With all of us wanting to get our hands on as much anime as we can, the subject of renting discs online sometimes comes up- but with so many companies now offering rental services, it can be hard to choose between. This thread is meant to make the decision a little- if you subscribe or have subscribed to a rental service, write a paragraph or so about the service works, and if you're thinking of subscribing, feel free to ask any questions. I'll be thorough and start with some general information.
General info
Depending on what service you sign up for, you'll typically be allowed 1-5 DVDs at home at a time- once you create a list of items you want to rent, the company will begin sending them out (you'll have a certain degree of control over which order they get sent out in, but obviously it's also very dependent on what everyone else is renting). The envelope they arrive in doubles as a pre-paid return envelope, so you can just drop it into a postbox when you're done, and they'll send out another disc. Note: each disc in a release counts separately, e.g. a volume of GITS:SAC counts as 2 discs
Payment is usually by credit/debit card, it'll go out of your account every month until you cancel. I think most, if not all companies, will require you to be over 18, so if you're not, you may have to find a willing relative to do it (tempt them with a share of the rentals if all else fails
).
Specific companies
amazon.co.uk
Services offered: 3 DVDs at home at a time, max 6 per month (£9.99 per month) or 2 DVDs at home at a time, max 4 per month (£7.99 per month).
Database size: Pretty much any already released R2 listed on the site (anime and non-anime, even ones that aren't available to buy), there are a few random gaps such as Noir 7, FMP 6 and Pretear 2.
DVD turnaround: (i.e. how long it takes for them to send out the next disc once you've returned one)- almost always 2 working days, unless you've reached your monthly limit.
Comments: amazon's rental service is excellent, they process and send out DVDs extremely quickly, and you can set the priorities for each item individually. Amazon also tell you the availability of each disc so you'll always be able to tell what's going to be sent out next.
There are a couple of cons- amazon never tell you the content of the individual discs so you may end up getting disc 2 of a feature and finding that it's only bonus material that you didn't really care about. They also don't deal well with changing release dates, so if an item is released earlier than planned they might not make it available until the original release date. The 4/6 disc limit will also be a pain to anyone who wants to watch a large amount of discs.
Tesco rentals (run by Video Island)
Services offered: 1, 2 or 3 discs at home at a time, unlimited rentals (£7.97, £11.47 and £13.97 per month respectively). When you first sign up, you get a two week free trial, but if you don't cancel and return your DVDs in that time they'll automatically start billing you.
Database size: Seems to contain all in-print R2's, they sometimes don't get rental copies of new releases straightaway. (edit: Tesco use the same database as Screenselect)
DVD turnaround: 2-4 working days
Comments: Tesco are a bit slower than amazon when it comes to sending DVDs out, and there's also much less control over what you get sent (you can set three levels of priority, but even then you may not get the top priority discs first). They don't give any indication of what's available, so it's a bit random, but they will send out discs from season sets in order.
Okay, I've talked for long enough- if anyone has any questions or wants to write about a different company, feel free to take centre stage...
General info
Depending on what service you sign up for, you'll typically be allowed 1-5 DVDs at home at a time- once you create a list of items you want to rent, the company will begin sending them out (you'll have a certain degree of control over which order they get sent out in, but obviously it's also very dependent on what everyone else is renting). The envelope they arrive in doubles as a pre-paid return envelope, so you can just drop it into a postbox when you're done, and they'll send out another disc. Note: each disc in a release counts separately, e.g. a volume of GITS:SAC counts as 2 discs
Payment is usually by credit/debit card, it'll go out of your account every month until you cancel. I think most, if not all companies, will require you to be over 18, so if you're not, you may have to find a willing relative to do it (tempt them with a share of the rentals if all else fails
).Specific companies
amazon.co.uk
Services offered: 3 DVDs at home at a time, max 6 per month (£9.99 per month) or 2 DVDs at home at a time, max 4 per month (£7.99 per month).
Database size: Pretty much any already released R2 listed on the site (anime and non-anime, even ones that aren't available to buy), there are a few random gaps such as Noir 7, FMP 6 and Pretear 2.
DVD turnaround: (i.e. how long it takes for them to send out the next disc once you've returned one)- almost always 2 working days, unless you've reached your monthly limit.
Comments: amazon's rental service is excellent, they process and send out DVDs extremely quickly, and you can set the priorities for each item individually. Amazon also tell you the availability of each disc so you'll always be able to tell what's going to be sent out next.
There are a couple of cons- amazon never tell you the content of the individual discs so you may end up getting disc 2 of a feature and finding that it's only bonus material that you didn't really care about. They also don't deal well with changing release dates, so if an item is released earlier than planned they might not make it available until the original release date. The 4/6 disc limit will also be a pain to anyone who wants to watch a large amount of discs.
Tesco rentals (run by Video Island)
Services offered: 1, 2 or 3 discs at home at a time, unlimited rentals (£7.97, £11.47 and £13.97 per month respectively). When you first sign up, you get a two week free trial, but if you don't cancel and return your DVDs in that time they'll automatically start billing you.
Database size: Seems to contain all in-print R2's, they sometimes don't get rental copies of new releases straightaway. (edit: Tesco use the same database as Screenselect)
DVD turnaround: 2-4 working days
Comments: Tesco are a bit slower than amazon when it comes to sending DVDs out, and there's also much less control over what you get sent (you can set three levels of priority, but even then you may not get the top priority discs first). They don't give any indication of what's available, so it's a bit random, but they will send out discs from season sets in order.
Okay, I've talked for long enough- if anyone has any questions or wants to write about a different company, feel free to take centre stage...