Amazon DVD Rental

I've been thinking of signing up for the DVD rental scheme from Amazon. For £9.99 a month you can rent 6 DVDs per month (3 at a time) keep them as long as you want and then just return the discs in the pre-paid envelope provided.

My main taste in film are the old classics, generally black and white, British from the '50s and '60s. Predating all that surround sound nonsense and in most cases even stereo they're perfect candidates for ripping to DivX and played on the new player (which has handled every file thrown at it) in my new home cinema. I could easily fit 6 films on a single disc and never face the problem of lack of choice ever again.

We're talking anything with Terry Thomas, Peter Sellers, Alastair Sim, Ian Carmichael and Norman Wisdom then there's the Alfred Hitchcock classics, all of Cary Grant's pictures, Doris Day/Rock Hudson fantastic stuff. The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, Matter of Life and Death, Passport to Pimlico, 12 Angry Men, Stalag 17 etc. All are available to rent (the only thing I haven't found is the St. Trinians series which doesn't appear to be available on DVD).

The clincher for Lesley was the availability of Columbo box sets (though each disc in a box set counts as one which is fair enough). TV box sets of The Sopranos, 24, The West Wing etc are all available. Naturally the latest Hollywood releases are also included.

So, 72 film rentals for £120 a year, rip to DivX, burn to DVD (£1.20 per blank DVD+R) 6 films per disc, that works out at around £2 each... perfect.