Netflix Has Now Shipped 5 Billion DVDs To Its Members (variety.com) 29
Netflix has shipped a total of 5 billion DVDs to its customers since first sending out those iconic red envelopes 21 years ago. The milestone was announced by DVD.com, the Netflix subsidiary that is now responsible for the company's physical disc subscriptions. From a report: Netflix began running a DVD-by-mail subscription service in April of 1998, and shipped its first billion DVDs by early 2007. The company launched its video streaming service soon after, offering it initially as an added bonus to DVD subscribers. Four years later, Netflix proceeded split its DVD and internet subscription services into 2 separate subscription plans and businesses. Since then, the user base of the company's DVD subscription service has steadily declined, from 14 million subscribers in 2011 to just 2.4 million subscribers at the end of the most recent fiscal quarter. The company ended that same quarter with more than 151 million paying streaming subscribers worldwide.
Next, they'll use drones? (Score:2)
No? So it's again news from 1998, last millenium?
Bandwidth in stationwagons per second (Score:2)
so 5Billion @ 4.5GB per disk over ten years is
5E9*4.5E9/10/3.1E7 = 76,433,121,019.1083 Bytes per second.
that's pretty awesome.
Drones could not have the capacity of a mail van I suspect but they could dramatically drop the latency.
Re:Bandwidth in stationwagons per second (Score:4, Funny)
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You're confusing Netflix DVD-by-mail with Amazon shipping drones.
I may re-join (Score:4, Insightful)
I was just thinking about re-joining Netflix DVD delivery -- it's been so hard to find movies I want to watch on streaming (they are scattered among a half dozen or more streaming services, and I'm not going to subscribe to them all), so going back to DVD delivery seems like the best way to see what I want to watch.
I used to dislike that when I rented a DVD I could only see the movie once without getting the DVD again (ignoring the ability to copy a DVD), but now streaming has become like that -- you can't count on a movie/show still being on the streaming service the next time you want to watch it. So other than the 3 day lag to get it, the DVD isn't really worse that streaming.
Re:I may re-join (Score:4, Informative)
Stuff seems to be disappearing from their DVD catalog as well. They used to have a lot of esoteric titles, but now stuff that I'd expect to be available just shows an availability of 'Unknown'. Example: A couple of years ago, I put 'Seven Days in May' on my list. It's still there. In the meantime, I found a copy at a used DVD store for a couple of bucks. But the Netflix entry stays just so I can see if they'll ever add t to their collection.
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I've noticed that as well, I'm guessing the disks they had are broken/lost, and they aren't planning on replacing them unless enough people put it in their queue.
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Netflix DVD is great for the inventory of stuff that they still do have, but if it's subscribers keep dwindling there's going to be a tipping point where it's no longer profitable to maintain the shipping facilities and keep
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One of the reasons I dropped Netflix discs after almost 15 years. Old titles and tv series that I signed up for went in to permanent hold and wait in my queue. I had one disk stay there for almost 2 years. Plus their anime section, which was one of the best a decade ago, is just sad.
Netflix disc was still great to new releases but so is Redbox. An Redbox is cheaper if you only get a dozen or less movies a month.
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You know about CrunchyRoll, right?
Their title availability sucks (Score:2)
I still have a disc queue (and red envelopes gathering dust under the television). Maybe 1/3 of my disc queue isn’t available. Every title there *used* to be available with, at most, a “short wait”.
So you might want to make sure they’ve actually got most of the movies you want before rejoining, and compare it to what’s available from the big online movie rental places (e.g. Amazon, Apple) to see if it’ll actually save you money.
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I was just thinking about re-joining Netflix DVD delivery -- it's been so hard to find movies I want to watch on streaming (they are scattered among a half dozen or more streaming services, and I'm not going to subscribe to them all), so going back to DVD delivery seems like the best way to see what I want to watch.
I used to dislike that when I rented a DVD I could only see the movie once without getting the DVD again (ignoring the ability to copy a DVD), but now streaming has become like that -- you can't count on a movie/show still being on the streaming service the next time you want to watch it. So other than the 3 day lag to get it, the DVD isn't really worse that streaming.
I agree. Their DVD service is a great source of older hard to find movies on DVD that you cannot see on streaming services nor can rent from local movie rental store. Yes, they still are a thing in my area and it stays pretty busy.
Remember "I mailed it" (Score:2)
Unfortunately, I'm one of those people that killed it. I mailed it, a week later got an email "um, where is it". I had a table by the front door outgoing mail got put on. The envelope had fallen behind the table.
20 years later it's been a year since I've mailed a letter. That was some government thing that I could have done online but they charged a 2-3% fee. Hmmm, 30 seconds an
Interesting shipments (Score:2)
Call it 21 years, 5e9 shipments, average 5e6 subscribers.
That's an average of about 1 movie a week per subscriber.
At least you can send them back (Score:3)
Proof that bad movies drive out good (Score:1)
Say what you like about streaming... (Score:2)
... but at least it won't eventually end up as waste in landfill for the next few thousands years.
From a DVD.com subscriber (Score:4, Interesting)
- You can hang onto the DVD if you want to watch it again (no gotta watch it in 48 or 72 hours if you rent many of the electronic versions)
- Internet bandwidth and infrastructure aren't wasted, hey it even plays in portable players and you won't max out your data cap
- video dithering is minimized as DVD's (assuming no scratch) are designed for massive data rates when needed
Our last video store in the area just closed, so this is our last bastion of variety without subscribing to a handful of services that cost $15/mo or so each.
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No way. 5G isnt as fast as fiber even, its basically a lower quality version of a fiber optic internet line that a lot of people have already. Physical media lets you actually own what you are buying rather than having everything disappear one day if the streaming company folds, and allows you to pay once for a movie if you want, rather than for every viewing. Also, there is the used market and rentals which are harder to do, where you can buy and sell used DVDs. Streamings just one big scam and people will
Still one of the better media deals (Score:2)
They still have most things I think of that I want to watch, especially TV series, so it's just a matter of waiting.
Did Netflix deliver more or less then AOL? (Score:1)
DVD is way to go (Score:2)
DVD rental is the way to go, you get most of the titles rather than the slim pickings with streaming. Buying a DVD also makes sense if you want to watch many times and you really like something, since you actually own a physical copy and dont have to pay for every viewing. The DVD also allows for a used market.
Really streaming is for suckers and people who rely on that are going to be milked for all they are worth for all of the subscriptions for a bunch of different services with different catalogs and the
What makes DVDs better (Score:2)
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The rental editions of many DVD movie releases are stripped down in that the extra features get replaced with an advertisement for the full edition.