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Fox was one for sure, though I don't know if they did it with every release

WB and Universal I know for sure. I'm guessing Lionsgate is an exception if the All Is Lost disc is any indication.

More good reading on what Sam Adams dubs "The Availability Gap."

Since Netflix can't be relied upon to make most special-interest titles available, then isn't that an argument for the continuing importance of physical media? DVDs and especially Blu-rays have continued to sell. Why keep declaring that physical media are "dying," as I've read year after year ever since the iPod became all the rage? When is this death actually predicted to take place?
I don't know why Amazon is currently not stocking Sweet Sweetback on DVD, but it's available new from Half.com for about $11 including shipping, or a couple bucks more if someone needs expedited shipping. I don't see what the big problem is, but then I've never been too averse to buying a DVD for a completely reasonable price and never thought that Netflix could be counted on to guarantee availability of anything, so I'm used to having to spend more than the cost of a rental to ensure that I can access the back-catalog titles that matter to me.
Maybe film buffs pestering Netflix to expand their streaming selection could lead to some major changes, but I'm doubtful. Their selection is poor because that's what their current model demands in terms of profitability, not because they forgot to cater to people who want to be able to stream important films from the whole history of the cinema.

"The shift to streaming technologies is often viewed in terms of democratization"

.

Does anyone really believe this? I see streaming defended as convenient. And certainly the tech companies benefit from not having to shill out a physical product and force everything into the "cloud," but nobody honestly thinks spotify and Netflix make a substitute of a real library for cinema and audiophiles, right?

I think the "democratization" thing is from the perspective of small movies that only open in theatres in New York or L.A., being available day-and-date in the boonies. But, yes, that's a narrow prism through which to praise streaming, and I'm not even sure it's worked out that way. And, also yes, it's absurd to be at all optimistic about Netflix responding to movie fans' complaints ... and I think both writers probably know better but they, or their editors, didn't want to end on a note of utter futility.

Drucker wrote:

"The shift to streaming technologies is often viewed in terms of democratization"

.

Does anyone really believe this? I see streaming defended as convenient. And certainly the tech companies benefit from not having to shill out a physical product and force everything into the "cloud," but nobody honestly thinks spotify and Netflix make a substitute of a real library for cinema and audiophiles, right?

Spotify does a far better job for music than Netflix does for film in my opinion, in terms of streaming quality, breadth of choice and convenience. I use Spotify, but cannot imagine ever paying for Netflix. The only thing it has going for it is convenience and legality. If you want real choice and the best quality you are going to either import discs from around the world or use the backchannels - or for the best and morally wholesome experience do a combination of both.

](*,)

Anyone else abruptly seeing their discs show up several days past the estimated arrival? This started about three weeks ago and has been consistent ever since. Trying to figure out whether USPS or Netflix is the culprit. (Needless to say, when I call them, they blame the post office, but I haven't observed delays with any other mail yet.)

I sent back a disc Monday, still haven't had it confirmed it's received. If it wasn't for Film Club, I would have canceled long ago, for sure.

Netflix has been quietly shuttering a lot of their regional disc distribution locales, iirc, one probably just closed at the end of the year.

Iirc, in the first year of netflix, they had an option where you could mark a disc as returned and so long as you weren't lying you kept the privilege and didn't have to wait on the mail to get you next shipment.

At the time I had a five disc at a time plan because three days from shipment to receiving the disc each way meant with five out I always had a disc to watch. With three out I had too many days with nothing to watch waiting on the mail.

I guess I've had a few late shipments over the past month or two (including one yesterday, actually) but I hadn't thought anything of it.

On the plus side, I don't seem to have too many "waits" in my queue anymore. Possibly because there are only maybe three or four people in the country still on the disc program.

swo17 wrote:On the plus side, I don't seem to have too many "waits" in my queue anymore. Possibly because there are only maybe three or four people in the country still on the disc program.

Not only do I have roughly the same number of waits, they've also gotten more aggressive about purging some of the Very Long Waits for good -- for the past few months I've gotten notifications that probably 5-10 titles a month are unavailable and have been removed from my queue.

Without going into specifics, I've altered my use of Netflix discs based on the assumption that disc rentals won't be happening a year from now.

Yeah, I've noticed the removals lately, too. My "saved" section has also grown, and I expect many of those to be removed soon, too.

I still get some discs that I can't locate via any other means, but more and more Netflix or Amazon streaming is picking up the slack for my rental needs.

I will never, ever use streaming as a primary source for movies. Unless another source opens up unexpectedly, the death of Netflix will send me into full-tilt piracy, at least for the mainstream stuff.

I don't mind streaming being part of my rental experience. That's basically what we do when we go see a movie in a theater, right?

I would never rely on streaming or digital to "own" something, though.

captveg wrote:I don't mind streaming being part of my rental experience. That's basically what we do when we go see a movie in a theater, right?

Ha - good point, except that I only go to the theater for 35mm rep any more. Cell phone idiots ended first-run moviegoing for me about a decade ago, but digital projection is the dirt on that coffin.

The last few weeks all my discs have been delayed one extra day past the expected arrival. Also, discs I send back on Friday (or Saturday) don't seem to arrive back to Netflix until Tuesday, whereas it used to be Monday. Combined with no Saturday shipments, I probably get less than half the discs I used to a year ago. At some point, it's not worth it...

I haven't been using a ton of discs lately so I don't have a large sample size, but yeah, I noticed a difference a month or two ago. It seems to take longer for discs to register as returned, as well. I assumed they were just throttling me for some reason but closing distro centers makes more sense.

In particular I ordered Winter Soldier which, granted, is a popular title right now, but it wasn't marked even for "Short wait". The previous disc took forever to check in, the estimated date was a day or two farther out than usual, and it still didn't arrive until the day after that. Granted there was a weekend in the middle, but it took most of a week to get one disc. Urgh.

I have plenty of stuff to watch, so waiting doesn't bug me too much, but I hope it doesn't stay this bad from now on.

I'm on the one disc at a time plan, and have definitely noticed the extra one day in shipping and was wondering the same thing. It seems to have started right around the first of the year. (I'm the sort who will often watch and return a disc the same day it arrives, so the extra one day has been reliable based on four or five discs at this point.)

I live in St. Louis, where there at least used to be a distribution center. I'll keep my eyes open and see if I can figure out if that center closed.

I've been consistently receiving discs 1 day later than the estimate since the beginning of the year, and at least part of the time it seems like they've been acknowledging receipt of them a day later as well.

Did Netflix and the USPS have a falling out?, August 16, 2013

My 1 day delivery started to waver the week before last. Even returns sometimes don't register until the 2nd day.

In other NF dvd news, The Strange Little Cat (2014) popped up from the saved queue with a 2/3/2015 release. Bumped to #1.

Perkins Cobb wrote:

captveg wrote:I don't mind streaming being part of my rental experience. That's basically what we do when we go see a movie in a theater, right?

Ha - good point, except that I only go to the theater for 35mm rep any more. Cell phone idiots ended first-run moviegoing for me about a decade ago, but digital projection is the dirt on that coffin.

If movies screened at cinemas had the same compression artifacts that plague Netflix streaming even at its best, I wouldn't be spending any time in theaters. I still enjoy streaming material, but when I am really committed to a film I want it sourced from physical media.

As disappointing as the disappearance of "long wait" titles have been over the past few months, I was pleasantly surprised that the Buster Keaton disc I put in my saved queue back in 2006 actually became available for rent eight years later!

Noiradelic wrote:I've been consistently receiving discs 1 day later than the estimate since the beginning of the year, and at least part of the time it seems like they've been acknowledging receipt of them a day later as well.

Same here, except its been since December, and every single disc now takes two or even three (!) days to both return and arrive.

What surprises me is that, if this is a consistent, widespread occurrence, they haven't altered the delivery estimates to give themselves more time.

As soon as we've cleared the blizzard zone and they can't use that as an excuse, I'm going to call them every single time a disc shows up late. Eventually I'll get somebody who knows what's going on and will actually tell me.