physical discs

[tozka]

I used Netflix’s DVD mail service to watch movies instead of TV for a year:

At some point toward the end of last year, my husband and I realized that watching TV wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Oh, the watching itself was as easy and pleasant as ever. Every night after our toddler went to bed, we’d gulp down a few episodes of the hot prestige series of the moment. But in between “big” shows, we’d spend weeks half-watching familiar sitcom reruns while scrolling through our phones. We were in a rut.

And so we decided to try something new in 2019: We would spend the year watching movies, and only movies—not as a backup plan when we were between TV shows, but as intentional programming. The idea was to reset our screen habits, and perhaps to do a bit of cultural self-improvement along the way.

I really like this idea! I mean, I love streaming. It's VERY convenient and takes up much less room than a roomful of DVDs.

However, I totally relate to that first paragraph. I spend way too much time scrolling through lists trying to find something to watch. It is NOT fun; it's exhausting. I usually just end up rewatching something I've already seen, or leaving Youtube on auto-watch.

I'm not super worried about changing things right now, but I'm thinking I'll take the opportunity during RV living to switch over to something else besides stream-dependent.* Either I'll go back to DVDs, or I'll just watch stuff I've downloaded, or I'll...read a book! Something.

*This'll also be easier as streaming on the road can be iffy at best.

Comments

[olivermoss]

I kind of like youtube for mindless viewing. There is a weird way in which streaming controls what you watch, though. Whether they have the Scrubs license right now determines if you watch it. It's a limited menu instead of what you like best.

For a long time I stopped watching procedural just because they weren't being licensed.

[tozka]

Yeah, and with so many more channels/companies starting their own streaming services (and thus removing their licensed IPs from other streaming services), it's become even more annoying to find something to watch.

I do find it interesting how I seem to be swinging the opposite way from how I thought I'd enjoy media 10 years ago. Like, when Netflix first started its streaming service, it was super exciting! I wanted more streaming! And I kept going deeper into the streaming thing, adding more services whenever I needed something "new." But now I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, and it seems easier just to go back to DVDs (though perhaps a bit more expensive). Or piracy, I guess. :P

[honigfrosch]

The last time I was unemployed also coincided with my not having reliable internet access for four months, so I renewed my library card and checked out the local offerings for DVDs. It was nice! Sure, a lot of the "hot stuff" wasn't available, but I ended up watching a lot of movies I would otherwise not have deemed worthy of a look or simply didn't know about because they were too niche, and I was often positively surprised. I'll never forget "Stopped On Track" (2011), a really tough watch but amazingly acted drama about a man with terminal brain cancer and how his family deals with his deteriorating health and eventual death.

Currently I still have the remaining days of my free month of Netflix, but I can't make up my mind on whether to keep it and pay. It's mainly a handful of current series and older documentaries I am/was interested in, while the movie offerings disappoint me and I'm not sure that's enough to keep the subscription going. Especially because I notice similar effects like what you described, scrolling endlessly to even find something to add to my "to watch" list, and often i's not something I NEED to see either.

[tozka]

I do think Netflix probably still has the "best" stuff (especially re: TV shows), even if they've lost a lot due to other companies pulling their IPs to put on their own streaming services. They've been filling the gap pretty well with their own creations. But if you're not interested in the Netflix-created shows, then maybe it's not worth keeping.

I'd check to see if your library has Kanopy or a similar service-- there's a lot of documentaries on there, as well as older movies. And it's free!

[honigfrosch]

Unwittingly I have now subscribed to Netflix anyway--I misremembered the cutoff date which was December 23rd, not the 30th. However, NAILED IT! is giving me life, so I am going to keep Netflix for now. Cancelling is possible anytime without hassle, so that's a plus.

Unfortunately, Kanopy doesn't seem to be available outside the US. But I found out that German libraries are trying to build a similar service (filmfriend.de), and in case I renew my library card I will try it--their documentaries in particular look interesting and they offer a lot of "niche" material.

[jesse_the_k]

So much time wasted adding crap to my list! (The good news is this sort of hoarding doesn't lead to mold & infestations.)

I'm lucky my library has great DVD and BluRay holdings. I'm sorry this means anything before 1990 is ancient history.

[tozka]

I went through and cleared out my "to watch" list on Netflix, since there was stuff on there from 2018 that I still hadn't watched. Starting fresh with an empty list is kinda fun!

[yourlibrarian]

We get Netflix discs too, which is convenient for making up the difference in things like all these scattered content aggregators. There are plenty of things that are still on the "currently unavailable" list but it's fairly easy for me to go through and mark stuff I want to see on it. The DVD queue is rather like a viewing list.

However I don't really run into that problem of "what to watch next" because I'm often changing subscriptions every few months so there's always something I want to see that's on another service. And I see so many recommendations of things going by here or elsewhere that it's usually just a matter or not being able to see something yet.

[tozka]

Do you keep your own dedicated list of things you want to watch, or just keep it informal? Apparently lots of people like Letterboxd for keeping track of movies (I haven't really used it myself, but it does look cool).

[yourlibrarian]

Sort of, yes. My DVD queue at Netflix keeps track of movies for me. I don't usually pay much attention to them but this year before I signed up (temporarily) to AMC Stubs, I checked what the year's release schedule was to see if there would be enough films out I'd want to see to make it worthwhile. And after I cancelled it I went ahead and stuck the remaining ones into the Netflix queue for when they become available.

For TV shows I do actually keep a written list, just as a file on my computer. These days it's important to also track the service they're on, so I find that saves time.