What is Mail Order DVD Rental?

Mini Review: The current leader of the pack, Netflix is above and beyond the competition. They offer the largest selection of DVDs that are shipped out quickly through one of their many shipping centers. The advent of streaming movies directly to your computer puts them a step ahead of the rest.

Upsides: Huge selection, tons of shipping centers, and streaming movies.

Downsides: Throttling on high volume accounts.

Best Value: $16.99 for 3 DVDs at one time w/ a 14-day free trial.

Mini Review: They've made a crucial shift from their brick and mortar stores to the mail order side. With a huge selection of titles and an ever growing base of shipping centers, they've poised themselves to compete with Netflix on the laurels of their Total Access plans that allow in-store exchanges.

Upsides: In-store exchange, big selection, and 1 day delivery time for most parts of the country.

Downsides: Limits on in-store exchanges, occasional throttling at stores and shipping centers.

Membership Costs: $19.99 for 3 DVDs at a time, 5 free in-store exchanges a month and 14-day free trial.

Mini Review: Keeping the focus on independent and documentary films, they've built a nice niche amongst the DVD rental industry. Their unique selection caters to true cinematic geeks looking for rare hard-to-find DVDs. A fantastic community makes them a company offering more than just rentals.

Upsides: Hard-to-find films from all across the globe with a highly interactive community.

Downsides: High priced, no free trial, currently only one shipping center available.

Membership Costs: $16.99 for 3 DVDs at one time w/ a 14-day free trial.

Mini Review: The only rental service to allow members to rent movies, video games, and porn in one place. This tiny Maryland based company is not widely known but offers a fair deal for new subscribers that could surely benefit from a free trial offer.

Upsides: No extra costs involved for members to rent video games (PS2/Xbox) or adult films.

Downsides: One shipping center, no free trial, little to no user reviews on movies.

Membership Costs: $19.95 for 3 DVDs video games at any given time.

Mini Review: With the switch to digital, CinemaNow is one of the few rental companies that provides movies for rent from the major studios. With the option to download and use on multiple electronic devices, they are poised to make a dent in the market of movie watchers who need instant gratification.

Upsides: Instant downloads, cheap year-long subscription, 3-day free trial.

Downsides: Small selection, locked into Windows Media DRM.

Membership Costs: Individual rentals range from $1.99-$3.99. Subscription package is $29.95/month or $99.95/year.

Mini Review: San Francisco based rental company focuses on hand picked artful favorites that caters to diehard cinephiles. Their over 60,000 titles is impressive and features a number of movies that can't be found anywhere else. Despite that, their simple interface and high prices are reduce overall value.

Upsides: Great movie selections with unique categories, advanced shipping of rentals.

Downsides: No unlimited plans, high prices, one shipping center, must return two movies at a time.

Membership Costs: $23.95 for 10 DVDs over the course of the month.

Mini Review: A promising young company that has appeared to have fallen on hard times as their service has slipped. Offering members the ability to rent not only movies, but the hottest new games, the availability of their inventory has come into serious question.

Upsides: Rent movies and video games on one plan.

Downsides: Lack of availability of inventory, no free trial, poor customer service.

Membership Costs: $16.99 for 3 DVDs or video games out at one time.

Mini Review: Once seen as one of the best DVD rental companies in the country, Intelliflix is part of criminal investigations for fraud and has ceased operations as of 2008. While questions remain about the state of their website, we are advising everyone to stand clear of this car wreck.

Upsides: None

Downsides: Just about everything you can think of.

Membership Costs: None