zlacker

Netflix was still competing with blu-ray/DVD/cable at that point.

"why should I watch TV on the fiddly computer when I can just pop a disc in?" or "why should I turn on Netflix when there's clearly stuff on cable TV?" -- that was Netflix's competition in those days. Because there was competition, they had to lower prices and improve service to win consumers.

Now, that competition is being destroyed. Rest assured, Netflix will use this market power to extract more from the consumer.

>>mlsu+(OP)
Netflix is still "competing" with discs at this point, although I would accept that discs aren't exactly winning. Most of the content I watch comes from blu-rays, and with a few exceptions (The Americans, grr), most of the things I want to watch have been released on disc. In fact, there is a small community of film enthusiasts who continue to purchase media outright, e.g., https://www.blu-ray.com.

I started using Netflix in 2001 as a DVD subscriber. It was wonderful for nearly 20 years. I ended up canceling before the service officially ended because it was clear that the writing was on the wall and the service was going downhill fast. You used to be able to get nearly any movie or TV series, domestic or foreign. It's a lot more work to find good stuff now, even with streaming in the mix.

>>raddan+s2
I think the main reason they aren't competing as much now is that blu ray players / computers with disc drives / consoles with disc drives are getting more scarce?

I don't even know where I would get a good blu ray drive. The videophile subreddits keep suggesting very specific models with flashed firmware, which is not exactly accomodating to the public.

>>nemoma+73
The causality might be backwards there. Blu ray and other disk players are likely becoming scarce because people are using them less rather than people using them less because the devices are scarce.

What happened to Netflix DVD by mail was that Redbox ate its lunch, which ultimately was also a failing business model.

>>raddan+s2
> Netflix is still "competing" with discs at this point

An increasing number of shows are never getting released on physical media to prevent this. The only thing streaming services are competing with in any meaningful way is piracy and I'm guessing piracy is going to get more and more popular the more greed/enshittification keeps making streaming platforms worse

>>diab0l+28
I didn't even realize that Redbox had shut down. I only used them once or twice.

Ultimately there was just so much content available with a click for people (who collectively are mostly not that fussy) for "free" (subscription) or at most by a payment from their TV rooms.

>>nemoma+73
Amazon will happily ship you a Panasonic player (and you can get one of those that the firmware flashing people talk about). The current batch that would play 4K Bluray discs is really nice and as a side effect upscale DVDs to something that’s almost acceptable for normal TVs. No need to flash the firmware if you’re good watching content from your region and don’t mind skipping restrictions. The region problem is mostly about wanting to play American discs in Europe.