34 replies to this topic

[Triton]

I was curious what people's experience has been with the Netflix on-line DVD rental service since I am seriously considering joining. Has your experience been positive? Negative? Would you recommend it to others? Are you sorry you joined? Do they ship movies in a reasonable amount of time? Are the titles you want to watch in stock?

[zencat]

I LOVE Netflix! I LIVE for Netflix! Netfilx has changed my rental LIFE!

Seriously, it works.

[Genrewriter]

So I guess you don't like it, eh?

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

I was curious what people's experience has been with the Netflix on-line DVD rental service since I am seriously considering joining. Has your experience been positive? Negative? Would you recommend it to others? Are you sorry you joined? Do they ship movies in a reasonable amount of time? Are the titles you want to watch in stock?

To answer your questions: yes, it's postive not negative, yes, no, yes, and they defintely have the films you want to watch. Gigli was the film I saw recently, made me wanna cancel my subscription. Seriously, it's worth it!

[zencat]

Turn around time is also VERY fast. I don't know if it's the area I live in, but I get my movies usually within 24 hours (before the delivery estimate). And my movies get back to them in a day. I can usually watch a few movies during the week and still get movies for the weekend. The only drawback is they don't seem to work on weekends, so if you return something on Friday it won't process (and you won't get you new movie shipped) until Monday. Selection is great, they even have TV series and documentaries. I've rented hundreds of movies, and my "queue" is still 158 movies long. Watching Barbarella at the moment, which is the great thing about Netfilx. I get movies

[ChandlerBing]

I used to get all of my soft core pørn from them.

[Triton]

Thanks zencat and SPECTRE_ASSASSIN for your responses.

[zencat]

One tip, when there is a major new release, keep it at the top of your queue, even though it shows as not being released. It will ship a few days in advance of it's street date, and if its at the top of your list, you'll get it the day of release. If not, it takes a while to get off the "short wait" list.

[Athena007]

Trition... get Netflix. It's awesome.
I like to get into ZenCat's account and rent my own stuff

[ChandlerBing]

Also, Netflix claims to have over 10,000 titles in stock, but that doesn't mean everything is there. Don't get too upset when you can't find Volume One of The Further Adventures of Connie Lingus, or any other obscure title out on the market.

[Johnboy007]

My parents and I have been considering NetFlix for a long time, since we always get hit with enormous late fees, and our OnDemand feature is never up to date with new releases.

I can't figure out why they haven't subscribed yet,

[zencat]

My parents and I have been considering NetFlix for a long time, since we always get hit with enormous late fees, and our OnDemand feature is never up to date with new releases.

I can't figure out why they haven't subscribed yet,

Do it. The "watch it whenever you want" aspect is one of its best features.

[Triton]

Also, Netflix claims to have over 10,000 titles in stock, but that doesn't mean everything is there. Don't get too upset when you can't find Volume One of The Further Adventures of Connie Lingus, or any other obscure title out on the market.

Does that mean that they don't really have over 18,000 titles or does that mean that you may have to wait a while to get your request because they may not have many copies?

[Athena007]

Mo, they have as many dvd's as they claim to have... it's just that once in a while if you'll looking for something really obscure you might not find it. But you know, there's hell of a lot of DVDs there

[zencat]

My Netfilx rental history (I joined in March '03).

Barbarella (1968)
Coffy (1973)
Charade (1963)
Morvern Callar (2002)
The Order (2003)
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
Someone Like You (2001)
Walking Tall (1973)
The Matrix: Revolutions (2003)
Radioland Murders (1994)
Johnny English (2003)
Shattered Glass (2003)
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Eegah! (1996)
SpaceCamp (1986)
A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)
Cabin Fever (2003)
Cold Creek Manor (2003)
Runaway Jury (2003)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Looney Tunes: Back in Action: The Movie (2003)
Heathers (1989)
Road Trip: Unrated Edition (2000)
The Million Dollar Hotel (2001)
Bowling for Columbine: Special Edition (2002)
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2003)
Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Underworld (2003)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Pushing Tin (1999)
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
Rat Race (2001)
Catch 22 (1970)
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
28 Days Later (2002)
Better Off Dead (1985)
Dillinger (1973)
e-Dreams (2002)
The Lonely Guy (1984)
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell (1995)
Spider (2003)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
View From the Top (2003)
Kate & Leopold (2001)
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Steve Martin (200
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
Willard (2003)
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black P
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Special Edition
L. A. Story (1991)
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (1971)
The Italian Job (2003) (2003)
American Psycho: Unrated Version (2000)
White Oleander (2002)
Equilibrium (2002)
Plunkett & Macleane (1999)
Dracula II: Ascension (2003)
Croupier (1998)
Drop Dead Fred (1991)
Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Happenstance (2000)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
The Experiment (2001)
Solaris (2002)
Down With Love (2003)
Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Max (2002)
Rebel Without A Cause: Special Edition (1955)
Shanghai Knights (2003)
Blood For Dracula: Criterion Collection (1974)
Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)
Dead Calm (1989)
Fathom (1967)
Badlands (1973)
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
Easy Rider (1969)
The Guru (2003)
Wag The Dog: Platinum Edition (1997)
Empire Records (1995)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Kurt & Courtney (1998)
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995)
Femme Fatale (2002)
The Whole Wide World (1996)
Ciao! Manhattan (1973)
Breaking the Waves (1996)
May (2003)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
And Justice For All (1979)
Quest for the True Cross (2002)
Return to Snowy River (1988)
High Fidelity (2000)
Finding Forrester (2000)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
One Day in September (1999)
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Jason X (2002)
Lenny (1974)
The Man from Snowy River (1982)
The Conversation (1974)
The Shining (1980)
Network (1976)
Equus (1977)
Deliverance (1972)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Pleasantville: Platinum Edition (1998)
Serpico (1973)
The New Guy (2001)
Blue Crush (2002)
Detour (1945)
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
The Tailor of Panama (2001)
Beguiled (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Far from Heaven (2002)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Girlfight (2000)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Zoolander (2001)
The Center of the World (2001)
Mummy (Documentary) (1999)
Nashville: Special Edition (1975)
Trainspotting (1995)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Marathon Man (1976)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Sorcerer (1977)
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Wall Street (1987)
Chasing Amy (1997)
The Good Girl (2002)
The Stepford Wives (1975)
Clerks: Collector's Series (1994)
Straw Dogs (1971)
Klute (1971)
The Cotton Club (1984)
The French Connection II (1975)
The French Connection (1971)
Flesh For Frankenstein: Criterion Collection (1973)
Making the Misfits (2001)
Blow (2001)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Bring It On (2000)
The Cat's Meow: Special Edition (2002)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)

[Bond111]

Wow, that's some list. I'm also seriously considering joining Netflix. zencat has just convinced me.

[trs007]

NETFLIX is awesome and incredibly quick turn-around time. 348 titles in the queue and 3 DVDs at the house right now with 2 due to ship on Monday (we're in the 5 at a time plan). I never go to the video store since Netflix. Been a member just under a year now and love it.

[zencat]

NETFLIX is awesome and incredibly quick turn-around time. 348 titles in the queue and 3 DVDs at the house right now with 2 due to ship on Monday (we're in the 5 at a time plan). I never go to the video store since Netflix. Been a member just under a year now and love it.

Athena and I have been discussing moving up to the five movie plan. Then I can have more of "my" movies at home to watch during the week and still have on hand at least 2 "weekend" movies that we both want to see. Yes, may need to do this.

[Triton]

Do they sell your name for advertising and have you gotten more junk mail since joining?

[trs007]

I have not. The only emails I get from them are received and shipping emails.

[Genrewriter]

This is certainly worth looking into.

[Loomis]

I don't know. I like wandering round video stores, browsing the shelves, having long-forgotten films jump out at me, making me think "Hey, I'd love to see that again!", or "You know what? I've still never seen that one!", picking up the boxes.... for a movie geek, there's nothing better - it's like you're in a temple, or something.

I read an interview with Tarantino recently in which he said that the only bad thing about being famous was that he could no longer go and haunt his favourite video stores without people coming up to him, pestering him and ruining the experience.

I only buy films on DVD these days, but there's still a certain something about renting tapes.

[Triton]

It gets far too expensive to buy every film you want to see on DVD, especially if you only watch the film once to satisfy your interest. Then you have to worry about storing the Amaray some place.

The Blockbuster and the Hollywood video rental stores in my area also don't tend to stock the foreign, classic, or cult films that I would like to see.

So Netflix has great appeal to me because they actually stock titles that I am interested in seeing.

[ChandlerBing]

I liked Netflix when I had it because you can check out those DVDs they re-release with commentary and special features, that you don't want to spend 20-25$ just to see.

[Righty007]

I love Netflix! I've been a member since June 2006 and have had no problems with it.

[zencat]

Three years later and I still love it. I'm currently working may way through all The Thin Man movies(watching the last film, Song of the Thin Man, right now, and I just added the Thin Man bonus disc with documentary to my queue).

Athena and I both traded in the vast majority of the DVDs we own. Who needs 'em? Netflix is how we watch movies. In fact, when we see a trailer for a movie we might want to see, we automatically add it to our Netflix queue. Unless it's something very special, forget the theater. A few months go by and there's the movie in our mailbox.

Netflix is now how I see movies.

(Ha, I just checked and Casino Royale is already available to reserve on Netflix.)

[Harmsway]

I love Netflix, but it would never stop me from collecting my own DVDs or seeing a lot of movies in the theatre. Firstly, I love owning films and being able to watch them at my every whim, which Netflix cannot accomodate, and secondly, I love the movie theatre experience.

But still, Netflix rocks.

[Loomis]

Athena and I both traded in the vast majority of the DVDs we own. Who needs 'em?

Funnily enough, I did the same thing recently, although I didn't get much for them - little seems to depreciate like DVDs. I still own a few dozen, and there are certain films I'd never get rid of (favourite franchises like Bond, Bourne and Rocky, and various all-time cinema classics), but I no longer feel the need to collect in the way I used to; there was a time when merely a vague liking for a film would be enough for me to buy it. Perhaps I'm getting old.

Mind you, there are some things that are turning me off buying DVDs with my former enthusiasm, and I suspect that they're annoying many others. In no particular order, there's the regional coding thing - yeah, I know about region-free players, but to my mind a DVD should be like a compact disc: you buy it in Paris (or wherever), take it home to Sydney, and can also listen to it on holiday in Jamaica.

Then there's the eternal double- (or triple-)dipping scam (yeah, I know this is a bit rich from someone who's just shelled out for all the Bonds yet again ). Why buy a DVD when you know that, in just a few months' time, they'll be bringing it out again in the version they should have put on the market in the first place? OTOH, who needs everything being a two-disc set practically the whole time? 99.9% of so-called special features ain't worth squat.

And, of course, there's the prices. As well as the suspicion that, before too long, HD-DVD or whatever super-duper technological innovation will be foisted on the marketplace will make one's DVD collection obsolete.

[00GoldenEye]

I have liked The Idea of being able to rent DVDs, with out going to the local video store to find something you might of had your eye on, but is no there.
I'v enjoyed going to my P.O. Box, and finding The DVDs, plus is good to have in hand when,my next door neighbor "beats" me to a DVD, but I show my "Ace in the hole".
The only is I haven't used Netflix, but must The same just different name, and styl.

[Johnboy007]

We use Netflix every once in a while, but ordering something off of the TV is just more convenient. That or it's something I'd like to keep around to watch when I want (Star Trek, CSI, House, Lost).

Nothing beyond that interests me much these days anyway.