Netflix or Blockbuster?
 

Which rental service would you guys recommend? At the moment Im leaning towards Blockbuster because of the lower price and the 2 free rentals in store but would like to hear some opinions if anyone has tried both. Any feedback would be appreciated.

blockbuster was much, much slower than netflix in my case. might depend on your location.

It'll probably be based on two things:

1. What are you planning on renting?
2. How close are you to distribution centers?

Netflix has a larger selection, and is more likely to carry obscure/indie films. And the answer to #2 will impact how quickly you get your discs and they get your returns. Even a day delay will add up to a lot of rentals over time, so that isn't trivial.

I'd suggest doing a trial with each one, since both are cheap (free?) for an initial trial.

Me? I'm a big fan of Netflix.

Netflix.

I had Netflix for about a year. Then the service got ungodly slow and they would frequently send me the wrong disc. I canceled and started Blockbuster. So far it's been nice other then the fact that almost all the discs I want are either "Short Wait" or "Very Long Wait". Both suck IMO, but Blockbuster is the lesser of the two evils since you get two in store rentals. Not that I have a Blockbuster within 50 miles of here, but it's the thought that counts.

I've tried both and Netflix is more faster and reliable. Problem is that netflix has been kinda crappy for me the last month or two, though it's recovering slightly. I would've said netflix hands down a couple months ago. Now I'll still say netflix, but not by much. You should check where the distribution centers are in your area. There's a list floating around the web somewhere, but I don't know how updated it is though. I do recall that Blockbuster had a ton more wait-listed movies when I tried it, but that was when they were still in beta stage.

I usually recommend Netflix, I've been using them since '99, but recently the service has been very spotty. Sometimes extra days will be tacked on for the turn around w/ little explaination, and emails asking what's going on go unanswered.

netflix. ive been getting great service lately but even when they do get slow it doesnt take more than 2 and very rarely 3 days to get my rentals.

Ive done both in the past year and Blockbuster has my business right now... much faster shipping to my place and better customer service so far. Plus all the extras u can get such as rental coupons and 20% off DVD coupons each month.

Blockbuster by far.

It's cheap, only 14.99
Turn around times are good
two free instore rentals
more choices on unrated, etc.
widescreen movies
also, they gets lots of collectors sets, i.e. Raging Bull S.E.

The two in store rentals are the kicker for me. That adds up to $13 by itself (use them on games).

Yeah, me too... i love those rental coupons. The 20% off any DVD is good too, i use it on box sets.

It depends on how close you live to a distribution center. In Madison, WI the Netflix service is MUCH, MUCH faster than Blockbuster (there is a Netflix distribution center in town, while Blockbuster's closest is in Minnesota).

During my Blockbuster trial, I was getting 2 turn-arounds with Netflix for every Blockbuster turn-around.

My thoughts exactly, Im located in NY so I figure with both companies the turn around time should be about the same. But the thing is I have a whole chain of Blockbusters within a two mile radius/walking distance so the two free rentals a month did it for me, gonna try out Blockbuster first then maybe Netflix. Anyone know if the DVDs would be shipping from a local Blockbuster or a specific distribution center as mentioned earlier?

Same here - Netflix blows away Blockbuster for me which blew away WalMart which just plain sucked in delivery times.

There is no way anyone is more evil than Blockbuster.

The Netflix guys came up with the idea. I think they should profit from it.

Blockbuster's just jumping on because they feel threatened, and because they'd like to control this aspect of the rental market as well. I'm not an anti-capitalist or anything, but this seems like something Teddy Roosevelt and his trustbusters need to resurrect themselves to deal with this.

Netflix can vary in quality--when we were in Oregon, service was very, very, fast, but now in Indiana, it's slower. Still, I feel good about the company, and am glad to see that they stock pretty much everything I've ever thought to look for.

As a Film Studies Prof, I look for some pretty unusual stuff.

A good company. They deserve to succeed.

Blockbuster online by far.

Better selection, price, comparable delivery time, 2 in-store rentals. 'nuff said.

I've had the same thing happening to me lately. I decided to cancel Netflix and switch over to Blockbuster for a couple months. Hopefully, I'll be treated with the service of a "new customer" when I switch back.

Yea my netflix turnaround has been slower than before. Before I'd send Monday, they'd get them Tuesday, new discs by Wednesday

Netflix distribution centers:

Atlanta, GA (Duluth)
Baton Rouge, LA
Boston, MA (Worcester)
Chicago, IL
Cleveland, OH
Columbia, SC
Dallas, TX (Coppell)
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI (Lansing)
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Greensboro, NC
Honolulu, HI
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
Lakeland, FL
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA (Santa Ana)
Louisville, KY
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY (Flushing)
Newark, NJ (New Brunswick)
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Phoenix, AZ (Tempe)
Portland, OR (Salem)
Rochester, NY
Saint Louis, MO
San Jose, CA
Seattle, WA (Tacoma)
Washington, DC (Gaithersburg, MD)

I use Blockbuster, and I get movies turned over quick, so I go through about 15/month plus the two in-store. I have about 100 DVDs in my cue and probably 2/3 of those are short wait or long wait.

I may go for the Netflix free trial month sometime and see how they do. If turnaround time is better, or if more is available, that would negate the 2 in-store rentals from BB...though it is cool to use them for games sometimes, and it's also nice to be able to just grab a movie for the weekend if nothing comes in the mail.

Blockbuster is the reason that Netflix now costs <$18 vs. $22. Competition is a very good thing for consumers.

Netflix has been horribly slow for me the last month. I'm frankly shocked that they have gone downhill this fast.

Anyone here have any problems logging into Blockbuster.com? Im not too impressed with their service so far.. I tried to open an account last night and it wouldnt accept my credit card, I had to wait 3 hours to try again before it went through. Then I couldnt access the site for a couple of hours after, it said site was down for maintanence. Finally I was able to log on and add a few dvds to my queue last night. Now Im trying to check the status on when they will ship but I keep getting the logon screen, I login wait and wait and wait for the page to load just to get the friggin login screen again. Forget about turn around times, I can barely even login to the site! And of course in this hi-tech day and age of convenience I cant even find a phone number to call to speak to a human -ohbfrank-

I've done both and am currently using Netflix. Turn around time for me is 2 days, while Blockbuster was 4 (Walmart was a week!). Also, maybe it's just the movies I was looking for, but Blockbuster doesn't seem to have the selection Netflix does.