Lots of choices but not a large selection
Written: Sep 23 '05 (Updated Sep 23 '05)
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This is a good site if it fits your needs. I have tried 10 different DVD rental places now and there's no such thing as getting a new release delivered to your door within 24 hours. There's some negatives with this site as there is with any DVD club. This site offers DVD movie rentals, video game rentals, and mature rentals all for one low price. You don't have to pay extra to access the other departments.
Pricing
You are paying for a service so you pay a monthly fee rather than per DVD. So if you choose the 2 at a time plan for $15 you’ll be getting in the ballpark of 8 DVD’s a month depending on how fast you watch the movies and how much time the DVD spends with the Post Office.
You don’t have to watch your movies right away either. You can save them and watch them all over the weekend and not worry about late fees. Once your movie is received back in their distribution center the next one on your list is automatically shipped. If you don’t have any DVD’s in your queue you will still pay the monthly fee.
2 DVD’s out at a time - $14.95
3 DVD’s out at a time – $19.95
4 DVD’s out at a time - $24.95
6 DVD’s out at a time – $34.95
8 DVD’s out at a time – $44.95
Cancellation from the club is simple but you are not reimbursed for any unused time. So if you cancel a week after you start you will still be paying for the other 3 weeks in the month.
How to Use
Using the service is just the same as the large DVD rental clubs. You pay a one time monthly fee for the service and the fee covers shipping and handling and rentals for the month. They send you a DVD in a thin DVD envelope and you carefully open it up because it will also serve as your return envelope. When you’re done watching the movie you insert it back into the envelope and drop it in any mailbox that accepts US mail like your personal mail box, the post office or the big blue boxes. The envelope is pre-addressed so it doesn’t take any effort.
Once the company receives the movie back they will indicate it on your account page and ship the next movie on your queue (wanted to see list). If the item you requested is out they’ll automatically move to the next movie on the list.
The company sends an email notification when movies go out.
The monthly fee is automatically billed each month. There’s nothing to manage.
Selection
I didn’t get a good understanding of what was offered on this site before I joined and unfortunately they don’t offer a trial membership. After being a member of big clubs I found it very difficult to be forced to choose from a small selection. The majority of the movies that I rent are not typical movies. The majority of things that I rent are workout DVD’s, TV series, documentaries, and new releases and there’s not a large selection for those areas on this website.
When I considered signing up for DVD Avenue I looked at the drop down box and saw that all the genre categories were on the list. Once I registered and started filling up my queue (similar to a checkout basket) I found that the movies either didn’t exist on this site or were on a waiting list. After spending so much time on Netflix with 40,000 choices it’s quite shocking to be limited to just 11,000 (actually half that when you remove the mature content and video games).
Movie Breakdown
Here is a list of how many movies there were in each category September 2005. Genre on the left, the amount to choose from is on the right.
Action/Adventure - 930
Anime - 87
Children - 438
Classics – 236
Comedy - 1766
Cult – 104
Documentary – 213
Drama – 1802
Foreign – 375
Gangster – 62
Gay and Lesbian – 72
Holiday Favorites – 54
Horror – 444
Independent – 241
Martial Arts – 66
Mature (XXX) - 4,247
Music – 212
PS2 (Playstation 2) – 404
PSX – 60
Romance – 221
Sci-Fi - 281
Suspense / Thrillers – 605
Television (Lists each disc in the series separately) – 548
War/Western - 158
Xbox - 192
Web Navigating, Finding, and Deciding on a movie
I really despise the way the website is set up. The cover photos are too small to see and after the first page the covers are gone and you have to read all the titles.
You will not see any reviews by guests other than an overall member rating for the flick. It also doesn’t indicate how many people have rated the movie to determine how reliable the numbers are. You also can not see the star until you open the description.
Browsing consists of drop down boxes and then clicking “go”.
Delivery Speed
I chose this site over a larger more popular DVD site because DVD Avenue’s distribution center is located closer to me so I would spend less time waiting for DVD’s to be delivered. The distribution center is located in D.C. / Maryland area. My DVD's average 3 days each way for mail and processing.
Video Games
This site also rents Playstation, Playstation 2, and Xbox games though the site with no extra fees involved. It is ordered and delivered just like a movie would be. The release dates aren’t mentioned on the description so I don’t know how new the titles are. I went down the list of the best selling PS2 games from a store and not one of the titles could be found on DVD Avenue. I also didn’t see a way of searching for new game releases. The games are in alphabetical order so are easy find if you know what you’re looking for. The game rating is also listed next to the title.
Adult Movies
After doing the numbers above it’s very clear that this site caters to Mature individuals. This is not my area of expertise but I know inquiring minds will expect to know especially since you can’t see what or how much they offer without registering.
This is one of the few DVD rental sites that offer adult movie rentals and don’t charge more for it. I checked this portion out so those interested would know if it were worth the time and money for them and also if my kid would be able to get to this section as well when he’s picking out his PSX games.
In order to access the adult features, you have to enter a password. One reviewer said that all of these movies were checked out so I took a gander and the first handful was available but I noticed all of the adult anime was out. There were only 21 to choose from in that section and were marked “high demand” despite only getting 1 of 5 stars by previous viewers.
Except for the first page, the movies are listed by title without pictures. There was barely a description, maybe a sentence at most and it doesn’t say what year the movie was made. There are stars showing how other members have rated the DVD. The dates are not listed so I don’t know how old the movies are. You can search for the genre in that category.
If you want to be discrete make sure you log off otherwise the next person will have access to that area. Also, anything that you have in your queue will be available for anyone to view without the special password. They are marked XXX in the title. This will also show on your rental history too.
The adult section requires a special password separate from the DVD site. There’s no way to retrieve your adult password through the website if you forget.
My Experience
I got off to a rough start with DVD Avenue. First of all, they didn’t have any of the movies that were on my wanted list. So, I started searching for other movies to watch and was disappointed again because the site was hard to navigate around. I couldn’t find things by name and browsing wasn’t particularly helpful.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take before I got my first round of DVD’s. I signed up in the evening and the DVD’s were shipped the next afternoon. I was really grumpy to find that the movies that I verified were available became “unavailable” within the hour that they did the shipping but that might have been because of the weekend. So, I was shipped disc 2 of a series that I ordered and disc one said short wait by it. Great. So I rented disc one from Netfilix and I received both volumes on the same day.
I didn’t like how the queue was set up. I had to click see availability every time and had to click see all of queue each time which was a time waster. I don’t like the font size and appearance of the website because it gives me a headache if I’m on the site for very long which I usually am because it’s hard to find things that I’m looking for.
I have been bothered by the wait for new releases on Netflix so hoped that I would be able to see new releases faster with this company. Nope. Nearly all of the new release DVD’s that I wanted to see was on “short wait” so I don’t feel like I gained anything that I was missing by switching. The only advantage that I can see compared to other sites is the option to rent a lot of different types of things beyond new releases. Delivery time to me was about the same as Netflix which is usually 72 hours. The delivery time was better than other oddball services that I have tried in the past.
Overall
This site is definitely inferior to Netflix and Blockbuster who offer 40,000 movies but then it’s in a totally different league. I'm sure adult sites and game rental sites would offer a larger selection with newer rentals. However, I think this site is pretty good for the assortment that it offers. First of all you get a variety and the price is very competitive. The turn-around time for the DVD’s to be delivered averaged out the same as the other clubs for the East coast. Be prepared to wait for any new releases or hot items which I have found seems to be the same no matter what club you choose.
I do like the service and will keep it but it doesn’t meet all of my needs. I also have a membership with several other DVD clubs so I can still rent in other categories that this one is lacking. This site is still a savings over my local DVD rental stores. I think the price is very competitive for all that it offers.
General Information
Website: www.dvdavenue.com
Email: customerservice@dvdavenue.com
Phone: 1-800-990-4159
Payment options: Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Nashville, TN
Reviews written: 723
Trusted by: 187 members
About Me: DNT TXT & DRV
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