Right, so, Mrs Heathen and I have been meaning to cancel Netflix for ages. We hung on for a while on the strength of hopes about their streaming options, but the honest truth of the matter is that their streaming selection blows goats.
Our main “unowned movie” outlet is rental via the AppleTV from iTunes. It’s a great solution; it costs more than physical rental, but there’s no going-and-returning aspect to it, and you don’t have to plan like you do with Netflix.
However, we’ve also noticed something else: The promise of Netflix and related endeavors was that we’d get access to a much larger set of films than any video shop could have. And that remains true, but only if you plan and deal with Netflix’s legacy DVD-through-the-post plan. Rights issues (presumably?) have kept this awesome “long tail” of content off streaming servers, so physical DVDs remain the only way to watch most films. Neither Apple nor Amazon nor Netflix Streaming offer anything close to what you can get on DVD.
So somehow, over the last 10 years, the actual set of movies easily rentable by a humans on a Friday night has actually gotten smaller, since Netflix managed to kill Blockbuster after Blockbuster more or less destroyed the local purveyors.
Even so, we never used them. We’ve had one DVD on hand for literally years. It went back last week. But if we want to watch a randomly selected film, odds are we won’t find it online anywhere legal – and we’ll find ourselves back at Netflix. I assume the problem is rights issues, i.e. copyright shenanigans, which means once again Big Content is keeping businesses from providing something people want.
Well, that and the fact that most people are happy if you let them rent one of a dozen blockbusters, and never have a desire to see an old movie, or a small indie film, or a foreign film.
Wait….there’s more. Check your email today for an exciting announcement from none other than Reed Hastings. They’re going to create two separate companies- one for streaming and one for DVD-by-mail (Qwickster! Whee!).
I have this terrible feeling that I ought to be reaching for the high molecular weight silicone lube right about now. It may be too late.
Why must this industry be eternally defined by unrelenting chicanery? Is the notion of a quality service at a reasonable price just completely off limits for these people?
I am investigating Amazon, I do like the netflix app, as does Ms. Matilde, but Netflix deserve to lose another million subscribers and I am here to help. Does blockbuster still offer streaming?
It’s not the streaming I’m concerned with. It’s access to the back catalog — which, at this point, is only available via Netflix for all practical purposes.
@Rick, I see this as a communication issue. Netflix is right that they need to be positioned to provide streaming, and that streaming is the absolute future. They don’t even DO DVD rentals outside the US.
If they’d just split the plans in the first place, and had a clear explanation of what they were doing, nobody would have given a shit. I don’t really care about their streaming offerings yet, because they have (frankly) Sweet Buggar All. OTOH, their mail-based product is now the only real option for a huge chunk of the American public. (Pop quiz: where ELSE can you rent back catalog films?)
Why, at Audio Video Plus my good man! Now, if I must pick between a MH t-shirt and coffee cup, I would prefer the t-shirt please.
They still exist? Have they started renting DVDs yet, or are they still stubbornly VHS-only? Yelp suggests the latter, and I haven’t had a videotape machine plugged in for a long, long time. No point; quality blows.
As for Heathen Swag, I really DO need to get a logo done and set up a CafePress store.
As your attorney I suggest :
Smoking Jackets
Fez
Lighters
Tshirts way at the bottom of your list.
I’m pretty sure AVP never evolved past their immense inventory of VHS (and beta!). I think they somehow manage to survive these days by serving the micro-niche market for cinephiles who want to see certain movies (foreign, etc..) that never made it to DVD.
I mean, really, will The Wifemistress ever see DVD? How long is long enough to wait?
And don’t even get me started on The Keep. Don’t get me started. Michael Mann is such a colossal ass. Like his new movies are better?
I forgot to suggest a “I Missed The Point On Miscellaneous Heathen” t-shirt just for me.
LOL Keep.
I’ve never seen the film, but for some reason it cropped up on my radar recently for reasons I don’t recall; I may have been at the end of a long Wikipedia/Youtube stroll through something nutty like Tangerine Dream.
I do remember that the film has a cast you’d think would know better — Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellen — but Michael Mann has wasted far better actors than those (cf. “Heat”).
Anyway, I’m just amazed it’s still possible to be a going concern renting only videotape. Like I said, we don’t even HAVE a VCR anymore.
You guys just need to find me a logo designer.
I’m thinking a tiny little headhunter dude, long spear, somewhat cartoony. Suitable for branding on anything. In my heart of hearts, I commission a line of polo shirts with the logo embroidered just like Ralph Lauren.