Entertainment through your letterbox (Tesco DVD Rentals)

Member Name: crowlord

Product:	Tesco DVD Rentals
Date:	26/04/07 (165 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge range and no parking fuss

Disadvantages: Sometime slow turnaround and no spur of the moment

Tesco DVD rental is actually provided by Lovefilm. This is bizarre in a way as they are actually up to £1 a month cheaper then Lovefilm!

You will receive you discs via Royal Mail, all you need to do is watch, seal and return. They will then select another and dispatch it from their warehouse in Peterborough. Delivery is often before you get your notification of what they are sending you however I think this is due more to a slow notification server then supersonic Royal Mail deliveries. I usually experience a turnaround of 4 days but this is often better (my last return was on Tuesday and dvds arrived on Thursday)

There are two main pricing schemes working on slightly different methods, you have the choice of cutting the cost by limiting the discs you receive each month or going for the "as much as you can possibly watch" option. At the time of writing the price points are as follows:

Limited Package (fixed limit per month)

2 discs per month £4.47 (1 at a time)
3 discs per month £5.97 (1 at a time)
4 discs per month £7.47 (2 at a time)

Unlimited Packages (As much as you can physically watch)

1 Disc unlimited £8.97 (1 at a time)
2 Disc unlimited £11.97 (2 at a time)
3 Disc unlimited £14.97 (3 at a time)

You can also make additional savings by buying in advance, this varies by package but general incentives are:

3 months 15% off
6 months 1 month FREE
12 months 2 months FREE

and by adding £1 a month (unlimited packages only) you can also rent games, however this is something I haven't yet done. Games count as a disc and are available from all new console platforms ie GameCube, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360. However PC games are not available.

You don't need to return the discs all together, the total is basically all those active on your account. For example you may have two at home and one in the mail or awaiting allocation.

The theory behind the service is simple, you pick a list of films or TV series that you would like to rent, you also pick how important it is that you see that film (set priority). Depending on your service level the next film/s are send via first class post once the previous ones are received back. All very simple in theory.

You pay for the service via a subscription on a credit or debit card and you can alter your level or cancel at anytime. There is also the very useful option of freezing your account should you go on holiday.

They have recently upgraded the site and everything is now presented in a very whizzy, choose your next step, format. Click on a film and it scrolls out into a box where you can select the priority of that item. You also then get the option to rent similar items.

Selection of the items has also improved in recent months. Should you have a specific target in mind there is a fairly accurate search option that will give you a selection matching your terms. If your choice is not yet available it will place it in a secondary queue of TBC films. This si very powerful and actually allows you to choose current films well in advance of a DVD release (I am already waiting for Spiderman 3)

Should you be a bit of a TV fiend you can also now choose to have boxsets delivered in order of disc. No more frustrating "Darnit disc three I haven't seen two yet" situations.

It does fall down slightly if you are not 100% sure what you want. The Browse options are useful but I often get the feeling that they are showing you what they want you to see. I would welcome a one hit type button that will bring up a recommendation based on your past rentals. You could then select "Seen It", "Rent it","Not for me" or something similar to trim your reviews. The site certainly has this scope to become more personal.

The only other gripes I have is that often the films seem to be awaiting allocation for longer then is acceptable and that you really have no way of choosing a film that you want on the spur of the moment.

I would heartily recommend this service to anyone however despite the niggles as "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. " sorry Bladerunner moment. Expand YOUR horizons.

Summary: Good solid reliable rental service