Netflix (DVD Delivery Discussion Only)

[Perkins Cobb]

I have to say, Netflix's newish policy of sending you "far away" discs as a bonus combined with taking recommendations from zedz in the '90s project has been a real coup for me. Each week for the past month I've gotten an extra movie this way for free (some Kitano, Tsai, and Sokurov). I realize that by saying this out loud I will jinx it from ever happening again, but thought I would share anyway.

Based on my observations, I would think that if you just keep something listed as "Short Wait" parked at the top of your queue all the time, you'd be able to squeeze extra discs out of them all the time, yes?

[swo17]

I believe the extra discs I've been getting have all been listed as "short wait," yes. Though the converse is not always true.

[AlexHansen]

Based on my observations, I would think that if you just keep something listed as "Short Wait" parked at the top of your queue all the time, you'd be able to squeeze extra discs out of them all the time, yes?

This seems to be working for me. About 70% of the first 30 titles in my queue are all "Short Wait", and I've been getting an extra disc with basically every new batch.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Putting all my "short wait" "long wait" etc. discs at the top of my queue works for me as well.

However in the last several weeks I've noticed an unusual number of titles (all up and down the 500 in my queue, not just "short wait") suddenly marked as "unavailable" and then dropping off the list altogether. What's troubling is that many of these are in-print and/or "cult" titles from companies like Blue Underground, Anchor Bay, Dark Sky, etc. Despite repeated title requests to Netflix, they don't seem to be increasing their acquisition of such titles... surely buying a mere score or two of each offering from these types of DVD labels would meet their customers' demands? I mean, they get fucking 25 new exercise and cooking videos every damn week, for christ's sake.

[Perkins Cobb]

That sounds alarming. Can you name any examples?

[swo17]

These titles from my queue look to be newly unavailable:

The Front Page
Detour
The Marquise of O
Slave of Love
Quadrophenia
Scarlet Street
Beast from Haunted Cave/The Brain That Wouldn't Die

[MyNameCriterionForum]

I'll have to look through my queue later for specific titles...

I'm not sure I meant to suggest that Netflix was deliberately removing titles - particularly provocative or controversial films - perhaps it's just circumstantial since that sort of thing makes up a large (though by no means majority) portion of my queue. I'm pretty sure many of the "unavailable" films on my list are older and genuinely OOP. So perhaps we should differentiate between A) supply issues and B) their purchasing decisions.

Still, they seemed to have changed something about their buying policy, at least within the few years I've been a customer. Maybe they never bought every title from the smaller labels but really, there are, what? only a dozen or so cult labels releasing films in America? with maybe 100 or less titles per year? Even a cursory look at the catalogs of Subversive Cinema, Mondo Macabro, Cult Epics, Synapse, Mondo Vision, etc. reveal dozens of films not available on Netflix which are still available via amazon, etc.

[oldsheperd]

Netflix should offer a free bottle of dvd scratch remover and cleaner with every account.

[swo17]

Boetticher's Westbound is only available to watch through instant viewing, and this expires at the end of the month. Apparently it's in the wrong aspect ratio though...

[swo17]

It would appear that Netflix is up and running on Saturdays now, upping the value of everyone's subscriptions by 20%. \:D/

[reno dakota]

It would appear that Netflix is up and running on Saturdays now, upping the value of everyone's subscriptions by 20%.

In some areas, perhaps, but not in all.

[Antoine Doinel]

Amazon to acquire Netflix?

[Perkins Cobb]

Netflix's description of Woody Allen begins as follows:

Diminutive, bespeckled and neurotic, Woody Allen would make anyone's short list of the most important (and funny) comedy directors of all time....

[fiddlesticks]

Netflix's description of Woody Allen begins as follows:

Diminutive, bespeckled and neurotic, Woody Allen would make anyone's short list of the most important (and funny) comedy directors of all time....

Well, people have been flinging shit at him for decades; I guess some of it has stuck.

[Antoine Doinel]

Richard Corliss thinks Netflix will turn you into a mindless automaton.

[domino harvey]

Andy Rooney thinks Netflix will turn you into a mindless automaton.

Fixed

[knives]

Andy Rooney thinks Netflix will turn you into a mindless automaton.

Fixed

Agreed. New doesn't mean bad. Just because Netflix wasn't around when he was a kid doesn't mean its bad. I also love how his argument is basically I want to walk into a store and I don't want to know ahead of time I'll have to wait.

[souvenir]

I think you two are missing the point or at least don't see the persuasiveness of it. The elimination of big city rental stores which carried most everything available also takes away the luxury of being able to find a movie (and then watch it) in a single night. It's the thrill of spontaneity. Instead of browsing the video store aisles and discovering something previously unfamiliar only to take it right home to see, you can click through things on a screen to have the disc days afterward. No more immediate satisfaction. Plus a degree of physical interaction is lost.

[FerdinandGriffon]

I think you two are missing the point or at least don't see the persuasiveness of it. The elimination of big city rental stores which carried most everything available also takes away the luxury of being able to find a movie (and then watch it) in a single night. It's the thrill of spontaneity. Instead of browsing the video store aisles and discovering something previously unfamiliar only to take it right home to see, you can click through things on a screen to have the disc days afterward. No more immediate satisfaction.

So Corliss can wait a year or two until netflix's on demand service catches up with their by-mail one. I'm sorry, but the man's got no argument. Sure, I can go to the brick and mortar store and "discover" the umpteenth copy of The Dark Knight, but why would I do that when the netflix automatic recommendations offer me Blind Beast and A Slightly Pregnant Man? I was a Kims customer before it closed, and it hadn't been the bootleg mecca he describes for many years. In fact, I have yet to encounter a flesh and blood store that can consistently surprise me with unfamiliar offerings. As for helpful film geeks offering rental advice, well that's what this forum's for, isn't it?

[Matt]

So, if the libraries and rental shops can lend out DVD's etc. without paying a royalty, how does that stack up and compare to someone taking a DVD or BluRay version and screening it and charging an admission price, without paying any royalty?

Well, they're two completely different activities, for starters. The "first sale doctrine" in the US allows people who buy a legitimate copy of a work to sell, lend, trade, or give it away to someone else. Conducting a public screening of a work without permission, even without charging admission, is not permitted by that law, and is in fact proscribed by the very next section of the law.

[MichaelB]

The copyright notice on pretty much every DVD/Blu-ray release should make it absolutely clear that it's licensed for private home use only and any other use (definitely including any screenings for which admission is charged, even if such screenings take place in a private home) needs to be negotiated with the rightsholder.

They may be happy with the DVD/Blu-ray being used as the basis for such screenings (it makes their job easier, after all), but you'll certainly need to negotiate a separate contractual agreement regarding box-office share etc.

[HarryLong]

Maybre this has always been part of the language & I never spotted it before, but I popped a new DVD in last night & the Copyright Notice stated that it was illegal to loan the disc ...

[Matt]

Where is the disc from? I believe in certain countries it is perfectly legal to have separate rental and home viewing releases and to restrict the sale and loan of each differently. Since this is not legal in the US, this is why, in olden times, most VHS tapes were priced at $99 for the first six months or so before being dropped to a sell-through price of $15-$20. When DVD was launched, some studios wanted to follow the same pattern, but others worried that DVD would not catch on if it was price too high. The latter studios won.

Studios keep fighting back (see NEBG v. Weinstein, Fox's stripping of special features from rental-market DVDs), but all consumer media is now sell-through only (except maybe scholarly hardcover books).

[Jeff]

Summit is trying to singlehandedly revive the rental window with their release of The Brothers Bloom. Their only problem is that the film isn't nearly important enough for this to amount to anything.