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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

#31

Post by maccard »

briandear wrote: post #24
msravi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I'm not a piracy advocate, but this doesn't offer any advantages over torrents. You still don't have a legitimate licence to view the content, so at that stage you might as well just torrent it.

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

#32

Post by toyg »

e2e4 wrote: post #10

Initially video stores have cut into the profits of movie theaters. However, it is interesting that currently theaters (while still struggling quite a bit) seem to be coping better than the video stores.

That's because the fundamental differentiation has already happened there: "going to the cinema" vs "watching at home" has been a choice for 30+ years now. Who had to die because of that, died already. Despite Hollywood's lamentation, it's unlikely that cinema numbers will ever get significantly worse than they are at the moment, unless someone (Oculus?) manages to somehow replicate the big-screen experience at home in full -- and even then, groups of teenagers will probably still choose to escape their parents' abode every now and then.

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

#33

Post by RightWingRabble »

iofj wrote: post #20
ryan-allen wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pay per view rental model like iTunes often has a lot of harder to find movies. A few times for me it's the last port of call when I can't find a title anywhere digitally, at at least then you're getting the best quality sound and picture!

As a non-American I'm really frustrated that what you don't get is translations. Disney movies for the kids have been translated into 100 or so languages, yet buying one on iTunes gets you English and -maybe- Spanish. And then when you get to Europe, they suddenly have English-French languages on the same page. It'd be really nice if when I bought a movie that they're selling the translated version for would be acces…

Then you should definitely try bittorrent. Not only can you play those files (or transcode those files to play) on literally anything, but fans themselves do subs in roughly all the languages. If any of those services you mentioned above would allow user submitted subtitles, it would remove a large reason to torrent instead of buy.

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

#34

Post by fit2rule »

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.

The free market at work. Lets see what else can come along and disrupt things, because it pays attention to what customers hate...

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

#35

Post by laumars »

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.

There are tangible reasons why vinyl has never completely died off:

People romanticise over vinyl because it's tactile and the medium adds a warmth to the sound which is generally quite pleasing.

VHS and DVD isn't tactile and the lower video quality between that and HD isn't pleasing.

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

#36

Post by racl101 »

toyg wrote: post #32
e2e4 wrote: post #10

Initially video stores have cut into the profits of movie theaters. However, it is interesting that currently theaters (while still struggling quite a bit) seem to be coping better than the video stores.

That's because the fundamental differentiation has already happened there: "going to the cinema" vs "watching at home" has been a choice for 30+ years now. Who had to die because of that, died already. Despite Hollywood's lamentation, it's unlikely that cinema numbers will ever get significantly worse than they are at the moment, unless someone (Oculus?) manages to somehow replicate the big-screen experience at home…

"Who had to die because of that, died already."

- one of those casualties would be the p0rn theater. Back then you could go to a theater and watch chicks swallow John Holmes' member in all its widescreen glory.

Then when VHS came out, it was championed by the p0rn industry and away went most of those kinda cool, albeit seedy, p0rn theaters.

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

#37

Post by msravi »

lostlogin wrote: post #28
msravi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ok! Didn't know about this. One other VPN I tried (a year or so ago), was real slow and Netflix was unwatchable. They do have a free trial, so will give this a go.

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

#38

Post by test1235 »

hellofunk wrote: post #17
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.

I still buy DVDs online for many movies I cannot find anywhere on the net using any method. It's the only reason I still have a DVD player, unfortunately.

"It's the only reason I still have a DVD player, unfortunately."

Don't blu-ray players play DVDs?

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

#39

Post by msravi »

radmuzom wrote: post #23
msravi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I don't think they need to "operate" in India or anywhere else in the world. They just need to allow people to sign up for their service irrespective of where they're from and access content, just like, you know, how the rest of the internet works.

My guess is that they're being held back more by Hollywood's licensing conditions rather than individual countries' laws.

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

#40

Post by kfk »

I would pay for his service, not a lot, but I would pay. Every now and then I find a good movie (last one being "Swingers"), but it's completely random. I can't find a website with a constant flow of good recommendations. I get very frustrated every time I try to get something out of one of those "the 100 best movies of..." lists.
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