I first got NetFlix when I couldn't find a movie to rent locally. I was watching through the Halloween series, and I wasn't able to find 4 and 5 anywhere locally. And that's how I ended up signing up for NetFlix, because they had those movies. Then I decided to keep it, and never canceled it. I think I had a 3-at-a-time plan before, but I've had the 2-at-a-time plan for the longest while now. In fact, I've been grandfathered into an old price for the 2 disc plan. At one point, I signed up for BD by mail, but it was too expensive IMO. But I've rented hundreds of DVDs from NetFlix over the years. I'm really sad to see the service go away.
I love those little red envelopes. They will occasionally do different themes. Like horror in October, which includes horror themed stuff inside like a crossword puzzle or adlibs. Sure, occasionally you get a busted disc. But in my experience, it was more of a rare occasion.
I bet most people don't know this, but there's a NetFlix DVD phone app. It's been on my home screen for years. If someone is talking about a movie that sounds interesting, I pull out my phone and add it to my NetFlix queue right there on the spot.
When I first signed up, they just seemed to have EVERYTHING. Even really obscure movies, they had it. Someone already mentioned this, but I've been seeing more and more titles appear on the "unavailable" list. That and, "short wait" and "long wait" became more common. And on top of that, I swear there use to be a closer NetFlix shipping facility to me. If I mailed a DVD back, they'd get it on the next mail day. Now it can take a few days to get to the closest facility, which is in Jersey. It was even worse during the pandemic when the mail was incredibly slow. My local library does have a decent movie section, but nothing will beat the convenience of mailing them back and forth. Also, coming home from work to find a red envelope in the mail box was always a treat.
I will miss the service, but I'm also saddened by what this ultimately means. DVDs are going the way of the dodo.
Limewater wrote:Originally streaming was just thrown in for free, but you were limited on the number of hours you could stream per month based upon the price of your plan. If you were on the $8.99 single disc plan (I think it was $8.99 at the time) you could stream 9 hours.
The streaming quality at the time was pretty low.
The first movie we ever streamed was Anaconda.
YES! I remember when they first implemented streaming. The first thing I streamed was Law and Order: Criminal Intent. However many dollars you paid a month was how many hours of streaming you got LOL. Like, remember when cell phone plans didn't include unlimited minutes or texts?
Hour long TV shows are more like 42 minutes without commercials. I can remember counting how many hours I was streaming to know how many I had left. At one point, I didn't have enough to finish an episode. But it turns out it didn't cut off service in the middle of streaming something, so that was nice. IIRC, they switched it a couple of times before going to unlimited streaming. And then separate streaming and DVD plans.
When NetFlix started streaming, I didn't have any smart devices to stream with (mostly because they didn't exist). Not long after they launched streaming, you could order disc from them that allowed you to stream on a Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360. I still have the Wii and PS3 disc. But the first way I streamed was from my PC, since it was already hooked up to my TV. But that meant no remote, I'd have to get up and use the mouse at my desk if I wanted to pause or rewind or something.