> Am I missing a cheaper rental service that runs about $1 per film?

Honestly where I am I can buy used DVDs for €1 each. I actually went out and bought a DVD player to connect to my TV a year or so ago, because the price was just so compelling.

One benefit to physical DVDs are that they can't disappear like a streaming-service can, you paid for it and you get to own it "forever". DVDs often have subtitles, which is nice for language-learners like me.

(I used to stream content from my PC, via VLC, to a chromecase, but subtitles were never streamed. That was annoying, but not a huge deal.)

It might not apply to all, and local shops are very expensive for "new" releases, but if you have a lot of used stores DVDs are essentially free for both TV series and films.