While Netflix is now famous and widely known for its extensive media library for online video streaming, it was actually launched as a DVD rental company that offers DVD-by-mail rental service. It gained great popularity for its large DVD catalog of movies, including classic titles, niche titles, box sets, etc. However, for DVD lovers, the bad news is that Netflix DVD rental service ended on September 29, 2023. According to Netflix officials, the Netflix DVD service ending happened mainly due to the ongoing business decline. This meant DVD lovers now have to turn to Netflix DVD alternatives for DVD rentals. This post will show you some effective solutions and alternatives to Netflix DVD so as to let you save and watch Netflix movies on DVD freely.
Netflix DVD Alternative: Physical DVD Rental Options
Similar to Netflix DVD rental, there are quite a lot of optional physical DVD rental services out there for you to choose from, which could be classified into 2 different methods: disc-based subscription services and local DVD rental stores. You could rent DVD discs from disc-based subscription services online or directly rent DVD discs from local stores. Some of these disc-based subscription services even have their own local stores for you to rent DVD discs as a Netflix DVD rental alternative.
1. Disc-based Subscription Services
Even before Netflix DVD service ended, you could actually get multiple disc-based subscription services to rent DVD discs from, such as GameFly, which primarily provides games for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and more, and at the same time offers classic and new titles in DVD, Blu-ray and even 4K Blu-ray. The subscription fee varies from $17.95 per month to $46.95 per month, depending on how many movies you can rent at a time, with one month of free trial and 3-month promotional rates for all subscription plans. But it should be noted that GameFly only provides DVD rentals in movies. No TV show DVD discs are available. And there are in total around 2300 movies on DVD available for renting. Other similar Netflix DVD rental service alternatives include Redbox, 3DBlu-rayRental, Scarecrow Video, CafeDVD, etc.
2. Local Rental Stores
Besides renting physical DVD discs from disc-based subscription services, you could also rent DVD discs from local DVD rental stores. Redbox, which offers online disc-based subscription for DVD disc rental, also holds their own local DVD disc rental kiosks, which is now available throughout the US to offer movies in DVD, Blu-ray and even 4K UHD. To find the local DVD rental stores available in your region, just search on google.com with the keywords “dvd rental store + your city/state”. For example, in Los Angeles, you could rent DVD movies from Videotheque, CineFile Video, Vidiots Foundation, Video Depot, etc.
Buy Physical DVDs or Blu-rays Directly
The second alternative to Netflix DVD rental is to directly purchase physical DVDs or Blu-rays from your local stores or online retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, eBay, etc. Compared to DVD disc rental services, these stores, either online or local, provide a bigger library of DVD movies. DVD discs of the movies that couldn’t be found on rental services could be found and available from these stores. You could even get your favorite TV shows on DVD, Blu-ray or even a 4K UHD disc. By purchasing physical DVDs or Blu-rays, instead of renting, you could keep your favorite DVD/Blu-ray movies forever, get movies and TV shows that are not available from Netflix, and watch them at home time and time again as you like.
Burn Netflix Movies to DVD for Personal Use
The third optional solution to Netflix DVD service ending is to burn your own favorite Netflix movies to DVD or Blu-ray disc for personal uses. In this way, you could build your own Netflix library of movies and TV shows in DVD or Blu-ray discs according to your needs. The entire process requires 3rd-party Netflix video downloader software and video to DVD/Blu-ray burner software. CleverGet Netflix Downloader is an ideal Netflix video downloader software tool that could batch download Netflix TV shows and movies at up to 1080P resolution with selected subtitles and audio tracks. It could even remove ads in Netflix video download, even if you are an ad-supported Netflix subscriber. After downloading Netflix videos, you could then make use of DVD/Blu-ray burning software such as Leawo Blu-ray Creator to help you burn downloaded Netflix videos to DVD/Blu-ray disc with your own chapter, disc menu, etc. This method helps you create your own DVD/Blu-ray library of your favorite movies and shows from Netflix and other video streaming services.
Digital Movie Rental & Purchase Services
Nowadays, digital media files have become the mainstream of digital entertainment. It has gradually replaced DVD and even Blu-ray for its great convenience in streaming and safekeeping. Therefore, you could turn to digital movie rental or purchase services over physical DVD rentals. You get quite a few wonderful digital movie rental and purchase service options. Here we have listed 3 top digital media streaming services that offer movie rental and purchase.
1. Apple TV
Within the Apple TV app, you could either rent or purchase movies for online/offline streaming. The Apple TV app is available for Apple devices, smart TVs, and other streaming devices, which means you are no longer restricted by the physical DVD disc players. The purchases will be permanently added to your library and can be downloaded or streamed anytime on any device that logs in with the same Apple ID.
2. Google Play / YouTube Movies
Google also has its movie rental and purchase offers. With a Google account, you could rent or purchase a movie or TV show on either YouTube Movies & TV channel or Google Play. Currently, Google Play Movies & TV is no longer the primary platform for you to purchase or rent new titles. Google will direct you to YouTube to let you purchase or rent the new releases.
3. Amazon Prime Video Digital Purchase
Amazon is another big name when you want to rent or purchase digital movies online. It offers the biggest library of movie and TV show content for you to stream online. Once you have an active Amazon account, you could watch some free movies and TV shows from Amazon Prime, rent or purchase movies and TV shows, download these Amazon Prime videos for offline viewing via its Prime app, etc.
It should be noted that all these online digital movie rentals have limitations in online watching. Most services allow you to watch a movie or TV show title within 30 days once you rent it, and complete watching it once you start watching within 48 hours.
Conclusion
In this post, we have shown you various alternatives to Netflix DVD service. While Netflix DVD service closed a door for our daily digital entertainment, there are more convenient ways to get better digital joy, especially with the increasing popularity of digital streaming. Now you could no longer be restricted by the physical DVD disc players and get more joy from on-the-go digital entertainment from various streaming services. Of course, if you are a die-hard DVD disc fan, the above alternative solutions can help you out.
