This is an area to discuss anything that has to do with Arts & Cultural items, such as Photography, Paintings, History, Movies, Television, Music, Fashion, etc.When was the last time you....
11-06-2013, 01:44 PM
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When was the last time you....
Rented from Blockbuster?
http://www.slashfilm.com/the-end-of-...maning-stores/
Last time I rented from them, was when people still owned and used VCR's.
http://www.slashfilm.com/the-end-of-...maning-stores/
The End Of An Era: Blockbuster Video Closing All Remaning Stores
Blockbuster Video killed the mom and pop video store, and now technology has finally killed Blockbuster Video. After slowly but steadily closing down locations for the better part of a decade, the company announced Wednesday it is finally going to close the final 300 locations by early 2014, and discontinue its rental-by-mail system by the end of 2013. The brand will remain, however, offering movies digitally.
While a few indie stores will always endure, this more or less marks the official end of the video store era.
Dish Network owns Blockbuster, and released the following press release about the decision:
As someone who worked at a mom and pop video story for a decade, Blockbuster was evil for a long time. But in recent years, its perseverance was lingering heartbeat of a once-beautiful era.
Blockbuster Video killed the mom and pop video store, and now technology has finally killed Blockbuster Video. After slowly but steadily closing down locations for the better part of a decade, the company announced Wednesday it is finally going to close the final 300 locations by early 2014, and discontinue its rental-by-mail system by the end of 2013. The brand will remain, however, offering movies digitally.
While a few indie stores will always endure, this more or less marks the official end of the video store era.
Dish Network owns Blockbuster, and released the following press release about the decision:
DISH Network Corporation DISH today announced that its subsidiary, Blockbuster L.L.C., will end its retail and by mail DVD distribution operations by early-January 2014. The company will close its approximately 300 remaining U.S.-based retail stores, as well as its distribution centers.
“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” said Joseph P. Clayton, DISH president and chief executive officer. “Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”
The Blockbuster By Mail service will end mid-December and will serve existing customers until that time.
Over the past 18 months, Blockbuster has divested itself of assets in the United States, as well international assets, including operations in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. DISH will continue to support Blockbuster’s domestic and international franchise operations, relationships and agreements.
DISH will retain licensing rights to the Blockbuster brand, and key assets, including the company’s significant video library. DISH will focus on delivering the Blockbuster @Home service to DISH customers, and on its transactional streaming service for the general market, Blockbuster On Demand.
The Blockbuster @Home service offers over 15 movie channels including STARZ(R) Cinema, EPIX(R), Sony Movie Channel, and Hallmark Movie Channel, plus over 20,000 movies and TV shows streamed to TVs, computers or iPads(R). The service includes access to the Blockbuster @Home ‘app’ currently available to the millions of TVs served by DISH’s Hopper(R) Whole-Home HD DVR set-top box.
Available to anyone, Blockbuster On Demand is a transactional streaming video service offering thousands of movies viewable on connected devices including PCs, tablets, smartphones, Slingbox, Roku and select Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players. Consumers can learn more at www.blockbusternow.com.
While “Blockbuster” as a brand will survive on the Dish network, and as an on-demand option, with no more retail stores anywhere in the U.S., fans of a certain age can unfortunately close a major chapter in their lives. The chapter where, if you wanted to see a movie, you had to go and get it. The excitement of a film being on the shelf, the disappointment of it being checked out, the communal ritual of choosing a movie based on the box cover. No longer can we be kind and rewind.
DISH will retain licensing rights to the Blockbuster brand, and key assets, including the company’s significant video library. DISH will focus on delivering the Blockbuster @Home service to DISH customers, and on its transactional streaming service for the general market, Blockbuster On Demand.
The Blockbuster @Home service offers over 15 movie channels including STARZ(R) Cinema, EPIX(R), Sony Movie Channel, and Hallmark Movie Channel, plus over 20,000 movies and TV shows streamed to TVs, computers or iPads(R). The service includes access to the Blockbuster @Home ‘app’ currently available to the millions of TVs served by DISH’s Hopper(R) Whole-Home HD DVR set-top box.
Available to anyone, Blockbuster On Demand is a transactional streaming video service offering thousands of movies viewable on connected devices including PCs, tablets, smartphones, Slingbox, Roku and select Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players. Consumers can learn more at www.blockbusternow.com.
While “Blockbuster” as a brand will survive on the Dish network, and as an on-demand option, with no more retail stores anywhere in the U.S., fans of a certain age can unfortunately close a major chapter in their lives. The chapter where, if you wanted to see a movie, you had to go and get it. The excitement of a film being on the shelf, the disappointment of it being checked out, the communal ritual of choosing a movie based on the box cover. No longer can we be kind and rewind.
As someone who worked at a mom and pop video story for a decade, Blockbuster was evil for a long time. But in recent years, its perseverance was lingering heartbeat of a once-beautiful era.
Last time I rented from them, was when people still owned and used VCR's.
11-06-2013, 03:56 PM
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I've never rented from a blockbuster. We used to use Video Stop for a while, and Video Video before that, but just like you Visionz that was back when we all used Tapes.
[media]http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s16e12-a-nightmare-on-face-time[/media]
[media]http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s16e12-a-nightmare-on-face-time[/media]
11-06-2013, 08:28 PM
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Now the next chapter is people like old cranky here, who wish the titles they wanted were available without having to wait a couple days for a mailer, and there will arise local stores with broad selections. 
11-06-2013, 10:04 PM
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I don't get it
Why not just use your high-speed internet, and download whatever you want. You can choose to pay for netflix if you feel ethical, or just pirate it for free anyway. America has cheap and fast uncapped internet, I would be hitting that sh*t UP yo.
Why not just use your high-speed internet, and download whatever you want. You can choose to pay for netflix if you feel ethical, or just pirate it for free anyway. America has cheap and fast uncapped internet, I would be hitting that sh*t UP yo.
11-07-2013, 02:53 PM
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last time I rented a movie at Blockbuster was right before they closed their store in town. the rentals were expensive as hell, i think it was around $6 for a dvd. I like that Redbox is cheap but it sucks when you want to watch a movie really bad you have to drive around town to find it because the Redbox nearest you never has anything good.
Netflix is good but you have to wait a long time for the good movies to be available for streaming. it pisses me off when i "watch" a crappy movie for 5-10 mins and then it bombards you with suggestions of more crap movies based on that.
Netflix is good but you have to wait a long time for the good movies to be available for streaming. it pisses me off when i "watch" a crappy movie for 5-10 mins and then it bombards you with suggestions of more crap movies based on that.
11-07-2013, 06:58 PM
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wheels, not everyone feels like stealing intellectual property for casual entertainment. Believe it or not, even my software is licensed.
11-07-2013, 10:23 PM
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Yeah you don't have to pirate it, there are other legal services available such as iTunes and Netflix. Still though, it's ridiculously easy and basically consequence free. That's why it's so popular I suppose.
There was an interesting TED talk about how everybody cheats a tiny bit if they can get away with it. Few people will try and cheat a huge amount, but for small things... look at littering and internet piracy.
Dan Ariely is a boss social scientist; look him up.
There was an interesting TED talk about how everybody cheats a tiny bit if they can get away with it. Few people will try and cheat a huge amount, but for small things... look at littering and internet piracy.
Dan Ariely is a boss social scientist; look him up.