Review: Online DVD Rentals
Jan. 16, 2001 -- Across America, video stores laugh at us DVD owners. They trounce upon the very format we have grown to love. They spit on the shiny silver discs that have brought a new dimension to home theater.
They do this by keeping a pathetic selection of DVDs in stock, a selection so teeny-tiny that they are often shelved in alphabetical order, not even divided into categories — probably because a sign saying "SCIENCE FICTION" would take up more room than their entire selection of sci-fi DVDs.
Adding insult to injury, they stock only one of each title, maybe a handful for new releases. The result: When you get to the store, the only DVD available is Battlefield Earth.
Is this the proper respect for a format that is now outselling VHS tapes? According to an industry study cited in The Hollywood Reporter, DVDs generated $4.6 billion in sales for 2001, while VHS sales hit $3.8 billion.
Recent attempts by some video rental chains to boost DVD shelf space still fall short for the legions of DVD-player owners, especially when it comes to backlist titles. Fortunately, online rental companies are trying to pick up the slack.
Speed: Not Just a Film Title
The two biggest — Netflix and Rentmydvd — both offer similar plans: pay a monthly fee, keep a set number of DVDs at home as long as you want. No late fees. Huge selection.
When you return a DVD, they send you another from a list you create on their Web site.
This is where Rentmydvd.com holds a solid advantage: It is wicked fast. The company has a distribution center on each coast, allowing folks in the New York and San Francisco areas to get their DVDs in a day, maybe two.
Return the DVDs you rented over the weekend on Monday, and the replacements will arrive well in time for the weekend.
Netflix, by contrast, appears to have its rental center on Uranus. Return your DVDs on Monday, and you'll get your new movies in time for the weekend — provided it's not the coming weekend.
The Interactive Video Store
On the other hand, Netflix has a snazzier, faster, more intuitive homepage. It is also more community-oriented, allowing its users to review movies.
Rentmydvd gives you its own star rating for each movie, which may be fine for some. But Netflix goes much further, telling you how its members rated a given movie, then breaking it down further, showing how members with tastes similar to yours — based on your own ratings of similar movies — ranked a film.
So, while Rentmydvd will tell me that it has given The Texas Chainsaw Massacre four (out of five) stars, Netflix will tell me that its members have given it an average of 2.8 stars (also out of five), but members like me have given it 3.8 stars.
This tells me that not only do I have better taste than most of their users, but if I hadn't seen it yet that I am more inclined to enjoy it over, say, Message in a Bottle, which got a 3.2 overall, but only a 2.4 from users like me.
Using this same technique, Netflix creates a customized list of recommendations.
However, there are flaws in this system. For example, Netflix suggests that I may enjoy Alien: Resurrection, when in fact an elbow in the gut would be more enjoyable (and quicker).
Customer Disservice?
Unfortunately, both companies fall flat in the customer service area.
Netflix does everything they can to keep you from sending them e-mail. When you finally do get to the e-mail form, the spot where the "send" button would normally be is replaced by a huge button with the vague phrase "customer service center."
This is actually a "back" button, and does not send your message. The "send" button is to the left — exactly where the "back" button — clearly labeled as such — was on all previous pages.
However, once you've figured out how to send them an e-mail, at least they answer them. A message sent to Rentmydvd.com on July 9 has gone unanswered as of Aug. 1.
Can't decide? While both have great selections and comparable prices, Netflix may be frustrating since it has Speed but lacks speed.
On the other hand, at Rentmydvd, finding the the right movie — or getting an answer from their customer service department — could leave you feeling Cast Away. Rentmydvd offers three plans: For $13.95, you keep two DVDs at a time. $23.95 gets you four, and $49.95 lets you keep 10. Netflix also has a two-DVD plan for $13.95, a three-DVD plan for $19.95, four flicks for $24.95, five for $29.95 and eight DVDs for $39.95. See Web links (above, right) for URLs.