Last year I wondered which to choose from NetFlix DVD movie rental or BlockBuster Online. I knew that both online dvd rental services offered “fast” [well…] and free shipping and an extensive collection of DVDs [more than in-store], so I wanted to try one out.

I chose to finally use Netflix as my DVD rental provider and I want to share why I did because I actually tested Blockbuster as well.

BlockBuster might be the right choice for you…not for me.

First of all, I know that many people might disagree with me and say that BlockBuster is better than Netflix and hopefully I’ll cover all the reasons why I believe Netflix is better than BlockBuster, for my own usage. As any other online services, I know that BlockBuster online is great for some people and not for others.

Blockbuster online: rent DVDs online…yeah, at a slow pace!

Let’s keep real, I tried to rent dvds online from BlockBuster when their online dvd rental service launched, and to be fair, this was probably to roughest time for them. DVDs never got here on time, it took up to a full week to receive DVDs, and with the dvd rental plan I had chosen at the time, I was basically watching 3 to 4 DVDs only per month, but paying for more than that. Blockbuster had a good free trial offer, so that and the fact that they were given a monthly coupon for free in-store rentals (I have a Blockbuster like 5mn away), the deal totally appealed to me.

After several weeks, I was starting to wonder if Blockbuster was doing something wrong, at that rate of 3 or 4 DVDs watched per month, that wasn’t a great deal. Then one day I received an email from Blockbuster Online, saying that they were aware of the timing issue experienced by their members to receive DVDs on time and therefore they were giving an additional on-store offer… well at this point that was it for me. I did not care about in-store dvd rentals, I wanted to get DVDs by mail in timely manner, and get my money worth it.

An offer you cannot resist? I can try netflix for free…Okay!

One of my friends sent me an email, it was one these “John wants to share with you a Free Netflix Trial Offer for their Online DVD rental service…” type of emails. So I tried it…why not at that point?!

And everything changed from there.

Ok, point #1, Netflix opened a distribution center (where it ships DVDs from) not too far from my area when i signed up. So I strongly advise that you check out first the list of distribution centers Netflix or Blockbuster have and see which one offers the closest center from where you live, this is important. I bascially started to receive my DVDs in the mail within days, watched it, sent it back and a few days later the new DVDs were in which brings me to point #2.

One important thing to know is that [I believe but feel free to comment on that] Netflix started to work with the US post services early and set up some kind of barcode reading system [barcode located on the return envelope] so that as soon as the envelope passed by the Post Office to be shipped back to Netflix, Netflix would know that you have sent a DVD back, and to not waste any time [customer service at its finest], they would automatically get the next DVD in the mail right away...How cool is that!

I like watching foreign movies [French in particular] and Netflix offered way many more French movie DVDs than Blockbuster. That made the deal even sweeter for me.

As far as new DVD releases, from what I can remember, both Netflix and Blockbuster offered the same movies, maybe Netflix had more inventory than Blockbuster [at the time] and you did not have to wait too long to get new releases at home.

So why did I choose Netflix [at that time]?

• more distribution centers in my area: faster delivery of the DVDs by mail

• more DVD movie choice: honestly at that point of time, Netflix was kicking Blockbuster’s butt: their online collection of DVDs [I liked] was the largest. And more foreign movies.

• The online platform: Netflix just nailed it, that’s all. I like the way their GUI is built, I totally love the recommendations 90% of the time and it helps keeping my DVD queue filled up with movies.

• The customer service: same thing here, maybe it’s just me, but Blockbuster at the time was not responsive. But man, Netflix is really good at what they do. Everything is automated: for instance: you received a DVD that is damaged; well it ain’t your fault right? Login in your Netflix account, click on that DVD from your queue, report it as damaged and voila, the same movie is being sent again to you! Now, you decided you do not want to even watch that movie anymore…tell Netflix and the next dvd movie in your queue will be mailed to you! AWESOME.

• Netflix wants to keep track of shipping delays. So, let’s say your sent a DVD movie back in the mail…Netflix received it and from time to time will send you an email to ask you when that DVD was mailed back to them. Netflix wants to make sure you get as many DVDs as possible in timely manner. Yeah yeah, of course I do to have heard of that story about Netflix throttling down the most active members (members who might actually renting “too” many movies might be flagged as over-using the system and Netflix might not like that too much) but I never experienced it.

• I do not care about in-store rental coupons. It’s as simple as that, so blockbuster can keep their offers to themselves, that did not work for me. Get me DVDs by mail, on time, at home and have super-great-awesome website [with Ajax features – for the geeks;-)] and I’ll signup…well I already did signup with Netflix, so don’t bother, sorry.

In conclusion

If you have a Blockbuster around the corner and like the convenience of being able to go get a free movie on a Saturday night when friends are coming over [like a new release] and not have to organize or plan your online movie DVD queue to get that movie on time, then go for Blockbuster.

If you can plan in advance [hehe], and enjoy great customer service, fast DVD delivery, fast DVD rotation and a large choice of movies, go with Netflix.

Also, quick tip: if you choose a 3-DVDs-at-a-time plan, make sure to spread the DVDs across several days. For instance, order the first DVD on Monday, then the second one on Wednesday and last one on Friday...since it takes 2 to 3 days to get the movie, that's a day or 2 to watch it and to send it back. This way you always have a DVD to watch at home.

I think at this point, both services probably offer the same inventory of movies, both are extremely convenient, but Netflix worked for me, I never had to complain about the service and I am not looking to move to a different DVD online rental service provider anytime soon. Go Netflix!

Now, what about you?