I was a NetFlix user for a year and a half and stopped subscribing because they didn't have the DVDs I wanted and of the ones they had, only 30 of the 160 DVDs in my queue had "available" status (and those were the 30 I least wanted to watch, of course).

So: Is GreenCine any good? Especially for someone who's into French, Bergman, HK and Japanese movies?

I did a search for "God of Gamblers" on NetFlix (using a friend's account), and got one hit: Anna Kournikova's Exercise video and on GreenCine I got two hits: "God of Gamblers" and "God of Gamblers II"....

I also did comparison searches on Ingmar Bergman and GreenCine had several more movies than NetFlix.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so shipping from GreenCine should be fast, right?

Thanks for any insight!
ps. I hope this doesn't turn into a NetFlix bashing thread. My friend is using NetFlix and is quite happy. It's just that he doesn't rent many Criterions and foreign films.

I did the free trial from Greencine and I was very pleased. The DVDs got here quickly after being shipped. They have a great selection, and the shipping turnaround is quick. I recommend them.

I also tried the free trial. My only complaint was the shipping times to Boston (they're in San Francisco). If you live there, I'd definitely say go for it.

My DVDs didn't get back in time for the free trial, so I actually had the service an additional month. They have a good selection and the movies I wanted were generally available (HK/Japanese, mainly). One DVD they sent me got lost in the mail, after a week it hadn't arrived so I told customer service and they were understanding and sent another DVD from my queue. In addition, after my first "real" month was up, a DVD hadn't gotten back to them yet, so my account rolled over another month. After the DVD got back to them a few days later I wrote to customer service again and asked them to cancel my account and refund my money (they charge for the upcoming month), which they happily did.

If I lived nearer to them I'd definitely use them.

skokefoe.

Sounds good!

So nobody here had any problems with GreenCine? I think I'll sign up then.

I guess you (Ghostface180) live in the Bay Area?

Cheers!

Edit: Found this:

Here are some more comments (negative this time):

I've been with them for two months and I'm very pleased. They have many titles that Netflix doesn't. I live in the Bay Area and 90% of the time it takes one day for DVDs to go each way; never more than two.

The only negative thing I can think of is their availability listings aren't specific at all. Netflix isn't very accurate, but at least they have a few different discriptions and they give you a general idea of what each means. The only one Greencine has is "Short Wait" and there is no explanation of it on the site. I've had Stalker at the top of my queue as a "Short Wait" ever since I signed up, and I'm not expecting it any time soon.

But that is a minor complaint. The majority of obscure titles I pick are available immediately, certainly much moreso than Netflix. There isn't a better rental option out there.

yeah, i'd agree with all of the comments above. i did the free trial. pretty good availability on the obscure and popular titles. shipping to the boston area is was really slow which is why i cancelled. but if you're closer (or better yet, in the bay area yourself), i'd recommend them.

-eric

Ok, I signed up for the free trial. Two hours after I signed up, the first three movies were shipped.
Out of 28 movies (18 Criterion) on my queue 3 have Short Wait, the rest are available. So far so good...

Have you tried contacting support? According to the forums at GreenCine, this can happen, but contacting support may help.

I'll try now. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm going to give the free trial shot, since I live in SF and shipping times might be pretty good.

I have a question though. Can you choose to have "breaks" in your membership and not subscribe for a couple of months? I'm a student, and there will be times when I won't feel like (or not have time) watching anything, and there will be months when I'm free and want to watch tons of movies. Would it be a hassle to pause my membership when I don't want to rent anything?

I asked exactly that in their "feedback" forum and got this response:

"post #3 on May 5, 2003 - 4:29 PM PST
interesting possibility -- we have to evaluate the feasibility of this (both business and tech wise), but it's something I'll put on the possible features board. We would rather not have members quit the service in a case like yours, Henrik.

best regards--

dennis!
Dennis Woo
Managing Partner, GreenCine
[email protected] "

They haven't done it yet, so I will have to close my account and then sign up again in a few months.
Send them an email and say that you will become a member if they implement this feature!

- Henrik

I signed up for the trial and while the customer service has been awesome, the shipping times reasonable, I'm really getting fed up when almost every title I have in my que is on "Long Wait".
My current que
Eraserhead-Long Wait
The Short Films of David Lynch-Long Wait
The Prisoner Disc 1-Short Wait
Children of Dune Disc 1-Long Wait
Texas Chainsaw Massacre-Long Wait
The Seventh Seal-Long Wait
Vertigo-Long Wait
The Manchurian Candidate-Long Wait
Dr. Strangelove-Short Wait
Time Bandits-Long Wait
City of Lost Children-Long Wait
Dune(Lynch version)-Long Wait
The Trigger Effect-Long Wait
Altered States-Available

Sure they have an awesome selection but what goes do it do when only one of the titles in mt que is actually available and the rest are all most "long wait". I'll probably do the 14.95 for two discs plan for a month, hoping that I can get eraserhead and the short films of lynch within that month but if not I'm definately not gonna stay with them.

I've just started with greencine recently, but have really been impressed with the selection and customer service. I'm in DC, and the discs usually take 2-3 days in the mail, which isn't half bad. Netflix would be a quicker turnaround, but I feel much better with greencine. Partly it feels good to support "the little guy" and partly it feels a bit more like greencine actually cares about the movies. (the $1/disc out monthly donation to film nonprofits is a nice touch too).

Maybe after a few more months I'll eat through a lot more of my queue and it'll seem like the wait times are unbearable, but so far I haven't really had any problems at all. I'd highly recommend greencine, especially to those on the west coast, but even on the east coast to people who like independent film/foreign film.

I've been a greencine member since December - excellent customer service. Ship times from California aren't the greatest, but they made a lot of efforts with the P.O. to stabilize them (generally 3 days to Michigan from CA). Yes, it is hard to cancel without emptying your queue, but if you email them, they will set it right (my fiancee had that problem). And even if the wait status is poor, put it in the top of your queue and you will most likely get it. Availability and whether it ships is based on how long you've been "in line", i.e., how long it's been in your queue, and what spot it's in. Some titles never become available, because there is always someone in line for it - or if it becomes available, someone puts in on top and it becomes not available.


Many people make the mistake of not putting a title up top unless it's listed as available (my fiancee did this for a while, used to Blockflix). Instead, put the waitlisted titles on top, and watch when one of them ships out to you! Leave the available stuff beneath the less-available stuff.

The most important thing about greencine is the customer service - they are friendly, helpful, and take care of business the way a company should - they really take the 'ol customer is #1 schtick to heart there.

And if they don't carry a niche title you want, email them and they will most likely order it for you.

I made a post about them recently in the Free DVD Rental Trial forum.

I, like other Boston residents, experienced a 6 day turnaround, (fairly long incomparison to the 2 other businesses I tried; Netflix and Film Caddy). They definitely have a lot more cult/indy/foreign stuff then the other online rental services but their inventory is quite small since all but 5 of my 30 queued movies were Long Wait.

Truth be told, unless you are heavily into independent stuff I'd stay with Netflix. I currently have 26 foreign/indy films in my queue and every single one of them is availible.