Best Internet Movie Service?

Okay, rather than take up more space in the "Currently Watching" thread with my problems, I thought I'd send out a signal for help here.

Armed with my list of horror dvd's recommended by the connoisseurs here, I sallied forth into Okyland searching for titles to rent. Found out my local Blockbuster was gone. Went to a couple of big box electronics stores--buy only. Went to some smaller media joints--no selection....

So, I'm asking for recommendations for a good online source for renting dvds. I've heard of Netflix--is this the optimum? Is online the way to go, or should I drive further?(I'm in a rural area--about 30 miles from a big city)

I know you guys will have the facts at your fingertips so thanks in advance.

Blockbuster has a Netflix-esque service as well. I don't use either service, preferring "bricks and boxes" for the unfortunately rare times I get to rent a show, but that sort of attitude isn't going to do much for your situation. I think the economic angle is that your price per dvd can actually go up if you don't view that many shows during each month, since you've got a monthly service fee to cover. I haven't heard anything bad about either service, although I noticed last time I was in Blockbuster that a few releases (one or two being "major" releases) were prominently marked "Blockbuster Exclusive", which might speak to some distribution deals that could limit your selection a bit.

lots of people i know like and use netflix. while it probably is the best, i've subscribed to the blockbuster version since they first tested it a few years ago. i personally hate blockbuster and would never rent from them again, for many reasons the least of which is bad service. but my fiance likes them and i've managed to pull back the loathing somewhat thanks to the convience of getting 2 free in store rentals a month, and the more recent addition sure to piss off netflix even more is that now once you are done watching the from mail movies you can return them to the store, get another free movie, and they ship out your movie in your queue which means you don't have to wait for them to recieve it before they ship it out. all this boils down to lots of options and choices. if you don't have a blockbuster at all though i'd probably recommend netflix as i think they have a better movie selection and you wouldn't get all the perks from the blockbuster in-store stuff. monetarily i'm not sure if its worth it as sometimes we go awhile without watching much. but the biggest boon of online rentals are tv series episodes which normally cost a good hunk of money to aquire and can sometimes be difficult to get a hold of.

its taken over 2 years but we are almost through season 6 of star trek the next generation, which i hadn't watched in a decade--and she enjoys them most of the time

Thanks. I'll have to do some looking around and see if Blockbuster is actually completely gone, or if it's just relocated.

Now what I'm wondering is if getting cable would be about the same expense. My problem with cable is that you have little choice in the channel packages(to get three channels you'll actually watch, you have to pay for 60 home shopping/spanish soap opera channels) and that in my experience, they raise their rates as the whim seems to take them, and very frequently. It got really old paying for 300 stations and watching about 5 regularly, and still having plenty of times when there was absolutely nothing worth watching. Still, it's the only way you can get stuff like Spike Discovery, TCM, etc.

Time for some research and number crunching. Thanks for the help, dte and c.u.

I'm a big Netflix user now and I've stopped any brick and mortar local rentals.

There's a terrific website on this kind of service that I read regularly http://www.hackingnetflix.com/.

Blockbuster's service has cost them dearly. They've been scaling it back and even forcing unasked for changes on customers. I'm expecting Blockbuster to cancel the service in the next few months.

However, thanks to the increased competition its forced Netflix to reduce their prices and they now offer full movies for online streaming.

It comes in great but it requires IE or the IE tab for Firefox to work properly. Its a limited selection but its still pretty good and it saves you the wait time of the mail. They had at least two that were already in my queue when it launched.

I believe you can get a free trial for one month. They certainly have a larger selection than your brick and mortar store.

Oh..and its legal. I took the plunge after torent'g Lost for 3 weeks straight and realized I could have saved a lot of effort by doing the right thing in the first place.

Legal is good.
Actually, I checked the Netflix website and signed up for a two week free trial. All else being equal, will probably go with it. We can rent all the stuff my husband and I will realistically be wanting to watch in a month for $9.00, so it's definitely cheaper than springing for even basic cable. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't look too hard to back out of. And I like the idea of not having to wait in line or deal with mathematically challenged sales help.

I love Netflix. If your post office scans the mailers, then Netflix will recognize the movie as 'received' as soon as it is scanned. We have at times gotten a movie Tuesday, watched it Tuesday Night, put it in the mail Wednesday and had a new one Thursday!

The computer-watch is cool also - I have used that for a few things.

That's pretty speedy. They certainly have a selection that will take awhile to exhaust. I had a list a mile long in twenty minutes(Marx Brothers, Fort Apache, La Femme Nikita...the mind boggles...) I can see using the computer watch for something short, or maybe to sample something, too.

I'm looking forward to watching foreign films, chick flicks(great Ingrid Bergman and Bogey selection) and old Bette Davis and Joan Crawford movies while my more selective spouse is off at work. Then we can watch the gruesome movies on Sammy's list together when I don't have to cower under the bed alone clutching the shotgun afterwards.

the first two days I spent on it getting my queue in order and listing my favourites to create a decent recommended list.

Lately I've been ordering television series. I found they have Nowhere Man. I got into that just when I started watching Voyager. It only lasted two seasons but like anything good on Fox that's normal.

Roshomon is next on my queue.

I loved netflix, was a subscriber while in the states. They have a great selection, and not only the blockbuster stuff. Also the way its structured it keeps "movie nights" reasonably spaced, which was good for family life. I should really look around if there is a similar service over here now.