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Family Video died.

shortylickens

shortylickens

No Lifer
I never went there, but some of you bastards may know about them.

www.rogerebert.com

Farewell to the Video Store | Features | Roger Ebert

An ode to the end of an era, the closing of Family Video stores across the country.
www.rogerebert.com www.rogerebert.com

I don't think COVID killed it. In general people want convenience more than anything else. Most of us stream HD to multiple devices thanks to ultra fast in-home internet. And the rest of us apparently have Red Box, which I never used but seems to be very popular.

The pandemic appears to be a turning point for our culture, as many of us realized we can order almost anything for delivery straight to the home and as such, do not need to leave the house other than to keep our sanity. And if you were already an anti-social shut in, it wasn't much of an adjustment.
 
shortylickens said:
I never went there, but some of you bastards may know about them.

www.rogerebert.com

Farewell to the Video Store | Features | Roger Ebert

An ode to the end of an era, the closing of Family Video stores across the country.
www.rogerebert.com www.rogerebert.com

I don't think COVID killed it. In general people want convenience more than anything else. Most of us stream HD to multiple devices thanks to ultra fast in-home internet. And the rest of us apparently have Red Box, which I never used but seems to be very popular.

The pandemic appears to be a turning point for our culture, as many of us realized we can order almost anything for delivery straight to the home and as such, do not need to leave the house other than to keep our sanity. And if you were already an anti-social shut in, it wasn't much of an adjustment.
Click to expand...
Redbox is about the closest option. But, there won't be any esoteric old stuff. Hell, remember the days when you had to go in the back and look at the special catalog.
 
As that article implied, video stores were already effectively dead; the pandemic just whacked them on the back of the head with a shovel to make sure.

That these stores were still around has baffled me for a while. The gap between Blu-ray and digital-only picture quality is fairly small these days, and the hassles of buying or renting a physical copy were hard to justify even before the pandemic. You have to be very dedicated or stubborn to insist on discs, especially if you prefer rentals.
 
Commodus said:
As that article implied, video stores were already effectively dead; the pandemic just whacked them on the back of the head with a shovel to make sure.

That these stores were still around has baffled me for a while. The gap between Blu-ray and digital-only picture quality is fairly small these days, and the hassles of buying or renting a physical copy were hard to justify even before the pandemic. You have to be very dedicated or stubborn to insist on discs, especially if you prefer rentals.
Click to expand...
So it's rent forever. Never owning.
 
I haven't seen a single video store in the county I live in for at least 5 years. I thought they were already completely gone, but apparently there was a small number left over until COVID.

Back in the early 90's, between college and law school, I managed a video store for two years. I could take home and watch whatever I wanted. All VHS in those days. I must have seen 200 movies in that time. Lots of nostalgia for that era.
 
I just rented all 3 john wicks, because I've never seen them. I mention this because each rental lasts 2 days from the time you start it, each rental is $4 a piece, and I don't have to do anything but watch it....I commented to my wife about the good ole days of $5 blockbuster rentals, return the next day, and the rewind fee if you forgot that part.

If I like john Wick enough, I'll probably just buy them anyways so when comcast implements their data cap I can not incur the same data usage over and over
 
ch33zw1z said:
I just rented all 3 john wicks, because I've never seen them. I mention this because each rental lasts 2 days from the time you start it, each rental is $4 a piece, and I don't have to do anything but watch it....I commented to my wife about the good ole days of $5 blockbuster rentals, return the next day, and the rewind fee if you forgot that part.

If I like john Wick enough, I'll probably just buy them anyways so when comcast implements their data cap I can not incur the same data usage over and over
Click to expand...
Damn, I need to keep up. I thought there were only 2.
 
Not everyone has access to hi-speed internet for streaming.

They moved out of town 2 or so years ago here. I went there quite often. It was fairly busy every time i went too. I asked why they were leaving & i was told they could make more money renting out their space to someone that really wanted it than they could keeping it as a rental store.

I think it's sad to see store like this go but i'm also the kind of guy that misses going to the record store to flip thru the albums.
 
Commodus said:
As that article implied, video stores were already effectively dead; the pandemic just whacked them on the back of the head with a shovel to make sure.

That these stores were still around has baffled me for a while. The gap between Blu-ray and digital-only picture quality is fairly small these days, and the hassles of buying or renting a physical copy were hard to justify even before the pandemic. You have to be very dedicated or stubborn to insist on discs, especially if you prefer rentals.
Click to expand...

Sometimes it's about availability, the internet I have will steam sub DVD quality on it's best day. There are lots of people like me who either can't get fast internet, or don't want to pay $$$$ to get Hughes NET or whoever the satellite provider is now. I can speak from experience trying to stream movies on a 1.5mb connection sucks. Netflix will work but just barely, it's UHF tv quality piss poor. DVD quality over 1.5 on Netflix ain't happening. I don't insist on discs, but I don't like watching what's basically 240p content, and I won't even get into how sometimes even at that shit resolution I still get sporatic pauses for buffering lol. My town still has 1 video store I don't go there any more. But apparently people do because they've been open forever. Redbox has a shit selection, so I either buy my movies or just don't watch them.
 
QueBert said:
Sometimes it's about availability, the internet I have will steam sub DVD quality on it's best day. There are lots of people like me who either can't get fast internet, or don't want to pay $$$$ to get Hughes NET or whoever the satellite provider is now. I can speak from experience trying to stream movies on a 1.5mb connection sucks. Netflix will work but just barely, it's UHF tv quality piss poor. DVD quality over 1.5 on Netflix ain't happening. I don't insist on discs, but I don't like watching what's basically 240p content, and I won't even get into how sometimes even at that shit resolution I still get sporatic pauses for buffering lol. My town still has 1 video store I don't go there any more. But apparently people do because they've been open forever. Redbox has a shit selection, so I either buy my movies or just don't watch them.
Click to expand...

That's a good point — sorry to forget about the state of broadband in some places. The country (and really, the planet) needs better internet coverage. Hopefully something like SpaceX's Starlink can help.
 
Does nobody do the OG netflix business of mail in disks?

That was actually not a bad model. Still applicable today some degree as the streaming services are so fractured, and high quality content can be a challenge.

Redbox is dumb because it forces me to do the traveling for a crap selection. F that.
 
shortylickens said:
Nobody said they did.
Click to expand...
True, but i think if i asked the question about renting movies most would say why don't you just stream them? Netflix or all the other options. Like a lot of things, i think people that have hi-speed internet, especially for a long time now, forget that rural areas aren't up to speed, so to speak.
 
hal2kilo said:
Redbox is about the closest option. But, there won't be any esoteric old stuff. Hell, remember the days when you had to go in the back and look at the special catalog.
Click to expand...
My source for the most part the last dozen plus years has been my local library. I'm a 1 minute bike ride away. Search online, place hold, get notified when it's ready, pick up, keep up to 3 weeks, auto-renew when nobody else puts a hold on it, max 2 renewals. I have programmed a system to notifies me when stuff is gonna be due, by when I need to pick it up. DVDs, BRs, books. I figure to subscribe to a streaming service, probably Netflix HD, I can afford it, I have just never subscribed before... only a share with 5 roommates 25 years ago and Amazon Prime trial a couple times.

The other day I tried to put a hold on a 1940 movie, The Thief of Bagdad. Only available option was a 3 day eVideo, through Hoopla. That actually worked out well, except that there was no REW. Not as convenient as Youtube, IOW. Too much mouse usage required. The resolution really sucked but that probably had nothing to do with it. It was Technicolor in 1940. Won 3 Oscars. Loved it as a kid.
 
Spacehead said:
Do they still offer that? I thought they did away with that.
Click to expand...

I thought so too, but I'm assuming.

We kept it for a while after they started streaming, as the actual movie selection was much better, but quit once they charged separately.

Then I quit netflix altogether when there was too little worth watching after the price hikes.
 
shortylickens said:
I never went there, but some of you bastards may know about them.

www.rogerebert.com

Farewell to the Video Store | Features | Roger Ebert

An ode to the end of an era, the closing of Family Video stores across the country.
www.rogerebert.com www.rogerebert.com

I don't think COVID killed it. In general people want convenience more than anything else. Most of us stream HD to multiple devices thanks to ultra fast in-home internet. And the rest of us apparently have Red Box, which I never used but seems to be very popular.

The pandemic appears to be a turning point for our culture, as many of us realized we can order almost anything for delivery straight to the home and as such, do not need to leave the house other than to keep our sanity. And if you were already an anti-social shut in, it wasn't much of an adjustment.
Click to expand...

The one in my neighborhood closed, and I just found out, when I went there to rent a movie I knew they had, but was out of print.
 
Only one i know nearish me is Marcos Pizza which is also a video store. I assumed all others were gone by now. I only rent occasionally from vudu and the like. No need for physical copies of anything that just takes up space and collects dust.
 
I haven't rented, or bought any physical disk in over at least 5 years or more. I have 2 Blue-ray players collecting dust in my basement. I'm lucky enough to be in area with high speed service. With on demand, streaming apps, unlimited gig internet service and my smart TV's - movies and other media are just clicks away. I still see 480p DVD's for sale in 7-11's though. Can't remember the last time i saw a Blockbuster type rental shop.
 
soulcougher73 said:
Only one i know nearish me is Marcos Pizza which is also a video store. I assumed all others were gone by now. I only rent occasionally from vudu and the like. No need for physical copies of anything that just takes up space and collects dust.
Click to expand...

Depends on how much you're into movies. One thing you don't get with the streaming services, is the behind-the-scenes stuff, cast interviews, and assorted special features.

Also no Easter eggs with streaming.
 
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