Video Stores: the fading industry

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#1520524 27-Mar-2016 19:02

Nvidia Shield TV and Netflix HD?

And Netflix UHD is an option if you have the kit and connection speed.

Content on the other hand is a different question i.e. as to whether it meets your needs.

Kiwifruta

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#1520538 27-Mar-2016 20:08

Dingbatt:
BarTender:
Dingbatt: Yes. Our last video store within a reasonable driving distance (a video-ezy) closed two weeks ago. I am now faced with a dilemma, 3 Blu-ray players and HT Receivers capable of full HD video and hi-def audio (DD True Audio, DTS-HD MA, Atmos, etc) and nothing to play on them. I am considering joining Fatso as an alternative, but there is no "let's watch a movie tonight" capability with that service.
Streaming is obviously the way of the future, which is fine if you have a fast enough connection. We are due to get fibre in 2019.

I find the view that streaming isn't possible in NZ surprising. With 14mb ADSL I have no problems with 1 Netflix and 1 or 2 YouTube streams going at the same time.
The vast majority of broadband people have over 10mb adsl which is sufficient. And for those under that speed the availability of wireless ISPs or RBI mobile broadband means that it's a reality now.
It's only for the extremely remote rural folks who can't get coverage and are stuck with Satellite who are not ok.

All the major ISPs have local CDN caches. So its really not a capacity issue.

Streaming at Blu-ray quality (video and audio)?

Download with an expiry would be my preference.

I've never used them, but I hear iTunes and Google Play Movies offer downloads.

JimmyH

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#1520547 27-Mar-2016 20:34

Geektastic:

There's little doubt IMV that BluRay is way better picture quality, sound etc than streamed.

I've actually just suspended my Fatso membership (can't quit on line for some reason and couldn't be bothered to ring them) after realising I had had 4 discs since July last and had not watched one of them yet.

To be honest, just watching what is on Sky each night plus what I record from that provides more content than we can actually watch, given that we do not watch TV much more than a couple of hours a day.

Indeed. I have a massive backlog of unrecorded material that "looked interesting at the time" recorded from Sky. With over a hundred unwatched films queued up, and 7 movie channels available to source new material, there isn't much of an imperative to go and hunt up more content from other sources. Particularly given that I only watch 3-4 hours of TV a week. Laziness and sunk cost trumps all I'm afraid.

However, for friends/family on a good home theatre system, bluray is much better quality than the alternatives (and I meant to say that the quality of blu-ray was better than streaming, not rentals, in my original post). It puzzles me why many people seem prepared to spend $5-10,000 on astonishingly good home theatre setups (1080p projectors and 7.2 sound etc), spend a lot of time researching it and getting it set up correctly, and then settle for DVD and other low quality options as the content source.

I might rent disks if there was a convenient source with a good range of reasonably priced blu-rays. But I doubt I will ever rent a DVD again.

But it's a narrow window. Higher quality HD streaming and pay TV feeds will soon close that niche down too, just like it did for DVDs.

Dingbatt

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#1520550 27-Mar-2016 20:43

Kiwifruta:
I've never used them, but I hear iTunes and Google Play Movies offer downloads.

But my point is, how will they look/sound on a 120" projector screen and a 7.1 sound system? And what do you play them on?
The same goes for Netflix and Sky Box Office as well.

It's fine if you want to watch it on your lcd TV with its puny stereo speakers, or even a tablet with headphones. But as someone who has invested a lot in a Home Theatre, it doesn't cut the mustard.
Streaming has killed the video store, but a quality replacement for being able to hire a Blu-ray on a whim isn't readily available. And it's an even worse proposition if you have invested in UHD.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Kiwifruta

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#1520555 27-Mar-2016 20:54

Dingbatt:
Kiwifruta:
I've never used them, but I hear iTunes and Google Play Movies offer downloads.

But my point is, how will they look/sound on a 120" projector screen and a 7.1 sound system? And what do you play them on?
The same goes for Netflix and Sky Box Office as well.

Its fine if you want to watch it on your lcd TV with its puny stereo speakers, or even a tablet with headphones. But as someone who has invested a lot in a Home TheatreTheatre, it doesn't cut the mustard.
Streaming has killed the video store, but a quality replacement for being able to hire a Blu-ray on a whim isn't readily available. And it's an even worse proposition if you have invested in UHD.

What I was thinking was because they offer downloads as opposed to streaming then perhaps the video is less compressed resulting in better quality video and audio. I have read good things about Vudu too. Although all the reviews I've read have concluded that blu-ray offered the best experience.

joff_nz

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#1520690 28-Mar-2016 10:45

There's obviously some value to people in renting physical discs, but the large format stores are clearly not sustainable. Maybe a vending machine model would work better.

Highish cost to entry - say $30 one off to 'Join', then rentals cheaper - about $3-$4 with no specific time limit but limited to two discs out at a time per user. This removes the problem of having to rush it back and avoids the administration costs of chasing people up. One person could maintain 50 machines - visit ten a day so each machine gets checked once a week to rotate titles & maintain stock levels.

Could then be located in high traffic areas (like the train station mentioned above)

DarthKermit

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#1520728 28-Mar-2016 12:42

^^^

I remember seeing a similar thing in rural parts of England a while back on TV. Country shops the equivalent of what we call the corner dairy are closing down at a rapid rate. Some company had introduced vending machines where you could buy quite a large range of basic items in rural villages.

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JimmyH

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#1520734 28-Mar-2016 13:01

joff_nz:

There's obviously some value to people in renting physical discs, but the large format stores are clearly not sustainable. Maybe a vending machine model would work better.

I agree that larger format stores doing solely rentals aren't really sustainable. But I have often wondered whether a store that does other things (eg a service station) could make money by having a corner of the shop for disk rentals, and spread the fixed costs and staff costs across that and other parts of their business as well.

Since they are already paying for premises and staff, it might be viable to tack rentals on as a sideline. Plus, there are probably people who wouldn't go out just to rent a disk, but might be prepared to grab a disk for the kids and some snack food when they stop for petrol on a cold winter night?

sen8or

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#1522182 29-Mar-2016 12:47

Former video store owner here -

We "got out" about 18 months ago now, we were probably the last store in a mall location (Hornby Mall) and the rent we were paying was astronomical. Business has been slowly declining, but with costs continuing to go up, we took the landlords offer to surrender the lease without penalty. We got out just before the next downturn which seemed to happen quickly and without mercy (the 3 remaining civics in the Christchurch area all started selling off / closing down in the same week late last year).

I think there is still a future for physical rental, but Im not sure what format that will be.

As pointed out above, Fatso is an option, but it doesn't satisfy the "what do I feel like watching tonight" need.

Streaming is also an option, with rentals from Apple and Google, but brings into account quality and reliability issues (although I find "modern" movies on Netflix look pretty good on a 92inch 720p projector screen, better than DVD but not as good as Blu-ray).

Civic trialed kiosks in Australia, in prominent locations (train stations, busy malls etc), not a single one paid for itself, utilization just wasn't there. there are / were some kiosks in NZ but I dont know the viability / profitability of those, I would suspect they are no better than the ones trialed in aussie.

Our local Ezy (which remarkably changed ownership in the last year) has the right approach, using the video shop to bring in customers for a supplementary business, he knows he won't make much on DVD / Blu-ray but its a good customer base. I think this is the only way rental will survive, as an add on to another business. I wouldn't expect to see much in the way of back catalog, but maybe as new releases taking up a wall / stand somewhere in a shop. So long as they keep stock rotating, it may work.

reven

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#1522197 29-Mar-2016 13:43

vudu does HDX (1080p 7.1), and you can download to computer/ps3 (only ps3, no ps4/xbox) to watch later.

personally I do still buy the ocassional bluray, but only off trademe or MA/warehouse when theyre on special and never pay more than $10 for them, more often than not around $5 for them (with free shipping from MightyApe)

Smithy100

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#1522219 29-Mar-2016 14:05

There was a vending machine in the neighbourhood I lived in in Brissy that was relatively well utilised - quite surprised I'd never seen any here in NZ.

hsvhel

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#1522221 29-Mar-2016 14:11

Theres a vending machine in the local supermarket i go to. It gets well used from what i've seen. although its the only one i can think of locally

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reven

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#1522224 29-Mar-2016 14:14

Smithy100:

There was a vending machine in the neighbourhood I lived in in Brissy that was relatively well utilised - quite surprised I'd never seen any here in NZ.

I seen heaps of these around, only in countdowns and paknsaves though. all over south auckland.

joshhill96

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#1522225 29-Mar-2016 14:20

My United Video store is now in its last few days, it closes in a few days to make way to extend a gym that's right next door, it's sold almost everything in store, consoles, Blu Ray, DVD's you know it.

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#1522228 29-Mar-2016 14:33

Our local Civic (Whangaparaoa) still seems to get a bit of business, but as someone pointed out, mainly DVDs, only a small set of Bluray.

As for the vending machines, seen a few around but never actually seen anyone use one.

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