Premieres is a new, Kitchener, Ontario-bases rental service, and already boasts far more titles than the average video store, some 5,000. Premieres is primarily a DVD retail site in the business since 2004, but in early 2007 started doing online rentals as well.

Their website is fully functional, not as advanced and sleek as the market leaders. That said, they do list an impressive 20 genres listed to aid browsing, as well as one of the more advanced search engines, allowing for simultaneous searches of title, actor, director, genre, release date, rating, studio, year, country, and language all on one form. In fact, we suggest you use the advanced search function all the time rather than the basic search, which takes much longer.

We do think their results title results display is a bit sparse--there should really be some more tabular title there instead of all the white space. But the actual title information screen is excellent, listing all the fields in their search engine just mentioned, as well as a facility for customer reviews and ratings. Having gone so far with the search engine, in our opinion Premieres really should go the final step and make the fields, actor, director, etc. hyperlinked, so if you click Dustin Hoffman, or Francis Ford Coppola, you come up with a list of all their films.

There does not appear to be an address listed, though there is a customer service phone line and email address. Being a relatively new entrant to the rental realm, they apparently are quick to respond to emails and swiftly ship titles as well. In particular, they're very good about responding to customer requests to acquire DVDs they don't stock. We've heard some complaints that they don't have a Quick Return function, so unless you're in Southern Ontario, they're probably not the best choice, with longer delays.

Premieres asks you to maintain a "Flick List" of at least 20 films--steeper than some services, but acceptable to ensure they always have something in stock you want to see. In the case of bonus/extras discs, these are separate rentals you need to select individually. It is time-consuming to rearrange your Flick List priorities, as each title must be moved up one notch at a time manually--a simple number ranking system would serve them much better.

Prices: Premieres offer a standard two-week free trial and five unlimited DVD rental subscription plans, all at reasonable rates. They allow 1 DVD out for $9.98 monthly, 2 DVDs out for $16.98, 3 DVDs out for $19.98, 4 DVDs out for $24.98, and 6 DVDs out for $35.98.

If you decide to cancel during the 14-day free trial, you simply need to return your discs within a generous further 7 days.