randy_byers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
randy_byers) wrote2010-12-23 11:45 am
randy_byers) wrote2010-12-23 11:45 am
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This year in home video
This year saw two major developments in home video that are creating a fair amount of dissonance and conflict in my poor widdle bwain.
First (although it came second chronologically), I finally signed up for Netflix when it became apparent that the era of streaming had finally arrived. Now, I ended up getting the plan where you can have one DVD at a time along with unlimited streaming, so I've probably ended up watching as many DVDs through Netflix as I have streamed movies. The bottom line is that Netflix gives me access to more movies than I can possibly hope to watch and seriously undercuts my old tendency of buying DVDs of movies I was curious about but then ended up only wanting to watch once. Now I can watch them once via Netflix and forget about them. This has the possibility of saving me from the clutter that DVD collecting (on top of book collecting, not to mention fanzines) has caused in my little basement cavern.
The second development (which actually came first in my personal chronology), however, is pushing me to only increase my clutter. This is the growing tendency of corporations with large film libraries to offer their more obscure films on burn-on-demand disks. This started with the Warner Archive, and has now spread to other companies such as Sony with their Columbia Classics. These disks are not available from Netflix, and they tend to be the kind of obscure gems that cinephiles adore. For example, I recently picked up William Cameron Menzies' 1944 anti-Nazi film Address Unknown from Columbia Classics and Fritz Lang's 1955 pirate movie Moonfleet from the Warner Archive. Warner alone has put out such a flood of titles in the past year that I have had to nail my hand to my desk to prevent it from clicking the Purchase Now button on many titles I'm curious about but might end up only watching once.
It's not clear to me which tendency will win out. Warner Archive has made some of their films available as downloads that you can watch as many times as you want, but I tried it a couple times and didn't like the interface or the $15 price. It still seems possible, even likely, that downloads or streaming will completely replace burn-on-demand in the near future.
On that front, I suppose it's also worth mentioning that Netflix has been increasing the number of movies available via streaming that aren't available on DVD. I've been halfway thinking about doing a post on some of the great titles that are available this way, including Frank Borzage's Moonrise (1948) (which I've wanted to see for years), Max Ophuls Caught (1949), and Mitchell Leisen's No Man of Her Own (1950) -- or for that matter, Derek Jarman's radical adaptation of The Tempest (1979). Again, I can't even keep up with what's available on Netflix streaming, and yet my eyes (and clicking finger) still stray to titles in other formats.
It's a glut, I tell you. The home video market is undergoing massive changes, and more and more obscure titles are becoming available one way or another. We live in interesting times that way.
First (although it came second chronologically), I finally signed up for Netflix when it became apparent that the era of streaming had finally arrived. Now, I ended up getting the plan where you can have one DVD at a time along with unlimited streaming, so I've probably ended up watching as many DVDs through Netflix as I have streamed movies. The bottom line is that Netflix gives me access to more movies than I can possibly hope to watch and seriously undercuts my old tendency of buying DVDs of movies I was curious about but then ended up only wanting to watch once. Now I can watch them once via Netflix and forget about them. This has the possibility of saving me from the clutter that DVD collecting (on top of book collecting, not to mention fanzines) has caused in my little basement cavern.
The second development (which actually came first in my personal chronology), however, is pushing me to only increase my clutter. This is the growing tendency of corporations with large film libraries to offer their more obscure films on burn-on-demand disks. This started with the Warner Archive, and has now spread to other companies such as Sony with their Columbia Classics. These disks are not available from Netflix, and they tend to be the kind of obscure gems that cinephiles adore. For example, I recently picked up William Cameron Menzies' 1944 anti-Nazi film Address Unknown from Columbia Classics and Fritz Lang's 1955 pirate movie Moonfleet from the Warner Archive. Warner alone has put out such a flood of titles in the past year that I have had to nail my hand to my desk to prevent it from clicking the Purchase Now button on many titles I'm curious about but might end up only watching once.
It's not clear to me which tendency will win out. Warner Archive has made some of their films available as downloads that you can watch as many times as you want, but I tried it a couple times and didn't like the interface or the $15 price. It still seems possible, even likely, that downloads or streaming will completely replace burn-on-demand in the near future.
On that front, I suppose it's also worth mentioning that Netflix has been increasing the number of movies available via streaming that aren't available on DVD. I've been halfway thinking about doing a post on some of the great titles that are available this way, including Frank Borzage's Moonrise (1948) (which I've wanted to see for years), Max Ophuls Caught (1949), and Mitchell Leisen's No Man of Her Own (1950) -- or for that matter, Derek Jarman's radical adaptation of The Tempest (1979). Again, I can't even keep up with what's available on Netflix streaming, and yet my eyes (and clicking finger) still stray to titles in other formats.
It's a glut, I tell you. The home video market is undergoing massive changes, and more and more obscure titles are becoming available one way or another. We live in interesting times that way.