Netflix Exiting Disc Rental Business After 25 Years

[whiteberry]

After an incredible 25 year run, we’ve decided to wind down DVD.com later this year. Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult. So we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final discs on September 29, 2023.

Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming. From the beginning, our members loved the choice and control that direct-to-consumer entertainment offered: the wide variety of the titles and the ability to binge watch entire series. DVDs also led to our first foray into original programming — with Red Envelope Entertainment titles including Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion.

We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees achieved and excited to continue pleasing entertainment fans for many more decades to come.

To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.

-Ted Sarandos

https://about.netflix.com/en/news/ne...e-final-season

[Moviefan2k4]

My ex-girlfriend had Netflix in 2005, so she would get discs in the mail every few days. I was amazed by the number of titles offered, and how the whole queue system worked. It was definitely impressive for its time.

[Underworld54]

It's for the best, it got to the point where everything I wanted to watch was stuck in queue for weeks at a time.

[The Debts]

Just got the email today. Holy hell was that upsetting to see.

Well, I guess it's had its day.

[dvdvhsvcd]

long overdue

[avs commenter]

hard to believe at one time that system was a convenient way to get movies

[filmbuffTX]

I subscribed to Blockbuster Video's Disc by Mail service for years until they went out of business. It was superior to Netflix's in that you could return the movie to a physical store and trade it in for a movie on the shelf. Meanwhile your next movie in the queue is on the way. So you were never without a movie. I tried Netflix's service once too.

[Stanis]

Welp, guess ill have to switch to another service by september

[erixon20]

Originally Posted by Stanis

Welp, guess ill have to switch to another service by september

I guess I will also. I have had this since 2005. The mail always had a bigger selection than their streaming.

[Hhal]

I only subscribed a couple of years ago. I still have not subscribed to Netflix's streaming service. Their collection of films is probably better on disc than their streaming service based on what I hear.

I just got the email not 10 minutes ago and I am sad. Even though I had a few issues with the wait for them to send the next disc (or films suddenly not being on Blu-ray anymore), I prefer it by and large to streaming generally. Now I am going to have to figure out how the hell I am going to make the most of this service's titles before it is gone in September (should I focus on Criterion discs, movies that never go on streaming, etc.).

They have literally been celebrating the 25-year anniversary for the last few months, so it is a bit surprising that they just dropped this email a couple days after I returned a disc that was rah-rah about the 25 year anniversary.

Damn I was going to go through the Saw movies this whole year too!

I wonder what the hell they are going to do about their large collection of discs. Maybe an eBay sell off?

[Hhal]

Originally Posted by Stanis

Welp, guess ill have to switch to another service by september

Wait, are there other disc-by-mail services?

[MifuneFan]

I stopped their mail service over 10 years ago. No doubt you'll get a wider selection by mail, but there is absolutely no shortage of things to watch on the streaming service. In fact, I really can't keep up with everything I still need to watch.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Hhal

I only subscribed a couple of years ago. I still have not subscribed to Netflix's streaming service. Their collection of films is probably better on disc than their streaming service based on what I hear.

I just got the email not 10 minutes ago and I am sad. Even though I had a few issues with the wait for them to send the next disc (or films suddenly not being on Blu-ray anymore), I prefer it by and large to streaming generally. Now I am going to have to figure out how the hell I am going to make the most of this service's titles before it is gone in September (should I focus on Criterion discs, movies that never go on streaming, etc.).

They have literally been celebrating the 25-year anniversary for the last few months, so it is a bit surprising that they just dropped this email a couple days after I returned a disc that was rah-rah about the 25 year anniversary.

Damn I was going to go through the Saw movies this whole year too!

I wonder what the hell they are going to do about their large collection of discs. Maybe an eBay sell off?

If you can tolerate ads, the Saw movies besides Jigsaw and Spiral are streaming for free (with ad support) at Pluto TV

https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=saw

[VictoryAtNight]

GameFly still does disc rentals.

[Gacivory]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stanis]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

If you can tolerate ads, the Saw movies besides Jigsaw and Spiral are streaming for free (with ad support) at Pluto TV

https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=saw

Ads suck... ill put up with it for obscure films and tv shows but for premium content it bites

[L.J.]

DVD to as how got started with Netflix. They had a large variety with plenty of hard to find title's.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Stanis

Ads suck... ill put up with it for obscure films and tv shows but for premium content it bites

I'm not sure how Pluto works, but I know with some other ad support sites, and services, there's usually ads at the start of a film, but nothing else for the rest of it. TV shows are different though, most for sure have a couple ad breaks.

[Hhal]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

In fact, I really can't keep up with everything I still need to watch.

Part of the reason why I preferred Netflix DVD is because I could lock in on what I wanted to watch and know I'd see title X within the next couple days/weeks instead of being overwhelmed by streaming's options. As opposed to randomly seeing Evil Dead was finally on a streaming service after nearly 8 years of never seeing it on the three-plus SVOD I pay for, I could go, "hey, I want to see the Evil Dead reboot from 2013 since Evil Dead Rises comes out Friday." Tomorrow I will get that disc, don't have to rent it digitally, and on top of it all my speaker system decodes discs played on my desktop so I can actually hear the soundtrack as it was designed on my cheap, but efficient, 5.1 system, which I can't do with virtually all of my streaming services currently.

I have gotten overwhelmed by the options on streaming, which is actually why I am trying to peel off the services I use. I want no more than two at a time. I realized quickly when I got my first streaming service that I didn't need anything else (including live TV) because the amount of "content" is staggering on something like Amazon Prime or Hulu (and I am sure Netflix) that you'd never run out of watching titles you'd want to watch. But I hate the designs of the streamers, lack of transparency with expiration, and that lack of audio decoding.