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Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

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Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#171

Post by blantonl »

tablespoon wrote: post #65
awacs wrote: post #26

Growing up in the 80s with VHS, Betamax, Laserdiscs (if anyone recalls), and being a dj in the late 90s when the thought of a "USB stick instead of traveling with all this vinyl was an impossibility", makes this whole nostalgia tour a fun one. I think we all forget though just how poor the quality was back then, and what we've become accustomed to, with VHS being 240 lines, DVD 480p, etc. It's like reminiscing about…

> I think we all forget though just how poor the quality was back then, and what we've become accustomed to, with VHS being 240 lines, DVD 480p, etc. It's like reminiscing about the first iPhone and then looking at one and realizing how damn small it actually was compared to modern versions. I think the "what we've become accustomed to" is the most important factor there. Back in the VHS/NTSC days, without experience…

I remember purchasing a Dolby pro logic processor and thinking I had unlocked some new home theater super dimension.

and now we have 4k and ATMOS

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#172

Post by zmix »

> “It’s the thing that wakes me up in the middle of the night: ‘Oh my gosh, what happens if we run out of computers?’” he said. “Well, it is what it is. It’s just going to run until it doesn’t run anymore.”

Couldn't he just virtualize? There is USB-Floppy devices, these days, to get even the last bit of compatibility right.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#173

Post by prawn »

zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

So many times visiting the video store as a kid, we'd get up to the counter and before the info was scanned or logged to the computer, the guy would say to my mum about her choice:

"You borrowed this a couple of months ago." "Oh yeah. Whoops. I remember now."

Meanwhile a priority row on streaming sites is WATCH IT AGAIN. And I do because the selection is so poor that I'd rather re-watch bits of favourite films over and over.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#174

Post by ilaksh »

I wonder how many conversations there were in the 80s or 90s about how video on demand would never become mainstream because of the bandwidth requirements.

I think that physically going to _any_ special destination such as for tourism may be on a steep decline in the next few decades. VR glasses and goggles will be coming out that are very lightweight, comfortable, and convincing. We will also have eye tracking and eye contact in VR. There will be more advanced, faster more realistic 3d scanning of locations. There will also be the ability to "live scan", transmit and faithfully reproduce people moving around in an area. This will take advantage of advancements in graphics and AI.

Haptic glove technology will improve.

The conversation will be something like "remember when you had to actually _travel_ 5000 miles to see the Sistine Chapel or the last Blockbuster?"

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#175

Post by porknubbins »

kylepdm wrote: post #141
zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

I feel like the difference isn't so much that you have AI recommendations or that of a human, but rather the entire environment is fundamentally different. With Netflix or whatever Streaming Service you have you have an immense catalogue coupled with ease of access to get ratings/critiques/etc. There is so many things to choose from and it's so easy to just say "no" to a suggestion, and likely that thing you said "no…

I think it also costs Netflix more to offer high quality films to stream so there is a disincentive to quality and you have to really search sometimes. Blockbuster was more random than efficient/algorithmic like you would find a classic next to a complete dud which was kind of fun.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#176

Post by cbanek »

zw123456 wrote: post #155
ryangittins wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've long pondered building exactly this, an anti-recommendation engine. You'd go through and mark some favorite films or genres, and it'd come back with something great but totally unlike your usual picks. Foreign flicks not your thing? Try Parasite. You don't remember what it's like to be an awkward pre-teen? Eighth Grade will remind you. Not a big action movie person? Maybe you need to watch Die Hard. Kids movies…

Agree. Too much here is more of the same. Ugh. I like cowbell. Here is an endless loop of cowbell ringing and nothing else. It's like torture.

Gotta have more of that cowbell!

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#177

Post by joshspankit »

kylepdm wrote: post #141
zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

I feel like the difference isn't so much that you have AI recommendations or that of a human, but rather the entire environment is fundamentally different. With Netflix or whatever Streaming Service you have you have an immense catalogue coupled with ease of access to get ratings/critiques/etc. There is so many things to choose from and it's so easy to just say "no" to a suggestion, and likely that thing you said "no…

I fully agree but I also think that those “Daves” had something that current recommendation engines do not: an understanding of the many subtle things that make a movie right for you at that moment.

It’s still going to be a while before a recommendation engine takes in to account the kind of day you’ve had, whether anyone else is going to join you, how you and your spouse are doing today, how you want to start the night, how you want to end the night, and so-on. A good staff member can answer all those questions just by looking you in the eyes.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#178

Post by bluSCALE4 »

zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

When Netflix had the star system, I would get amazing recommendations. I would get a good feeling every time I opened Netflix because I was almost guaranteed a quality movie I would like. After Netflix moved onto thumbs up/down it was never the same and when Netflix started promoting their own shows, it got worse. I'm at the point where I hardly even watch it though I can't say the same for my kids.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#179

Post by abashore »

bombcar wrote: post #45
ezekg wrote: post #21

I miss Blockbuster. We had a small haven here called Family Video, but they unfortunately closed down due to the COVID lockdowns/lack of foot traffic. It was my family's spot to grab a Friday night movie and snacks, even through the pandemic. We were super bummed to see it go. Streaming just doesn't match the experience of browsing movies IRL. We'd usually leave with a few movies to watch that week, including a kids…

Our rental store closed before Covid (the owner basically got tired of it and retired, it wasn't a big money-maker, so nobody took over). Our theater died just after Covid. I wonder if you could combine them into some kind of "movie mishmash" where you could see new movies in the theater, rent older classics, or even buy new releases. Being able to stop in, grab a movie and hot popcorn, and drive home seems it could…

Alamo Drafthouse offers a lot of this.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#180

Post by ant6n »

fitzroy wrote: post #140
jefurii wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about Buffy but some later Star Trek series like Deep Space 9 will be really hard to remaster because they were shot on video instead of film. The detail just isn't there to be enhanced.

Deep Space 9 was also shot on film. The editing, effects, and mastering were completed on video (same for TNG). This is true for nearly every 1-hour US prime-time drama of that era (Buffy, X-Files, etc). https://www.slashfilm.com/549088/star-trek-voyager-deep-spac...

I really wish for a ds9 remaster, which supposedly could be done in 16:9 since they were much more careful to not have mics etc inside the larger frame while filming.

But ds9 is not as popular as tng, and I think fewer of the effects where done on film, so it might bring in less revenue but may be even more expensive to remaster than tng.

Some people redid some ds9 battle scenes on YouTube and they look awesome. There’s also some remastered footage in the de8 documentary (I think “what u leave behind”?)

Makes u dream a little

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