So is the DVDs-by-mail service all it is cracked up to be? Life! puts the three sites through their paces.

www.hollywoodclicks.com

Membership: From the One-DVD-at-a-time plan for $24.61 to $104.86 for the 8-DVDs-at-a-time plan.

Free trial: A two-week trial available per household, but users must opt out at the end of the trial period to avoid being charged.

Service and delivery: Hollywoodclicks.com's customer service makes the registration and rental process a breeze.

After signing up for a free two-week trial that allows only one disc rental at a time, I e-mailed to ask about upgrading it to one that allows the rental of more discs. It was changed the next day, and a customer service officer called to confirm my mailing address. The DVDs were despatched immediately after, and arrived in two days.

E-mail notifications were sent at every step of the way - from confirmation of registration, to despatch of movies to confirmation of returned DVDs. As long as your rental queue is filled with titles, the DVDs will arrive within two days.

Each DVD came with professional packaging - a Hollywoodclicks.com disc sleeve, with a self-addressed envelope for individual DVDs.

Verdict: Hassle-free rental and payment process via credit card and great customer service make this a winner.

Videohub (www.videohub.sg)

Membership: From $15.90 a month for a Casual Basic plan which gives you 18 renting points, to $75.90 for a Combo Pro plan that gives you an unlimited number of renting points. Different points are allocated to movie VCDs, DVDs, television series DVD sets and Blu-ray discs.

Members can rent discs depending on the number of points their respective plans allow. If you do not have a PayPal account, a valid credit card is needed for registration, which will prompt you to sign up for a PayPal account too.

Free trial: Two-week trial. Mandatory cancellation before trial period is up, or your credit card will be charged.

Service and delivery: Prompt e-mail to notify customers that discs have been sent out and receipt of returned DVDs.

The rental point system is an additional and unnecessary complication. DVDs arrived promptly the next day, the quickest delivery among the three services tested. Videohub's no-frills packaging is the simplest of the three, with only a transparent CD sleeve holding the DVD upon arrival. There is a self-addressed envelope for disc return.

Verdict: Point-system gets quite confusing.

HomePal (www.homepal.com.sg)

Membership: Monthly memberships cost from $22.95 (economy plan to rent a disc at a time) to $55.95 (premium plan to rent up to five discs at one time).

Casual memberships are available at $5 per disc, but a refundable deposit of at least $50 must be placed. A valid credit card is needed for registration, in order to sign up for the WorldPay online payment service.

Free trial: None available.

Service and delivery: Upon registration, a customer service officer calls to confirm mailing address. My choice of discs were all available. After e-mail notifications on the discs' despatch dates, they arrived within two days, each packaged in a black corrugated cardboard casing with a label containing the movie synopsis - helpful for identifying the films - and a self-addressed envelope for return. E-mail notifications are also sent out once the discs returned are received.

Verdict: Plans were easy to decipher, although a free trial could win over more potential customers.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Life! on 29 October 2008.