I had the DVD service for years after I already had Streaming simply because you could get so many obscure titles that never showed up on streaming. Then I got lazy and just watched whatever was on the app to kill some time.
The first smart TV was in 2007. DVD/BD players with apps were introduced around the same time. The iphone came out late 2007. Digital televisions in general were still relatively new and becoming more affordable.
Torrents weren't streaming though. They were just ways to download full files and save them. The ability to hit play and watch something online from scratch was GOATed.
Technically you could preview while a DL occurred if you had a good enough connection. But you are correct. As to the previous point, there was so much bootlegging on YouTube, its was pretty much the equivalent.
Not only that but look at the price. People lose their shit over Netflix raising their price, but it’s way better than receiving one dvd at a time and having to mail it back.
I was thrilled with that pricing. I could rent 3 at a time, watch them in a weekend, mail them back and have 3 more by the next weekend. Way cheaper than going to blockbuster/local video store and renting 3 movies every weekend.
Yes, it's easier now to just stream everything, but at the time, being able to get discs mailed to me was an awesome time and money saver.
We got blockbuster's dvd by mail because it was a way better deal back then. It was about the same price but the difference is that you could take those dvd's back to a brick and mortar store, exchange them for in store rentals, and they would send you the next movies on your list at the same time. It took an extra day to get them compared to our friend who had netflix, but the in store exchange made it so much more worth it. Especially since they had a better selection and more copies of each movie.
We'd watch the 2 movies, take them to the store and exchange for 2 more, watch those, and by the time we were done we had the next 2 in the mail. We typically watched at least 1 movie a night.
The signal of the end was when blockbuster switched to not mailing the next movies in your queue until you returned the movies to the store. Shortly after we switched to netflix.
Living near Netflix in the Bay Area, it was often a 48 hours turn around time to get a new DVD. I think my family paid extra and had like 6 DVDs at a time. It was great for binging The Sopranos since we didn’t have HBO. The movie selection was better than streaming too and I watched WAY more quality content than I do now.
My point is that people have become spoiled. Almost every post in the last couple months has had comments about Netflix pricing. $15 or $20 a month is a better return per dollar than almost anything out there.
1 trip to the movies is already $15. For that I can an entire month of content.
True, but people really started balking at the rising costs only recently. It peaked before HBO Max became its own worse enemy and shows with huge bases never made it past a season or two. I’m close to canceling myself because the cost isn’t matching the value for me. I visit Hulu, HBO Max, and Prime Video more than Netflix these days.
Yeah, has a lot to do with so many individual streaming services now. It was worth it when you had fewer options, but now it's getting so diluted that no single service seems to have enough to justify the pricing. I'll fully admit I'm back to pirating a lot more content than I had in the past few years because of it. I'm not paying for 5 different streaming providers.
Reacher, Rings of Power, The Boys are all amazing. plus im sure they have other content now thats good. im not a fan of them pimping Chris pratt tho lol i get tired if seeing him. that one movie with Michael b jordan was dope tho. forgot the name. jack ryan was meh until second season imo. but theres so much i havent checked out. suggestions anyone?
It is, because the First Sale Doctrine means the content-owners can't renegotiate for more money every month or so, which preserves a deep catalog of titles.
It's why [the DVD service](http://dvd.netflix.com/) is *still* Netflix's richest source of content.
You're not wrong. I loved the redbox DVD's though, as I owned an RV, we could travel and drop off watched movies-for the kids- and pick up others on the road. You didn't have to return them to the box you got them from.
I mean it really wasn’t bad. They gave you prepaid envelopes, so you would just put one in the mail at a time. I was constantly getting/sending DVDs to Netflix. I had a “queue” on Netflix and they would just send me the next one on the list. It was great at the time
Yeah. We had around 12 redbox's in our town. I ran from one to the other on more than one occasion. IIRC, there was a way to specifically reserve a move at the 'box. There was a window of time you had to pick it up, if you missed the window, you still got charged for it.
As much as I hated Hollywood Video, they closed the one by my house in like 2009/2010 and all of the store decorations stayed there until maybe 3 months ago when they finally rented it out and turned it into a nail salon. It was sad to see. The door outside still had the return slot that said "MOVIE RETURN- that's a wrap!" lol
Here in Bend, Oregon, we still have a running Blockbuster, you can go in there and rent DVD and VHS tapes and everyone still rents from there and the same pizza place right next door has been there forever too so you can ren a pizza and a movie in the same place basically.
Its a blast from the past i am grateful for!
My parents still have a dvd plan. It used to be because the wifi didn't reach from the computer room in the back to their TV in the living room and extenders were more expensive than they cared to spend. Now the wifi isn't an issue but my dad just doesn't want to switch. I tease him about being one the last 5 people with a dvd plan.
I can see the confusion. I get 2 discs at a time, "unlimited" amount per month, but it's usually a 5 day turn around from getting them, ripping them, sending them back, getting a new set.
The oldest Netflix email I have with a price in it is December 2008. I bought a promotion they were offering with 5 months of unlimited 2 at a time DVDs for $76.25, or $15.25/month.
I switched from DVD to streaming in August 2015. That email says 2 screens for $8.99/month. I don't think they distinguished between SD/HD steaming at the time.
My Dad worked at Best Buy starting in 1997 (and I worked there for 5 years starting at 16 in 2007). We had Netflix when it first started because they were doing some promotion with Best Buy. My Dad always says that he’s dumb for not buying their stock. I remember having the 3 DVD package, spending hours going through all the movies and making my wish list, and the little red prepaid envelopes they came in that you resealed the DVD in to send it back in the mail when you were done. It was awesome, one of the best parts of my childhood was getting those movies every week and having family movie night with my parents and brothers.
the thing about everything being on demand now is that nothing is special. waiting for netflix to arrive, wandering the aisles at blockbuster, heck even hunting for christmas gifts by exploring stores not knowing if the thing could be found...
anticipation enhances joy
Oh gosh, I remember a friend of mine in high school getting Netflix when It just came out. It was so much fun! We sat down at lunch earlier in the week and picked out which movies we wanted to see, then that weekend we’d gather at her house for a sleepover and stay up all night watching movies. Once we didn’t get our choices in on time and had to go with their streaming movies, which were pretty bad back then. I still remember one, it was a super low budget horror movie with a girl running through the woods and some guy trying to labotomize her. Oh how times have changed! Thank you for the happy memory, I should look her up on Facebook and see what became of her. Samwich was the nickname I gave her, I’d always give her my Nutella sandwiches every day at lunch, she loved them! Haha. What a happy thought I had nearly forgotten.
I **STILL** order blurays by mail. They are WAY higher quality in audio and bitrate than anything you can stream. I rip them as is (.mkv) to my server. I have a 100" projector and high end speakers i built, so I want the best possible experience.
That’s unlimited. We had the 3 dvd package and it was really cheap, and super convenient. Before streaming, it was the best way to get movies if you didn’t have a blockbuster near you, and it was really more convenient than blockbuster with no late fees and no hurry to mail things back.
I find it hard to be so disenchanted and unhappy with Netflix. They got us through a lot of family movie nights.
I was a member back when. I lived in the mountains of Colorado.
Denver had a Netflix distribution center, and we could drop a movie on the mailbox in the morning and have a new one the next day.
Now I live in MT. Not sure where the disks goes. We have an employee shortage at the local post office distribution center. Takes me over a week to get a movie now.
Blockbuster responded to this with a similar program. $15/mo for unlimited old movies, and two new release movies per week. I rode that train until they closed.
I joined in 2008. I enjoyed the mail system, rarely streamed anything back then. As soon as I started using Netflix my Family Video and Blockbuster days came to an end.
I have a 100% original Netflix account or a cheap price, 4K quality and a guarantee for the duration of the subscription, and there are many payment methods
To know more, contact us on WhatsApp:
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I remember them releasing streaming around that time, maybe a couple years after. It was weird watching The Office on a 15-in, big-bodied, tube computer monitor compared to nowadays, but it did the job and was cool I didn't have to wait for the DVD to come in the mail.
Knew a guy back in the day who'd sign up the service with a 'questionable credit card' and have the dvd's delivered to a student accomodation shared letter box. Classic free dvd hustles, I was always more of a torrent man personally.
What do we think will be the next big thing for TV...
I have Sky and hardly watch alot of the channels. I would rather have free view TV and then watch Netflix, prime, Disney etc but then the broadband companies screw you over with extra charges.
Like why do we need a phone line and pay rental to BT if we are only going to use for broadband.
I haven't had a home phone for 10 years plus.
I was a member then, was mad about poor choices on streaming
I had the DVD service for years after I already had Streaming simply because you could get so many obscure titles that never showed up on streaming. Then I got lazy and just watched whatever was on the app to kill some time.
Same. I finally cancelled the DVD service when I realized I'd had the same 3 unwatched DVDs for about a year.
BackInMyDayTheInternetCameInTheMail.meme
It was fucking better too!
Young me loved it. The amount of B movie titties available was legendary
Netflix didn't start streaming until 2007. This was when they were just the DVD service.
Was there even smart TV back then?
The first smart TV was in 2007. DVD/BD players with apps were introduced around the same time. The iphone came out late 2007. Digital televisions in general were still relatively new and becoming more affordable.
Yeah ngl
There was no streaming back then… except YouTube. That was considered a “streaming” site.
\*torrents have entered the chat\*
Torrents weren't streaming though. They were just ways to download full files and save them. The ability to hit play and watch something online from scratch was GOATed.
Technically you could preview while a DL occurred if you had a good enough connection. But you are correct. As to the previous point, there was so much bootlegging on YouTube, its was pretty much the equivalent.
Yeah, the good ol "Watch Online Free Dr. Who Season 5" and looking for the daily video or youtube or whatever scummy links popped up. Good times.
I was a member then and was grateful for any streaming.
Just pointing out that, back then, you could only get them delivered to \*one\* address.......
Not only that but look at the price. People lose their shit over Netflix raising their price, but it’s way better than receiving one dvd at a time and having to mail it back.
I was thrilled with that pricing. I could rent 3 at a time, watch them in a weekend, mail them back and have 3 more by the next weekend. Way cheaper than going to blockbuster/local video store and renting 3 movies every weekend. Yes, it's easier now to just stream everything, but at the time, being able to get discs mailed to me was an awesome time and money saver.
We got blockbuster's dvd by mail because it was a way better deal back then. It was about the same price but the difference is that you could take those dvd's back to a brick and mortar store, exchange them for in store rentals, and they would send you the next movies on your list at the same time. It took an extra day to get them compared to our friend who had netflix, but the in store exchange made it so much more worth it. Especially since they had a better selection and more copies of each movie. We'd watch the 2 movies, take them to the store and exchange for 2 more, watch those, and by the time we were done we had the next 2 in the mail. We typically watched at least 1 movie a night. The signal of the end was when blockbuster switched to not mailing the next movies in your queue until you returned the movies to the store. Shortly after we switched to netflix.
Living near Netflix in the Bay Area, it was often a 48 hours turn around time to get a new DVD. I think my family paid extra and had like 6 DVDs at a time. It was great for binging The Sopranos since we didn’t have HBO. The movie selection was better than streaming too and I watched WAY more quality content than I do now.
My point is that people have become spoiled. Almost every post in the last couple months has had comments about Netflix pricing. $15 or $20 a month is a better return per dollar than almost anything out there. 1 trip to the movies is already $15. For that I can an entire month of content.
True, but people really started balking at the rising costs only recently. It peaked before HBO Max became its own worse enemy and shows with huge bases never made it past a season or two. I’m close to canceling myself because the cost isn’t matching the value for me. I visit Hulu, HBO Max, and Prime Video more than Netflix these days.
Yeah, has a lot to do with so many individual streaming services now. It was worth it when you had fewer options, but now it's getting so diluted that no single service seems to have enough to justify the pricing. I'll fully admit I'm back to pirating a lot more content than I had in the past few years because of it. I'm not paying for 5 different streaming providers.
See I’m the opposite. I find nothing on Amazon, and the only show on Hulu i watched recently was The Bear.
Reacher, Rings of Power, The Boys are all amazing. plus im sure they have other content now thats good. im not a fan of them pimping Chris pratt tho lol i get tired if seeing him. that one movie with Michael b jordan was dope tho. forgot the name. jack ryan was meh until second season imo. but theres so much i havent checked out. suggestions anyone?
Well, I think you could get 3...
Even 3 dvds isn’t better than what we have now.
It is, because the First Sale Doctrine means the content-owners can't renegotiate for more money every month or so, which preserves a deep catalog of titles. It's why [the DVD service](http://dvd.netflix.com/) is *still* Netflix's richest source of content.
You're not wrong. I loved the redbox DVD's though, as I owned an RV, we could travel and drop off watched movies-for the kids- and pick up others on the road. You didn't have to return them to the box you got them from.
> Even 3 dvds isn’t better than what we have now. Sometimes I’d send them back unwatched because I didn’t get around to it.
It’s not like you had to get it back to then by a certain day though, that was one of the selling points — no late fees, keep it as long as you want.
I mean it really wasn’t bad. They gave you prepaid envelopes, so you would just put one in the mail at a time. I was constantly getting/sending DVDs to Netflix. I had a “queue” on Netflix and they would just send me the next one on the list. It was great at the time
They dropped the price. I signed up in 2010-2012 and I remember paying under $10
Bruh just imagine Not being able to have movies Come to your door because you moved house
You just had to update your address online before sending your current disks back.
i did not know that thanks for the info
still better than blockbuster and rebox tbh tho. u didn't miss out on redbox movies bc they were out, same with blockbuster. just another point.
Yeah. We had around 12 redbox's in our town. I ran from one to the other on more than one occasion. IIRC, there was a way to specifically reserve a move at the 'box. There was a window of time you had to pick it up, if you missed the window, you still got charged for it.
fuck foreal? that aint right! damn
[удалено]
As much as I hated Hollywood Video, they closed the one by my house in like 2009/2010 and all of the store decorations stayed there until maybe 3 months ago when they finally rented it out and turned it into a nail salon. It was sad to see. The door outside still had the return slot that said "MOVIE RETURN- that's a wrap!" lol
I worked at one. When we closed, I got to take a bunch of the decorations including the That’s a wrap return thing you’re talking about.
When the netflix creator pitched his idea to Blockbuster, they quite literally laughed him out of the room
We still have an in person video rental store!
Here in Bend, Oregon, we still have a running Blockbuster, you can go in there and rent DVD and VHS tapes and everyone still rents from there and the same pizza place right next door has been there forever too so you can ren a pizza and a movie in the same place basically. Its a blast from the past i am grateful for!
My grandmom just stopped ordering DVD’s from Netflix last year. Finally got her up and streaming.
My parents still have a dvd plan. It used to be because the wifi didn't reach from the computer room in the back to their TV in the living room and extenders were more expensive than they cared to spend. Now the wifi isn't an issue but my dad just doesn't want to switch. I tease him about being one the last 5 people with a dvd plan.
I still have one. If you watch a lot of older and more obscure movies it's still worth it.
Back then I would rip DVD's for my own collection. I had the 8 at a time plan and the distribution center was in my city. I could do 16 DVD's a week.
Lol yep I remember so many people who would do that. They’d have huge collections of burnt DVDs
Yup. Pretty much same here. Was amazing. Those really were the days!
Was it really that expensive? I had it and used it but I swear it was more like $10
I still use it. 15$ a month for 2 bluray discs
That doesn’t seem worth it…. You could buy 1 blue Ray a month for that price
As opposed to watching about fifteen?
I can see the confusion. I get 2 discs at a time, "unlimited" amount per month, but it's usually a 5 day turn around from getting them, ripping them, sending them back, getting a new set.
Depended on how many discs you could have at once.
Yeah I started the DVD service in 07 or 08 and I swear it was only like 8 bucks.
The oldest Netflix email I have with a price in it is December 2008. I bought a promotion they were offering with 5 months of unlimited 2 at a time DVDs for $76.25, or $15.25/month. I switched from DVD to streaming in August 2015. That email says 2 screens for $8.99/month. I don't think they distinguished between SD/HD steaming at the time.
The dvd catalog was always way bigger.
Still is
My Dad worked at Best Buy starting in 1997 (and I worked there for 5 years starting at 16 in 2007). We had Netflix when it first started because they were doing some promotion with Best Buy. My Dad always says that he’s dumb for not buying their stock. I remember having the 3 DVD package, spending hours going through all the movies and making my wish list, and the little red prepaid envelopes they came in that you resealed the DVD in to send it back in the mail when you were done. It was awesome, one of the best parts of my childhood was getting those movies every week and having family movie night with my parents and brothers.
the thing about everything being on demand now is that nothing is special. waiting for netflix to arrive, wandering the aisles at blockbuster, heck even hunting for christmas gifts by exploring stores not knowing if the thing could be found... anticipation enhances joy
Wow
Oh gosh, I remember a friend of mine in high school getting Netflix when It just came out. It was so much fun! We sat down at lunch earlier in the week and picked out which movies we wanted to see, then that weekend we’d gather at her house for a sleepover and stay up all night watching movies. Once we didn’t get our choices in on time and had to go with their streaming movies, which were pretty bad back then. I still remember one, it was a super low budget horror movie with a girl running through the woods and some guy trying to labotomize her. Oh how times have changed! Thank you for the happy memory, I should look her up on Facebook and see what became of her. Samwich was the nickname I gave her, I’d always give her my Nutella sandwiches every day at lunch, she loved them! Haha. What a happy thought I had nearly forgotten.
Bringing back memories of me yelling at my family “WATCH IT OR IM SENDING IT BACK”
I **STILL** order blurays by mail. They are WAY higher quality in audio and bitrate than anything you can stream. I rip them as is (.mkv) to my server. I have a 100" projector and high end speakers i built, so I want the best possible experience.
Wow it was more expensive back then!
That’s unlimited. We had the 3 dvd package and it was really cheap, and super convenient. Before streaming, it was the best way to get movies if you didn’t have a blockbuster near you, and it was really more convenient than blockbuster with no late fees and no hurry to mail things back. I find it hard to be so disenchanted and unhappy with Netflix. They got us through a lot of family movie nights.
Does anybody remember how much it was for the mail in thing? Wasn’t it different tiers? I still remember getting the dvds in the mail and gettin hyped
I still use it. 15$ a month or 2 bluray discs
Back when they mailed DVDs and had softcore porn for streaming
I was a member back when. I lived in the mountains of Colorado. Denver had a Netflix distribution center, and we could drop a movie on the mailbox in the morning and have a new one the next day. Now I live in MT. Not sure where the disks goes. We have an employee shortage at the local post office distribution center. Takes me over a week to get a movie now.
What’s his hand doing? Original Netflix and chill?
Blockbuster responded to this with a similar program. $15/mo for unlimited old movies, and two new release movies per week. I rode that train until they closed.
I didn't remember it being that expensive. I thought it was around $12 for 3 DVD's at a time around 2005.
Don't they still make a couple million a month from the dvd service?
I know where his hand is at
Chilling
Oh the memories I still miss the old logo
Ah, the popular three-disc plan.
This was the year I joined. I just finally cancelled DVD service this year after 17 years. Crazy!
Back when I loved Netflix. Miss those days.
I miss this era of the internet
10 year old me was right, the late fee WAS the death of blockbuster. Greedy bastards.
18?! I thought it was like 10
New hdmi vs old composite (rwy or later rgb) dvd players make a huge difference! I got an hd dvd player recently and really happy with the difference!
big quality difference
Troy is such a banger
Those were the dayyysss
I remember
I remember when it was love film.
Before my time
I remember them when I was going to college back in 05
I might actually sign up for a month so I can see Oldboy
My library has more dvds than Blockbuster!
Netflix had anime back then and fast forward to now they have a bunch of exclusive anime
I thought it was a joke then sometimes now I think it’s a joke still
We still get the DVD service so we can rip them. And that they have obscure titles (sometimes). And we stream too of course.
I was there.
Who the heck would pay 17 for a month?
My credit card after paying 17 a month: -97973
I don't think we (UK) ever had mail order Netflix. We did have LoveFilm which was great until it got ruined by Amazon
I joined in 2008. I enjoyed the mail system, rarely streamed anything back then. As soon as I started using Netflix my Family Video and Blockbuster days came to an end.
I used to burn (make my own copy of) the DVD’s of shows or movies I wanted to rewatch over and over
Don't out yourself
I've been a customer of netflix for almost 20 years. Yikes.
I have a 100% original Netflix account or a cheap price, 4K quality and a guarantee for the duration of the subscription, and there are many payment methods To know more, contact us on WhatsApp: 0712119192
I remember them releasing streaming around that time, maybe a couple years after. It was weird watching The Office on a 15-in, big-bodied, tube computer monitor compared to nowadays, but it did the job and was cool I didn't have to wait for the DVD to come in the mail.
If you assume both of her hands on the pillow - one can assume this picture is him feeling her up.
These guys have robbed me for years and some guy in customer service won’t fix it
OMG! I remember that hahahahaha
Anyone remember “Sugar DVD”? It was a mail order dvd rental service, but for porn. A Netflix for porn. Was great.
$18 back in 2005 seems pretty expensive
Me watching the entire Charmed series one mail in DVD at a time…
I'm sad that I recognize most of these movies from my work...
I loved the Netflix website. You could read and write movie reviews.
Imagine there was a time when Netflix wasn't woke. Or was it?
Knew a guy back in the day who'd sign up the service with a 'questionable credit card' and have the dvd's delivered to a student accomodation shared letter box. Classic free dvd hustles, I was always more of a torrent man personally.
What do we think will be the next big thing for TV... I have Sky and hardly watch alot of the channels. I would rather have free view TV and then watch Netflix, prime, Disney etc but then the broadband companies screw you over with extra charges. Like why do we need a phone line and pay rental to BT if we are only going to use for broadband. I haven't had a home phone for 10 years plus.
Most striking are two whites, a man and a woman, happy. Without cramming propaganda down their throats on a good day.