No more red envelopes: Netflix DVD-by-mail service shutting down

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

What happened to the guy from NA that tried to do retro game Netflix? Anyone remember that?

[fcgamer | 4,806]

24 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

What happened to the guy from NA that tried to do retro game Netflix? Anyone remember that?

Yeah I remember that too, did he ever get it out of the concept stage though?

[Red | 443]

10 hours ago, MrWunderful said:

What happened to the guy from NA that tried to do retro game Netflix? Anyone remember that?

I think that only ran for a few months before shutting down.  He was the same guy who did the holiday themed homebrews, GreetingCarts.  He goes by @MaddenCollector here.  Looks like he hasn't been around for a while, but his last post was him trying to find a web designer for another new project.

[G-type | 2,672]

I always preferred the Blockbuster by Mail service, because you could return the discs to a store and immediately get a new one without having to wait a week in between.

[Tulpa | 3,582]

27 minutes ago, G-type said:

I always preferred the Blockbuster by Mail service, because you could return the discs to a store and immediately get a new one without having to wait a week in between.

I was on a home theatre forum when those two services were in full swing. Good god, the arguments over the merits of each service would rival most political fights. I mean, name calling and people making remarks about other people's mothers, it was insane. It was just DVD delivery!

[RH | 5,058]

13 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

I was on a home theatre forum when those two services were in full swing. Good god, the arguments over the merits of each service would rival most political fights people who think SMB3 needs a battery vs. people who think it doesn't. I mean, name calling and people making remarks about other people's mothers, it was insane. It was just DVD delivery!

Fixed that. 

[Tulpa | 3,582]

8 minutes ago, RH said:

Fixed that. 

Close. Although I wasn't called a fucknut in the SMB3 thread for asking a simple question about Netflix's tier pricing.

It was easily one of the most toxic forums I've ever seen. I just wanted to know how to hook up my DVD player.

Some of the other things I remember was the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray war, which actually got that part of the forum locked and made the news, and really in-depth discussions over the merits of very specific models of DVD recorders. It was actually pretty informative if you avoided the really polarizing topics, like which brand of HDMI cables were best.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Tulpa

[nrslam | 477]

 

I might have opted for the Blockbuster service, but they were late to the party and I didn't need 2 such services.  A week turnaround, though? In it's heyday, Netflix' turnaround was 2 days. You could consistently mail a disk back on Monday and have the replacement by Wednesday, assuming it was available at the local warehouse. Only the obscure stuff took longer. Nowadays, though, it seems to average about a week.

[Tulpa | 3,582]

I remember people talked about ways to "hack" the mail service to get like faster turnaround and such. I don't remember the exact methods, though.

[RH | 5,058]

20 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

I remember people talked about ways to "hack" the mail service to get like faster turnaround and such. I don't remember the exact methods, though.

I don't know about that, but I do know a few people that really liked watching TV and they had the triple DVD plan.  If  you planed it out right, you basically had a new DVD in the mail practically every day.

[Tulpa | 3,582]

9 minutes ago, RH said:

I don't know about that, but I do know a few people that really liked watching TV and they had the triple DVD plan.  If  you planed it out right, you basically had a new DVD in the mail practically every day.

It might have been that. I remember it became a competitive game for some to watch a movie a day and try to max out the service. And if the mail was delayed, it was a personal insult that required a pistol duel between them and the mailman.

[wongojack | 236]

The service was great for us at the beginning for a lot of the reasons people have stated.  I loved not having to worry about late fees and it basically paid for itself in our household right there.  Before Netflix, my wife and I would take turns returning movies to the video store before work to avoid late fees - we rented A LOT.

But the DVD delivery was snappy, and we liked managing the queue in a way that even the streaming "my list" doesn't seem to get quite right.  When the streaming side launched it was an exciting bonus and a fun way to actually view something in 720 or 1080p before we had a Blu Ray player.

One trick we used to do is up our DVD limit to around 10 when we'd go on vacation.  Then we'd take a laptop with us and be able to watch a whole backlog of tv and movies.  You could usually hook your player up to hotel TVs at the time too.  When we got back, we'd bump ourselves back down to 2 or 3 at a time.  That was fun and it made us feel we were making big dents in our backlog.

Edited April 21, 2023 by wongojack

[Link | 2,817]

On 4/21/2023 at 10:35 AM, Tulpa said:

Close. Although I wasn't called a fucknut in the SMB3 thread 

ftfy

[Tulpa | 3,582]

31 minutes ago, Link said:

ftfy

 

(And yes, I'm aware she didn't say it exactly that way.)

[koifish | 564]

On 4/21/2023 at 6:35 AM, Red said:

I think that only ran for a few months before shutting down.  He was the same guy who did the holiday themed homebrews, GreetingCarts.  He goes by @MaddenCollector here.  Looks like he hasn't been around for a while, but his last post was him trying to find a web designer for another new project.

It's a good idea, but I can only imagine the stuff people would try and pull when you're sending them triple-digit value game carts. Guess you could just use chinese clones instead. Or force them to sign onerous legal agreements.

I was actually pretty bummed when I learned that the DVD service was ending. I used it last year to get and watch some DVDs that are stupid expensive. Have you seen the prices on Adventures of Pete and Pete lately? Renting them from netflix saved me a lot of money. Shame but I suppose it is inevitable.

I don't really use streaming much. Most of the shows I care about are old, and old shows are usually better on DVD. Generally speaking, they are more true to original broadcast, free of badly-done widescreen zoom crops and often uncut/original to airing version (or very close). Moreover, streaming can just disappear at any time, leaving you empty-handed. DVDs/etc. are yours until you get rid of them. I've already seen instances where something I like was taken off of streaming services, so I'm glad to have my own copies.

My biggest gripe these days is that there are new shows that I would buy, but which aren't on DVD or BluRay at all, probably because they don't think that a market exists. Frustrating situation, because inevitably those shows will get taken off of streaming (or the company will fold), and you won't be able to see them anymore.

Edited April 24, 2023 by koifish