Netflix

[Bamyasi]

Does anyone else feel like streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have pretty much ruined home movie watching?

Netflix's mailing service was and still is a great supplement to the slew of mom and pop rental houses we used to have, but has since driven those out of business.

Of course now when people refer to "Netflix" or even "watching a movie," they're usually referring to the streaming service which is fucking terrible.

Obviously its success lies in its being more convenient for the philistine and undiscerning movie viewer to pass time, but for people like me who watch movies based on mood it can really suck. Of course at this moment I might want to watch Carnival of Souls (which they did have at a now defunct rental house down the street), but if it's not on Netflix streaming (which it isn't) or at the library (which it isn't) then I'll have to wait two whole fucking days at minimum before it shows up in my mailbox (or god forbid settle for youtube), and by then I might not be in the mood anymore.

Another great thing about rental houses was that whatever you checked out, you were committed to watching. There are a ton of movies I might never have finished if I'd just happened upon them perusing Netflix streaming, because I'd probably have switched to something else. I remember stopping several Kar-wai Wong movies halfway through after having checked them out due to fatigue, but because I was committed to watching them I went back later and now they're some of my favorite movies. There was also a certain magic to going to the rental house and picking out something blind, your perception shaped only by maybe a few pontifications by the store clerk at checkout.

Browsing Netflix is more like browsing a friend's DVD collection, and said friend has questionable taste. Netflix is so successful because, while they might have had decent curation sometime in the past, it's slowly been replaced by bottom of the barrel bargain bin bullshit, and most people don't care, because they're undiscerning.

TL;DR: People don't actually watch movies anymore, they watch "Netflix."

TTGL;DDR: I whine.

[ExBerian]

I see what you mean. It is rather hard to get people together to watch something on netflix since there is no real motive to instantly watch it since there is no return date.
That's why I'll rent a movie at Family Video sometimes so that everyone has an obligation to watch it.

[Bamyasi]

God I wish we still even had our chain rental houses around here, because those were far better than nothing.

Plus, they provided the kind of job I was actually interested in.

Netflix killed my family.

[Gladius]

subbed to it for a month then realized it was all hollywood jew schlock and not worth my or anyone else's money

[Unless]

Your first problem seems to lie in that it can take you more than instantly to get the film you want to watch, which despite ideally being what Netflix was trying to counteract was always an issue anyway, so you're no worse off. Where it doesn't succeed at this, you can just stream it from some illegal site like everybody else ever in general, or at least all the cool kids.
Your second complaint seems to be about your ability to turn off awful movies.

I don't get it.

[BluPhoenix]

where's the memes

[Unless]

[spoiler]

where's the memes

where *are[/spoiler]

Elsewhere, you colossal faggot.

[cipher]

Maybe related, maybe not, but we're also seeing the slow death of couch co-op in a lot of games these days. I think the expected and constant access to internet has pretty much swayed the natural opinion (likely subconsciously) to content over.. substance? Trading the supplementary experiences you get through watching movies together or playing games with friends in the same room for the mindless convenience of what we get from the internet.

Not like the whole debate that our obsession with technology is pulling us away from physical interactions is anything new though.

[rtil]

there's ups and downs to both types of services, i don't think any one is better than the other.

here in seattle we have the world's largest collection of film and tv available for rental at a store called Scarecrow Video, boasting almost 120,000 titles. despite that they've barely been able to stay in business these last few years.

you can argue the whole "it's about the journey" thing when it comes to seeking out a film, but the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. humans are creatures of convenience - why relive the unnecessary burdens of the past when what you want is right at your fingertips?

i guess in some ways services like netflix reflect our throwaway culture, and when it feels like you have everything it's much harder to choose just one thing, but i still feel like the tradeoff between rental stores and streaming services are fairly even in terms of how they benefit and burden viewers and filmmakers. the important thing is that both parties need to adapt, and for the most part i think they have.

[Bamyasi]

Correcting others' grammar and the calling them faggots.

Your first problem seems to lie in be that it can take takes you more than instantly an instant to get the film you want to watch, which despite ideally being what Netflix was trying to counteract, was always an issue anyway, so you're no worse off.

Tell me this isn't easier to read, ladies and gents.

you can argue the whole "it's about the journey" thing when it comes to seeking out a film, but the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. humans are creatures of convenience - why relive the unnecessary burdens of the past when what you want is right at your fingertips?

But it's usually not.

i guess in some ways services like netflix reflect our throwaway culture, and when it feels like you have everything it's much harder to choose just one thing, but i still feel like the tradeoff between rental stores and streaming services are fairly even in terms of how they benefit and burden viewers and filmmakers. the important thing is that both parties need to adapt, and for the most part i think they have.

The first clause here reflects my sentiment to the T. Netflix streaming doesn't have everything though, but casual movie watchers have let their selection become synonymous with everything, because they're typically unwilling to seek out works that aren't showcased there.

Again I assume you're talking about the streaming service here, because I have absolutely no problem with the mailing service.

Also I would probably have less guilt about pirating movies if working in the industry wasn't my livelihood. Of course this is hypocritical because I pirate music and anime like it's 1999. Ideally I'd watch everything in the theater on celluloid but there aren't any friggin celluloid theaters where I live anymore either, and even the arthouse places rarely show anything worth watching.

Grrrr.

[BluPhoenix]

where are the memes

[Bamyasi]

Elsewhere, you colossal f[spoiler]riend.[/spoiler]

[Unless]

I refuse to compromise myself for simpletons.

[BluPhoenix]

I refuse to compromise myself for simpletons.

[Bamyasi]

That's great. Be yourself. Never give up, etc.

But if you disagree with my syntactical suggestions, maybe you'd take if from Orwell.

Heck even one of the most verbose writers of the late 20th century knew using fewer words is usually better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_sQrxAorDo

I have a feeling this thread is headed for I threw up.

[rtil]

you can argue the whole "it's about the journey" thing when it comes to seeking out a film, but the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. humans are creatures of convenience - why relive the unnecessary burdens of the past when what you want is right at your fingertips?

But it's usually not.

not on netflix, no, but i thought you were lumping together all streaming services. to me, i see it as just a subset of the internet. in the same way that rental services are things like mail services, redbox or rental store; the internet has streaming, torrents and digital downloads. granted i don't watch nearly as many films as you but there has only been 2 or 3 times that i have been unable to find a film online and it's usually due to a language barrier.

the only thing that i wouldn't do is watch a camrip of a movie that isn't out on bd yet. i like to see my films in the quality they were meant to be seen in, and if that means waiting i'm ok with that.

but as far as films that are already released go i think the internet is a far superior service.

i guess in some ways services like netflix reflect our throwaway culture, and when it feels like you have everything it's much harder to choose just one thing, but i still feel like the tradeoff between rental stores and streaming services are fairly even in terms of how they benefit and burden viewers and filmmakers. the important thing is that both parties need to adapt, and for the most part i think they have.

The first clause here reflects my sentiment to the T. Netflix streaming doesn't have everything though, but casual movie watchers have let their selection become synonymous with everything, because they're typically unwilling to seek out works that aren't showcased there.

Again I assume you're talking about the streaming service here, because I have absolutely no problem with the mailing service.

Also I would probably have less guilt about pirating movies if working in the industry wasn't my livelihood. Of course this is hypocritical because I pirate music and anime like it's 1999. Ideally I'd watch everything in the theater on celluloid but there aren't any friggin celluloid theaters where I live anymore either, and even the arthouse places rarely show anything worth watching.

Grrrr.

yeah, most people who don't know how to pirate stuff or refuse to are going to have a very limited selection, although netflix's library is severely limited because they refuse to play ads. services like hulu have a much larger selection of stuff, at least stuff that's more recent and in higher demand (despite this they have fewer subscribers.. probably because of all the fucking ads).

i actually do have a problem with the mailing service. when it used to be bundled together and not an extra charge, i would use it from time to time. every disc i got was scratched to all hell and they would rarely play. at best some would occasionally skip. it shows the archaic and obsolete nature of fragile, physical discs that get passed around from person to person. it's unreliable.

[soup]

netflix is a business that needs money so of course theyre going to showcase popular films for normies because otherwise no one would use the service? that being said theres still some pretty decent stuff on the netflix rotation. i dont really give a fuck because im not even subscribed im just a parasite living off someone elses subscription

if i watch a film with friends one of us will have it on dvd, or on a usb, or itll be on netflix. we pick a film beforehand and then meet to watch it. if its on netflix and none of us own a copy we will use netflix?

couch coop is dead because why the fuck am i gonna walk 40 minutes across town to sit in my friends dirty room when i can play the same game with them from the comfort of my own dirty room?

i dont understand why this is a thread???

[Bamyasi]

I don't understand why you think uptalk is okay?

It's not really that they only provide popular movies, just that their selection has been slowly shrinking/declining only because we let them get away with it.

Also my friends never have a movie picked out before hand, it's always just "let's hang out and watch Netflix!" which is code for "browse Netflix for upwards of 45 minutes, pick something, and then stop it 15 minutes in to play Gears of War or some shit."

@rtil yeah I admit I'm kind of behind the times when it comes to streaming. I only have Netflix's service because it comes bundled with the DVD plan. I should probably just bite the bullet and get a passthepopcorn account, but then I'd have to watch movies on my monitor which I hate doing unless it's anime/a last resort.

I also kind of like the frailty of physical media, but yeah I often have to use like SkipDr shit on them if they really refuse to play, which isn't too often.

What were the movies you couldn't find online?

I forgot to mention in OP but the entire nature of picking out a movie to stream/pirate just feels incredibly arbitrary to me. It's like I might as well be watching any movie. That's probably just my autism speaking though, like the rest of this thread.

[rtil]

well when i torrent/ddl a movie or show, i usually watch it on my tv with some food or popcorn or something. that way i can sit on the couch and not be distracted by the internet and all that while i'm watching. watching a movie on my computer i usually get distracted. it's more like background noise

i don't remember what movies i couldn't find online anymore. it was a few years ago. i remember one of them was made in hong kong, and the only copy that Scarecrow had was on HD-DVD in a weird looking case.

[Bamyasi]

What's your setup like? Do you have an outgoing HDMI port on your monitor/desktop? Can you get the resolution to match your native TV display and all that?

I'm still jelly about Scarecrow. I'll chalk that up as another rationalization for my pipe dream of moving to Cascadia.