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I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

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Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#21

Post by kristofferR »

gkop wrote: post #4
executesorder66 wrote: post #2

I find it interesting that the author never even mentions people that torrent movies. He complains that Netflix and Hulu don't have such a large collection as some video stores, especially rare movies. But I have never not been able to find a very rare movie via a torrent. And it is rather unusual that this large contributing factor to the downfall of his industry is never mentioned.

Funny you and I had the opposite thoughts about torrents. My thought was, "Ya know, the really good indie movie rental places are special; they have films I can't even find [seeded] between TehConnection and Karagarga". Maybe I should look at other trackers...

I'm pretty sure the movies you're looking for is on PassThePopcorn. They have 121,937 movies in their collection, and thousands of their members are the same kind of movie geek as the author of this article.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#22

Post by briandear »

infinii wrote: post #9

While vinyl records have made a resurgence from near extinction. It's unlikely the same will happen for the video stores as music seems more timeless and collectible than movies.

Vinyl's resurgence isn't exactly the same. Imagine a video store where you could rent the 35mm print and watch it at home. That's vinyl. It isn't the 'coolness' of record, it's the fidelity. I never want to watch a film on VHS again. That's the 128kb MP3 version of a movie.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#23

Post by radmuzom »

msravi wrote: post #14
coderdude wrote: post #12

Hulu and Netflix are all you need, entertainment-wise. Haven't watched traditional TV in ages and it has for sure had a positive psychological impact on me. Not related to the article (like I'd know, I commented first before reading), but I did want to take this opportunity to preach.

And for those outside the US, bittorrent is all you need. Seriously, I really don't understand - Hollywood is losing a ton by not allowing Hulu and Netflix to screen internationally. They end up pirated anyway - why the US-only restriction? I'm in India and would gladly pay Netflix the $10 fee - but I can't.

How do you propose the studios which owns the movies satisfy all the laws in India? It may not be possible to get a censor board certificate for each of the movies in the collection of Netflix.

The cost of opening up them to vandalism (if they have offices in India) or lawsuits alleging "hurting the sentiments of the people" is too high.

One reason I use torrents (even though I am willing to pay for good content) is to defeat censorship.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#24

Post by briandear »

msravi wrote: post #14
coderdude wrote: post #12

Hulu and Netflix are all you need, entertainment-wise. Haven't watched traditional TV in ages and it has for sure had a positive psychological impact on me. Not related to the article (like I'd know, I commented first before reading), but I did want to take this opportunity to preach.

And for those outside the US, bittorrent is all you need. Seriously, I really don't understand - Hollywood is losing a ton by not allowing Hulu and Netflix to screen internationally. They end up pirated anyway - why the US-only restriction? I'm in India and would gladly pay Netflix the $10 fee - but I can't.

If you're willing to steal movies via torrents, wouldn't you also be willing to get a VPN to watch Netflix?

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#25

Post by [deleted] »

gexla wrote: post #19

It seems like there would be some sort of hipster twist you could add to a video store to keep it going. Maybe the video store component becomes sort of a background prop, but it would be something that few other places could duplicate. My most memorable moment in a video store was walking half through the swinging doors of a section which immediately electrified the senses of a 11 year old boy. Video boxes floor to…

[deleted]

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#26

Post by lostlogin »

martin-adams wrote: post #13
dsq wrote: post #8

Where I live the video rental places gouged their customers with late fees. A minute after 48 hours you were stiffed with another 48 hours. I and my wife are very busy. Most of our subscription went on late fees. Just for that greed I'm not sorry they closed.

The irony is this very thing was the trigger that started Netflix. Their own practices that consumers hated helped create the very thing that killed them.

This is a positive way to think about things you hate.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#27

Post by lmm »

briandear wrote: post #22
infinii wrote: post #9

While vinyl records have made a resurgence from near extinction. It's unlikely the same will happen for the video stores as music seems more timeless and collectible than movies.

Vinyl's resurgence isn't exactly the same. Imagine a video store where you could rent the 35mm print and watch it at home. That's vinyl. It isn't the 'coolness' of record, it's the fidelity. I never want to watch a film on VHS again. That's the 128kb MP3 version of a movie.

It's not about fidelity - vinyl reproduction is measurably less accurate than CD, but the hip stores are selling vinyls, not CDs.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#28

Post by lostlogin »

msravi wrote: post #14
coderdude wrote: post #12

Hulu and Netflix are all you need, entertainment-wise. Haven't watched traditional TV in ages and it has for sure had a positive psychological impact on me. Not related to the article (like I'd know, I commented first before reading), but I did want to take this opportunity to preach.

And for those outside the US, bittorrent is all you need. Seriously, I really don't understand - Hollywood is losing a ton by not allowing Hulu and Netflix to screen internationally. They end up pirated anyway - why the US-only restriction? I'm in India and would gladly pay Netflix the $10 fee - but I can't.

Yeah you can. Various sites like Unotelly offer a way. Different devices in the house can see different content on various services. It's the gold standard. I'm paying for the service so copyright holders can hardly get too mad. If they weren't being dicks they could have the $5 a month I give Unotelly too.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#29

Post by Asbostos »

microtonal wrote: post #11
infinii wrote: post #9

While vinyl records have made a resurgence from near extinction. It's unlikely the same will happen for the video stores as music seems more timeless and collectible than movies.

Moreover, I think you will be hard-pressed to find someone who will argue that VHS or DVD provided better quality than Netflix et al. Obviously, Blu-Ray provides better quality than today's streaming services, but the format never really took off in a big way among the general population. It's a bit of a shame, since with Blu-Ray, you at least own something. It'll still work when somebody pulls the plug on some servi…

I have a feeling that the idea of owning things is going to become a crazy old-people's complaint. Perhaps younger generations will be happy with their remote-wipeable phone apps, viewed-then-gone movies, hired rides in someone else's car, etc. Maybe these things are becoming so numerous and cheap compared to our income and other costs (housing) that people won't care anymore.

Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died

#30

Post by gedrap »

incarnate wrote: post #7
ryan-allen wrote: post #5

I would pay someone like this for a quick chat on a Friday evening to help me choose a movie. I'm old enough to remember going in to a video store and having a chat about what I should watch next. The engaged staff quite often would send me on my way looking forward to watching the movie, and I wouldn't stop watching half way through either, I'd commit to it because it was a real recommendation by someone I talked to…

Movie Recommendation as a Service (MRaas)? Or curation - if it isn't out there yet it will come. Something with humans, since it would be easy to imagine algorithms getting stuck in a very narrow genre (like when you give a Pandora channel too many songs and it ends up with the same 20 tracks or covers thereof). Plus giving you that commitment to see the movie through. Or just head to reddit[1] or equivalent communit…

>>> Movie Recommendation as a Service (MRaas)? Or curation - if it isn't out there yet it will come.

I think it's not the same, if you are talking about an online service. It's all about the physical interactions, anticipation. Getting out of home, browsing the DVDs, bringing it back home, etc. It's the same with, e.g. books. Browsing the local bookstore compared to going through the lists in Amazon (I live in a country where it's a bit tricky to get English books and miss going to bookstores in England a lot, I can totally relate to people the author is talking about). Like the author said, it's half of the pleasure.

Humans are social animals. Not everything can be done online in an equally enjoyable manner.

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