• Uc
• U
• PG
• 12
• 15
• 18
• XXX (Adult downloads)

• Recently Added
• Action/Adventure DVDs
• Animated DVDs
• Comedy DVDs
• Documentary DVDs
• Drama DVDs
• Family DVDs
• Horror DVDs
• Martial arts DVDs
• Romance DVDs
• Sci-fi DVDs
• Thriller DVDs
• Arthouse DVDs
• True story DVDs
• Bonus disc DVDs
• TV DVDs
• War DVDs
• Classic DVDs
• Western DVDs
• James Bond DVDs
• Musical DVDs

On this page we've provided some answers to your questions on our online DVD rental service. We have tried to keep it as simple as possible. Help topics are under subheadings, if you can't find what you are looking for, email us at: support@dvdchoice.co.uk

YOUR ACCOUNT
Payment
Is it safe to give my credit card details over the net?
My wishlist
How soon will I start getting DVDs?
Why can't I get the half price trial?
Suspending my account
Cancelling my account
Refunds
Refusal of service.
DVDs
Searching
Certificates (ratings)
Sequels
Where does the "star" rating for the films come from.
Bonus/multiple discs
Region-what does this mean?
Runtime-what does this mean?
Widescreen - what does this mean?
Showcase-what does this mean?
HOH-what does this mean?
5.1 - what does this mean?
It won't play
I've damaged your DVD
POSTAGE
What area do you deliver to?
Packaging
Do I need to put my details in with the returned DVD?
Turnaround
It didn't arrive
DVDchoice.co.uk
Why an internet based subscription service?
Can I just hire one DVD and pay for it now?
Corporate services.

We value your custom. We will treat you fairly at all times. We will answer all your queries. We will send out your next DVD on the same working day as we receive the previous one. We will keep your membership details confidential. We don't know or have access to your credit card details, that is handled by WorldPay. We won't expect you to stay a member longer than you want to, you can cancel at any time. We won't add on any 'extras', when we say £9.95 a month, we mean £9.95 a month, no matter how many DVDs you rent. We won't sell advertising space on our site, our business is DVD rental, not marketing someone else's business. We won't disappear overnight, 15 years in the rental business and counting.

We accept payment by; Mastercard, Visa, Visa Delta, JCB, Electron, Solo, Maestro and BACS. The subscription is paid in advance and is for one calendar month (not 4 weeks), so for example if you join on the 7th of a month, your payment is due on the 7th of every month thereafter.
We can also take payment by cheque, though you must pay for 1 year in advance, at the discounted rate of £99 (1 DVD at a time), or £149 (2 DVDs at a time). This discount is available to anyone paying for a year, by whatever method. (Please make cheques payable to Home Choice Videos (N.I.) Ltd.

If you feel unsure about giving out your credit/debit card details over the internet, that's OK too. Just send your telephone number to info@dvdchoice.co.uk with a convenient time to call. We will call you at our expense and you can register over the 'phone.
*NB - although we understand your concern at giving out credit card details, we use WorldPay for our merchant services, the world leader in secure internet transaction technology. Paying by telephone is therefore actually LESS secure than paying on our site!

This is a list of movies you wish to hire from us. When you see a DVD you would like to hire, just click on 'add to wishlist'. You can then manage your list of DVDs: add, delete or change the viewing order. Keep as many DVDs as you like on your list. The next available DVD from your list is automatically sent to you each time we receive your previous DVD. If you rent 2 DVDs at a time, you can have 2 Wishlists, and when you return a DVD the next one is sent from the same list as the returned one. You may have up to 100 films on your Wishlist.

Once you have joined the first available DVD on your list is sent out the same day (Mon-Fri, joined before 2:00pm), or the next working day (joined after 2:00pm). After that we will send the next available DVD on your list to you each time you return one to us, same day turnaround guaranteed.

If you were previously a member then cancelled, you would not get the half price trial again, you would have to pay full price from your new start date.

You can temporarily suspend your account, rather than cancelling it. The maximum suspension time is 3 months. Current DVDs must be returned.

You are able to cancel your account at any time. Email us at at support@dvdchoice.co.uk and we will take care of everything. Please make sure your last disc is returned 24 hours before the end of your current month. Overdue DVDs will be charged at 50p per day each, 75p per day for 2, with a £1 minimum overdue charge. YOUR ACCOUNT WILL REMAIN OPEN UNTIL YOUR LAST DVD IS RETURNED. For your own peace of mind, why not get a Proof Of Posting certificate when returning your last DVDs?

Refunds will be at the discretion of the company management.

DVDchoice.co.uk reserves the right to refuse new meberships. If this is the case, the new member will be informed within 1 working day and their subscription fee will be refunded in full.

DVD is short for Digital Versatile Disc.
When that DVD holds a movie, it is known as DVDVIDEO

The search facility on our site is comprehensive. When you enter a name, word or phrase to search for, the computer will search all fields by default. To refine your search, select which field you would like searched from the drop down "search by" menu. Try to be as specific as possible, as too vague a search will produce possibly hundreds of results. If there is only one result for your search, that result will automatically be displayed at full size.

We display the correct certificate for each DVD. It is the responsibility of the hirer to make sure that these do not fall into the wrong hands. Listed below are the British Board of Film Classification guidlines for each certificate.

DVDs classified Uc are particularly suitable for pre-school children.
General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for some children

U (Universal)- It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a 'U' film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. Works aimed at children should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.
Theme - Treatment of problematic themes must be sensitive and appropriate to a younger audience.
Language - Infrequent use only of very mild bad language.
Nudity - Occasional natural nudity, with no sexual context.
Sex - Mild sexual behaviour (e.g., kissing) and references only (e.g., to 'making love').
Violence - Mild violence only.
Occasional mild threat or menace only.
Imitable techniques - No emphasis on realistic weapons.
Horror - Horror effects should be mild and brief and should take account of the presence of very young viewers. The outcome should be reassuring.
Drugs - No references to illegal drugs or drug use.

PG (Parental Guidance) - Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A 'PG' film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.
Theme - More serious issues may be featured, eg crime, domestic violence, racism (providing nothing in their treatment condones them).
Language - Mild bad language only.
Nudity - Natural nudity, with no sexual context.
Sex - Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. Mild sexual references and innuendo only.
Violence - Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed - if justified by its setting (eg historic, comedy or fantasy).
Imitable techniques - No glamorisation of realistic, contemporary weapons. No detail of fighting or other dangerous techniques.
Horror - Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor.
Drugs - No references to illegal drugs or drug use unless entirely innocuous.

No-one younger than 12 may rent a '12' rated DVD.
Theme - Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.
Language - The use of strong language (eg 'f**k') should be rare and must be justified by context.
Nudity - Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context will be brief and discreet.
Sex - Sexual activity may be implied. Sexual references may reflect the familiarity of most adolescents today with sex education through school.
Violence - Violence must not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly indicated and without physical detail.
Imitable techniques - Dangerous techniques (examples include: combat, hanging, suicides) should contain no imitable detail. Realistic and contemporary weapons should not be glamorised.
Horror - Sustained threat and menace is permitted. Occasional gory moments only.
Drugs - Brief and occasional references to, and sight of, 'soft' drug-taking (eg cannabis) are allowed, but must be justified by context and should indicate the dangers. No instructional elements are permitted.

No-one younger than 15 may rent a '15' rated DVD.
Theme - No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language - There may be frequent use of strong language; the strongest terms (eg 'c**t') are only rarely acceptable. Continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.
Nudity - There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex - Sexual activity and nudity may be portrayed but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled responsibly. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence - Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain, and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques - Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons (in particular, knives).
Horror - Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is unacceptable.
Drugs - Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use.

No-one younger than 18 may rent an '18' rated DVD.
The BBFC respects the right of adults to chose their own entertainment, within the law. It will therefore expect to intervene only rarely in relation to '18' rated cinema films. In the case of DVDs, which are more accessible to younger viewers, intervention may be more frequent.
There are no constraints at this level on theme, language, nudity or horror. The Board may, however, cut or reject the following content;
any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts which is likely to promote the activity. This includes also instructive detail of illegal drug use, the more explicit images of sexual activity - unless they can be exceptionally justified by context
Sex Education at '18'
Where sex material genuinely seeks to inform and educate in matters such as human sexuality, safe sex and health, exceptions to the normal constraints on explicit images may be made in the public interest. Such explicit detail must be kept to the minimum necessary to illustrate the educational or instructional points being made.
Sex Works at '18'
Material which appears to be simulated is generally passed '18', while images of real sex are confined to the 'R18' (Restricted) category.

Where you have more than one of a series of DVDs on your wishlist, our software knows that they are connected, so they are sent accordingly.

EXAMPLE;
Mrs Simpson's wishlist might read like this -

Garfield The Movie
Garfield 2
Mr. Bean's Holiday.
Arthur The Invisible.
etc.

Today, all the copies of 'Garfield The Movie' are out, so the computer selects 'Mr. Bean's Holiday' as the next appropriate film to send Mrs Simpson, ignoring 'Garfield 2' until she has first received 'Garfield The Movie'.

This works for movies, TV series', etc., anything where there is a relationship between DVDs.
(You don't have to order every disc in a series for this to work.)

This is a rating given by our members to films they have watched. You may rate any film you wish once you are logged in. You can rate the same film as many times as you like, but only your most recent rating counts to prevent weighting.

We count all movie discs as one choice. If you add a movie to your wishlist that is on 2, 3, or even 4 discs (as some special editions are), then you will receive these discs together. You will not be charged any extra for this.
TV series, some of which which are spread over many discs, count as one choice per disc.

DVDs are produced with what is called 'Region Encoding', this means the disc should only be able to be played in a country where DVD players of that same region are sold. That is the theory, in practise, many people have multi region DVD players, these enable them to watch discs from other regions as well as their own. All of Europe is classed as region 2, so if you buy a DVD player in Europe, it should only be capable of playing region 2 discs, but many are multi region, as mentioned above. However, regardless of all this, we only stock region 2 (Europe) and Region 0 (not encoded) discs.

This is the approximate length in minutes of the main feature only. Where there a bonus disc/s, their runtime, if known, is shown as a second figure, i.e. 90/40 means the film lasts 90 minutes, and the bonus discs lasts a further 40 minutes. Obviously 1 disc movies will only have 1 figure.

The way in which movies are presented on DVD can be a source of confusion. There are various terms such as "enhanced for widescreen TVs", "pan and scan" and figures such as 4:3, 1.85:1 etc. that may be used to explain how the movie is presented. The following will attempt to explain the differences in presentation.

The Different Ratios - The ratio of width to height, is often quoted when dealing with different methods of movie presentation. A standard TV screen has a ratio of 4:3 i.e. for every 4 units wide it is 3 units high. This ratio is also known as 1.33:1 (which is the same thing, 4 divided by 3 = 1.33). Widescreen TVs are obviously wider and their screens have a ratio of 16:9 i.e. for every 16 units wide they are 9 units high. This ratio is the same as 1.78:1 (16 divided by 9 = 1.78).

Movies shown at the cinema are filmed in a variety of ratios but the most common are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. When these movies are shown on a standard TV in their original format (i.e. preserving how they were shown in the cinema) the picture appears 'letterboxed', with a black bar above and below the picture. The bars are larger when 2.35:1 material is shown because the picture is much wider compared to it's height, although the bars are not as large as on a standard TV when 2.35:1 material is shown.

1.85:1 material is often cropped to 1.78:1 on DVD so that the picture fills the 16:9 (1.78:1) screen of a widescreen TV, but this cropping does not result in any noticable loss of picture information. If the original 1.85:1 ratio is preserved the picture doesn't quite fill the whole 16:9 TV screen.

In addition, DVD content may be presented in the 4:3 ratio, either modified from it's original cinematic presentation (more on this later) or originally filmed in this way - older movies may not have been filmed in a wider format. If this is the case the picture will fill the screen of a standard TV but on a widecreen TV there will be black bars to the left and right of the picture, unless the image is "stretched" to fill the wider frame (most widescreen TVs have this facility).


There is a technique called "pan and scan" which is used to modify widescreen material (be it 1.85:1, 2.35:1 or any other ratio) so that it fills the whole screen of a standard TV. Rather than just take the middle of a widescreen picture and crop the sides, the pan and scan technique takes a centre of interest which may not necessarily be the middle of the picture. The 4:3 "window" can be moved around the widescreen picture so that important information is not missed. However, the result of the pan and scan process is often not satisfactory and the viewer ends up missing a lot of the picture.

Some people like movies to be panned and scanned so that they don't have to view them letterboxed, but others prefer to see the movies as they were shown in the cinema i.e. letterboxed on standard TVs, which is why many DVDs have both the pan and scan and widescreen versions of the movie on the same disc. When there is a pan and scan version present on the disc the DVD packaging usually states that the movie has been "re-formatted to fit your TV screen", or something similar.

Enhanced for widescreen TVs

Many DVDs have the statement "enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs" or "anamorphic widescreen" on the packaging. What this means is that the widescreen picture has been stored on the disc in a way that gives a better quality picture than normal (consisting of a greater number of lines) when viewed on widescreen TVs - the DVD presentation is said to be "anamorphic".

Normally, when widescreen movies are stored on VHS, Laserdisc or non-anamorphic DVDs the image is shrunk until it fits inside a 4:3 frame. This means the black bars are stored as well, taking up horizontal lines that could be used for the actual picture. With anamorphic DVDs the widescreen picture is first "squashed" to fit into the 4:3 frame without black bars and then this is stored on the disc i.e. all the horizontal lines are used for picture information. When shown on widecreen TVs the picture is restored to it's original aspect ratio and is of higher resolution because a greater number of lines have been used. For standard TVs the DVD player restores the picture to it's original ratio, creates the two black bars and adds them to the image which is then displayed. Therefore, the picture from a DVD that is "enhanced for widescreen TVs" will be of higher quality when displayed on a widescreen TV than a DVD that is not enhanced.

NB sometimes a disc will have 2 figures quoted for aspect ratio, this means that there is an entire film on each side of the disc, you choose which side to watch, and therefore which aspect ratio you prefer.

Showcase is just an advertisement on the disc for other products by the company that made the disc, usually trailers for other movies.

HOH indicates that subtitles are available for the Hard Of Hearing

A 5.1 soundtrack will contain six distinct channels of audio for the positions of left, centre, right, left surround, right surround and the Low Frequency Effects (LFE, bass or ".1") channel. Unlike the analogue Dolby Surround and Pro Logic formats, Dolby Digital has two independant surround channels. This means that a 5.1 system will give a far greater sense of depth and localisation than a Pro Logic system. The LFE channel is a separate channel that allows the inclusion of low frequency bass sounds that are felt more than heard. The LFE channel can be routed to either a separate subwoofer or to all five speakers individually. If even Dolby Digital isn't good enough for you, consider a DTS compatible sound system.

All discs are visually checked for damage before and after each rental. Damaged discs will not be sent out. If a DVD we send you does not play, and you are confident that your machine is clean and in good working order, contact us immediately at: support@dvdchoice.co.uk We will send you another DVD without waiting for the faulty one to be returned, though you must still return it to us as normal.

Send it back as normal, and we will check it. If it is lightly scratched, we may be able to polish it out, and in this case you will not be charged anything.
If the disc is actually broken, or very deeply scratched, you may have to pay a replacement charge.
*If you do damage a DVD, please be sure to own up, accidents do happen, and we will deal more sympathetically with you if you are honest with us. Anyway, with discs being checked both out and in, we will know who damaged it.

All DVDs are sent and returned via 1st class mail. This helps you get the best value from your subscription, as there is less 'dead' time, ie: time when neither you nor us have the DVD. We pay all postage costs, both ways, no matter how many DVDs you hire in a month.
If you select the 2 DVDs at a time option, they are always sent in seperate envelopes, with appropriate return envelopes, so you do not have to return both at once.

We offer DVD rental to anywhere in Northern Ireland and mainland UK.

When we send you the DVD, it will come only in an envelope, you will not get the box or cover with it. Sending it in the box would only add greatly to the postage costs, and of course to the subscription cost (it would in fact probably double the subscription cost to almost £20 per month!). The picture you see in the film details section is a scan of the actual cover and the synopsis you see is copied, usually word for word, off the back of the box, almost as good as getting the box, but cheaper!
If you select the 2 DVDs at a time option, they are always sent in seperate envelopes, with appropriate return envelopes, so you do not have to return both at once.

No, we know by the number on the disc who has returned it.

We guarantee to always send out the next available DVD from your wishlist on the same day that we receive your return.
Obviously we can't send DVDs out on days on which there is no postal service - Sundays & Public holidays - but by the same token, we would not have received any returned DVDs on those days anyway.

Even though Royal Mail deliver virtually all 1st class mail the next working day, this isn't always the case. Please allow 4 working days for a change of DVD - 2 days each way. If you haven't received your next DVD by then, contact us at: support@dvdchoice.co.uk Of course the normal turnaround time should be just 2 working days, as we only use 1st class mail, and guarantee same day turnaround.

DVDchoice.co.uk offers UK DVD rental online and is wholly owned by;

Home Choice Videos (N.I.) Ltd.
Registered office;
71 Huntingdale Lodge
PORTADOWN
Co. Armagh.
BT62 3RY
(no stock is kept at this address)

Company Number NI26586
Registered on 14th May, 1992

We are a family owned and run firm, and have been delivering movies to homes since 1992.

For many reasons;
1. Value. Renting DVDs online is much cheaper for you. How many movies can you rent at present for £9.95? For how many nights? Are they delivered to your door? A traditional video library would go out of businees very quickly indeed at these rates!
2. Service. Online DVD rental is much more flexible. If you currently rent your movies for 1, 2 or even 7 nights, then either you return the movie without seeing it, pay for another rental so you can keep it longer, or else waste most of the hire period by having it longer than necessary.
3. Because we analyse all wishlists, we can quickly buy more copies of the most requested titles, meaning a more efficient service for you.
4. Variety. There is more incentive for you to try different types of movies this way, with no actual fixed cost per rental, you can try them and see.
5. Convenience. Do it all from the comfort of your own PC.

No, we don't operate a 'spot hire' facility, see your local video library for this.

Please contact us for further details on; affiliate promotions, white label versions of our site, co-branded versions of our site, bulk membership discounts etc.