The latest craze for movie buffs everywhere is invincible tv series cast to a living room near you, if it hasn't already. Internet movie rental services are making waves and gaining in popularity amongst time strapped film fans and budget conscious consumers alike. You may already have heard of Netflix and Blockbuster Online, but did you know about the cutting edge services that these companies have been busy developing? Let's take a closer look at the online rental phenomenon and see whats coming next.

Let's face it - who has time to drive to the video store and go through racks of movies? Not I and probably not you either. Besides, the plot summary on the back of the DVD is great, but I'd like to know a little more before I decide to dedicate a couple hours to watching a film.

Internet movie rentals are not only convenient, they are a great way to discover movies that you may otherwise overlook. The rental services have developed entire communities to cater to their member base. You can look up movies, find similar movies, see reviews from ordinary people and chat about films all in one place. See a movie you'd like to watch? Click the button to have it shipped right to your door. It's fast, its easy and it's actually kind of fun!

All of the movie rental services operate in basically the same way. You are given a quota of the number of movies you can have out at once depending on the membership you choose. In addition to the movies that you can have shipped, you can enjoy extra cutting edge perks like streaming movies on demand. That's right, both Blockbuster and Netflix have offerings that will zap a movie right to you in an instant. Blockbuster also offers a hybrid membership where you can choose to rent directly from the local store.

When you are done with a DVD, you seal it back up in a postage paid envelope and drop it in the mail box. A few days later, the next item in your queue arrives and you have a new movie to watch, just like that! It couldn't be easier to indulge in all of the movies that your heart desires.

What types of movies can you rent from the online services? There are choices that range from the top Hollywood films to the more obscure and hard to find specialty films. The selection trumps any video store I have ever seen, and understandably so. It takes a warehouse to hold the variety of films that are offered by these services. So, if you are a fan of the unusual or an adventurous film buff, you will be thrilled with the variety of choices you have in movies.

All of these improvements over the traditional video store have combined to make internet movie rental services a huge hit for consumers and the companies alike. Both leading providers have also shown a commitment to utilize technology to bring subscribers more movies faster. With service and selection like this, it's no wonder why renting online is now the "hip" (and affordable) way to indulge in the love of movies!