had good experiences with them. However, I started getting into anime and NetFlix only had partial sets of various anime series. So, I went to other services to look for the remaining disks, in this case it was just Gundam Wing, but later others came into the fray.
I tried DVD Barn. They purported to have loads of DVDs, but once you signed up for an account you saw that nearly all of them were unavailable, and after 1.5 months on my queue there was no progress.
Then I tried NumberSlate, like DVD Barn it seems that they have a lot of titles. The few that I was interested in were out but having only subscribed to them for 1 month I have seen a few of the unavailable titles get to my door.
To sum this up ... DVD Barn sucks, Netflix and NumberSlate are decent.
I think you actually get several. They let you have a few out at a time and you get a new one if you return one. So the number of movies you can actually watch in a month is dependent on your turnaround time.
I've been using Netflix for about 6 months and been pretty satisfied. My average cost per movie is about $2.29 (under the $19.95/month plan). That's not too bad, considering I live in semi-rural Alaska (shipping each way is usually about 3 days).
I don't care for them splitting up two disk sets though. If a movie comes on two disks (such as The Godfather, Part II), you have to rent each one seperatly.
I like Netflix-- under the '3 movies out' plan it means we always have 1 in transit, 1 for the kiddies, 1 for me and my spouse. And the fact that we never have to worry about late fees is great.
I just ran the numbers, we averaged just under $3.50 per DVD rented. Given that some we watched the day they arrived (then returned), others we didn't get to for a week, this is pretty great.
You can actually calculate your min cost, based on latency. Assuming a 5-day turnaround (i.e. from when you drop it in your box, to when they receive it and process it [typically within 24 hrs] and mail it back. We have around 2 day's travel each way), it's easy to figure out the min and most likely price.
Each 'slot' can cycle at most 30/turnaround_time, so for a 5-day turnaround that's 6 rentals a month. So the 2-DVD program at $15 is $1.25/CD (assuming you're rabid and watch each movie instantly!). 3-DVD at $21 is $1.66.
But that misses the point-- you're going for convenience and lifestyle. The main selling point isn't cost. It's a) no late fees, watch when you want and b) the Queue.
The Queue rules. You can list any movie you're interested in, and they just ship 'em in order. You can change the order at any time. Interested in Farscape episodes? Add 'em to your queue and you'll get them in order. Never got around to seeing "The Godfather"? Toss it in the queue. I'm up to 124 items in my queue, and anytime someone recommend a movie, I can add it (and prioritize it).
So I like Netflix. Alas, they do have aggressive email marketing-- not quite SPAM, but darn close. They partner with a lot of other sites so you sometimes get Netflix junk for unrelated reasons. This I hate, and it's the one thing that makes me feel guilty about using them. [If they started spoofing headers or such, I'd drop them in an instant. Right now, they're just being pushy.]
A.
Using 3-pass encoding with mencoder with preprocessing, you can fit about 2 hours on a 700MB-CDR with pretty good quality. It's nearly impossible to see a difference on a TV anyway.. .avi and the raw subtitle-stream (mplayer -dumpsub) together on a CD..
I use a 650MB-movie and that is enough to fit the
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Impressive-would multipass on DivX 5 have the same effect?
Netflix has had its ups and downs as far as availability is concerend but I am happy with them and I put my money where my mouth is (I am a subscriber of their $40/mo option).
I've noticed that movie availablility drops around Xmas time (gift certificates?) but last Xmas, they seemed to beef up their inventory quickly.
I often get newly released movies the week they are released.
Since they opened their distribution center in Tacoma, WA my turnaround times have dropped a couple days (I live in Portland, OR).
Jesus saves....And takes 1/2 damage.
Actually they have options that are cheapier and more expencive. My roommate and I have their 8DVD plan for only $40 per month (39.95) and that works perfect. We always have our 8DVD's at once, and in the 2 years I have personally been using them, the only bad thing is when the postman broke one of the DVD's. Netfilx was very understanding about that too... I strongly reccommend Netflix, and would advise to avoid any others as the only others I have tried sucked.
Erutangis ym si siht.
I don't get what you mean, but mencoder (part of mplayer) can use the official DivX 5 to encode, among the other options (ffmpeg/libavcodec, XViD etc).
.so/.dll-files from RP8.. Really cool! =)
On a sidenote, this week they added support for RealVideo/RealAudio G2/v8 to mplayer cvs, using two of the
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
I will happily jump on the,"I'm happy with Netflix," bandwagon. I see some posters saying that the number of movies per month doesn't work for them -- Netflix actually has quite a few different plans, 3 at a time for $20 is just the main one they push marketing-wise (no, I don't work for them/own stock):
Netflix Service Ultimate (8 out)
For the ultimate at-home selection of DVDs at an incredible value, choose our Ultimate Program. It lets you have 8 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $39.95.
Netflix Service Plus (5 out)
Ideal for members who want a larger selection of DVDs at home, our Plus Program lets you have 5 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $29.95.
Netflix Service Bonus (4 out)
With variety, value and an extra movie, our Bonus Program lets you have 4 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $24.95.
Netflix Service Standard (3 out)
Enjoyed by the majority of our members, our popular Standard Program lets you have 3 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $19.95.
Netflix Service Lite (2 out)
Affordable, convenient and perfect for the occasional renter, our Lite Program lets you have 2 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $13.95.
I use dvdovernight.com. I sometimes get real busy and wouldn't rent enough to make NetFlix worth it. The dvdovernight rentals end up being $3.50/each, after you get the 8th one free. They also have an Adult section, if you want to rent those.
I haven't had a problem receiving DVDs or sending them back. Though, I'm not sure why they are called dvdovernight when they aren't sent overnight.
Q: Do you ship internationally?
A: Netflix currently does not rent DVDs outside of the United States with the exception of Puerto Rico, FPO and APO addresses.
Video CD's use MPEG-1 compression, and most movies will usually fit on 2 cdroms. When shown on a TV, the quality is comparable to VHS, although there can be occasional (small) artifacts if there is sudden fast motion. Whilst the quality is obviously not as good as DVD, it is reasonably good.
I don't have experience with DiVX myself, but I expect that it should get better compression than MPEG-1. I don't find Per_Wigren's claims unreasonable.
Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
(IANAL) If they are billing your card, I'm pretty sure that they are obliged to provide the service that they billed you for.
Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
... but this is "news for nerds. stuff that matters"
I thought about using NetFlix for movie rental when they first "arrived" (pop-ups) but instead I looked around locally.
I found that the best place to get movies in fact isn't on-line and it's free.
I simply go down to my local library and get movies, nerdy ones for free and can re-new over the computer. If I am late at least on the return I know at least that my fee goes to the library.
"Pop" movies are there and better than ever DOCUMENTARIES
Of course I know I'm just lucky:
telnet://catalog.cincinnatilibrary.org/
Get your Unix fortune now!