Netflix opening physical locations

why?...with Blockbuster you rent movies...offering 'an immersive experience' doesn't sound very profitable
 
Axman said:
DVDs anymore but they're opening Blockbusters?
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I am not sure if it as much link to blockbuster, more small Disneylands no ?

Seem to be 80s stranger things theme diner, Squid games parkour, Cobra kai karate gears you can buy etc...

This would surprise everyone if this work even a little bit.
 
mullet said:
Streaming = suck
Blu-Ray/4K = Awesome and forever.
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as time goes, this will be less and less true

Streaming, no loading, no FBI warning on unskippable affair, right in the movie (for better and for worst, the experience of picking a disk from the shelves, putting a disk, being frustrated by terrible slow menu and interface, having old movies trailers pop up or worst up to date one via internet, can all be part of the charm)

35mbits of the latest made version of the movie in AV1 with the best HDR version that both your monitor and the movie should beat original Blu-ray h.262/h.264 by a good amount, av1 is around 30% better bitrate wise of h.265, streaming will be more and more the better experience quality wise as well even more the 4k UHD one, not just in terms of user interface.
 
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LukeTbk said:
as time goes, this will be less and less true

Streaming, no loading, no FBI warning on unskippable affair, right in the movie (for better and for worst, the experience of putting a disk, being frustrated by terrible menu and interface, having old movies trailers pop up or worst up to date one via internet, all part of the charm)

35mbits of AV1 with the best HDR version that both your monitor and the movie should beat bluray h.262/h.264, av1 is around 30% better bitrate wise of h.265, streaming will be more and more the better experience quality wise as well, not just in terms of user interface.
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I mean, I'm already there now. The fact that I can click a list, or type what I want, click and watch what I want to watch already makes the experience way better than trying to track down a disc, put it in a player, and sit down and watch it. That's to speak nothing of not being able to watch whatever I want on whatever device I want. I use my iPad to watch tons of stuff while around the house because I can. There is no way to do that with any sort of optical media. Disc formats are way to inconvenient at this point for anything other than consoles, and even there we're moving to a discless future because people don't want to maintain that library anymore either.

That and the cost difference is huge too. Blu-Rays still cost $25+ at launch. For the cost of <1 Blu-Ray a month, one can watch an entire library of stuff with no investment and no physical thing to have to deal with. I certainly cannot (and will not) travel with a 100 Blu-Rays when I go over seas just in case I want to watch something. Anyway, to the point, for less than the cost of 10 Blu-rays a year, I can have access to 1000's of shows and movies. Even if I put streaming as a cost for the rest of my life, Blu-Rays it watched the same amount of content will always cost waaaaay more than streaming all of this stuff.

Are Blu-Rays of higher quality? Yes. But I would sooner pay Amazon to give me a lossless, downloadable rip that has the Dolby Vision and Dolby Surround tracks than get a physical disk. And the second issue is there enough of a quality difference on the devices people are using to see/hear a difference? Probably not. And even there it's getting awfully close. AppleTV uses higher bitrates as does HBOMax as compared to other streaming services and offers everything in Dolby Vision/HDR10 with various surround sounds available. So is physical media giving higher quality? I would say yes. Enough to matter for 99.9% of people and how they watch content? No.
 
Maybe dine-in movie experience with Netflix originals/exclusives, screened weeks/months before it is available to stream?
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Are Blu-Rays of higher quality? Yes.
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It depends on the title:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbN00Sm0Bsg

the 4k UHD edition can be HDR10 and the streaming having a better dolby vision for example, which make it subjective between worst block compression versus better tone mapping and color.

If (and we can imagine that it will be the case) bluray continue to be x265 over time specially if streaming bandwith rise just a little bit, with "av2" it will be the other way around for all and more so for those that have a better HDR option available only on streaming.
 
UnrealRG said:
Maybe dine-in movie experience with Netflix originals/exclusives, screened weeks/months before it is available to stream?
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The article seem that it is not much about watching content (i imagine that with the new law that distributor can own movie theater now that they can easily do it from time to time), it seem to be about buying merch and have Netflix IP theme related experience (restaurant, arcades, parkour, escape room, etc..), little Disney World for young adults.
 
UnrealRG said:
Maybe dine-in movie experience with Netflix originals/exclusives, screened weeks/months before it is available to stream?
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I was thinking of similar stuff. It's possible perhaps in flagship locations to give boutique experiences. Have the director or DP or actors whatever talk about production and answer questions before showing whatever film or TV show. However that wouldn't be something they could scale. It is something they could potentially charge a lot of money for though.
LukeTbk said:
The article seem that it is not much about watching content (i imagine that with the new law that distributor can own movie theater now that they can easily do it from time to time), it seem to be about buying merch and have Netflix IP theme related experience (restaurant, arcades, parkour, escape room, etc..), little Disney World for young adults.
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Yeaaaah, I guess that's the other thing. Though there is very little in life that I would want to brand myself with from a corporation. Definitely not Netflix though, unless I shot a bunch of films for them and they paid me millions of dollars. I'm sure they could shake me loose on that. But certainly not random merch in a store.
LukeTbk said:
It depends on the title:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbN00Sm0Bsg

the 4k UHD edition can be HDR10 and the streaming having a better dolby vision for example, which make it subjective between worst block compression versus better tone mapping and color.

If (and we can imagine that it will be the case) bluray continue to be x265 over time specially if streaming bandwith rise just a little bit, with "av2" it will be the other way around for all and more so for those that have a better HDR option available only on streaming.
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Sure. We could go back and forth here. But it's inarguable that "mostly" Blu-Ray is better and having less compression is always advantageous for a number of reasons. My overall points remain the same even if we can make the case that streaming is better than Blu-Ray in some cases.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
and having less compression is always advantageous for a number of reasons.
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It depends what people mean by that, if they mean the trivial better is better, yes.

But you can have an less compressed x.264 video that look way worse than an much higher compressed Av1 video and if the player as a dedicated specialized hardware that can play av1 without forcing the advantage of running on old hardware has no value anymore.
 
LukeTbk said:
It depends what people mean by that, if they mean the trivial better is better, yes.

But you can have an less compressed x.264 video that look way worse than an much higher compressed Av1 video and if the player as a dedicated specialized hardware that can play av1 without forcing the advantage of running on old hardware has no value anymore.
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Again, I don't disagree. I think you're just trying to nit pick my statements. It's not as if you can say for the time being that less compressed formats aren't more universal. There are just tradeoffs there. Yes at some indeterminate time in the future when everyone has specialized ASIC's to decode video that is 50:1 compressed that looks as good as Blu-Ray for 1/50th the storage space in everyone's phones and computer processors, then yes, it will cease to have all meaning. But that isn't where we are today. Not everyone even has access to AV1 decode in every device.

I'm already with you. I don't have a want for physical media anymore, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have certain advantages. I just don't think the advantages are worth it for the tradeoffs. Whereas I guess for you there is no balance there. Blu-Ray for you has zero advantages and you want to hammer that point.

EDIT: Just for clarity not content.
 
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UnknownSouljer said:
Not everyone even has access to AV1 decode in every device.
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And that one big strenght of streaming, you device and the cloud communicate and you can receive the best version your hardware support, there not like before has much chicken and egg situation.

UnknownSouljer said:
It's not as if you can't say for the time being that less compressed formats are more universal.
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Yes my message say exactly that.
UnknownSouljer said:
Blu-Ray for you has zero advantages and you want to hammer that point.
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No I was just saying that one of the big advantage, that the content look better versus streasming is not always true at all, even for 4k UHD (The UHD bluray as the potential to still always be, but sometime the streaming server as a better version of the movie than the one available on disk).
 
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LukeTbk said:
Yes my message say exactly that.
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Okay, then on this point you're wrong and I disagree. More universal means that it should be better in all cases and all circumstances and it is not. So you would suggest then that it should also be an acquisition format? Literally all of Hollywood would disagree with you as they move more productions into higher resolution and into RAW formats and precisely zero cinema cameras encode to AV1, and there is zero demand for that feature. It's also again not true today either as for a universal format to be "universal" it would have to be usable on the vast majority of devices. And when specifically talking about things like AV1, it's also not. h.264 could be argued as a more "universal format" than either h.265 or AV1.

But I don't really see the point in dragging this out further. You're being incredibly pedantic for no real reason, literally picking a fight with someone who is basically on your side on a majority of points. So say whatever you have in response to this with the last word and have at it.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Okay, then on this point you're wrong and I disagree.
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I meant my message pointed out that: and if the player as a dedicated specialized hardware that can play av1 without forcing the advantage of running on old hardware has no value anymore.

UnknownSouljer said:
. More universal means that it should be better in all cases and all circumstances and it is not.
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Streaming assure you full universal, the server can have the x.264 version and the latest av1, the player can tell the server the best version possible and the server can choose it to be the one streamed.

Physical to make this harder, it will tend to do a significant codec change when everyone is forced to buy new hardware (like when UHD released) and be stuck with it forever. That why netflix-youtube have been using av1 for a long time, before decoding was universal, it can easily revert back if needed, pretty much every stick and smarttv have been supporting av1 for a good while, but it will take time to spread out.
 
westrock2000 said:
I’m in the streaming, but from local, camp.

I like to curate my own streaming library.
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I'm planning on slowly converting my bluray library to a local streaming setup. Still disc all the way as the source though, better quality and if you wait a month or two after release, affordable. I usually don't even do that though and get my discs for $3-6 a movie. 4k discs I pay $8 to $12 for typically.
 
Correct^^^^.

I got rid of cable tv years ago and I saved $155.00 a month. I took that money and started buying Blu-Rays for great deals not to mentioning buying them from Redbox for 2.99 to 5.99. Now I just wait and get 4K for under 10 bucks if you watch sales. I have almost 700 HD movies and I never run out of anything to watch ever. The extra content and sound quality alone is worth it not to mention visual quality with ZERO data usage.
 
I'd wager that most movies will no longer be released to bluray within 5 years. Makes more business sense to lock you into a streaming service in perpetuity rather than pick what you want, a la carte. Not to mention locking you into their ecosystem, they can subject you to their ads, data harvesting, and political soapboxing.

Having said that, if anyone can chime in with a good place to rent 4k blurays at reasonable prices, i'd be interested 🙂
 
GoldenTiger said:
Good point I forgot to mention, disc releases usually have a lot of extras too.
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disk and itunes model purchase as well has a lot of temps, streaming tend to be near zero it seems, I was a find of director commentary track and it is a lost imo.

unfortunateson said:
I'd wager that most movies will no longer be released to bluray within 5 years. Makes more business sense to lock you into a streaming service in perpetuity rather than pick what you want, a la carte.
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A bit like 90s Audio CD, the movie industry would have love to stay in the 2004-2007 DVD worlds for ever I would think, it was the peak of the profitability, the move to streaming is much more the industry being forced (and something they resisted as much they could, less than music because they already knew what would happen) than something that made more sense. Almost all streamers are loosing money right now, pre high bandwith internet tv-movie industry was really good.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
For the cost of <1 Blu-Ray a month, one can watch an entire library of stuff with no investment and no physical thing to have to deal with.
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Yes, an entire library of crap!

unfortunateson said:
I'd wager that most movies will no longer be released to bluray within 5 years. Makes more business sense to lock you into a streaming service in perpetuity rather than pick what you want, a la carte. Not to mention locking you into their ecosystem, they can subject you to their ads, data harvesting, and political soapboxing.
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You very well might be right. They're already pretty far along down that road with games. You will own nothing and be happy. What's probably stopping them for movies is a combination of the fractured nature of the movie publishers, fractured streaming services and bandwidth limitations in the US. Physical media still offers more movies and better quality... for now.
 
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sleepeeg3 said:
Yes, an entire library of crap!
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/opinions
Clearly most of the market doesn’t feel that way. I’m not necessarily even talking about the individual level, but what is happening in the macro.

Since Netflix has done the password share crackdown , subscriber numbers have only gone up and Netflix is highly profitable. So say what you want, but they are serving what people want.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
/opinions
Clearly most of the market doesn’t feel that way. I’m not necessarily even talking about the individual level, but what is happening in the macro.

Since Netflix has done the password share crackdown , subscriber numbers have only gone up and Netflix is highly profitable. So say what you want, but they are serving what people want.
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/opinions
Sure, my wife subscribes to Netflix, too. It's pretty worthless for movies, though.
 
Blockbuster started to die in the late 2000s because they couldn't adapt to the then-new streaming platform paradigm shift.
Netflix opening physical locations goes hand-in-hand with the retro/nostalgia/iconic wave that has started permeating cultures since the early 2010s.

Blockbuster still doesn't get it, which is why there is one Blockbuster store left and why Netflix is nearing megacorp status.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
/opinions
Sure, my wife subscribes to Netflix, too. It's pretty worthless for movies, though.
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Except I’m not event talking about my opinion. Netflix being profitable is empirical.
Your feeling about Netflix is your opinion and doesn’t reflect the marketplace.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Except I’m not event talking about my opinion. Netflix being profitable is empirical.
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Their in-house production stuff is all behind closed doors. They may be making money overall, but that doesn't mean a good portion of their more questionable self-produced content is earning any money.

Also, bundling and forgotten accounts make up a significant portion of their income. This kind of strategy has been a disaster for Disney and Paramount.
 
Axman said:
Their in-house production stuff is all behind closed doors. They may be making money overall, but that doesn't mean a good portion of their more questionable self-produced content is earning any money.

Also, bundling and forgotten accounts make up a significant portion of their income. This kind of strategy has been a disaster for Disney and Paramount.
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I have said zero about Netflix branded content. Merely that Netflix gives a digital library for a price that is far less than a new release Blu-Ray a month. Their overall model of “renting out” movies and tv shows are still what the vast majority of people prefer over physical media.

That’s just facts. If you want to split hairs, go ahead, but I think all of that is missing the point.
 
As someone who has a significant Blu-Ray/4K library and continues to collect Steelbooks I've always been wary of a wholesale move to streaming. Originally it was because of what others have said in this thread around quality, but in all honesty the difference these days isn't all that huge. However, the big one for me is reliability - I don't want to login one day and find out the movie I was going to watch is gone because of a license change, or that content has been moved to a library that includes a $2 upsell to watch it, and I don't get any of that risk with physical media.
 
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^^^ completely agree The Donut , I'm only 3-4 years into my bluray collecting, but between that, PLEX and vinyl, I love actually owning that physical copy of media and not being reliant on a subscription.

You mention license changes, and I get bit by that on Spotify on occasion, and that hurts...

When it comes to streaming, a lot of content is honestly "good enough" streamed. A stand up bit, or a show I've watched a hundred times already? Stream it/plex it. John Wick, or other wild action movies, OR something i will always want to have available? I'll get that 4k blueray or blue ray if 4k isn't an option.
 
Axman said:
Their in-house production stuff is all behind closed doors. They may be making money overall, but that doesn't mean a good portion of their more questionable self-produced content is earning any money.

Also, bundling and forgotten accounts make up a significant portion of their income. This kind of strategy has been a disaster for Disney and Paramount.
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Exactly. His opinion is that people are ditching movies on physical media for movies on Netflix. I doubt that's the case.

That made me curious to look at the numbers of how bad Netflix's movie selection actually is, so I looked for some metrics, last night:
So, it would seem unlikely people are ditching physical movies to stream them on Netflix, because those movies simply don't exist on their platform. It may be people who want TV shows or who don't have money to spend on cable or movies.

Also, Netflix's old model started losing subscribers last year. They were only able to add new subscribers by adding an ad-supported model. That supports the "cheap" media idea.

As it turns out neither my wife or I are really watching any Netflix anymore. I used to use it for Walking Dead and the first season of Stranger Things and she used it for some other TV shows. She was good with cancelling it.
 

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sleepeeg3 said:
  • That means in 12 years, they have dumped 67% of their movies and replaced 33% of them with Netflix's low-budget content.
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Netflix does not mean low-budget, and I would imagine a giant amount of those movies never got to streaming, they were dvd by mails title which was a completely different deal and cost for them to license than streaming.

Has for statement about what licensed movie are on netflix or not, that will be a very market by market affair, Godfather was often on netflix canada and is currently on netflix japan, argentia, norway, etc... there and will always be changing, Jaws and I imagine other movie from that top 100 list are on Netflix USA right now.
 
LukeTbk said:
Netflix does not mean low-budget
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Netflix = low-budget shovel-media. Netflix spent $5.8B in 2023 on original productions. Sounds like alot - it's not. Even if they spent that same amount over the last 12 years (they didn't) producing 3,642 movies, that would only be $69.6B or $19M / movie. On top of that, 10,000/18,000 shows/movies weren't even being watched!
The average Hollywood movie costs $100M. Netflix is spending less than 1/5 of the cost, shoveling out content. Quantity over quality.

LukeTbk said:
Godfather was often on netflix canada and is currently on netflix japan, argentia, norway, etc... there and will always be changing, Jaws and I imagine other movie from that top 100 list are on Netflix USA right now.
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Edit: Ok you are right about Jaws - it's available until 12/31/23. Then it will be 0%. I somehow missed that. There's a link in my post above to look that up. If you want to be pedantic about it, you can rephrase it to 1% of the American Film Institute's top 100 movies are on Netflix America.

Hopefully the physical stores will help them rerealize the value of their licensed content.
 
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