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Netflix Ships Last DVD

about.netflix.com

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Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#61

Post by jedberg »

nickthegreek wrote: post #42
jedberg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hear the high seas calling... I found that the high seas are only good for popular films, and that obscure films are very hard to find. I've had better luck at the library.

You're in the wrong ocean sailor. Hoist your anchor and sail towards the large scale plex appboxes. They regularly have over 30k whales breaching the briny deep and a hearty request system to track down those rare guppies as well.

Ay sailor, I seem to have lost my map, and I can't find your post address. Maybe you can post me with the location of the treasure.

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#62

Post by jedberg »

This video brings back lots of nostalgia. I had the chance to tour the shipping facility in Fremont, and see all those machines in action. It was amazing how many disks they could process, and how much innovation was there.

They had machines that could verify the checksum of the disk in three seconds by reading the entire thing with multiple laser heads. They had machines that would OCR the sleeve and mark it for replacement if it was too dirty.

They had printers that could print the entire address on the envelope in about 300ms using multiple offset print heads, so that the sorters could run at full speed.

I wonder what will happen to all those machines. I know that sometimes they allowed bulk mailers to rent the envelope printers/sorters in the afternoons, I wonder if they'll just sell those to bulk mailers.

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#63

Post by cptaj »

gorkish wrote: post #12

I maintained my disc sub to the bitter end. Although I rarely used it, it was frequently the only way to view many older or more obscure films without an outright full-retail-price purchase, and even then, good luck on availability. I lament its passing and worry very much that it's function as a pseudo-film library for the average person is no longer available anywhere. I hear the high seas calling...

I've been predicting the return of blockbuster for a couple of years for this very reason

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#64

Post by endisneigh »

pseg134 wrote: post #38
endisneigh wrote: post #5

it's incredible that a million user business wasn't deemed worthy of maintenance. mega corp churn is incredible.

This is a meaningless statement without knowing if it was profitable. If I started a streaming service that gave you $100 when you signed up I would get a million users. So do you want to buy that business from me?

Is that what happened with Netflix?

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#65

Post by drewcoo »

MenhirMike wrote: post #44
endisneigh wrote: post #5

it's incredible that a million user business wasn't deemed worthy of maintenance. mega corp churn is incredible.

The business was shrinking and shrinking, and I don't see any meaningful growth in that area. If you know that one of your business avenues is eventually going down do a level where it makes no money (or might even start losing money since warehouses, personnel, logistics, dealing with delinquent non-returns, etc. all cost money to run) - why would you maintain it? If someone believes there is still value in it, they…

That all sounds like a press release.

> The business was shrinking and shrinking

Was that the problem, though, or was it just that it wasn't as profitable as the streaming business? The last most of us knew, the DVD business was still profitable.

https://marketrealist.com/2019/08/is-netflixs-dvd-business-p...

> If someone believes there is still value in it, they can try filling it

Hard to build up all of the catalog, infra, etc. that DVD.com had. And even though there were buyers, Netflix would not sell.

https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/netflix-turned-do...

The real story is probably about big corporate agendas being set by the market, which demanded higher profits on everything of a hulking company than a tiny niche business could produce. That combined with a desire to not bleed IP by spinning the DVD business off to be its own success.

Anti-trust laws ought to keep these things from happening.

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#66

Post by awiesenhofer »

jedberg wrote: post #62

This video brings back lots of nostalgia. I had the chance to tour the shipping facility in Fremont, and see all those machines in action. It was amazing how many disks they could process, and how much innovation was there. They had machines that could verify the checksum of the disk in three seconds by reading the entire thing with multiple laser heads. They had machines that would OCR the sleeve and mark it for rep…

> They had machines that could verify the checksum of the disk in three seconds by reading the entire thing with multiple laser heads.

I would love to be able to buy such a drive, would be great to rip all my old discs.

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#67

Post by jedberg »

awiesenhofer wrote: post #66
jedberg wrote: post #62

This video brings back lots of nostalgia. I had the chance to tour the shipping facility in Fremont, and see all those machines in action. It was amazing how many disks they could process, and how much innovation was there. They had machines that could verify the checksum of the disk in three seconds by reading the entire thing with multiple laser heads. They had machines that would OCR the sleeve and mark it for rep…

> They had machines that could verify the checksum of the disk in three seconds by reading the entire thing with multiple laser heads. I would love to be able to buy such a drive, would be great to rip all my old discs.

I don't think the machines could save the data. They just loaded into RAM, took the checksum, compared it to the known good checksum, and then moved on.

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#68

Post by pmarreck »

I am pretty sure I still have some dvd's and/or blu-rays somewhere that got included in a move and never unpacked... Now they will just become historical artifacts of a bygone physical-media era

Re: Netflix Ships Last DVD

#70

Post by xahrepap »

pmarreck wrote: post #68

I am pretty sure I still have some dvd's and/or blu-rays somewhere that got included in a move and never unpacked... Now they will just become historical artifacts of a bygone physical-media era

I still buy everything I like and want to ever watch again on physical media. I try to get the DVD/Blu-ray combos.

I think it’s worth it even if it’s available on D+ or whatever other platform. And I can rip them and stream them myself. Which I sometimes do for trips.

I think while a little tedious sometimes, it’s worth it.

I hate the Everything-For-Rent world we live in today.

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