In the past, when you wanted video rentals, you had to head to the nearest movie store, sign up for a membership and then pay for each film. You then had three to seven days to watch your movies, and if you did not watch them in time, you would either be charged a late fee for the DVD rentals not returned on time. Otherwise, you would have to stop back at the store and re-rent the film, spending even more money just to enjoy some movie rentals.

While this worked for awhile, once illegal downloading became prevalent on the Internet, movie studios had to find a new way to offer video rentals as trends changed. Companies like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video had to compete with online movie rentals web sites along with iTunes to find a new way to offer DVD rentals online. As film moved to the Internet, movie rental downloads soared and the traditional rental scheme changed. While Blockbuster and other retailers tried to make the changes, some of them just could not compete with the online world. Netflix truly changed the way video rentals worked, and they continue to lead the market in the future of movie rentals.

Companies like Netflix offer new movie rentals, along with older films, as DVD rentals. iTunes, Amazon.com and other web sites also offer movie rental downloads where you pay per download, watch the download for a couple of days and then lose the ability to continue watching the movie. It also prevents you from burning the DVD to disc to watch again instead of purchasing the film. These are just part of the future of video rentals and as time goes on, it will continue to evolve online as opposed to brick and mortar DVD rentals.

Under the current online movie rentals model, such as run by Netflix, a customer signs up for online video rentals via their web site. A customer then selects a list of DVDS ranging from new releases, older films or TV shows. From there, Netflix sends them a pre-selected number of discs at a time. Once the customer has watched those DVD rentals, they send them back to Netflix and the next DVDs in queue are sent to them automatically.

These movie rentals coincide with a paid package plan through a company. There are many types of plans, but most companies offer the same types. Unlimited, limited and individual movie rentals plans are the most common. While you can "rent" an unlimited number of discs per month to watch, those who throttle the system can be penalized for doing so. Currently, Blockbuster has stepped up and declined to punish customers for taking advantage of the DVD rentals system. Netflix has remained on the fence about it, usually stipulating a maximum cap per month despite customers signing up for an unlimited plan.

Limited plans have a set amount of movies per month a customer can receive. This is based on the number of discs as opposed to the number of films or TV shows. Once the quota has been reached for the month, a customer can take out more DVD rentals by paying a fee per disc. If you do not meet your quota for the month, these video rentals generally do not carry over to the next month. Individual DVD rentals are a pay-as-you-rent plan. As you rent a DVD, you are charged a fee. Generally, this is the worst way to go about movie rentals, because it costs more to rent a film this way than to just sign up for a plan with a company.

Three other types of plans some companies off include package, peer-to-peer or series rentals. Package movie rentals allow a customer to be sent a package of discs, usually weekly, and then they are all returned at the same time before the next "package" of DVD rentals is sent. Peer-to-peer online video rentals allow a customer to connect with other consumers and exchange films via mail with them. Some companies that offer this service include Swap Simple and Peerflix. While it has been tested and works in some markets, it still needs to work out the kinks before being a serious way to go about video rentals.

Series rentals give a customer the chance to rent an entire season of a given TV show at one time instead of waiting for disc-by-disc video rentals. Once you have your TV series in queue, you will get each season once you return the previous one. In most cases, a company will charge you for the entire show as opposed to discs. Depending on the show, this could be more or less expensive than a general, unlimited movie rentals plan.

The future of movie rental downloads

In reaction to web sites like Amazon.com, Netflix has created a pay-per-download cable-type box for use in the home. Apple has introduced a similar box dubbed Apple TV to offer movie rental downloads. With Netflix's new box, developed by Roku, a user sets up their queue on the web site and once the box is connected to a broadband connection, the box downloads the queue for unlimited playback. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of the box for the time being is the lack of high-definition titles for download. While the box and service was released in the last three months, no doubt in the future Netflix and Roku will offer HD support for their customers.

Along with Netflix's monthly movie rentals fee, you purchase the box itself from Roku for about a hundred dollars. Once the box is connected to your Internet connection, you can then take advantage of online video rentals according to your plan with Netflix. Once everything is set-up and running, you can continue to watch the movies you have queued over and over again for the month. After the month is over, you can go ahead and queue up your next selections and watch them at your leisure. This will give you the time to watch everything you want when you want as opposed to rushing through the shipping to and from process.

Apple TV works in a similar way, allowing you to watch movies and TV shows through their box. Instead of having a queue, you purchase movie rental downloads on screen just like you would through a cable provider's on demand feature. You pay per movie you rent, it streams to the box and you have 30 days to watch the film before having to pay for it again. The Apple TV box also allows you to watch YouTube videos, listen to music, podcasts and other content all through your broadband Internet connection. If you do not have a broadband connection, you will not be able to utilize Apple TV or any other similar service, because the connection would be too slow.

In the next year, more companies will jump on the online video rentals train. Since this is where the future of video rentals are going, it makes sense that better technology, design and implementations will make this type of movie rental downloads the standard replacing DVD rentals. As time goes on, most households will be able to take advantage of online movie rentals.

Many consumers still enjoy going to a brick a mortar video store and taking out DVD rentals. While in the long run, this may be more expensive, it is what most people are comfortable with. As the technology changes, more consumers will be forced to change their DVD rentals as they make the jump to online video rentals. Over the next year, this type of online movie rentals is sure to overtake regular movie rentals and bring consumers into the future of new movie rentals.

Making the leap to movie rental downloads should be on everyone's mind. Everybody enjoys movie rentals; why not make it easier by going online for films? Cable-like boxes, iTunes programs and web sites will make it much simpler for everyone to get the films they want when they want them. iTunes downloads, in particular, are very simple to use and download. If you start small and work your way up, it will not seem like such a big leap.

Netflix does offer a free trial, as do many other DVD rentals web sites, check that out and see if it works for you. If you have not tried out the future of video rentals, now is the time! In the coming year, DVD rentals are going to begin to be replaced by strictly movie rental downloads. You do not want to get left behind, check out Netflix today or give the iTunes Music Store a go. You will not be disappointed at how easy it is to take advantage of online movie rentals.