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Homeview is a medium-size, but expanding company founded in October 2005. Already active in the Delhi NCR, the service plans to expand to Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune shortly, and already boasts 5,000 titles.
Their web design seems fairly good. Each title lists stars, director, genre, length, and classification, as well as customer rating and any member reviews. These would be a bit better if the fields were hyperlinked though, so if you clicked Oliver Stone you'd come up with a list of all the films he directed. Homeview does boast an excellent advanced search engine, allowing multiple inputs to search on title, release year, director, cast, genre, and even subgenre--very powerful, and something more Indian DVD rental services should offer.
There are 10 genres listed for both English and Hindi--which is useful as too many companies simply list Hindi as a "genre," which makes browsing difficult. They also have some useful browsing categories like Top Rentals, New Releases, Highly Rated, Kid Zone, even Random Movies--all useful to find new films to see.
Homeview uses company-owned distribution services as well as a citywide network of independent video retailers to service rental customers They are clearly expanding, as Olive Webhosting recently updated their site with Flash animation and entirely new membership and subscription systems. They accept credit cards and net banking from all leading banks or cheque on delivery,
There are very few reports on Homeview on the net and blogosphere, suggesting it remains a medium-sized, largely untested company, but it has potential. CEO Naveen Verma has declared his intent to help stamp out piracy by offering an affordable, reliable service.
Prices: Homeview does not have unlimited or even capped monthly subscriptions; instead it operates like a pay-as-you-go mobile phone service--you top up or "recharge" your account, and then make rentals (most for Rs a reasonable 50 per disc, some as little as Rs 25) one at a time. This is not a business model we believe suits online rentals or the customer best, so would stick with one of the unlimited subscription or high-capped monthly services.
One enlightened Homeview policy is the right to a 100% money back guarantee if your are dissatisfied within 14 days--this is standard in most Western countries, but this is the only Indian company we've seen featuring it.
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Rental Basics