VIDEOS
The real test when shopping for videos online is not current releases, but finding a VHS or DVD of an old movie or TV show.
Most online retailers include videos among their offerings. Sites such as https://www.amazon.com, https://www.800.com, https://www.borders.com and https://www.bestbuy.com sell lots of products besides films. Hence, their availability of noncurrent movies can suffer and the prices often are higher.
Best site to shop: Ccvideo.com (https://www.ccvideo.com) and Reel.com (https://www.reel.com) both have extensive inventories of VHS and DVD format movies, documentaries and old television shows.
Both make it easy to search for the movie you want. You can hunt for films by a particular actor, director or genre. If you want to browse for a film that might be of interest to you, Ccvideo.com lists 48 genres to sift through, including TV series, Russian-made films, silent movies and war flicks.
Reel.com even has a rental program.
Best site to buy: Ccvideo.com, mainly because of its selection and prices. The “cc” stands for Critics’ Choice, which publishes a catalog of video offerings. The catalog’s offerings, however, are not nearly as extensive as the online lineup.
Convenience: Videos are as easy to buy online as books. Most e-tailers have search engines that make it easy to find a specific film. Ordering is a similar exercise on the sites I’ve checked.
Customer service: If the video you’re buying is in stock, it should be nestled in your VHS or DVD player and whirling away a week after you order it. I placed an order with 800.com for a DVD of “Don’s Party,” a 1976 Australian movie about an election-night gathering, on the afternoon of Oct. 26. I hoped to receive it in time to watch before our election night. Using cheapest shipping and handling offered, it still arrived in the mail Oct. 30.
How it compares with offline: While it’s easy to browse for a rental movie or purchase current releases in stores such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, you usually have to special-order older films. Shopping online is the way to go for these.