 Introduction |
How it works |
The future |
Services |
How they stack up |
Is the demise of Meteor an omen for the future of DVD mailing services? I wouldn't bet on it. In the US, Blockbuster has already jumped on the bandwagon with a service of its own. Amazon UK now offers the option of renting select DVDs by mail.
In any case, I know of quite a few people who have joined a DVD mailing service recently and seem to be very happy with the system.
Let's take a look at how the current national competition stacks up. I asked Homescreen, Quickflix, and BigPond Movieseach the same questions, including "How many titles do you have in your catalogue?" and "How big is your support staff?".
I also created my own list of "essential" movies (focusing a bit more on the obscure titles) in order to see if any of the different services had a noticeably broader catalogue.
(There are other regional providers of this service, but I have concentrated here on those who operate nationally.) Here are the results:
| DVD title | BigPondMovies | Homescreen | Quickflix |
| The Party (Peter Sellers) | No | No | Yes |
| The Brothers McMullen (Ed Burns) | Yes | No | No |
| Capricorn One (James Brolin) | Yes | Yes | No |
| The Long Goodbye (Altman version) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tender Mercies (Robert Duvall) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tender Loving Care (interactive) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hercules in New York (no, don't rent it) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Waking Life (Richard Linklater) | No | No | Yes |
| Classic Albums - Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life | No | Yes | No |
Tested: July 6, 2005
Many more movies were put to the test, but when they appeared in all three inventories, or none of the three, they were removed from this table.
None of them, for example, had excellent films like The Straight Story, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Stranger than Paradise, The Last Wave, Bad Day at Black Rock or Stop Making Sense.
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Nicky
11/07/2005 06:21 PM
I have been a member of online dvd rentals for a little less than 2 years...I started with FetchMe Movies, which was fine at the beginning, but the decline I noticed in the degradation of the discs once this service became Bigpond Movies was simply tragic. I am now with HomeScreen and I LOVE THEM...I'll never go back...the thought of standing in front of a rack at in a video store with multitudes of movie covers in front of me just pains me...I need the search functions available in order to pick which movie I want to watch. :) nicky
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Anonymous
13/07/2005 02:25 PM
In your article 'Change of Heart: 3 DVD rental services reviewed', you failed to mention (or perhaps it was not applicable at the time your article was written) the maximum number of DVD's that each service provides per month as part of its monthly charge. Bigpond Movies, for example, charges $4 for each DVD sent out after the allowed amount (which ranges from 4 to 30). It would have also been worth mentioning that Quickflix also imposes such a cap, but as an optional discount plan, unlike Bigpond Movies which imposes a cap on every plan. I should think that the number of rentals included in the fixed monthly fee play an important part in choosing which service to subscribe to.
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Anonymous
14/07/2005 07:10 PM
I used Bigpond Movies for around 6 months. The first 2 months they were really efficient and quick with their deliveries but after that slowed down quite noticeably. I wouldnt go back to Bigpond
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tirryb
01/08/2005 04:10 PM
I was a member of bigpondmovies (formerly fetchmemovies) for several months before stopping membership. The main reason was timing. Movies would turn on early or mid week, and I'd watch them, returning them the next day. Most weeks I wouldn't receive the next movie on the Friday, so I'd end up spending all weekend with nothing to watch, desperately trying not to go to the video store and spend even more. Then on Monday the movies would turn up, and I'd either watch them and be back in the cycle, or spend the whole week looking at the box and ignoring them - but worrying about not getting value out of the membership. In my opinion all of these services offer the same price 'at best' that you get from the local store, and that's if you watch and return slavishly. If you only want to watch a movie or two each weekend, you often seem to pay more. You gain the convenience of not walking to the store, but lose the convenience of immediacy. To me - unless you're watching an endless stream of movies and happy to pay - that means it has to offer good value as well.
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Anonymous
15/09/2005 10:27 PM
I have tried Big Pond, Quickflix & Homescreen each for about six months at varying times. Big Pond when they were GoFetch Movies were good but went downhill when they became Big Pond. They were a bit slow sending movies. Quickflix when i first tried them , before they expanded from WA were fantastic and very prompt but I found later on some of the more obscure choices would remain on my wish list for 4 -6 months and never be filled. I was told excuses until one staff member accidentally admitted they never had the titles at all. Apparently a lot of the more obscure selections they never had, but if enough people requested them they would then get copies. I found this a bit misleading Homescreen overall was the best and provided a high quality service at all times.
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jhg
29/11/2005 10:58 AM
I have been a Quickflix member for over six months and I'm now looking to change as I'm finding MANY of the DVDs I'm getting have scratches and fail in the middle of the film! They replace them for free in this case but I'm sick of having to stop watching a movie halfway through. Anyone else finding this problem?
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rowan
18/11/2006 01:07 PM
I just went to the Homescreen (quickflix) site and couldn't look at anything without signing up. That was it for me - not interested!
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Rowan
18/11/2006 01:16 PM
The price of these services only stacks up if you would otherwise rent recent releases. I don't mind waiting (till you can work out which movies were really worth seeing!). I wish someone would offer a cheaper option that excluded new releases. In case anyone is listenning!
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Jennifer B
02/12/2006 10:05 AM
Quickflix were great during my 2 week trial but now they don't send me the movies at the top of my list anymore, which are all recent releases that most video stores would have in stock. Instead I receive my low priority choices, which leaves me feeling disappointed.
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Russ
09/12/2006 10:03 PM
I'm gonna try v2direct, the online leg of video 2000. Have had fetchmemovies before and then had dvd unlimited thru video ezy store which has finished for me. Hopefully being a retail store big brother, they can provide new releases and then sell them off as opposed to not recieving hardly any through telstra. If in QLD this one appears to be good, only time will tell.
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Tracey
31/03/2007 10:59 PM
I have had exactly the same problem with damaged DVDs from Quikflix and have now cancelled my membership! 3 out of the 4 DVDs we rented were scratched - it ended up being a very expensive venture for 4 DVDs - 3 of which we couldn't watch until the end.
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glenina
16/02/2008 12:57 PM
I didn't even get through the Bigpond trial. Couldnt log on. The website was either impossible to access or just kept crashingCouldnt get access to my Q. ,
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angelbird
15/05/2008 08:13 PM
I have tried Bigpond and I believe that their system workds if you are interested in watching movies which are release for about 6 months. It is very hard to be sent a new release. Further is website keeps crashing and my cable connection struggles to get through to MyQ. I like Telstra services in general and I think their staff are very nice, but when it comes Bigpond movies, I think it is a waste of money. I would rather pay 4 to 5 per new releast and to be able to watch it when it is release.
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