A big plus for BB is that they have the newer versions or SE's of movies as well as the original version. Netflix has a no upgrade policy, if I remember reading correctly.

I'll throw my hat into the ring and say Blockbuster was a better experience for me. I'm in Central Connecticut

Shipping to me: tie, both where equal (1 to 3 days)
Shipping to them: Blockbuster had an edge here (always 1-2 days)
Damaged discs: I had a serious problem with Netflix, I even had a replacement of a damage arrive damaged.
Selection: for what I was getting (mostly 60's, 70's stuff) both seemed the same.
Queue: Netflix would regularly skip my #1 selection even though it said available now.
Quitting: a-holes at netflix only give you 7 days to return movies, blockbuster gave me 20.
Price: BB $3 less + you get in store coupons


When I get back into the online rentals this fall/winter I am definitely going to blockbuster unless something drastic happens by then.

I'm ending another month of Blockbuster.com, and I noticed they're shipping me discs directly from the stores (or at least they're going back to the stores, I assume they're coming from the stores, as well).

The downside of Blockbuster to me is that their service is inconsistent, at least for me.

The shipping times are all over the map. With Netflix, it will occassionally take an extra day for a disc to reach me after being shipped. With Blockbuster, the time a disc takes to get to me after shipping is all over the map with very few discs arriving the day after shipping.

On the return end, it sometimes takes forever for Blockbuster to check in a returned disc. I've had discs take several months before they showed up as received. Thankfully, you can get around this by reporting the disc returned after only 3 days from the shipment date, but it's still odd.

The titles picked are often randomly taken from the queue. Several "available now" titles are often skipped when discs are being allocated to ship.

Despite the additional day I have to wait for Netflix to ship me anything, I like their service because it is consistent. I can depend on it and plan accordingly and the service makes logical sense to me. I'm able to get more discs with Blockbuster, but the uncertainty of the arrivals, etc. makes me prefer Netflix.

Plus, Netflix's website still works better, in my opinion.

I wish Netflix wouldn't throttle me, but if they feel they have to do it, at least they're consistent with it.

I just signed up for Blockbuster due to the free dvd and extended trial, and my god is it slow. that all falls back on location, though... I'll be switching back to netflix as soon as my free trial is up for blockbuster.

I've been reading the various Netflix vs. Blockbuster threads, and I'm considering starting with Netflix due to good comments I hear from other people in my area.

My main question about Netflix which was not discussed in detail in any of the threads I saw is how bad are the new release wait times?

I read that new subscribers in their 14-day trial can pretty much get anything they want immediately. If that's true, it would seem to indicate Netflix holds back some Tuesday rentals for new subscribers?

I also saw that depending on the number of previous month rentals and your profitability score, Netflix gives certain customers higher priority. In addition, it is apparently important to get your discs back on Monday if you want a Tuesday release (I don't know how people figure out how to time your returns perfectly except through lots of trial and error).

Assuming you didn't time your returns well or were an above average renter that Netflix gives a lower priority, what is the current typical wait on new releases? For instance, if you marked a new release movie as #1 priority the day after it was shipped out to everyone else (i.e. on Wednesday), is it possible to get the new release shipped to you within a month?

Why do I ask? Because I often buy new releases that sound interesting when there are specials or bonus DVDs, but I don't go to theaters so by definition I haven't watched any new releases before I buy them. Therefore, I need to be able to rent new releases within the 30 day return period to decide if I should keep or return the new release DVD I bought. The bottomline is I'd like to know if the timing I need is possible with Netflix. Thanks.

I've only been with BBO a short time, but in that limited time I've been very impressed with the service. Every title in my queue has been available, once reported as shipped I have received it the next day, and my returns have been logged as returned usually the day after I drop them in the mail with my next title listed as shipped that same day.

Maybe it's the combination of having a distribution center in my town (Las Vegas) and so far only using the service to catch up on some HBO/Showtime series I've been wanting to see(which I figure are not as in demand as new releases)...but I couldn't be any happier with the service. Top that off with two free in-store rentals, and BBO is golden so far.

Now if I actually get the Season 2 DVDs of Buffy that I was told I would receive thru a promo site I referenced...this BBO deal will be super hot!

I have a different question. Are the DVDs you get from Netflix or BB the same ones they sell in the stores or are they special copies made especially for NF/BB? Do they have the same special features on them as you buy in the stores? What about a 2 disc movie set...does that count for one of your three or is it two of the allowed three at a time?

I was on the BB website and it sounded like the Bonus discs were sent separately as another choice.

They're the same discs from what I've seen, minus the packaging.

BB sends multi discs sets as separate discs, UNLESS the movie is on 2 discs. For example, the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions have the movie over discs 1 and 2. Those discs would be sent together, so you can get the whole movie.

Extras-only discs are sent separately, and do count against your 3 total at one time.

This is apparently not universal. I've seen others talk about very long waits for new releases if they don't time it just right, but I am a heavy renter and even times I don't time my returns just right, I usually can get new releases by the end of the week of release (the next week at the latest).

Netflix definitely has their own versions of some titles, especially the TV series. If a series comes on dual-sided discs, then netflix tends to have their own single-sided version of these discs. They sometimes will do this with films as well (Secondhand Lions comes to mind). I am not a member of Blockbuster, but from what I can tell from their website, it looks like they do not do this, they send you the double-sided discs. So it'll take you twice as long to rent some series fron netflix as it will from Blockbuster.

Both sites offer the any bonus discs as separate items, which makes sense since not everyone is interested in the bonus marterials discs. They usually do not pull extras from the main disc and put them on a new sep disc, (except Netflix occasionaly does this when the disc is dual-sided), they merely offer the bonus discs that are part of the retail release.

To start things off, I am with Netflix and Blockbuster and I have 8 out at a time with both.

In the last 90 day, I have had 9 damaged discs sent from Netflix. I have had 3 from Blockbuster.

I have made an excel spreadsheet that I can track how many movies I get each month. I am obviously a heavy user and have been with Netflix since April 2002 and there is no slowdown.

I joined Blockbuster in April and during that time I changed from 3 to 8 out at a time so right now I can only compare the two services for May.

I live in southern Oregon and both distribution centers are in northern Oregon, one being Salem and the other Portland.

So how many dvds did I get from each service last month?

Netflix: 34
Blockbuster: 66

Right now I have 50 movies left with Netflix that Blockbuster doesn't have and as soon as I am done I plan on cancelling.

I hate Blockbuster a lot, but when I can get double the movies for cheaper, I'll put aside my hatred for the time being until another service can compete.

Wow, a potential of 16 disks at one time!!!
You must live in front of your TV 24/7.

I work master control at a television station by myself so I have to do something to stay awake because watching the news all night doesn't excite me all that much.

Netlfix usually gets spread out through the week and I get a big pile from Blockbuster on Monday with a couple more on Tuesday and then the same thing happens again at the end of the week.

Blockbuster has been much faster lately

Day1: Ship DVD back
Day2: DVD arrives, next disc ships
Day3: New DVD arrives....sometimes Day4.

3-4 day turnaround is GREAT

I'm also w/ both now (both on the "3" plan) and so far what I've found:

- Netflix is still the better of the two IMHO; the selection is better, the queue actually works (see below) and the turn around time hasn't been that bad (usually same or next day). The main problem w/ Netflix is getting new releases in a timely manner. Even if I try to time it properly I rarely seem to get new DVDs during release week anymore :(

- Blockbuster is better about getting out new releases to me and the coupons (which I usually use for games) are a nice touch. Also BB will "flip" DVDs on Sat whereas Netflix doesn't anymore (they used too when I first started w/ them). The main problem I've been having w/ BB so far is the queue software SUCKS. Several times now I've had it skip over titles further up in the queue that are "available now" and select ones further down. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact it usually happens w/ series (DS9 for example) and they end up getting sent out of sequence. Additionally when you add a series of DVDs to your queue they move as a group (renumber the first one and the rest of them follow in sequence). The only way you can move individual titles around is to add each DVD individually.

In order for this comparison to have significant meaning, it would be useful to take in account the 'at home' time and purely evaluate the transit/processing time. Am I correct in assuming since you watch 100 movies a month you watch what you receive that day and you return the next day or do you have a back log? A backlog could skew the turnaround time and thus the total number of discs from one service/ month.

I figured someone would ask this as I remembered it after I made my post but didn't get around to adding it.

At the latest, movies are returned the day after I get them. At this point I make it a point to get rid of Netflix first which means I get them out the same day unless I get a lot from them.

Also, the time between they send and I get them is always scheduled for 3 days.

The reason I get so many more movies from Blockbuster is that the 3rd day after the movie has been shipped, I can report the dvd as being sent back but Blockbuster hasn't taken it off my queue.

With Netflix, it is 7 business days which even then I still report it about once a week.

I tried reporting the movie as not getting to me with Netflix but that ended up getting my account put on hold for a couple of days until a couple movies went back.

And that is my report.

Just one more thing, I can't stand trying to change the order of movies in my queue with Blockbuster. I have given up on trying because its such a pain.

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I used both services for a couple of months and have to say Netflix is far superior. When I was a 3 rentals a month my service was slow but I upped it to 5 at a time and its' been nice ever sinve. The only problem is when you rent a tv on dvd they usually take a little longer to come, and they are not open on Saturdays. Otherwise it's been great.

Blockbuster on the other hand, has taken up to a week to clear a dvd from my que. I have recieved more wrong disk and unplayable disk with Blockbuster in the 2 months I had them then the 4 years I was with Netflix. The 2 in store coupons are nice, but not enough for me to stay with them. Also I live in Milwaukee, WI I have had my dvd's swithed to 4 different hubs, and they seem to get worse and worse. Right now I'm out of Lansing, MI and I have had to wait almost 5 days to get a dvd. After this month I'll be canceling Blockbuster, the couple of titles that Blockbuster has that Netflix doesn't, doesn't outweight the crapiness of their service. Also BB has skipped available now and gone for one's lower on my que. I have 3 different tv on dvd series going currently, which really sucks, have the time I forget what I saw. I figure why bother messing with the crappy que, if they are going to send whatever they want anyway.

I guess you'll always get what you pay for.

I have the same problem, the dvd's go where ever they want. I use Safari and that never works so I have to load IE, and it still doesn't put the dvd's that I want in the order that I want. Like I tried forever to get Black Christmas at the top of my que, never happened its sitting at number 4 now for 2 months, just never moves.

Also the wait on the stuff with BB is unbelieveable 90% of my Que which is about 140 titles is either short wait and long wait.

I'm going to stop mentioning how my Netflix service works on message boards as it seems to get worse right after I do so.

For example, until this week, I always got the new release listed at the top of my queue if I had a return get to Netflix on Monday. Now they skip over the new releases.

I guess despite cutting my number of rentals significantly, I've fallen into an even lower level of service.

BBV has been great. I got the one year free package and everything comes quicker than Netflix sent them out. I also get to have two B & M rentals.

Unless Netflix gives me a few months for free, I'm staying with BBV. BBV has better service, faster shipping times, two free B & M rentals and it cost less.

I haven't signed up with either, but I plan to start a 3-out Netflix or BB in the next couple months. Even the local BB drone suggested signing up online because they have such poor inventory of catalog titles. For instance, they don't have recent releases like "Elvis by the Presleys". If everyone signed up online, then they might as well shut down their B&M stores so I was surprised they were encouraging people to stop coming into the store.

The most prevalent complaint I read against Netflix is the difficulty getting new releases (and slowness if you don't live near a hub or throttling back people who rent a lot). I live 30 miles from a hub, so hopefully it would be fast for me.

I believe Big Dan and a couple others have said it's usually possible to get a new release (even if you time your returns poorly) within a week or two of release. I could live with that if it's always true. Has anyone ever had a new release near the top of your queue take more than 3 weeks to ship?

I read that Netflix has a bigger selection of catalog titles, but they only carry the 1st edition of most DVDs (i.e. no Special Editions even though I see the new LBX SE of The Karate Kid on their page so that rule must not be 100%). By contrast, I read that BB carries many Special Editions, but they have a smaller selection of catalog titles. Since Netflix is now selling used DVDs, I hope they aren't trying to thin down their catalog title selection too much.

For someone who wants to get new releases within a couple weeks, wants a big selection of catalog titles, and wants Special Editions and Ultimate Editions when titles are re-released, it seems like neither Netflix or BB alone is sufficient. It would almost seem like you have to use Netflix for the obscure catalog titles and BB for the SE and UE re-releases, perhaps switching back and forth every few months?

One other thing. I have used the Browse option on Netflix many times to see what they have. I have never seen any "bonus" or "extras" DVDs listed. Is the reason for that you must be a member and logged in to see anything besides whether they have a movie?

I assume whenever a Netflix Browse search shows the movie, this means they actually carry it as a rental? (In other words, it's not a tease like a BB B&M store where you could find the new cover for the Karate Kid LBX SE only to find out that every single rental copy they have is the old P&S version. When I asked about this, they never could explain how they got covers for new editions they said they never carried. "We get whatever they decide to send us" is the typical BB response.)

Has anyone seen or compiled a list of which TV series come on flippers that Netflix has decided to rent as individual sides (which sounds like Netflix is requesting special pressings just for themselves)?

Another potentially bad Netflix thing that has apparently just started:

Used to, if a disc was shipped from an alternate shipping center, the customer still returned the disc to their normal shipping center. So even though the transit time to the customer was longer, the transit time back to Netflix from the customer was the same as if the disc had shipped from the normal shipping center.

Today, I received a disc that was shipped from Maryland and the return address is to Maryland. So, getting the disc took three mailing days, and I assume returning it will mean three mailing days, as well, rather than the one mailing day it normally takes to get a disc from me to my normal shipping center.

I hate BB b&m but have been very impressed with BBO service, and the coupons come in handy as well.