
2.7M Americans Still Get Netflix DVDs in the Mail - prostoalex
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/04/media/netflix-dvd-subscription-mail-trnd/
======
ubermonkey
I'm surprised it's not higher.

The implicit promise -- actually, occasionally made EXPLICITLY in marketing --
of high-speed broadband was that everything would be available, but the
reverse has proven true. A person living in an urban area had a larger
selection of movies available for rent in 1999 than they do today because the
first sale doctrine protected the video rental business, but streaming is
governed by different agreements -- which leads to ridiculous "availability
windows."

We mostly use Apple's movie rental system, because the quality is better than
Netflix, but you still get the availability shifts. Sometimes something won't
be available for rental anymore, but remains in the list as a purchasable (ha)
item. This is just straight-up rent-seeking bullshit, and it didn't (and
couldn't) happen when movies were tied to a physical object.

If you want a deep library of rentals, DVD/BR by mail is still better. If you
want better quality, DVD/BR by mail is the best option. And obviously if you
live somewhere with shitty connectivity (basically the entire rural US), then
by-mail might be your ONLY real option.

~~~
AdmiralAsshat
There is certainly the case to be made that physical DVD/Blu-Ray rental is
still a viable business due to the stagnation of internet improvement in the
US.

With that said, I'd think that Redbox basically does Netflix-by-mail more
efficiently, no? It seems like the speed of the mail service guarantees that
it will take at least a few days between you sending your finished movies back
before new ones arrive, as opposed to driving to your nearest grocery store or
gas station to pick something else.

~~~
Klonoar
History has shown that this isn't the case... otherwise people would've kept
Blockbuster in business in the face of Netflix DVD rentals. People value the
convenience, it's only recently that people wax nostalgic over the whole
"going to the video store to rent on a Friday night". They generally forget
the long lines, employees who were rude and didn't care because it was a
minimum wage job, often messy as hell store where the availability was
mixed... the list goes on.

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Blockbuster wasn't good at video rental. They were the big, inefficient bully,
and the last choice of anyone with any sense.

The selection was _tiny_ compared to the independents they mostly priced out
of existence, then became the most expensive place to rent once that was done.
They had major films sooner for about as much as going to the cinema. That's
it. Their only selling point. They got shot of old stuff _far_ too soon so you
could _never_ actually find old stuff in Blockbuster unless it was 2001 or
Wizard of Oz.

The corner shop near us that rented, and next door but 2 to Blockbuster, kept
going years after Blockbuster closed. Having experienced Blockbuster in 3 or 4
places I've lived, I gave a little cheer when they went.

~~~
ohithereyou
There's still a thriving video chain in the area where I live: Family Video.
Family Video focused on owning their real estate instead of renting.

I can get a BluRay from Family Video and a pizza from Marcos delivered to my
door in under an hour with a $10 or more purchase from Marcos. It ends up
being a cheap date night with my fiancee.

~~~
RandallBrown
Does the Marcos deliver the video too? I know some Family Videos have Marcos
attached to them.

I rented a lot of movies from Family Video in high school. There was a
location about halfway between my house and my girlfriends. It closed at
Midnight, and my curfew was midnight, so I stopped by right before closing
almost every night one summer. They had a deal where you got an old release
for free with every new release and it was like 3 dollars.

That was a fun summer.

~~~
ohithereyou
Yes, Marcos delivers the video with the pizza. It's a five day rental, though
I've returned it after seven days with no late fees.

------
ergothus
I read the comments here before reading the article...and I was pleasantly
surprised by the article. It wasn't a "haha, look at how unsophisticated some
people are", it was a pretty on-target list of reasons why online
subscriptions services aren't currently meeting all needs. I'm actually
surprised it's "only" 2.7M Americans - the DVD service didn't match the
convenience of online services, but was still a great experience.

I myself am lucky enough to have great broadband, but I've been getting
annoyed with how series will move on/off the service (I see monthly "What's
leaving Netflix this month" articles in some places), I'm annoyed with how
Netflix has made their system "pushier" (such as constantly looping ads), how
they gave me an ability to build a personal want-to-watch list and then hide
that away making it hard to benefit from, and in particular, how I now have to
balance multiple subscription services if I want to see the shows I want to
see.

Side Note: As annoyed as I am with Netflix from time to time, they beat the
pants off of Hulu when it comes to interface, and remain nicer than Amazon.

~~~
Twirrim
2.7M seems really low.

We primarily still have the paid for DVD service because there's a whole bunch
of movies and TV shows that just aren't available via streaming services. For
example we were just using it for the final series of True Blood, because all
the previous series are on Amazon Prime, but not the last one.

There's a lot of classic movies missing from online services, as well,
particularly MGM ones.

~~~
gideon_b
I don't think I have seen a Netflix DVD advertisement in a decade.

I would bet that the majority of those 2.7M subscribers joined before Netflix
streaming began and never saw a reason to cancel.

~~~
lenocinor
I've been using Netflix DVD since it started and I'm still using it happily,
mainly for the selection. I think there are a lot of movie buffs like me that
use it just for that reason.

------
bluedevil2k
In the US, lots of people have 55" TV's and bigger and at that size the
streaming artifacts are really noticeable. A Netflix streaming 4k video looks
terrible when the screen has a lot of black/gray gradients. It makes people
wonder why they even bothered with a 4k. But, throw a blu-ray on there and you
see how great the TV looks. Even better, throw a 4k Ultra Blu-Ray on and you
see the brilliance of the TV and the amazing picture. This was my case - I got
a 4k UHD from Redbox and now will never watch a blockbuster movie any other
way.

~~~
dragonwriter
I don't pay the upcharge for Netflix 4K, but the streaming 4K content I have
found (YouTube, mostly) has no such problems, so it's certainly not inherent
to streaming.

~~~
wodenokoto
Then you are not looking very closely. Even LG's OLED 4k promo video has
artefacts when streaming from their yt channel to an lg 4k OLED.

------
alexrtan
I just went back to Netflix Blu-Rays after being frustrated with seeing tons
of imperfections in streaming quality. The artifacts are so annoying to me in
4K streaming that I mostly prefer just watching 1080p blu-rays.

~~~
jetrink
Their web player has also started to have stuttering and frame dropping issues
for me. It only works smoothly on Microsoft Edge, so hopefully they get it
figured out before Microsoft swaps out the rendering engine for Chromium.

~~~
mrob
Most people use 60Hz monitors, which means you'll always get uneven frame-
timing with 24fps content (3:2 pulldown). Modern TVs support 24Hz for 24fps
Blurays so the motion looks better.

~~~
fireattack
> you'll always get uneven frame-timing with 24fps content (3:2 pulldown)

Uneven frame-timing, fo sure, but does it really use 3:2 pulldown?

IIRC the monitor, at least when using most of players on PC to playback, will
just display/repeat each video frame uneven times, but no 3:2 pulldown, i.e.
interlacing two frames together to generate 1 more frame every 4 frames, is
involved.

I'm definitely not an expert on this topic though so please feel free to
correct me!

~~~
mrob
It does not use interlacing. It seems my understanding of the term was wrong,
and interlacing is required for it to count as real 3:2 pulldown.

------
jordanpg
The user experience associated with using DVDs, while having improved ever-so-
slightly with Blu-Ray, is still comically bad.

It's slow, and there's all kinds of shit that has to be skipped, if it can be
skipped. And then there's the high likelihood of scratches given enough time.

That the manufacturers of DVDs have not made it possible to play the main
content immediately, as it is (usually) with streaming, is a signal to me that
they are not taking the future of the medium seriously.

Yes, it's possible to work around with VLC player, etc. but that is not
helpful for most commercial hardware and for most people.

Ironically, we see some streaming platforms, like Amazon Fire for example,
adding shit at the beginning that's un-skippable.

That and commercials are dealbreakers for me. Makes it easy to choose my
streaming platforms.

~~~
esaym
I came to say just this. Back in 1999 I was so excited when tech magazines
were giving out the specs of the up and coming new video format. I never got a
true DVD player back then, but used a Playstation 2. The first time I rented a
DVD from the store (blockbuster?) wasn't a grand experience either. You had to
pay extra for the DVD vs the VCR. Yea the picture was slightly better on the
fuzzy CRT, but what was immediately apparent was the screwy dynamic audio
range. Every time we watched a DVD someone had to always have the TV remote in
hand, constantly turning up the volume in the quite spots and quickly turning
it down before some super loud stuff happened.

That's still an issue today for me. I've been told that using a true 5.1
surround system will fix that, but I've never been a fan of the extra
speakers. Plus most of the people I know that actually have a surround
receiver have all 5 speakers just sitting right next to the TV anyway.

Then there's the screwy menu navigation and forced commercials. My mom
struggles to get through those, slowly hen pecking buttons or staring at the
remote wondering if you hit the "Ok/Enter" button or the play button. My
grandparents never have figured it out, I have to do it for them every time.

I'm not a movie buff at all. I only recently started buying movies now that I
have kids but the DVD format natively is just too painful. I tried initially
to rip DVDs to an mp4 but that just takes too long. What I do now just so I
can be somewhat "legit" is buy some $3 "as is" used DVD off of ebay. Right
when I get it in the mail, I throw it into a junk drawer and then grab a
torrent of it. 10 minutes later I've got it on my hard drive and if I'm
feeling fancy I'll ffmpeg it to wav format and normalize the audio then copy
it back. From there I shoot it over to my media box in the living room for the
kids to enjoy their new "freshly ripped" DVD. I don't even tell my wife the
truth.

------
oppositelock
I still pay for Netflix DVD's, have since around 2000. The reason that I still
do is that a bunch of older TV series that my wife watches aren't available on
streaming anywhere, and the dvd's are out of print, so the only way to watch
these things is via archive DVD's, like at Netflix.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Check out your local library! They won’t have as extensive of a catalog, but
they usually have quite a bit of DVDs available.

~~~
stevenwoo
My library (Santa Clara County) actually has more than Netflix, this led to me
cancelling Netflix DVD's. The main downside is new releases take much longer
to become available with the library if one does not sign up as soon as
possible for rental. One thing is that out of print DVD's disappear from
Netflix quicker than the library - I think people just steal them or they get
lost in mail and there's no charge up to a certain point for this loss.

~~~
toomuchtodo
This is fantastic news. Very happy to hear your library is serving its local
citizens well. Protect your local library folks!

------
nsnick
It is the only way to get mainstream films on netflix any more.

~~~
SilasX
Stupid question: would it be possible (legally or economically) for studios to
just cut off Netflix from rental licensing rights?

~~~
hsivonen
The basis of Netflix’s U.S.-only disc business is that in the U.S. for
physical-medium movies, there is no distinct rental right, but the first-sale
doctrine allows Netflix to rent movies that have been offered for sale on disc
and that Netflix has bought on disc.

~~~
SilasX
I thought rental services had to pay more for copies bought in order to rent
out en masse?

~~~
d1zzy
The first sale doctrine allows any individual/company to buy retail discs and
rent those physical copies out. No need of an agreement from the copyright
holder for that.

However, in practice, large rental companies (like Netflix) likely DO have
contracts that make it easier and cheaper for them to get large numbers of
discs without buying them on the retail market. But at least the first sale
doctrine provides a fallback if contracts fail. I think I read somewhere that
in the past Netflix has had to refer to the retail market for certain titles.

~~~
chiph
I'm seeing more discs from my subscription that are marked "Rental" ... with
monochrome labeling (no graphics), fewer subtitle & foreign language options,
and lower bit-rate.

So they definitely have agreements with the studios/distributors to get discs
for the rental market, and it looks like that agreement is covering more and
more titles. For the Marvel titles - it's about 50:50 (in perfect balance..)

------
atomicUpdate
Blu-Ray audio and video quality is significantly better than streaming which
is why I still subscribe. Streaming is certainly more convenient for stuff
that doesn't really need very high quality though.

------
legitster
Remember when Netflix tried to be proactive by splitting off the DVD business
from the streaming service, and the entire internet flipped out?

In hindsight, this would have been an excellent move. Each org could have
focused better on their respective service. But now the media-by-mail half is
just crashing in the space of the streaming service. They have no incentive to
market it, and will pull the plug the moment it is unprofitable.

------
smacktoward
I would actually like to go back to subscribing to discs-by-mail, but have
been put off from doing so via Netflix for two reasons: first, because they
reputedly haven't been keeping up their inventory, leading to lots of titles
being more or less permanently unavailable; and second, because it's clear
that Netflix views this line of business as an embarrassing burden they'll be
thrilled to dump the second they feel they can do so without going through
another "Qwikster" debacle.

Are there any alternative discs-by-mail services out there that actually care
about and want to be providing such a service?

~~~
dontbenebby
>Are there any alternative discs-by-mail services out there that actually care
about and want to be providing such a service?

It's not by mail, but most libraries have DVDs and Blurays. They often have
countywide agreements so you can get a title shipped from across the city to
your local library for free.

~~~
zerocrates
There are several library systems in my area and to my knowledge none of them
carry Blu-rays. I think the added expense and likelihood of patrons mistakenly
borrowing a Blu-ray when they have a DVD player is enough to keep many
libraries on DVD.

------
kop316
I feel this is worth reposting in this thread:

For those in the US, something I have found pleasantly surprising is that the
local library (this is a "small" library with only two branches) feels this
niche quite well. I have been able to get recent releases as well as it having
a pretty healthy supply of general interest and some specialize interest
movies. They have an online catalog so I can search and set a hold on a movie,
book, or other physical media so I can go in, grab it, and go. Many of them
allow you to rent an obscene amount of movies at once (the limit at mine is 20
movies check out at a time), and it's free! On top of that, they partner with
a digital service that also allows you to "rent" a set amount of
movies/shows/ebooks per month (for free!).

Something I have not tried is to see what happens if they don't have a
movie/book/show that I want. I imagine they have a process to request them
buying it if there's enough interest.

------
larrywright
I'm not shocked. I'm surprised its not higher. I still see Redbox kiosks all
over, so there's clearly a market.

~~~
topspin
> I'm surprised its not higher.

Likewise. There are many titles available through Netflix DVD that are not
available through Netflix streaming. Just off the top of my head you have Game
of Thrones (seasons 1-7), The Wire, True Detective, Fargo and The Expanse.

------
WalterBright
The reason is simple. Whenever I type in a movie I want to see in Netflix
search, it's available on DVD but not on streaming.

------
lqet
I signed up for membership at the local library a long time ago, for a small
anual fee (around 10 EUR). They have tons of Blurays and old DVDs (TV series,
blockbusters, international classics and art house movies). Once a month, I go
there after work and take home interesting stuff (you can only rent 5 DVD +
Blurays at once). I installed a Bluray/DVD drive in an old desktop PC and
installed the Automatic Ripping Machine [0] on it. So at home, I just boot the
machine, insert the rented DVD / Bluray, and ~12 hours later, the movie is
copied to my local RAID and I receive an email that the ripping has finished.

I can then watch the movie anytime I want via kodi in the living room. If I
really want to watch some movie / series that is not owned by the library, I
fill out an online form with a suggestion that the library buys the movie /
series. It takes some time, of course, but they usually follow the
suggestions.

[0] [https://github.com/automatic-ripping-machine/automatic-
rippi...](https://github.com/automatic-ripping-machine/automatic-ripping-
machine)

~~~
themodelplumber
> you can only rent 5 DVD + Blurays at once

My local library does the same, but they will let you check out 5 more as soon
as you check in the last set. So you can watch a lot of films every month, in
addition to the 20 or so that you can stream via apps like Kanopy and Hoopla.

The nice thing is, if there are multiple card holders in your home you can at
least double all these numbers. It's raining movies! :-)

------
elagost
I don't use the Netflix (Qwikster?) DVD service, but I do still buy lots of
DVDs/Blu-Rays. The visual fidelity on a good DVD/Blu-Ray player is much better
than a little streaming box that has to buffer every five minutes anyway, and
I love having discs that I can watch offline and not have to worry about
ownership changing or the content going away. My box sets are always going to
be on my shelf, my .mp4 rips are always going to be on my hard drives, no
company tracks my viewing habits, and I don't have to pay anyone a monthly fee
for the privilege of them sitting on my shelf.

I bet a lot of people use the DVD service to rip all the movies and have them
on a hard drive. I've thought about it.

------
dawnerd
I'd sign back up if they started offering UHDs. Seems like a great way to get
people to give them another 10+ dollars a month IMO.

------
reaperducer
I'm one of them.

Netflix's DVD selection more closely matches what I want to watch than
Netflix's streaming offerings. Plus, I can watch stuff when I'm offline, which
is a bonus.

~~~
senorsmile
Ditto. The only way I would ever switch away, is if an online service actually
allowed me to stream ANYTHING that I would normally be able to get via Netflix
DVD. Right now, most of the things I find I want to watch, whether new (to me)
or old things I want to watch again, I have to add it to my long DVD queue.

------
bkraz
Before Netflix, there was a big difference between flipping on the TV, and
going out to rent a movie. Netflix started as a replacement for rental stores,
but has steadily been shifting towards a TV replacement. The title selection
between their streaming and DVD services is almost completely non-overlapping
at this point. I dumped the streaming service, and went _back_ to DVD, which I
find to be a better fit for me only because of selection.

------
iheartpotatoes
That's me!

Why?

So many more titles are on DVD than streaming. Many many more.

Try watching anything by Rainer Fassbinder on streaming: does not exist, but
are on DVD. But that number is dropping due to licensing issues, just like
streaming. My DVD queue has movies saved in "unknown" that I've actually SEEN
from Netflix back in 2002 when I first subscribed.

Examples of DVDs from Netflix ca. 2002-2005 that I watched which no longer
exist:

Lumiere and Company

The Third Man

The House that Dripped Blood

Lies

Crimes of Passion

Sadly my "unknown availability" list is growing.

------
swamy_g
I'm an avid film buff, Netflix DVD has so many different movies across genres
and languages. I find Netflix streaming so boring and mainstream.

------
russellbeattie
This reminds me of an amusing thing that happened to me years ago: The
volunteer coach of my son's little kid soccer team worked at Netflix. I only
really knew this because she was really nice and invited us all to the HQ for
the kids to watch a movie in a little theater they have.

We had a practice a day or so after the Qwikster plan was announced and then
abandoned. So of course I mention it to her, with a dumb-ass grin, sort of
like, "Wow, interesting times at work, hey?" And she responds with something
along the lines of, "Well, Reed thought it was a good idea, and we tried to do
the best we could to make it work." It was said in a way that I immediately
thought, "We?? Uh-oh." I looked her up that night and found out she was a VP
and most likely deeply involved in the whole process. It took me weeks to get
the foot taste out of my mouth, I had wedged it in there so badly.

Lesson: In Silicon Valley, you never know if your kid's soccer coach is
actually the VP of a multi-million dollar corporation making headlines that
day, so keep it to yourself.

------
VectorLock
Can you create new Netflix DVD Delivery accounts? I was under the impression
they stopped accepting new customers for that service.

~~~
__david__
Yep: [https://dvd.netflix.com/](https://dvd.netflix.com/)

------
taeric
There are so many segments of customers for video that it is truly hard to
fathom why someone thinks they have one answer.

For me, a large part of the appeal of Netflix/Amazon for video is that I don't
have any physical media. I'm barely good at taking care of disks. My kids? It
isn't really fair to get upset if they destroy them. Yes, everyone thinks they
remember how well they took care of their parents crap. No. You didn't
actually do so. (Statistically, I'm sure there are folks that did. But by and
large you don't exist in the statistical sense.)

Now, this primarily just means that you need the major shows my kids want to
watch. Nowadays, that is Octonauts and Pokemon. The How to Train a Dragon
series is also getting a lot of play. Luckily, all available for streaming
easily enough. Zero effort on my part, too. Just a relatively small bill.
Especially compared to the cable I don't pay anymore.

------
Symmetry
For a while I did this because I wanted movies to watch while donating
platelets at the local Red Cross and they had DVD players in the donation room
with a small library but eventually I watched all the movies they had that I
wanted to see. Eventually they upgraded to having Netflix streaming and I
stopped.

------
tyfon
I'm almost surprised that this isn't higher.

I can't really say from experience since I live in Europe but I've seen people
from the US complain about data caps on regular internet for a while and I
guess netflix will eat up that quite fast especially if you watch 4k movies.

How large is the average cap on US ISPs?

~~~
ashelmire
> I've seen people from the US complain about data caps on regular internet
> for a while

This isn't a thing in the US. You've seen Canadians complain.

~~~
chrisdhal
Yes it is. Comcast has a 1TB a month soft limit. You get 2 months of free
overages within a certain period of time (12-18 months IIRC), after that they
charge you extra. You can argue that 1TB is a lot and not really a limit, but
it does exist.

~~~
kevingrahl
1TB a month is considered a lot?

That’s only around 34GB per day..

~~~
skinnymuch
What would be considered enough? I don’t know how I’d use 3TB a month. 2 TB is
a lot too to me and everyone I know. I’m sure it’s not a lot to some people
especially people on here. But I would guess for the vast majority of people,
at least 95%, 1 TB is sufficient. And 2 TB is sufficient for 99%+ of people.

~~~
kevingrahl
Thanks for the answer!

I feel like I should state that I’m against all data caps. Where I live we
don’t have data caps on home connections and it’s somewhat affordable to get
unlimited LTE SIM’s (about €80/US$90).

I don’t see why there should be a limit. Connections are usually sold in
different tiers which are advertised with a bandwidth speed. If something is
advertised as having 100Mbps then I should be able to use that connection
continuously 24/7 with that speed or a close approximation at least. So it
depends on the advertised speed. For 100Mbps that would come out to roughly
60TB/month.

But in no way should it be 1TB in my opinion. It’s trivial to reach that
especially because many connections aren’t used by a single person. 4k content
is available and should be able to be consumed without having to worry about
hitting caps. A family of four can easily hit 3-5TB whereas a single person
might need less.

~~~
skinnymuch
I agree that you should be able to use more than 1 TB. But in practice right
now, what, 1% at most of households use more than 1 TB a month? I think reddit
and HN are against this, but at that point I’d think charging a reasonable
price for more than 1 TB of bandwidth would make sense. At least right now
without 4K being widely available and consumed.

------
bluthru
$10/mo for bluray rentals + MakeMKV for caching the disc is the best value in
video.

------
m-p-3
I wish that was an option in Canada. My native language is French (I'm
functional in English) and the availability of French audio track with non-
Netflix content is abysmal, while DVD copies here does have it most of the
time.

I'm still renting mostly because of that, and I don't understand why Netflix
is not offering more contents in both official languages here. I guess the
government is not pressuring them enough even though they're giving them a ton
of money to produce local stuff.

------
nickjj
I still subscribe to the 1 DVD at a time plan because the selection is so much
wider than instant watch (in the US at least).

After 10 years of subscribing to Netflix I can only think of a handful of
movies that weren't available on DVD. I don't have any hard numbers in front
of me but it feels like there's maybe 20% of Netflix's catalog on instant
watch vs what they have on DVD -- at least in popular genres like sci-fi,
comedy, action and adventure.

------
bliblah
My father (72 Years old) started Netflix waaaay back in the day thanks to the
DVD service and you would be surprised by just how much better the selection
is than their online catalog.

He used it primarily for foreign films or artsy films that didn't have big
theatrical releases.

It's very funny because i would say at least 60% of the times I am looking for
a movie on Netflix I am referred to their DVD catalog and end up having to use
another service.

~~~
skinnymuch
What service[s] do you use? A lot of the time a movie isn’t available on any
streaming service.

------
nswest23
DVD's in the mail frequently backfired for me b/c when I would pick out the
movie I'd be in the mood to watch some documentary about suffering in some
corner of the world but by the time I had a chance to watch it, it would be on
the weekend when I was so burned out from work all I wanted to watch was
something mindless that I could space out on so I'd just end up sending it
back unwatched.

------
threatofrain
The DVD catalogue isn't the same as their streaming.

------
ProAm
I still do because the Netflix streaming catalog is so extremely thin and
often not good content. If I really want to watch what I want then I have to
get the DVDs.

Blu-Ray tends have have better quality then the streaming (obviously depends
on a multitude of factors). And I don't have to deal with the horrendous UI or
recommendation engine.

I do have both, but I'll watch the DVDs way more often than I'll stream
anything.

~~~
fetus8
Blu-Ray will almost always have better quality than streaming, mostly due to
bitrate. It's shocking how much better a properly scanned transfer in 1080p on
a bluray looks compared to a 4K stream. It's night and day.

------
satahoarder
I subscribe to it because I feel that my Linux ISO collecting thus becomes
more substantial. What a great source man. Physical over WEBRIP any day!

~~~
Scoundreller
Does Netflix have a catalog of Linux DVDs?

It would be useful for their remaining customers that are OSS enthusiasts
without bandwidth to spare.

~~~
soylentcola
Forgive me if you already got the joke but I assume the poster was referring
to the old cliche about torrents being used for Linux ISOs.

Just in this case, it's DVD/BD rips from discs delivered by mail.

~~~
Scoundreller
I was a little unsure, and then started to ask why doesn’t Netflix include
“free” media in its distribution network.

------
adam12
I wonder how many of these subscribers use handbrake.

~~~
russdill
That's the reason no one wants to say, but I'm sure the percentage is pretty
high among yc users that also subscribe to netflix DVD.

------
irrational
We don't have any streaming subscriptions. We would probably use Netflix DVDs
by mail, but honestly we only watch maybe 1 (2 at the outside) movies a month,
so it's just cheaper and more convenient to run to Redbox. We can be to Redbox
and back in less than 5 minutes. And we usually have some sort of promo code
so we usually spend about $1-2/month on movies.

~~~
ghaff
It depends on what you watch. Redbox is good for recent releases, not so much
for other things. Also, I find there's a lot to be said for a disk just
sitting next to my TV rather than having to jump in the car. (I admittedly
might feel differently if I could just walk out my door to a Redbox.)

------
chiph
The article pretty much lists all the reasons I still get discs by mail. No
compression artifacts, no drop-outs at peak times, significantly deeper
catalog, no need to hop between (and pay) multiple streaming services.

And it forces me to curate & plan, instead of taking whatever became available
this week.

I'd like it if they offered more discs from The Criterion Collection.

------
dragthor
So what if people still use DVD players. I bet the monthly cost of broadband
and Netflix streaming is way more expensive than a plain-old DVD player and
Netflix by mail.

I guess people are missing out on wasting their time binge watching garbage
television shows. And yes, in theory you can binge watch an entire season on
DVD(s).

------
hikelemmon
Local 'Video' store for the win here in Tucson, AZ - Casa Video -
[http://www.casavideo.com/](http://www.casavideo.com/) \- on my way home from
work and has an amazing selection of titles for rent - so happy to still have
a place to rent locally!

------
speby
Reminds me of how many people still use AOL dial-up:
[https://money.cnn.com/2015/05/08/technology/aol-dial-
up/inde...](https://money.cnn.com/2015/05/08/technology/aol-dial-
up/index.html)

------
fegu
DVDs in 2019 is nothing compared to actual floppy disks in health care in 2015
([https://gundersen.net/functional-floppy-disks-
in-2015/](https://gundersen.net/functional-floppy-disks-in-2015/))

Proven tech often has a really long tail.

------
Fins
Not surprising at all.. A few times I tried to find something to watch on
Netflix' streaming service (which we have for free from wife's T-Mobile, but I
don't think they have a different selection for those) I could not find
anything worth watching.

------
g051051
A lot of what I wanted to watch got removed from Netflix streaming, and now
the streaming ecosystem is so fragmented that I just gave up on it. It's
turning into the same "bundling" nonsense that's been making cable so
expensive for so long.

------
wybiral
Here in Austin, Texas we still have a local movie rental chain, I <3 Video
[1], that has free beer nights and an incredible selection.

[1] [https://www.iluvvideo.com/](https://www.iluvvideo.com/)

------
antjanus
The selection is huge for me. I don't sub to netflix dvds but I'm really
thinking I might.

A few years back, they used to have a button to check for DVDs and I did, and
a lot of stuff that isn't up for streaming is not an issue for DVDs.

------
erkose
The licensing of DVDs versus Streams seems to be out of wack. How is it that
Netflix can license so many more movies to distribute through their DVD
service than they are able to license to distribute through their Stream
service?

~~~
extra88
Because discs aren’t licensed, they’re bought and you can do what the fuck you
want with your property. There have already been multiple comments referencing
this, the First Sale Doctrine.

------
KorematsuFred
Always wondered who bought DVDs these days and then quickly learned about one
group. Truckers. These people are on the move and have a portable DVD player.
After the whole days driving they want to sleep watching some movie.

------
padseeker
For the record I had a DVD from netflix sitting untouched for more than a
year. I finally cancelled the plan and returned the DVD a few months ago. Some
people are just lazy and never returned the DVD or cancelled.

------
larrik
I signed up in 2004 and never stopped. I bumped up to Blu-Ray too (and get
pretty annoyed when a DVD shows up instead of a Blu-Ray...)

I love streaming TV shows, but for movies I just don't like it. I don't even
know why.

------
blacksqr
Netflix streaming service has ironically replicated the Blockbuster
experience, a few big new releases in front, along with aisles and aisles of
stuff I've never heard of and have no interest in watching.

------
sparky_
Streaming content selection is garbage, except for their original programming,
and getting Blu-Rays by mail, which are easily ripped, is less risky and
higher quality than piracy. Not hard to see the appeal.

~~~
jumelles
> higher quality than piracy

You're pirating wrong then ;)

------
deanalevitt
I'm most amazed that Netflix has retained this aspect of their business. My
guess would have been it was more effort than benefit, considering the focus
of Netflix and their direction.

------
kalleboo
I thought Redbox took over the market of watching mainstream movies

~~~
saalweachter
Redbox is convenient for newly released mainstream movies plus an odd
assortment of older movies that is usually related to upcoming releases (eg,
if there is a sequel coming out soon). It doesn't help as much for older and
longer-tail movies and TV shows.

------
pmoriarty
Netflix's selection on its streaming service is utter garbage compared to its
selection on its DVD service.

That's why I still subscribe to its DVD service, but not its streaming
service.

------
gideon_b
My mom is a professor, all of her DVDs are low-distribution educational and
historical documentaries that she can use in her classroom. Most are not
available anywhere else.

------
kkylin
I got rid of Netflix DVD by mail only because I'm lucky (I think) to still
have a locally owned and operated video rental store on my way to and from
work.

------
post_break
Poor internet service, fast internet service with data caps, not much
selection on the streaming. I wish netflix had a thing like redbox that was
flat rate.

------
randogogogo
Been a customer of this for years now. It's great for getting old things not
available from streaming, or more commonly way over priced on streaming.

------
hanklazard
I still use this. The movie selection is so much better than streaming
version, massive back catalog. And it's cheap.

------
MagicPropmaker
Not that I want to accuse these customers of wrong-doing, but I also suspect
the ease of copying a DVD is also a factor.

------
barneygumble742
I like it for the DVD extras.

------
bitxbit
A lot of people still do not have access to high speed internet in the US.

------
lgregg
I actually thought they closed shop on this. I might subscribe.

~~~
nategri
Same! I've been wanting to work through the catalog of Miyazaki films but the
stuff is streaming unobtainium. Quite a wait at the library too. This seems
like the only way to go haha.

------
epberry
[http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

------
sfbay
Why would anyone want to watch the same movie or same series again and again?
To me this is a waste of plastic to manufacture the DVDs.

------
justboxing
> "People assume that our customers must either be super seniors or folks that
> live in the boonies with no internet access," she says. "Actually, our
> biggest hot spots are the coasts, like the Bay Area and New York."

Not surprising. Netflix, Comcast, Amazon Prime and other video streaming
service charge you the same as the DVD rental, but force you to watch the
entire video within 48 hours from 1st starting it.

Personally I find this very annoying (why do the do this? What does it cost
them to let me watch it within a week or so and not 48 hours?).

Esp long movies like "Wolf of Wall Street" are not practical to watch in a
single sitting.

I have a Samsung DVD player that I got for 40$ and depending on the movie, I
find it's cheaper or same price to actually BUY the DVD from Amazon.com (with
prime). Ex: Wolf of Wall Street was $4.99 to stream and view within 48 hours,
or keep paying $4.99 until you finish it. The same DVD ( NEW ) was selling for
$5.49 on Amazon, Free shipping so I ended up buying the DVD.

~~~
praneshp
> Esp long movies like "Wolf of Wall Street" are not practical to watch in a
> single sitting.

Ha ha, some moviebuffs will skewer you for saying that (about any movie). I
feel your pain on the 48h limit though.

~~~
snegu
I assume he or she has a child. I know for us, with a two year old, it's very
rare to have 3 hours of uninterrupted free time. We used to be big movie
watchers, but no longer.

~~~
praneshp
Haha, we are watching a movie with a close friend couple that have a kid. We
went from a movie a week to once in 6 months or so

------
jameane
Someone in my building does. I see the return envelope in the mailroom!

