Netflix shutters its DVD rental business, marking the end of the red envelope era::Netflix will send out its last red envelope on Friday, marking an end to 25 years of mailing DVDs to members.
Aw man, I liked informing people that they technically could still order DVDs through them. Now I’ll have to find some other random tidbit.
Here’s one: until 2012, Netflix was available on the PlayStation 2, but only in Brazil.
Sucks. I liked using it to watch seasons of shows instead of signing up for multiple streaming platforms. Off to the high seas, I guess.
Wasn’t this announced like 2 years ago…?
I swear I’ve seen this headline at least a dozen times over that time.
Yeah they’ve announced considering it a few times over the past several years but haven’t followed through until now.
The last service that could offer any movie, regardless of which studio distributed it. Disney movies next to A24, all on one service.
Too bad we’ve given up the right of first sale in the streaming age.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“I remember I was in high school when I first signed up for it, and the concept was so novel I had to really convince my dad that it was a legit service and not some sort of Internet scam,” said McEvoy, who uses an old Xbox 360 to play his Netflix DVDs.
Brandon Cordy, a 41-year-old graphic designer from Atlanta, previously told CNN he stuck with DVDs because many digital rentals don’t come with special features or audio commentaries.
Michael Inouye, an analyst at ABI Research, said some consumers may still not have access to reliable or fast enough broadband connections, or simply prefer physical media to digital, much in the way that some audio enthusiasts still purchase and collect CDs and records.
“Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post in April.
The cost to operate its DVD business may also be a factor, especially as Netflix rethinks expenses broadly amid heightened streaming competition and broader economic uncertainty.
McEvoy, who already subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, the Criterion channel and Mubi, said he’s now testing out other services such as Eros (Indian cinema) and Viki (Korean and Chinese films) for harder-to-find content.
The original article contains 888 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Netflix’s DVD rental business began in 1998, long before the rise of streaming services. Co-founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, Netflix initially offered a unique alternative to traditional video rental stores like Blockbuster. For a flat monthly fee, customers could rent DVDs by mail, with no late fees and the convenience of keeping the discs for as long as they wanted. The red envelopes, which contained the DVDs, quickly became synonymous with Netflix’s brand.
At its peak, Netflix’s DVD rental service boasted millions of subscribers and a massive catalog of titles, ranging from the latest blockbusters to obscure indie films. It provided movie lovers with unprecedented access to films that were often unavailable in local video rental stores. But we can convert Blu-ray to mp4 or other formats to better collect our precious collection. I have tried MakeMKV and Handbrake (such those open source software), but they cannot rip blu-ray by themself.
