Netflix vs Block Buster (online)

I signed up for Netfix's 2 week free trial. I recieved my 3 dvd's and sent them back (to a Wichita, KS) address. This is my home town. Sent them on a Wednesday and got the new ones on a Friday. I thought, "WOW" that is great...fast delivery. I noticed those 3 dvd's I had to send to Kansas City, KS, so I did. Well, 3 days later and they are just now receiving them.

I was wondering how often Block Buster does this....have you send there DVD's back to larger town, 3 days away? I know that with BB you can exchange up to 5 in their store (for $1 more a month) and you can also drop them off at their store, for faster delivery to you.

Netflix offers 5,000 titles to be watched instantly on your computer. That might work ok if I had my computer wired to my telelvision (and might in the future), but for now it's not a big deal to me.

What do you have and pro's and con's?

Thanks,
Matt

...all this and BB is closing down a couple hundred stores...

I use the Blockbuster service and when I send them back they always go to the same place, about 45 min away and always get there the next day.

I also use Netflix and love it. They must have a shipping department in Indianapolis, because when I mail one DVD in I will have the new one on the following day (if I mail on Monday I receive on Wednesday. However, If I stop the shipping and then have it started again, I have the DVD's the next day.

I' have no cons with NetFlix, plus their DVD buying service is pretty good. I've never received a scratched DVD, and I have kept DVD's for weeks with no late charges.

For me, I've used Netflix for a few years and the hub is the next town over. I like being able to check out movies online while I'm travelling. I also rip the movies to laptop so I can watch later. I get them into the mail and then by the time I finish watching the previous ones, new ones are in the box. You don't want to push the movies per month ratio too high otherwise you're penalized. They don't like high volume users (anything over 18 or so a month).

For Blockbuster, shipping time back should be of no concern to anyone if you're returning them to the store for a FREE exchange. Once the cashier scans the envelope, it is listed as returned and the next DVD in your queue is shipped at (supposedly) the next available ship time. Therefore, you have the DVD you just got from the store plus one in the mail the next day.

Unless you watch movies like a crazed banshee, I am happy with BB.

Also, I've had shipping issues, and their customer service has always been great, FWIW.

Only issues have been with waits on some just released or off-center titles.

I dont use either so take this with a grain of salt. My boss, who is a movie whore, uses both services. He is even on the 'extended' netflix package, so he can get something like 6 movies at once, instead of the 3 that 'normal' users are allowed. Anywho, he prefers netflix 10x over. I know he doesnt like the BB site for some reason. I dont know if he thinks it is slow, or if he just doesnt like the layout or what. I also know that he hates the availablity of movies on BB. Whenever he wants a movie that is not available, or not out yet, he will put it in his queue's at both places and he says 9 times out of 10, netflix gets it first.

I am going to go ahead and cancel Netflix for now and give BB a trial (free). I did notice, as forementioned, that the site is a bit slower, a short wait on some titles and didn't like the general navigation of the site compared to Netflix. Faster shipping times and in-store exchange policy is a big plus for me.

Thanks,
Matt

i use netflix and it's always done well...quick shipping and everything. i think i'm going to cancel, tho. i just don't find enough time for movies to make it worth the $$$.

I've used both. BB IMHO is better because you have the brick and mortar to go to when you really wanna watch a movie at home on a Friday night. Also when you get your movies from the store, they don't wait for you to return them. They send you the next 3 in your "qeue" (sp?) immediately, so you could actually have 6 movies at home at one time. I've had ZERO problems. The movies ship in 3 days MAX, usually 2. Also, a few hundred stores is nothing to BB Think about it.....almost as many BB's in town as there are Wendy's/BK's.....that's a lot of locations.

I use Netflix.

Not all Blockbusters participate in the online system, meaning you CAN'T return your movies there and you CAN'T exchange them. My local Blockbuster doesn't participate and before that came out they didn't participate in the 'End Of Late Fees" policy either.

As for shipping speeds, I've had amazingly fast results, both in getting my movies and getting notification that they've been returned.

I have noticed, however, on rarer titles not every location has the DVD. In that case, they're sometimes shipped from other locations and mailed back to those locations. A few anime titles came from Pittsburgh while all of mine usually go to Gaithersburg, MD.

Their "Watch Movies Now" feature doesn't interest me in the least because I'm SURE it will require Windows and/or have Digital Rights Mutilation (DRM) encumbering it.

I have NetFlix and tried BB. I will not go back to BB. Had a movie for about 4 weeks for the kids ( and those of you that have kids know they will watch the same movie a bazillion times) and BB made me pay a late fee even though they said there were no late fees. Did the same with NetFlix and they didn't even blink an eye.