RIP Qwikster
April 18, 2023 3:42 PM Subscribe
Netflix will end DVD-by-mail service in September of this year. A nation mourns.
In honor of the end of this era, a few recent pieces by & about the oddballs (myself included) who still get red envelopes in the mail:
In honor of the end of this era, a few recent pieces by & about the oddballs (myself included) who still get red envelopes in the mail:
- "Netflix nights still come wrapped in red-and-white envelopes" (AP, November 2022)
- "The Former Netflix DVD Library Is a Lost Treasure We’ll Never See Again" (Paste Magazine, March 2021) (Previously)
- "‘A living museum’: what it’s like using Netflix’s DVD-by-mail in 2022" (Guardian, December 2022)
- "5 Reasons Why I Still Pay For Netflix's DVD Plan In 2022" (CinemaBlend, October 2022)
- "The perfect virtual video store isn’t Netflix. It’s DVD.com." (Vox, April 2020)
I didn't even know they still did DVDs, I though redbox would've taken over that market. Can't think about Netflix & DVDs without thinking about the SNL sketch.
I do kind of wish Greencine were still a thing.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:09 PM on April 18, 2023 [8 favorites]
I do kind of wish Greencine were still a thing.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:09 PM on April 18, 2023 [8 favorites]
nooooooooooooooo!
Well there's still redbox and the library.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:10 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Well there's still redbox and the library.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:10 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Long time subscriber; never appreciated the mocking if I were to reveal that I did this (and hey up until a few months we were getting the paper delivered 7 days a week; and I still only listen to my very large MP3 collection) but have just within the last month started to raise the idea of cancelling, what with the queue shrinking down to about 10 and the Saved queue only giving up about one movie a month into the regular queue. So I'm ready to move on, most stuff can be found elsewhere; we don't pay for for single-title rentals but that remains an option too...
posted by stevil at 4:12 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by stevil at 4:12 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
"there's always redbox"
clearly none of you has ever been to a redbox
posted by Bwentman at 4:13 PM on April 18, 2023 [37 favorites]
clearly none of you has ever been to a redbox
posted by Bwentman at 4:13 PM on April 18, 2023 [37 favorites]
clearly none of you has ever been to a redbox
it's true. last time I used rebox was when McDonald's still owned them?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2023
it's true. last time I used rebox was when McDonald's still owned them?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2023
Quitster
posted by kirkaracha at 4:20 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:20 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
.
posted by praemunire at 4:21 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 4:21 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
There are still a ton of movies that you can't stream, or cant stream affordably that I use the DVD service for. Even though I still live in a city with a real video store netflix is just easier.
posted by Dr. Twist at 4:23 PM on April 18, 2023 [17 favorites]
posted by Dr. Twist at 4:23 PM on April 18, 2023 [17 favorites]
Back when I was single and Netflix was new, I watched tons of movies. I was really disciplined about watching them the same day I got them and dropping them in the mail the next day.
I also rated hundreds and hundreds of movies in hopes they would recommend movies I'd like. No dice, and even today their recommendations (along with most others) suck.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:25 PM on April 18, 2023 [16 favorites]
I also rated hundreds and hundreds of movies in hopes they would recommend movies I'd like. No dice, and even today their recommendations (along with most others) suck.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:25 PM on April 18, 2023 [16 favorites]
The thing that was nice about the DVDs is that they'd have just about everything that came out, you just might have to wait for it. Truly a long tail kind of catalogue. Not so much anymore.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:27 PM on April 18, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:27 PM on April 18, 2023 [13 favorites]
I was a subscriber to the DVD service for a long time, up until late last year. Increasingly, it was hard to get new stuff outside of blockbusters, because they just weren't being released in that format. But Netflix also increasingly didn't have any of the older titles that would justify it--anything older than 2000 was pretty hit or miss. So if I can't get new indies or old anything, why subscribe?
I feel like some of this isn't Netflix's fault, they can't control the market or force distributors to re-release something like Don't Go Into The Woods Alone when the original disc wears out. But at the end of the day, they also didn't really seem to have a plan for doing anything except treading water until people like me gave up and let them shut down the mail subscription side without an uproar.
posted by Four String Riot at 4:28 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
I feel like some of this isn't Netflix's fault, they can't control the market or force distributors to re-release something like Don't Go Into The Woods Alone when the original disc wears out. But at the end of the day, they also didn't really seem to have a plan for doing anything except treading water until people like me gave up and let them shut down the mail subscription side without an uproar.
posted by Four String Riot at 4:28 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
I didn't know they were still doing DVDs either; I can't believe they kept that up as long as they did.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:32 PM on April 18, 2023
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:32 PM on April 18, 2023
Yeah, I'm super sad about this but as Four String Riot mentions, their older catalog really rotted away. My "Saved" section (which is where movies go that you've added to your queue but Netflix doesn't have) used to be two or three obscure martial arts titles, but has swelled to over 100 over the past few years, including Chungking Express, various (original run) Planet of the Apes movies, Cowboy Bebop, and Glengarry Glen Ross to name a very few.
posted by riotnrrd at 4:34 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by riotnrrd at 4:34 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
somewhere in oregon blockbuster video plots its revenge
posted by logicpunk at 4:50 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by logicpunk at 4:50 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Rent Rip and Return baby!
Killed off by Louis DeJoy's USPS service slowdowns.
posted by srboisvert at 4:52 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Killed off by Louis DeJoy's USPS service slowdowns.
posted by srboisvert at 4:52 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
I haven't watched my DVD's in years. I finally put them back in the mail today.
Yes, that's incredibly bad. I won third place in an online scavenger hunt for that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:55 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yes, that's incredibly bad. I won third place in an online scavenger hunt for that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:55 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Hypothetically, if one had been hanging onto a couple of discs, not yet done with all the extras for example, for like maybe...the last two years...and DVD.com shuts down, do you think anyone's going to come after you for replacement fees?
Asking for a friend.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 5:01 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Asking for a friend.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 5:01 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
I signed up for the DVD service last fall and filled my queue with hard-to-find movies that aren't on any streaming service. Three weeks later, not a single disc had arrived and I canceled my subscription. I guess Netflix got $12 or whatever it was for me for free. I'm not surprised to see them shutting down now. If I can't get the rare stuff that isn't streaming, what's the point of a DVD service anyway?
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:14 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:14 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Ah dang. My mom lives in the middle of nowhere, no decent internet options. She loves having the DVDs by mail. Hopefully the electric coop will get fiber out to her corner of the county this year!
posted by rockindata at 5:16 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by rockindata at 5:16 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
There were a few years there that were possibly the best time ever to be a movie buff, and that was in the early 2000s before netflix launched its streaming service. You could get *any* movie. You would hear about a movie, read about it in an essay or a news article and look on Netflix and there it was, in your queue and on its way. I had the 10 dvd at a time plan and I really got my movies worth. Today it would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars if not more to get access to the same movies. The dvd service has been falling apart for years now, probably a deliberate policy of Netflix's, but man it was incredible for those few years.
posted by dis_integration at 5:19 PM on April 18, 2023 [50 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 5:19 PM on April 18, 2023 [50 favorites]
I remember taking a film class in college where the professor would pass around her one precious DVD of a Senegalese film for those who couldn't make the screening. Then just a few years later yep, Netflix has it.
Now I guess that niche is filled by private torrent trackers.
posted by muddgirl at 5:27 PM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Now I guess that niche is filled by private torrent trackers.
posted by muddgirl at 5:27 PM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
I hung on to the DVD service for a long time too, well past the time people started making jokes about how no one gets DVDs in the mail anymore. But, well, the catalog slowly eroded away as streaming took over, and eventually it just wasn't worth it anymore.
I think I felt sadder about it the day I canceled. Monopolies suck, of course, but having access to such an amazing collection once upon a time was amazing. Now everything is sectioned off into a thousand different services, if it's even available at all.
Not too long ago I was reading a Twitter thread about how someone couldn't even get a physical copy of a TV show they worked on (for Netflix, or something?). Meaning that when it was pulled, they could no longer even show it to their kids. You know, the typical fear about what happens when physical media is no longer the norm.
Somehow we managed to invent the greatest information resource imaginable, and then we managed to use it to make a lot of art even less available.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:29 PM on April 18, 2023 [28 favorites]
I think I felt sadder about it the day I canceled. Monopolies suck, of course, but having access to such an amazing collection once upon a time was amazing. Now everything is sectioned off into a thousand different services, if it's even available at all.
Not too long ago I was reading a Twitter thread about how someone couldn't even get a physical copy of a TV show they worked on (for Netflix, or something?). Meaning that when it was pulled, they could no longer even show it to their kids. You know, the typical fear about what happens when physical media is no longer the norm.
Somehow we managed to invent the greatest information resource imaginable, and then we managed to use it to make a lot of art even less available.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:29 PM on April 18, 2023 [28 favorites]
Meanwhile in happier tangible-media news, the legendary video-rental shop I Luv Video has been reincarnated as a nonprofit, We Luv Video, and will have what had once been the location of another excellent video-rental shop, Vulcan Video.
posted by adamrice at 5:29 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 5:29 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
The good news is that Netflix will be dumping a bunch of used DVDs on the market soon.
posted by Hatashran at 5:37 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Hatashran at 5:37 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Netflix Canada hasn't had DVD mailings for more than a decade
posted by scruss at 5:38 PM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 5:38 PM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was one of those rapidfire renter/returners in 2005 or so, too, where I'd get a disc in the mail as I was coming home from work, watch it after dinner, and drop it in the mail the next morning.
And you had a watchlist that let you shuffle the order of what you were getting, and I was always adding, always shuffling. Someone somewhere (here?) once said the the bottom of the list was who you wanted to be, but the top of the list was who you actually were, and I found that to be shockingly true.
posted by mochapickle at 5:41 PM on April 18, 2023 [25 favorites]
And you had a watchlist that let you shuffle the order of what you were getting, and I was always adding, always shuffling. Someone somewhere (here?) once said the the bottom of the list was who you wanted to be, but the top of the list was who you actually were, and I found that to be shockingly true.
posted by mochapickle at 5:41 PM on April 18, 2023 [25 favorites]
> I remember taking a film class in college where the professor would pass around her one precious DVD of a Senegalese film for those who couldn't make the screening.
I had this happen a few months ago, when my fellow students in a film class passed around a DVD of the 1964 version of The Killers.
Scarecrow Video, in Seattle, has a list of "unstreamable" titles they rent.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:52 PM on April 18, 2023 [14 favorites]
I had this happen a few months ago, when my fellow students in a film class passed around a DVD of the 1964 version of The Killers.
Scarecrow Video, in Seattle, has a list of "unstreamable" titles they rent.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:52 PM on April 18, 2023 [14 favorites]
My wife and I had been occasional users of dvd.com as recently as two years ago. It was really useful when we were choosing to get into something like the entire Fast and Furious series (where it might show up on streaming but it leaves before we finish) or some niche foreign films that werent on streaming. Lately we'd be opting into our local library for DVDs and had found that the discs were less likely to be scratched or unplayable so I don't think we'd miss it but I feel bad for folks who don't live in cities with good libraries.
posted by bl1nk at 5:54 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bl1nk at 5:54 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
I used greencine.com in the Bay Area in the early aughts. It delivered DVDs by mail and was the anti-Netflix. They eventually became a porn VOD site and their URL 404s now.
Back in the day my computer had a CD/DVD drive and it was easy to watch movies - for a few weeks I watched every zombie movie greencine had regardless of its age or obscurity. I now have a small collection of DVDs, most of which I’ve digitized.
When I want to watch a DVD I struggle to find a free USB port and plug my external player into my computer. Fortunately the external player only cost twenty bucks.
posted by bendy at 6:04 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Back in the day my computer had a CD/DVD drive and it was easy to watch movies - for a few weeks I watched every zombie movie greencine had regardless of its age or obscurity. I now have a small collection of DVDs, most of which I’ve digitized.
When I want to watch a DVD I struggle to find a free USB port and plug my external player into my computer. Fortunately the external player only cost twenty bucks.
posted by bendy at 6:04 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
The whole DVD timeline of this is what is blowing my mind, though, even though I lived through this:
Netflix says goodbye DVDs and notes the service has been around 25 years?!
DVD as a format was launched in 1997?!?!
Netflix as a company was founded in 1997?!?!?
"DVD players were a popular gift for holiday sales in late 2001, and demand for DVD subscription services were "growing like crazy"" (from Netflix wikipedia article)
Also edited Timeline of Netflix wikipedia article to add today's news.
posted by larrybob at 6:17 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Netflix says goodbye DVDs and notes the service has been around 25 years?!
DVD as a format was launched in 1997?!?!
Netflix as a company was founded in 1997?!?!?
"DVD players were a popular gift for holiday sales in late 2001, and demand for DVD subscription services were "growing like crazy"" (from Netflix wikipedia article)
Also edited Timeline of Netflix wikipedia article to add today's news.
posted by larrybob at 6:17 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
You can take away the service, but you can't take away the copy of Star Trek V I borrowed, lost, reported missing, and then found when I was moving in 2006.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:19 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:19 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
I still do asynchronous swapping in the mail on SwapaDVD.com. It's OK. I probably get one thing off my wishlist each month.
One advantage over Netflix it is that unwatched videos don't sit around and burn a hole in your pocket. You are not going to get the Criterion edition of The Third Man but you can get offbeat, PBS-y things and good mainstream movies that aren't streaming.
posted by anhedonic at 6:44 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
One advantage over Netflix it is that unwatched videos don't sit around and burn a hole in your pocket. You are not going to get the Criterion edition of The Third Man but you can get offbeat, PBS-y things and good mainstream movies that aren't streaming.
posted by anhedonic at 6:44 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
LOL at my first apartment in Chicago, the mail carriers used to PUNCH the disks down into the mailbox on the wall and Netflix sanctioned me at one point because I kept reporting the disc damage
NETFLIX: YOU BREAK DISC
ME: NO IS MAIL
NETFLIX: STOP BREAK DISC ACCOUNT SUSPENDED. CALL US PROVE IS MAIL
Now that I've recently quit digital Netflix, 7 months ago, they email me more often and more pathetically than any ex ever, with subject lines like "____, do you miss Netflix?" It's too sad to unsubscribe from!
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:47 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
NETFLIX: YOU BREAK DISC
ME: NO IS MAIL
NETFLIX: STOP BREAK DISC ACCOUNT SUSPENDED. CALL US PROVE IS MAIL
Now that I've recently quit digital Netflix, 7 months ago, they email me more often and more pathetically than any ex ever, with subject lines like "____, do you miss Netflix?" It's too sad to unsubscribe from!
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:47 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
Nextflix is getting major news for failing a much hyped livestream, their increased fees and password crackdowns, and now this? Yikes.
Kutsuwamushi, I remember that! I want to say it was for a cartoon, maybe Owl House or Star vs evil. They were pointing out that Netflix didn't want to keep paying residuals or something like that. And if Netflix kills something they made and stops hosting it, it likely just... vanishes into the ether. Kinda sad.
ALSO, pet peeve!!!!! NETFLIX YOU KILLED THIS SHOW, AFTER ONE SEASON, STOP PROMOTING IT ON THE FRONT PAGE. Bastards.
posted by Jacen at 7:02 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Kutsuwamushi, I remember that! I want to say it was for a cartoon, maybe Owl House or Star vs evil. They were pointing out that Netflix didn't want to keep paying residuals or something like that. And if Netflix kills something they made and stops hosting it, it likely just... vanishes into the ether. Kinda sad.
ALSO, pet peeve!!!!! NETFLIX YOU KILLED THIS SHOW, AFTER ONE SEASON, STOP PROMOTING IT ON THE FRONT PAGE. Bastards.
posted by Jacen at 7:02 PM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Good news: DVD essential patents dead, anyone can make their own discs and players without being sued for infringement
Bad news: disc is dead
posted by infinitewindow at 7:16 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Bad news: disc is dead
posted by infinitewindow at 7:16 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
I really lament this. I had a DVD subscription for probably 10 years, then stopped for a while, then tried again in 2018 and stuck with it for about a year. Even then it was getting shitty: unplayable discs, unavailable titles never restocked, long wait times, disc throttling.
I guess most people are fine just watching… whatever… but for film lovers the options are much, much worse than they used to be. I live in the sixth largest city in the entire United States and there isn’t a single rental place here.
I’ve been working my way through the latest Sight and Sound 100 and so far out of the twenty or so I’ve watched, 2 are unavailable anywhere on the legitimate internet. Can’t stream. Can’t rent. My city library didn’t have them. I couldn’t even find them on torrent sites! That’s 10% of the best movies ever made that are basically impossible to watch unless you want to buy them.
I don’t really know what any of us think we are doing, but man, this fucking sucks.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:20 PM on April 18, 2023 [12 favorites]
I guess most people are fine just watching… whatever… but for film lovers the options are much, much worse than they used to be. I live in the sixth largest city in the entire United States and there isn’t a single rental place here.
I’ve been working my way through the latest Sight and Sound 100 and so far out of the twenty or so I’ve watched, 2 are unavailable anywhere on the legitimate internet. Can’t stream. Can’t rent. My city library didn’t have them. I couldn’t even find them on torrent sites! That’s 10% of the best movies ever made that are basically impossible to watch unless you want to buy them.
I don’t really know what any of us think we are doing, but man, this fucking sucks.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:20 PM on April 18, 2023 [12 favorites]
There are still a ton of movies that you can't stream, or cant stream affordably that I use the DVD service for.
THIS. THIS is how I am even ABLE to get most of the movies for my blog.
I am so screwed.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:42 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
THIS. THIS is how I am even ABLE to get most of the movies for my blog.
I am so screwed.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:42 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Bad news: disc is dead
Oh just you watch, in like 15-20 years DVD sales will be booming again as people fawn over the retro-ness of DVD discs the same way people currently do over vinyl LPs. All delightedly dropping the disc in the tray and sliding it in; thrilling at the little tut-tut-tutitta-brrt noises as the file loads; arguing over what kind of USB cables and what external DVD drive models offer the best fidelity; starting old-school-VLC vs Windows-XXXVII-Media-Player flamewars....
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:58 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
Oh just you watch, in like 15-20 years DVD sales will be booming again as people fawn over the retro-ness of DVD discs the same way people currently do over vinyl LPs. All delightedly dropping the disc in the tray and sliding it in; thrilling at the little tut-tut-tutitta-brrt noises as the file loads; arguing over what kind of USB cables and what external DVD drive models offer the best fidelity; starting old-school-VLC vs Windows-XXXVII-Media-Player flamewars....
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:58 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
So Netflix killed the video store. Then killed itself.
posted by Toddles at 7:59 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Toddles at 7:59 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
We'll probably hang on until September. Just watched "The Holy Mountain" which is, admittedly available for $4 on Amazon, but even at a few DVDs per month, Netflix is/was a bargain.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:35 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:35 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'll always be convinced that a big part of what killed the DVD rental market is the extremely fragile nature of DVDs themselves.
Every DVD player I've ever owned, including my current Xbox One, has been unable to play a high portion of rental/library DVDs due to scratches, usually failing in the most annoying possible way by suddenly freezing up at a random place in the movie. DVDs can also have annoying features even when they work right, like unskippable ads (though that seems to have mostly been a phase) and menus with audio that loops endlessly if you don't turn off the player.
This is also a copyright law problem: DVDs themselves seem to cost about 25 cents at retail (presumably much less in bulk), so if rental places and libraries where allowed to back up their legally purchased DVDs and rent out copies, as long as they only simultaneously rented out as many copies as they had purchased, Netflix would still have a huge back catalog and you'd never have to worry about getting a scratched disk.
posted by smelendez at 8:38 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Every DVD player I've ever owned, including my current Xbox One, has been unable to play a high portion of rental/library DVDs due to scratches, usually failing in the most annoying possible way by suddenly freezing up at a random place in the movie. DVDs can also have annoying features even when they work right, like unskippable ads (though that seems to have mostly been a phase) and menus with audio that loops endlessly if you don't turn off the player.
This is also a copyright law problem: DVDs themselves seem to cost about 25 cents at retail (presumably much less in bulk), so if rental places and libraries where allowed to back up their legally purchased DVDs and rent out copies, as long as they only simultaneously rented out as many copies as they had purchased, Netflix would still have a huge back catalog and you'd never have to worry about getting a scratched disk.
posted by smelendez at 8:38 PM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Probably nostalgia, but I have a much better memory of Netflix via DVD than streaming.
There was the careful and constant management of your queue. The possibility that a DVD would be unavailable when it got to the top. The anticipation when you got a mailing notification. The risk that the DVD would be broken or unplayable when it arrived. The no-longer existing DVD menus that also occasionally ruined the entire movie, but sometimes were amazing. And the final act of returning the DVD.
Streaming now? Click, no this sucks, click meh click maybe click meh click. Does it have [show]? Twenty clicks later - nope. Then just getting tired of the whole thing and selecting something that you skipped over ten minutes ago. And sometimes you watch an entire season of something without realizing that you don't even like it, just because of auto-play. Then you regretfully shut off the TV and curse Netflix for wasting your time.
posted by meowzilla at 9:35 PM on April 18, 2023 [11 favorites]
There was the careful and constant management of your queue. The possibility that a DVD would be unavailable when it got to the top. The anticipation when you got a mailing notification. The risk that the DVD would be broken or unplayable when it arrived. The no-longer existing DVD menus that also occasionally ruined the entire movie, but sometimes were amazing. And the final act of returning the DVD.
Streaming now? Click, no this sucks, click meh click maybe click meh click. Does it have [show]? Twenty clicks later - nope. Then just getting tired of the whole thing and selecting something that you skipped over ten minutes ago. And sometimes you watch an entire season of something without realizing that you don't even like it, just because of auto-play. Then you regretfully shut off the TV and curse Netflix for wasting your time.
posted by meowzilla at 9:35 PM on April 18, 2023 [11 favorites]
Netflix Canada hasn't had DVD mailings for more than a decade
Netflix never did DVD rentals in Canada though there was another local company that did which existed in the mid to late 2000s.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:40 PM on April 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Netflix never did DVD rentals in Canada though there was another local company that did which existed in the mid to late 2000s.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:40 PM on April 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Chicago's Facets Multi-Media has a rent-by-mail service for their deep, deep catalog. A bit pricier than Netflix with the shipping charges, but they've been in (non-profit) business for almost 50 years and are determined to stick around.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:14 PM on April 18, 2023 [20 favorites]
posted by hydrophonic at 10:14 PM on April 18, 2023 [20 favorites]
.
Netflix truly made the 2000s/early 2010s a golden age for being able to find older movies. It'll never be that easy again.
posted by equalpants at 10:16 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
Netflix truly made the 2000s/early 2010s a golden age for being able to find older movies. It'll never be that easy again.
posted by equalpants at 10:16 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
There was also that time where Netflix sent me the DVD for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and the official DVD looks like this. That was a real head-scratcher until I looked it up.
posted by meowzilla at 10:23 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by meowzilla at 10:23 PM on April 18, 2023 [5 favorites]
Every DVD player I've ever owned, including my current Xbox One, has been unable to play a high portion of rental/library DVDs due to scratches, usually failing in the most annoying possible way by suddenly freezing up at a random place in the movie.
I have a second-hand copy of About Schmidt I bought in a used DVD store. At the same point in every playing of it, the video freezes although the audio continues. Delightfully, it is when a character has just walked into a house and closed the door behind them, obscuring them from the view of the camera.
With my copy, because the narrative continues, it seems like we have a weird avant-garde Warholian approach here where we play out most of the movie behind a closed door.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:30 PM on April 18, 2023 [14 favorites]
I have a second-hand copy of About Schmidt I bought in a used DVD store. At the same point in every playing of it, the video freezes although the audio continues. Delightfully, it is when a character has just walked into a house and closed the door behind them, obscuring them from the view of the camera.
With my copy, because the narrative continues, it seems like we have a weird avant-garde Warholian approach here where we play out most of the movie behind a closed door.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:30 PM on April 18, 2023 [14 favorites]
The streaming choices so limited that according to @thathagengirl we would be better off going to the video store:
At this moment, Netflix is streaming about 3800 films - less than half of what the average Blockbuster used to carry. As for films made before 1990? Only 79 titles are currently streaming. If we go to 1980 or earlier, that drops to 36 (!)posted by autopilot at 11:53 PM on April 18, 2023 [20 favorites]
📀
posted by TheophileEscargot at 12:46 AM on April 19, 2023
posted by TheophileEscargot at 12:46 AM on April 19, 2023
Gosh, I hope books aren’t next and you will have to get everything electronically. Our library system is rated best in the country and we get a ton of videos from there. Request it online and it’s sent to our local branch usually in a couple of days. Unless it’s new and popular, then you need to wait for it. They don’t carry too many obscure films though. I buy up DVDs at the library sale for a donation for days when the internet is out, which is every few months.
posted by waving at 2:13 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by waving at 2:13 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Soulseek has been a godsend for finding old, obscure movies. Search movie name + mkv
posted by porn in the woods at 2:14 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by porn in the woods at 2:14 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
With my copy, because the narrative continues, it seems like we have a weird avant-garde Warholian approach here where we play out most of the movie behind a closed door.
I had something like this recently, I think I must have watched for at least 30 seconds before realising that the picture was frozen. Something fairly arty. I think the screen was close to being completely black and it was just a the right moment to suggest it was supposed to be contemplative.
posted by biffa at 2:15 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
I had something like this recently, I think I must have watched for at least 30 seconds before realising that the picture was frozen. Something fairly arty. I think the screen was close to being completely black and it was just a the right moment to suggest it was supposed to be contemplative.
posted by biffa at 2:15 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
My family got the DVD service between ten and fifteen years ago. It was great for a short time, but there were six of us with different tastes and our queue was about 40 movies long. Pretty soon the only movies we actually received turned out to be the lowest priority movies the ten-year-old would watch.
posted by Miss Cellania at 3:14 AM on April 19, 2023
posted by Miss Cellania at 3:14 AM on April 19, 2023
Now that I've recently quit digital Netflix, 7 months ago, they email me more often and more pathetically than any ex ever, with subject lines like "____, do you miss Netflix?"
I know, right? If you ever want to feel wanted, just quit Netflix.
There are a lot of moral arguments against piracy, but I think its ability to create and preserve access to things that aren't profitable enough for businesses to carry is a significant argument in its favor.
posted by trig at 3:28 AM on April 19, 2023 [6 favorites]
I know, right? If you ever want to feel wanted, just quit Netflix.
There are a lot of moral arguments against piracy, but I think its ability to create and preserve access to things that aren't profitable enough for businesses to carry is a significant argument in its favor.
posted by trig at 3:28 AM on April 19, 2023 [6 favorites]
...So I might NOT be as screwed. I wrote an AskMe about this, and over there people have suggested a couple of rental companies - and one of them mentioned Alamo Drafthouse sometimes rents things, and that just reminded me that the one in Manhattan has actually taken over the stock of Kim's Video - and I've been meaning to pay Kim's a visit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:50 AM on April 19, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:50 AM on April 19, 2023 [5 favorites]
Did they say to themselves "OK, here's how we'll do it: first we'll put Blockbuster out of business by offering way more titles than any individual store can and more conveniently, then when they’re gone we can increase profits with the economies of scale that are available by only offering movies that a lot of people want to see."?
Of course they did.
What recourse do people have?
I don’t know.
posted by jamjam at 4:02 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
Of course they did.
What recourse do people have?
I don’t know.
posted by jamjam at 4:02 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
This is also a copyright law problem:
Copyright is failing at its fundamental purpose, namely encouraging artists to release their creations to the public domain. It's broken and I fear societal collapse is the only thing that will fix it.
posted by Mitheral at 4:19 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Copyright is failing at its fundamental purpose, namely encouraging artists to release their creations to the public domain. It's broken and I fear societal collapse is the only thing that will fix it.
posted by Mitheral at 4:19 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
I still have a few Marx Brothers movies that I bought on Amazon (?) that are packaged in the Netflix logo. So there.
posted by DJZouke at 5:40 AM on April 19, 2023
posted by DJZouke at 5:40 AM on April 19, 2023
At this moment, Netflix is streaming about 3800 films - less than half of what the average Blockbuster used to carry.
While that is kind of pathetic, it's not entirely their fault. The media owners want their titles going to favored streaming sources, so no Disney on Netflix, MGM films all go to Amazon, etc.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:54 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
While that is kind of pathetic, it's not entirely their fault. The media owners want their titles going to favored streaming sources, so no Disney on Netflix, MGM films all go to Amazon, etc.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:54 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
At the same point in every playing of it, the video freezes although the audio continues.
Sounds like a layer change problem.
posted by achrise at 5:55 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sounds like a layer change problem.
posted by achrise at 5:55 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
So much for my 200• queue that I’ve been slowly going through 💿
posted by cindywho at 6:02 AM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by cindywho at 6:02 AM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
At this moment, Netflix is streaming about 3800 films - less than half of what the average Blockbuster used to carry.
Does this figure for Blockbuster incorporate the many many many copies of popular movies. I’ve often did that Blockbuster’s chief draw was it was the place you could go to see what a rack of 120 copies of Pirates of the Caribbean looked like.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:23 AM on April 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
Does this figure for Blockbuster incorporate the many many many copies of popular movies. I’ve often did that Blockbuster’s chief draw was it was the place you could go to see what a rack of 120 copies of Pirates of the Caribbean looked like.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:23 AM on April 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
I swear something like half the people I know have quit Netflix in the last couple years; I don't know if it's getting rapidly worse or if the plague gave people enough time to realize there wasn't anything they wanted to watch, but it's been remarkable.
posted by aramaic at 7:23 AM on April 19, 2023
posted by aramaic at 7:23 AM on April 19, 2023
My husband and I will drop our subscription when the DVD service ends.
posted by manageyourexpectations at 7:29 AM on April 19, 2023
posted by manageyourexpectations at 7:29 AM on April 19, 2023
I swear something like half the people I know have quit Netflix in the last couple years; I don't know if it's getting rapidly worse or if the plague gave people enough time to realize there wasn't anything they wanted to watch, but it's been remarkable.For us, it's less of a hard quit and more that with the emergence of HBO Max and Disney+, we just realized that we didn't want to be paying $80/month for all of these services. So, around 2020 we gave ourselves a $60 streaming budget and just make choices based on what my wife and I plan on watching that month. Sometimes it's Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO. Sometimes we drop Netflix and add in Amazon Prime for a month. It's also coming up on summer, and from June to August our media watching habits drop off a ton as we spend more time outdoors, so it's likely that we'll drop Netflix and Disney+ for a few months and come back to it in the fall. Sure, we won't see Secret Invasion or Loki when it drops, but it'll still be there when we come back, and we'll probably be so invested in catching up that it justifies putting HBO on hold.
You know how nomadic tribes would migrate from one valley to another to take advantage of what's good in that valley for that season and give their other campsites a chance to regrow and recover before they impact that area again? It's like that for us, but for streaming catalogs.
posted by bl1nk at 7:46 AM on April 19, 2023 [12 favorites]
jamjam: "when they’re gone we can increase profits with the economies of scale that are available by only offering movies that a lot of people want to see."
I suspect it's not that simple. As you've no doubt noticed, everyone who controls a tranche of video IP has decided to launch their own streaming service, reasoning that surely everyone will pay money for their content and they'll get all that revenue, rather than just a slice of whatever Netflix is earning. Material that had been on Netflix is moved to these in-house platforms. Netflix couldn't show it whether or not they want to.
I have to imagine this has fueled an increase in torrenting, because no, I'm not going to subscribe to Disney+ and Peacock and CBS All Access and HBO/Max and whatever else, just because each service has one or two shows that interest me.
posted by adamrice at 8:29 AM on April 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
I suspect it's not that simple. As you've no doubt noticed, everyone who controls a tranche of video IP has decided to launch their own streaming service, reasoning that surely everyone will pay money for their content and they'll get all that revenue, rather than just a slice of whatever Netflix is earning. Material that had been on Netflix is moved to these in-house platforms. Netflix couldn't show it whether or not they want to.
I have to imagine this has fueled an increase in torrenting, because no, I'm not going to subscribe to Disney+ and Peacock and CBS All Access and HBO/Max and whatever else, just because each service has one or two shows that interest me.
posted by adamrice at 8:29 AM on April 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
"I have to imagine this has fueled an increase in torrenting..."
I've mentioned before that I made the decision to put the tricorn on again when licensing lawyers finally just made my quality of life so miserable that it was no longer worth engaging in the product ecosystem. Favorite songs disappeared from services I was paying money to. Subscriptions to movie services gradually became subscriptions to some kind of garbage tier not-even-fun UHF television service without my consent.
After decades identifying as a Buccaneer-American, I'd decided to forego my sense of ownership for convenience and access at the cost of modest fees. The fees were no longer modest, the convenience rapidly declining, and the access converging on nil.
So, in 2018, I took the hat down from above the mantle, went down to the harbor, and constructed the ship anew:
I've mentioned before that I made the decision to put the tricorn on again when licensing lawyers finally just made my quality of life so miserable that it was no longer worth engaging in the product ecosystem. Favorite songs disappeared from services I was paying money to. Subscriptions to movie services gradually became subscriptions to some kind of garbage tier not-even-fun UHF television service without my consent.
After decades identifying as a Buccaneer-American, I'd decided to forego my sense of ownership for convenience and access at the cost of modest fees. The fees were no longer modest, the convenience rapidly declining, and the access converging on nil.
So, in 2018, I took the hat down from above the mantle, went down to the harbor, and constructed the ship anew:
% zfs list -o name,used,avail storage/media NAME USED AVAIL storage/media 16.3T 78.0Tposted by majick at 10:21 AM on April 19, 2023 [8 favorites]
I do wonder what profits would look like for holders of IP if, instead of each trying to run their own streaming services and compete against all the others, they instead licensed their content to every streaming streaming service, and those services would have to compete not on content but on features and UX. I'm sure everybody concerned has done this analysis and decided against it, but I'm curious how big the actual difference in profit is supposed to be between the two approaches, whether studios were looking at the short term or the long term, and how much of a role herd mentality is playing.
posted by trig at 10:38 AM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by trig at 10:38 AM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm not going to pay eighty bucks for Netflix, but there are a lot of people who will subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Peacock, Apple TV+ and Prime and that's gotta be at least that much per month. I think that's the analysis right there. Though my mind is not in a place where I can explain it right now.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:48 AM on April 19, 2023
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:48 AM on April 19, 2023
Less deraily, though: I was a loyal GreenCine user shortly after they came into being. The selection was excellent, especially for HK film that was hard to get apart from on LD. Certainly nobody was renting LaserDisc by mail and at the time I was living about 50 miles from the nearest shop that kept them in stock. Renting and returning was a bit of an ordeal considering I didn't drive at the time.
Netflix was fine, but the selection just wasn't up to par until much later. Nonetheless it was years and years that I'd see little envelopes splayed across friends' and family's coffee tables whenever I visited, well after you'd think it wasn't much of a thing any more.
The market as a whole seems to really be shifting hard in the direction of series. More than once I've heard people say they just don't want to sit down and commit to a whole movie even if they wind up back-to-backing a bunch of episodes of something. The initial commitment is smaller, I guess? Maybe this explains why it no longer makes sense to spend money on the infrastructure or legal apparatus to keep renting out movies.
For me, it's the other way around. I'm constantly interrupted by episode closures, credit rolls, skip intro, recap, episode rewarming. Two 48 minute episodes of something is exhausting but a 117 minute movie is no problem at all. Three eps in and I'm dying to be somewhere else, where a somewhat long movie just needs a quick intermission for the biological realities of my age.
People like me are no longer where the money's at, I guess. It's not that I don't have money to throw around -- I gladly did so when my needs were being met -- it's that I'll only throw it around if you don't make my life miserable.
posted by majick at 11:18 AM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Netflix was fine, but the selection just wasn't up to par until much later. Nonetheless it was years and years that I'd see little envelopes splayed across friends' and family's coffee tables whenever I visited, well after you'd think it wasn't much of a thing any more.
The market as a whole seems to really be shifting hard in the direction of series. More than once I've heard people say they just don't want to sit down and commit to a whole movie even if they wind up back-to-backing a bunch of episodes of something. The initial commitment is smaller, I guess? Maybe this explains why it no longer makes sense to spend money on the infrastructure or legal apparatus to keep renting out movies.
For me, it's the other way around. I'm constantly interrupted by episode closures, credit rolls, skip intro, recap, episode rewarming. Two 48 minute episodes of something is exhausting but a 117 minute movie is no problem at all. Three eps in and I'm dying to be somewhere else, where a somewhat long movie just needs a quick intermission for the biological realities of my age.
People like me are no longer where the money's at, I guess. It's not that I don't have money to throw around -- I gladly did so when my needs were being met -- it's that I'll only throw it around if you don't make my life miserable.
posted by majick at 11:18 AM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
there are a lot of people who will subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Peacock, Apple TV+ and Prime and that's gotta be at least that much per month. I think that's the analysis right there.
The thing is, if I'm a content owner and I license that content to all the streaming services, I get paid regardless of where a viewer is watching it. But if I license it to only one service, or roll my own, that content is only making me money if a viewer is on that service.
Like I said, I assume the analysis shows that exclusive licensing is more profitable, but I wonder by how much, and for how long. And if the projections are really panning out.
The initial commitment is smaller, I guess?
I've found for me it's a smaller emotional and cognitive commitment, if that makes sense. Every time I watch a movie I've never seen, that's a new premise and new set of characters to understand and react to. It's ridiculous, but when I'm tired or stressed, I sometimes find that exhausting. Whereas if I'm in the middle of a show, I know the characters and premise, and I'm just continuing an idea I've already started. And even if I'm starting a new show, there's often a lot less going on in the first episode than there would be in the first half of a standalone movie.
posted by trig at 11:27 AM on April 19, 2023
The thing is, if I'm a content owner and I license that content to all the streaming services, I get paid regardless of where a viewer is watching it. But if I license it to only one service, or roll my own, that content is only making me money if a viewer is on that service.
Like I said, I assume the analysis shows that exclusive licensing is more profitable, but I wonder by how much, and for how long. And if the projections are really panning out.
The initial commitment is smaller, I guess?
I've found for me it's a smaller emotional and cognitive commitment, if that makes sense. Every time I watch a movie I've never seen, that's a new premise and new set of characters to understand and react to. It's ridiculous, but when I'm tired or stressed, I sometimes find that exhausting. Whereas if I'm in the middle of a show, I know the characters and premise, and I'm just continuing an idea I've already started. And even if I'm starting a new show, there's often a lot less going on in the first episode than there would be in the first half of a standalone movie.
posted by trig at 11:27 AM on April 19, 2023
I do wonder what profits would look like for holders of IP if, instead of each trying to run their own streaming services and compete against all the others, they instead licensed their content to every streaming streaming service, and those services would have to compete not on content but on features and UX. I'm sure everybody concerned has done this analysis and decided against it, but I'm curious how big the actual difference in profit is supposed to be between the two approaches, whether studios were looking at the short term or the long term, and how much of a role herd mentality is playing.
IMO rights-owners also being the sole distributor should be illegal, a la the Paramount Decree from the last century, which made it illegal for film production companies to also be the sole exhibitor (basically, they couldn't own movie theaters anymore.) As we see with streaming, there is a lot of incentive for rights-holders to lock up their stuff in their own streaming services and not license it out to others.
It's so obviously bad for culture to allow this.
If physical media ever dies, we're really going to be in trouble.
Also, an an aside, they're all losing tremendous amounts of money! It's not even working!
posted by rhymedirective at 11:32 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
IMO rights-owners also being the sole distributor should be illegal, a la the Paramount Decree from the last century, which made it illegal for film production companies to also be the sole exhibitor (basically, they couldn't own movie theaters anymore.) As we see with streaming, there is a lot of incentive for rights-holders to lock up their stuff in their own streaming services and not license it out to others.
It's so obviously bad for culture to allow this.
If physical media ever dies, we're really going to be in trouble.
Also, an an aside, they're all losing tremendous amounts of money! It's not even working!
posted by rhymedirective at 11:32 AM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
The Netflix DVD Business Was Silicon Valley Style Exploitation
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:06 PM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:06 PM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
→
So those red envelopes with DVDs I used to receive in Toronto are something I made up?
posted by scruss at 1:51 PM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Netflix never did DVD rentals in Canada
So those red envelopes with DVDs I used to receive in Toronto are something I made up?
posted by scruss at 1:51 PM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Canada was Netflix’s first streaming-only market.
posted by mbrubeck at 2:07 PM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
So those red envelopes with DVDs I used to receive in Toronto are something I made up?Zip.ca ran a DVD-by-mail service with red envelopes in Canada. There may have been other copycat businesses too.
posted by mbrubeck at 2:07 PM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
Every time I watch a movie I've never seen, that's a new premise and new set of characters to understand and react to. It's ridiculous, but when I'm tired or stressed, I sometimes find that exhausting.
I think the industry knows this, which is why there are so many sequels and "expanded universe" movies now.
You pay for a movie but you get an episode of your favorite show.
posted by meowzilla at 2:28 PM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think the industry knows this, which is why there are so many sequels and "expanded universe" movies now.
You pay for a movie but you get an episode of your favorite show.
posted by meowzilla at 2:28 PM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Netflix never did DVD rentals in Canada
It's also in the NPR link in the FP:
With just a little over five months of life remaining, the DVD service has shipped more than 5 billion discs across the U.S. — the only country in which it ever operated.
posted by andrewesque at 3:06 PM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's also in the NPR link in the FP:
With just a little over five months of life remaining, the DVD service has shipped more than 5 billion discs across the U.S. — the only country in which it ever operated.
posted by andrewesque at 3:06 PM on April 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
I totally forgot about zip.ca! I used to have a subscription to that. I can’t even remember why I cancelled it.
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:09 PM on April 19, 2023
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:09 PM on April 19, 2023
Oh just you watch, in like 15-20 years DVD sales will be booming again as people fawn over the retro-ness of DVD discs the same way people currently do over vinyl LPs.
Vintage vinyl is still play-able after a few scratches, while disc-media becomes completely un-reliable/un-usable over time with normal usage. Maybe somewhat less so in controlled storage? Rental/Library copies get rather rough handling, especially in the scene where boobies appear.
Which is a shame because I had some hopes for that format, alas.
posted by ovvl at 4:12 PM on April 19, 2023
Vintage vinyl is still play-able after a few scratches, while disc-media becomes completely un-reliable/un-usable over time with normal usage. Maybe somewhat less so in controlled storage? Rental/Library copies get rather rough handling, especially in the scene where boobies appear.
Which is a shame because I had some hopes for that format, alas.
posted by ovvl at 4:12 PM on April 19, 2023
Scarecrow Video, above, is even trying out rental by mail
posted by clew at 4:22 PM on April 19, 2023
posted by clew at 4:22 PM on April 19, 2023
Zip.ca ran a DVD-by-mail service with red envelopes in Canada.
There were two other earlier competitors that Zip bought out - VHQonline and Moviesforme. Zip lasted until 2014 and they most definitely used red envelopes. Those are the main DVD rentals via the mail in Canada that I've heard of but there may been other regional players. I know that some individual rental stores in major centres (Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal) would do this for customers who lived out of town.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:33 PM on April 19, 2023
There were two other earlier competitors that Zip bought out - VHQonline and Moviesforme. Zip lasted until 2014 and they most definitely used red envelopes. Those are the main DVD rentals via the mail in Canada that I've heard of but there may been other regional players. I know that some individual rental stores in major centres (Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal) would do this for customers who lived out of town.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:33 PM on April 19, 2023
I can’t even remember why I cancelled it.
I never used them but a friend of mine used they exhaustively and while they had a surprisingly large collection, including obscure movies and a lot of titles from boutique labels, some of their discs tended to be in bad shape. And a lot of his more obscure choices would take forever to come in. He eventually gave up on them when something he had waited forever for was unplayable. He then had a friend just rent stuff from Bay Street Video in Toronto for him.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:40 PM on April 19, 2023
I never used them but a friend of mine used they exhaustively and while they had a surprisingly large collection, including obscure movies and a lot of titles from boutique labels, some of their discs tended to be in bad shape. And a lot of his more obscure choices would take forever to come in. He eventually gave up on them when something he had waited forever for was unplayable. He then had a friend just rent stuff from Bay Street Video in Toronto for him.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:40 PM on April 19, 2023
I’ve bought used/random/obscure/old/foreign DVDs on Amazon and eBay. I figure I only need to play them once to digitize them so my budget is about five bucks apiece. Something hard to get is worth more.
posted by bendy at 1:46 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bendy at 1:46 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
I loved Netflix for DVDs, and then all the DVDs I wanted to watch stopped showing up or were broken.
Gave up on their streaming offering a few months ago when I saw a giant Ancient Apocalypse ad, nope, I need none of that. HBO is getting dropped when it ceases to be HBO next month, so that leaves Amazon, and my PBS subscription. Soon, the streaming landscape will be free of me.
posted by pan at 5:49 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Gave up on their streaming offering a few months ago when I saw a giant Ancient Apocalypse ad, nope, I need none of that. HBO is getting dropped when it ceases to be HBO next month, so that leaves Amazon, and my PBS subscription. Soon, the streaming landscape will be free of me.
posted by pan at 5:49 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
* cough * A special notice for MeFites in New York City:
You know the Kim's Video archive that got brought into the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan?
They rent things out FOR FREE. You get four days to watch stuff, and you only pay late fees if you don't get things back in time. They also rent out actual DVD and VHS players.
...I'm going to go sign up this weekend.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:20 AM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
You know the Kim's Video archive that got brought into the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan?
They rent things out FOR FREE. You get four days to watch stuff, and you only pay late fees if you don't get things back in time. They also rent out actual DVD and VHS players.
...I'm going to go sign up this weekend.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:20 AM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't get as much use out of it as I used to, but I still have a DVD subscription. I was bummed out to learn that they're ending the service, so when I got a new disc in the mail yesterday and saw that the envelope was advertising 25 years of DVDs by mail, it just twisted the knife.
Being one step closer to physical media mostly disappearing from general social awareness feels very strange.
posted by heteronym at 6:35 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Being one step closer to physical media mostly disappearing from general social awareness feels very strange.
posted by heteronym at 6:35 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
* cough * A special notice for MeFites in New York City:Also, btw, reminder everyone: there's this place in your city called a public library ...
You know the Kim's Video archive that got brought into the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan?
They rent things out FOR FREE. You get four days to watch stuff, and you only pay late fees if you don't get things back in time. They also rent out actual DVD and VHS players.
...I'm going to go sign up this weekend.
(though for real, EmpressCallipygos, I'm really glad that the Kim's archive lives on, but I do hope that there's a plan to transfer it somewhere else if and when movie theaters also go extinct)
posted by bl1nk at 7:09 AM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Also, btw, reminder everyone: there's this place in your city called a public library ...
Even living in NYC, the odds of my library having stuff like Viy and Daisies and Dog Star Man is pretty damn low, and would be almost non-existent in smaller towns. The whole reason most of us were using DVDs was to get the older stuff that isn't always as readily available every-damn-where.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:19 AM on April 20, 2023
Even living in NYC, the odds of my library having stuff like Viy and Daisies and Dog Star Man is pretty damn low, and would be almost non-existent in smaller towns. The whole reason most of us were using DVDs was to get the older stuff that isn't always as readily available every-damn-where.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:19 AM on April 20, 2023
I just checked my library and I can request Viy from a library in So Cal through Link+, it would arrive in about a week.
Dog Star Man seems to be available through Link+ in either Blueray or DVD.
Link+ I think is the new name for Interlibrary Loan. This is how we used to get rare media in the old times.
posted by muddgirl at 8:34 AM on April 20, 2023
Dog Star Man seems to be available through Link+ in either Blueray or DVD.
Link+ I think is the new name for Interlibrary Loan. This is how we used to get rare media in the old times.
posted by muddgirl at 8:34 AM on April 20, 2023
(sorry that's wrong, Link+ is California-only interlibrary loan. But I had similar access in Texas through a different system)
posted by muddgirl at 8:36 AM on April 20, 2023
posted by muddgirl at 8:36 AM on April 20, 2023
sorry that's wrong, Link+ is California-only interlibrary loan. But I had similar access in Texas through a different system
yeah, i asked my local library about inter-library loan and they said "not really available here, sadly".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2023
yeah, i asked my local library about inter-library loan and they said "not really available here, sadly".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2023
These movies aren't really THAT obscure, there's a reason they are on a list like this. Daisies is widely available to stream if you have three bucks to spare (also streaming on Criterion and HBOMax), Dog Star Man is free to watch on Youtube, and Viy is free to watch on Tubi. If you are a little resourceful you really won't have too much trouble tracking down most of these films, I promise! And if you do get stuck, AskMe can probably steer you in the right direction.
posted by cakelite at 9:25 AM on April 20, 2023
posted by cakelite at 9:25 AM on April 20, 2023
Daisies is widely available to stream if you have three bucks to spare
Not according to JustWatch.
Viy is free to watch on Tubi
If you put up with ads.
If you are a little resourceful you really won't have too much trouble tracking down most of these films, I promise!
I've BEEN using those resources and coming up short in the past, I promise!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:29 AM on April 20, 2023
Not according to JustWatch.
Viy is free to watch on Tubi
If you put up with ads.
If you are a little resourceful you really won't have too much trouble tracking down most of these films, I promise!
I've BEEN using those resources and coming up short in the past, I promise!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:29 AM on April 20, 2023
If it helps, Daisies and Viy are both on Youtube at the moment (as far as I can tell, I've never watched either).
posted by trig at 10:45 AM on April 20, 2023
posted by trig at 10:45 AM on April 20, 2023
If you google the movie Daisies, I think you will see that it is widely available to stream. Also, if Justwatch isn't giving you the movie result you are looking for, try searching by director and I think you will see that it's there. Sometimes you have to try looking for things a few different ways before you give up.
posted by cakelite at 10:53 AM on April 20, 2023
posted by cakelite at 10:53 AM on April 20, 2023
Honestly, the resource I'll probably be using most is Kim's Video since I live nearby it and it's free.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:15 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:15 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just for the record for anyone else, for me adblocking and yt-dlp both seem to work with Tubi (and of course Youtube), but ymmv.
(Not that DVD sources aren't good too! I'm just in favor of having as many sources as possible.)
posted by trig at 11:18 AM on April 20, 2023
(Not that DVD sources aren't good too! I'm just in favor of having as many sources as possible.)
posted by trig at 11:18 AM on April 20, 2023
The app JustWatch is very handy for finding what's available to stream.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:21 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:21 AM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
When someone says "this will make _____ more difficult for me" it's probably better just to trust that they know their own problems more than you do.
I'm sure EmpressCallipygos knows how to ask for advice when she wants it.
posted by Gygesringtone at 11:39 AM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm sure EmpressCallipygos knows how to ask for advice when she wants it.
posted by Gygesringtone at 11:39 AM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
It seems pretty undisputable to me that the switch to streaming over physical media right now is meaning it is harder to access rare media, even if we can still access old DVDs what is going to happen to current media that is never released on DVD? Because of the way that rights work in the US it is legal to pass around a DVD or tape but not a digital file. Media is preserved only at the risk of legal action from conglomerate rights-holders.
posted by muddgirl at 11:51 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 11:51 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
I certainly didn't mean to imply that I know anyone's problems better than they do, but I literally do this stuff for a living and I take a lot of pleasure in helping people find the cool shit they're looking for. It's sad that Netflix is sundowning their DVD service (the guy who is in charge of the DVD ops is really cool and now he's losing his job) but I also kinda hold Netflix responsible for where we are at now with the lack of physical media and it doesn't surprise me that they are axing such an unprofitable wing of their business.
posted by cakelite at 1:01 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by cakelite at 1:01 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
It seems pretty undisputable to me that the switch to streaming over physical media right now is meaning it is harder to access rare media, even if we can still access old DVDs what is going to happen to current media that is never released on DVD? Because of the way that rights work in the US it is legal to pass around a DVD or tape but not a digital file. Media is preserved only at the risk of legal action from conglomerate rights-holders.
Yes, this is something of which we should be aware. This gets even more difficult in places outside of the US, such as Canada, because of rights ownership film and television regularly makes local product impossible to find.
posted by Ashwagandha at 1:13 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yes, this is something of which we should be aware. This gets even more difficult in places outside of the US, such as Canada, because of rights ownership film and television regularly makes local product impossible to find.
posted by Ashwagandha at 1:13 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
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