Netflix Is Abandoning DVDs, Customers Who Prefer DVDs

Yahoo Movies ^ | 01/18/2010 | Tim Grierson

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

When Netflix started up more than 10 years ago, its sales pitch was pretty simple: Hey, subscribe to us, and we'll mail you DVDs that you can then mail back to us without worrying about any late fees. But as the rental market moves toward online and on-demand models, Netflix's iconic red envelopes may eventually become as antiquated as VHS tapes. Beefing up their streaming business, Netflix has predicted that in about two years their economics will be geared more toward their "Watch Instantly" service than through physical discs. For that to happen, Netflix will have to nudge their DVD-loyal customers to the new platform. And on Monday, the company learned just how hard that may be.

In a seemingly innocent 109-word blog post, Netflix director of product management Jamie Odell announced, "We're removing the 'Add to DVD Queue' option from streaming devices," suggesting that it was being done so that the company "can concentrate on offering you the titles that are available to watch instantly." Granted, the Netflix website still allows DVD queue updating, but this post, dropped on the morning of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, created an immediate firestorm of comments -- most of them very, very angry.

[greene66]

My parents have been subscribing to Netflix for over a year, getting discs in the mail every other day. They will NOT transition to streaming. Never. They are not terribly computer literate, to put it mildly, and I can absolutely 100% guarantee they will never go that route.

[rabidralph]

I bought a Blu-Ray player for $80 right before Christmas. It has online access to Netflix and other movie rental or video-on-demand services. This was the main reason I got it as I don’t want a gaming system. I haven’t used the Netflix yet, though. I do enjoy getting the DVDs in the mail.

[DGHoodini]

Thanks for posting this thread. Perdonally, I look forward to an all download model, as long as they start ramping up the amount of movies and shows they offer by download. the oferings of newer movies are sparsse, and even older fare, that they have some shows where episodes can only be gotten by DVD.

I’ve been watching MI-5, finished off the fourth season, only to find that “volume 55 (season 5) is omly availiable on DVD, but Vol 6 & 7 are availiablr for downlod...How does that make sense?

It’s like reading a good long novel, getting 2./3tds through, and finding a 100 pages have been ripped out, and the rest still left. Vol 4 left off with a great cliff hanger, and I don’t want to see the rest of the series out of order. (Chagrined I am!)

[Rome2000]

Read anything and everything authored by Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis and Clarke, and Stanley and Livingstone

Columbus and Captain Cookes logs are available as well.

Pre civil war works by Europeans circa 1850 on life in America are insanely interesting too.

[mass55th]

"I have a roku player that I use for streaming netflix."

Me too. My kids got me one for Christmas. I'm just finishing up the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett, and I've been making my way through Have Gun, Will Travel.

[HerrBlucher]

Yes they will if you buy them, and set up, ROKU, and show them how to use it. Then they will love streaming and hate DVD’s. It will only take a minimal effort on your part. Otherwise, you are right, they are not likely to go that route on their own.

[DGHoodini]

Once an account os set up, it’s pretty easy to use. Netflix sesetss a cookie, so you just link to the sire, select a movie and press a play button.

[KansasCanadian]

I prefer Amazon on Demand or ITunes, but a lot of movies are not yet available in this format.

[mrsmith]

My reading has suffered horribly since I got Netflix and other non-commercial media.

I still smile remembering the laconic description in L & C’s journal of meeting their first grizzly bear.

[Inyo-Mono]

Guess they will lose me as a customer... I can just see having forty odd people over to watch a game/movie on my 17 inch screen!

I like it just as it is. I prefer the choice of DVD/Streaming.

Like with FReeRepublic, I like the old school way...

I agree. I'm old school too. I still have a tube TV set. I want DVDs.

[DesertSapper]

While Blu-Ray is the best physical media format for video, it is too late to the game. I expect DVDs, including Blu-Ray, to go the way of the 8-track within 5-7 years: only the avid collectors will have them and nothing new will be released on that format. Searching for a DVD will be akin to a current search for a VHS tape.

Red-box will follow Blockbuster's path into history if they don't jump into some non-physical media delivery method.

This isn't an issue for those, like me, with 10/25 mbps fiber connections to their homes. However, I'm aiming to move to a much more rural home within the next two years. I'll probably be one of those searching eBay for DVD movies then.

[melissa_in_ga]

Every time I passed the TV the estrogen-Americans in the house were watching “The Office”. I got curious and streamed the first season on my computer. Four days later I emerged from the study having streamed instantly all the episodes from 6 seasons. They will have me as a permanent customer if they provide more instant watch movies.

[packrat35]

I think it is stupid. I know lots of people who still don’t have computers or if they do rarely do much more than email and surf a few sites. They will never go this route.

[DesertSapper]

MS doesn’t charge me anything extra to use my 360 to stream Netflix movies/TV shows.

[packrat35]

Then get the DVD’s then. I have noticed that most series leave off one or 2 episodes that are only available on the DVD’s

[Politicalmom]

Moving around the movies is much more difficult on the Wii than on the DVDs, and most of their stuff isn’t available
by streaming, anyway. My DVD list is 3X as long as my streaming list. The picture is much lower quality, as well.

[IL Republican]

fully agree.

I am an HD snob. I can’t hardly watch the streaming in 480, when I can get a Blu-Ray that is 1080p.

I have Comcast cable internet, which clocks at 18Mbs, and I still only get a few streaming in what they call HD. Even that is still jumpy.

I’ll rent 1080 disks from someone until I can stream at 1080.

[JouleZ]

My parents have been subscribing to Netflix for over a year, getting discs in the mail every other day. They will NOT transition to streaming. Never. They are not terribly computer literate, to put it mildly, and I can absolutely 100% guarantee they will never go that route.

*************************

I’m with them. I am rural and cannot stream squat without interruption and reloading. It’s DVD or no Netflix for us unless we change servers, which is a real pain, too.

[FreedomPoster]

>>Mass streaming in 1080P isn’t going to happen for a long time.

Worth saying again.

[Rome2000]

Haven't got to that part yet, looking forward to it.

Read Roosevelt on how poisonous snakes interact that he authored during his South American expedition and the exploits of the Indonesian/Kenyan in the WH pale in comparison.