We're also seasonal netflix users, but in the summer when everythings in re-runs.
The good: make a list of everything you want to see, even before it hits the theaters, sort it by order and get 3-6 dvds off that list every week if you're dilligent about turning them over. $18 a month for that isnt bad. We watched about 100 dvd's last summar for about $80.
The bad: if you rent a lot, and even if you dont, netflix can 'prioritize' new releases. You'll get them fast if you're on a free trial, or if you're an occasional user. If you pump through dvd's quite quickly, you mighjt wait a few weeks to get the new stuff. If you rent often, you might also find that the "post office is geting slow" about moving your movies both ways What is normally a 1-2 day post office route became 3+ days on a regular basis with netflix.
Blockbuster was no better. For $25 you get to go pluck them from the shelves, but nights and weekend excursions found emtpy shelves. Their "we have it or its free" doesnt work very well when you're on an unlimited plan.
I wouldnt mind netflix if they came right out and SAID "if you rent a lot, you're going to get lower priority for new releases, and while we say "unlimited", what we really man is xx dvd's per month, after which we will throttle you and blame the post office.
But its still a good deal, and they DO have unusual and hard to find stuff.