I was thinking of joining Netflix and had a question I'm hoping someone here at the CDF board who uses Netflix could answer:

How does one rent a season set of a TV show? I see that the most DVDs one can rent at a time is 4. Does that mean if a set has 10 DVDs, I could only rent the first four, or does a whole set count as one DVD rental?

I've looked high and low at their website, but could not find an answer in the FAQ.

I thought I'd ask here first before e-mailing them in hopes of an answer.

Thanks!

If your membership is limited to 4 at a time, then that is all you receive which means if a TV series has 8 discs, you will receive the first four and the
next four after you return them.

This is actually the main reason that I currently have Netflix. I signed on again to watch the JASON KING series without having to buy it to see it, then THE NEW AVENGERS, and probably another one or two before I cancel it. With these not-terribly-in-demand shows, I've had no trouble or waits in getting the next disc in a series once I send one back.

Thanks for the replies, guys
It's much appreciated!

I've been a fan lately of their watch now feature although the selection isn't as good as the DVD rentals, only about 6,000 to choose from but you get unlimited viewing.

So one can join and then cancel their membership as many time as they want, whenever they want?

I like this!

I believe so, yeah.

I've signed on with Netflix off and on a few times. I basically use it to see things that I don't want to have to buy to watch, that my local video stores don't carry. I do it for a few months then cancel when I've had my fill.

I have to say that I really enjoy Netflix. I don't have cable of internet at home at the moment, so the fact that I can get lots of great movies from Netflix really helps me out. And they do have some great stuff available. I would love to be able to take advantage of the Watch It Now feature--hopefully we'll be getting internet eventually. I guess this feature was added to try to compete with other outlets for getting movies, and the fact that more and more are available in one form or another online. It really makes the whole service more worth the money when you can watch a bunch of movies online in addition to whatever you receive through the mail.

The fact that it's done through the mail is interesting. My wife and I first signed up for Netflix back in 2002 when we were first married. Back then there wasn't as much available online (and the speeds weren't as fast either for that matter). It's nice to see Netflix adjusting to the times without really messing with what they are all about. And I should mention that they also lowered their prices a bit a few months back (I guess also due to the competition from other companies).

It's true that most (but certainly not all) of what I get from Netflix I could get from our local video store. I really do enjoy getting the movies in the mail though. Sometimes I forget what is coming and it's a little surprise when I open that little red envelope. If you watch movies quickly and get them back out quickly it makes the service worthwhile (ie. cheaper than renting from the videostore). If I had to pick a peeve about Netflix (other than the fact that it IS indeed difficult to watch a season of a TV show one DVD at a time) it would be the fact that I've become a bit obsessive-compulsive about trying to watch the movies as quickly as possible to make it worth the money. One of the nice things about Netflix is that there are no late fees--you can keep a movie as long as you want. Instead of taking the time to relax and enjoy a movie I sort of see a new movie from Netflix as something that needs to be watched and gotten rid of as quiclky as possible. Oh well, if that's my biggest complaint than I guess there's not much to complain about.

Oh yeah, also I live in Auburn, MA and work in Worcester. There is a Netflix warehouse in Worcester, so if I bring my movie to work to drop off at the post office I can usually expect Netflix to receive it and send me a new one in about two days. I don't know if it's much longer of a wait for folks who live further away from a distribution center.

Sorry this is going on and on, but I have two more comments. First, I enjoy using my Netflix queue as a list of movies I'm interested in seeing (whether there's a burning desire to see an old CDF movie that I haven't seen in ages, or simply a movie that looks vaguely worth seeing that I add to the queue). I'm constantly adding things to the queue. It's now well over 400 movies long. I know that I'll never get around to seeing ALL of these ttles, but it's nice to be able to to look at the list, see something I've forgotten that I wanted to watch a few months back, and boost it up to the top of the list. Don't know whether anyone else uses their queue like this, but for me it's yet another positive feature of the service. They also have a Friends feature where you can see what your friends have in their queue as well as how they have rated movies they've seen.

Finally (whew), while Netflix will only send you one DVD from a TV series at a time (or two or three, depending on what level of service you sign up for), most video stores (or at least Hollywood Video which is our local one) also rent by the disc. If I wanted to watch a season of a TV series that has six discs in it I'd have to rent all six discs one by one. True I could take them all out at the same time, but at about $4.00 a pop were taliking about $24.00 for a single season of a TV show. Might as well just go ahead and buy the thing at that point.

Alright, I'm sure that's more than you ever needed to know about Netflix Beastball. Hopefully something in that rant was useful to you, in addition to what Mark, Skorch and Daimajnbob have already written. I've had our current subscription to Netflix going for a couple of years now and around New Year's I decided that I should go ahead and cancel it for a while so I can catch up on some of my own DVDs that I need to watch. Haven't actually gotten around to cancelling it yet, but I will probably do it soon. And I probably won't be able to go for more than a couple of months before sining back up again.

we love netflix. i never would of seen zoltan hound of dracula without them! or night of the lepus either. well without having to buy them anyhow.

Very good point astroal. It's not really feasible to own every movie that interests me (monetarily or space-wise). What may be the best thing about Netflix for people like CDF fans is that they have a pretty comprehensive selection of movies that we may have enough interest in to watch...but don't really feel the need to own. It's also great to check out something that you're not familiar with and then decide if it's something you might be interested in buying before you make the commitment.

Last year I found out the name of a movie I vaguely remembered from CDF. I only remembered a few details, but through the generous help of the message board I was able to find out that the movie was "Die, Monster, Die" (not to mention that it starred the great Boris Karloff). I was so excited to relive a piece of my CDF past that I almost went right ahead and bought it. Instead I put it at the top of my Netflix queue. It was pretty cool to see it again after so many years, but to be honest it's not something I really feel that I need to own. Thanks to Netflix I got to see it.

Thanks Col. Manning. Your reply, as well as the other replies have convinced me to join. I'll probably get the second lowest plan ( 1 disc at a time, unlimited rentals per month).

One of the movies I'm itching to see is the one you brought up last summer; The Lost Continent.

i have the lost continent in my queue!

yeah i can dig what you're saying col. manning. we had fun watching night of the lepus and zoltan but no need to own them.

I think it's safe to say (as we are all CDF fans) that you guys will enjoy "The Lost Continent". It did bring back some old CDF memories for me. The last (and only) time I saw it was way back in the early 80s on CDF. Of course you do have to make sure you have the right version, as there are two different movies called "The Lost Continent", but I believe that is all covered in the other thread about the movie that Beastball mentioned above. I still have the other one sitting buried somewhere in my Netflix queue--I'll get to it someday. Enjoy!

I had my cable shut off last December and ordered the Roku Box from Netflix to watch all the movies on my TV. I've come across some excellent films!

I don't really know much about the Roku box, but it sounds pretty cool. Unfortunately, I still don't have internet at home, so I'm still out of luck. Glad it's working out well for you south shore girl. I should look into it.


Beastball, how has Netflix been working out for you since you joined?