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Helen Drewski
Not happy at all about Netflix DVD going away. I've been using it since my freshman year of college (so...2005? Shit, I feel old) and despite using it very regularly (and shifting between 1 to 3 DVDs at a time), I've still got 400 movies in my queue. Dammit.
I'll miss my Netflix DVDs coming in the mail. While we stream regularly, we also get DVDs for those movies/series that we can't stream (HBO Max, Disney+, etc). We also like to watch classic movies once in a while and Netflix DVDs was our choice. RIP Netflix DVDs
I think a lot of film buffs like to use DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4K discs to supplement whatever streaming services they may be subscribed to. No one service has everything, subscribing to lots of services is expensive, and constantly juggling subscriptions is a pain in the butt. With discs you can just keep the streaming services you use most frequently, and then use discs to fill in the holes.
I know, I know, this is America, the land of the $. If you live in a low population area, ie rural, the cable companies ain't gonna bother with you - not enough $$. So, you pay more for less with satellite. That's why Netflix DVD's are, soon to be were, such a boon. I think i watched every movie from Argentina starring Ricardo Darin. And, Picard. And...so many more. Weekend evening - good movie - snacks ...
Back in the day, I was able to get all a but a very few of Roger Ebert's Greatest Films of All Time on DVD through Netflix. It was an amazing "course" on the history of film and film techniques, in addition to enjoyable viewing. Good luck on finding even a handful of those on Netflix streaming where you find "movies" not "films."
I think that says something interesting about streaming versus checking out a DVD. I it seems to me that there are two ways to watch media content: browsing until you find something you like, versus going in search of a specific movie/show. Streaming works very well for the former, but it can be a nightmare for the latter(as finding out whether a specific movie/show is even available, let alone on what streaming service and for how long, is difficult). But if all you want to do is browse until you find something you would enjoy watching right now, streaming is very convenient. Even the worst streaming service probably has one or two things available you would not mind watching tonight.
So if you are someone whose primary way of consuming contact is browsing, you probably wonder what all the fuss about the loss of the Netflix DVD service is all about. But if you are someone who generally plans your media viewing in advance (in the old days you actually used TV Guide to figure out what you would be watching each evening) not being able to locate the specific content you want to watch is very problematic.
This is separate from concerns about the general decrease in the amount of film and television content which will remain available, and the starving of the public domain due to excessive copyright length. I am mostly concerned about Netflix shutting down its DVD service because of this, and because the reality is that a lot of people living in rural areas do not have the bandwidth to be able to stream anything. But even without the Netflix DVD service, I know there is already so much quality content out there that I cannot possibly stream all of it no matter how hard I try.
Because I have an old television with only two HDMI slots I am using my Blu-ray player to stream, and I only have been streaming Netflix (although I could also stream Amazon Prime if I wished to). Netflix getting rid of its DVD by mail service is prompting me to rethink cutting the cord and putting a Roku in that second HDMI slot. Then I could subscribe to PBS Passport, Kanopy, the Criterion Channel, and maybe MUBI, Curiosity, and Max (if they keep the Turner Classic Movies content available) in addition to Netflix and Amazon Prime. I could also sign up for the rent by mail service that Scarecrow Video offers. Together, that would give me far more fresh turkey every day than I could possibly eat!
In the early days of Netflix streaming they had a bunch of really low budget indie films. Some looking like they were shot on SD tape. I kinda liked those movies and was glad that Netflix gave them a chance. I suppose it was like the early days of cable TV when the goal was to just get anything on the air to sell ads against.
The last two episodes of Picard were the best Star Trek we've seen I think since either "In the Pale Moonlight" or "First Contact". I know it probably won't happen, but Jean-Luc...I mean Patrick Stewart...deserves an emmy nomination for his work this season. Just absolutely masterful
I absolutely got my money's worth out of the Netflix DVD subscription (back in the day.) I had the 3 disc at a time plan. I would get a disc, watch it that night, mail it back the next day - upon which I would receive a new one. Lather, rinse, repeat. I was pretty much watching one a day. It's how I caught up on all the classic movies and shows I had always wanted to watch. The selection was just so much better. They had EVERYTHING on DVD. Streaming selection was very limited. Now, pretty much anything you ever wanted to see is on streaming - SOMEWHERE. A lot of those old shows I watched on DVD are popping up now on the Roku channel for free.
Speaking of DVD's, isn't it true that Blockbuster passed on the opportunity to continue their deal when DVD's were new, so the studios changed their pricing model to make them around $20 instead of the $90 they were charging for VHS? I only owned a handful of commercial VHS tapes (had a ton I recorded off TV though) because of the price. When DVD's came out, I bought EVERYTHING. And now I'm looking at my shelves of DVD's and wondering whether or not to keep them.
Learned the hard way with books that when my wife stripped off all the dust jackets on my first editions they became almost worthless. I don't even bother to look at the CDs not in their jewel cases.
I loved Netflix's DVD service because it offered so many more titles than streaming. Yes, it's a shame that Dogma is unavailable for streaming. Luckily I have a copy. It's one of my favorite Kevin Smith movies along with the original Clerks. Clerks III reminds me of the 3rd season of Picard. It's a great nostalgia trip. Smith also gives some insights on the making of the original. Speaking of Picard, the first season was meh. It started okay but lost its way by the end. The second season was a mess. I am enjoying season 3 for the same reasons you are.
The first year of the Pandemic (1 CV, I guess) I had my husband and son install two posts in our backyard where I hung a 9 foot by 5 foot piece of white jersey -- a movie screen. I bought a cheap projector (we've upgraded once since then) and some gravity chairs and made our own drive in. We love movies and this allowed us to watch our DVDs in style in our own backyard. I am now happily going to yard sales and garage sales and picking up physical movies for a dollar or 50 cents a piece. I wonder if there is someway to access Netflix 'inventory' of DVDs like I was able to when the Blockbusters and Family Video stores went under?
Oh and yes, we do own a FireStick and can access our streaming services outside, but as you noted it's much easier to access my personal DVD copy of 'The Last Starfighter' than try to find it on any streaming site.
I think that we as a society are making a big mistake by abandoning physical media for video given current copyright laws. There's a lot of content out there (especially older material) which may never become legally available by streaming.
Before we get started, I hope you\u2019ll give this week\u2019s bonus episode of Across the Movie Aisle a listen; we\u2019re listing the best movies of the century (so far!) and our list is way better than The Hollywood Reporter\u2019s list.
I also hope you\u2019ll join us for the live taping on May 16 at the Crystal City Alamo Drafthouse, where we\u2019re hosting a screening of Wargames (1983) and discussing the apocalyptic moment in 1980s cinema. Tickets are just $7 and they\u2019re going fast (last I checked the showing was 60 percent sold \u2026 better hurry if you want to sit in the stadium-seating part of the auditorium). The Drafthouse site is a little tricky, but click here, scroll down to where you can buy tickets, click \u201CTuesday 5/16,\u201D click \u201CCrystal City\u201D and then choose your seat on the map at the right. It looks like this right now:
Many people were surprised to learn that Netflix was shutting down its DVD-by-mail operation because, hardy-har-har, they were surprised to learn it still existed, period. And that\u2019s all well and fair; even I, a noted advocate for the pleasures of physical media, had long ago ditched the DVD-by-mail portion of Netflix.1
But the passing of Netflix\u2019s DVD arm is notable and sad for the finality and totality of the shift from analog (or, well, physical) to digital that it represents. And that\u2019s worth considering briefly, because while the shift from physical brings certain benefits (streaming is instantaneous and high quality) it also has some decided drawbacks.
The reason Netflix could exist as a business at all is thanks to something called the first-sale doctrine. Without the first-sale doctrine, you wouldn\u2019t have libraries and you wouldn\u2019t have Blockbuster renting out tapes and you wouldn\u2019t have Netflix mailing DVDs. The first-sale doctrine says, simply, that once you have purchased an object you can do with that object as you please. You can let a friend borrow it or you can resell it on the secondary market or you can lend it to a customer for a fee over a period of time.
Importantly, this only applied to the copy you bought: you couldn\u2019t duplicate it and then rent it out or sell the dupe. Because first-sale doctrine was, functionally, limited by the idea that you were losing something if you gave up possession of it. In an age of infinite and free reproduction\u2014like, say, the digital age\u2014first-sale doctrine gets tricky.
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