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Best Buy may end DVD and Blu-ray sales early next year
The news follows shortly after Netflix ended its DVD delivery service.
Netflix mails its final DVDs to subscribers
Netflix is shipping its final DVD rentals, marking the end of an era that helped make the company the streaming behemoth it is today.
America's largest independent video store is taking its DVD-by-mail service nationwide
Scarecrow, the largest independent video store in the US, has launched its own rent-by-mail service that will send DVDs and Blu-ray discs straight to your door.
![Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix Inc., the online DVD-rental service, holds several DVDs as he poses at the Netflix offices in Beverly Hills, California, December 8, 2005. [Netflix has come out on top in a yearlong struggle against rival Blockbuster Inc. ]](https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/AuIzH2_wdEsm_Fkb5EjU9Q--~B/Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQ2ODtweW9mZj0wO3c9ODMyO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2023-04/a08e3f30-de20-11ed-b7df-3834c4301dbb.cf.jpg)
Netflix will shut down its DVD rental business in September
Netflix is shutting down its DVD rental business in September after 25 years.
‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ is coming to Blu-ray in the US for the first time
Neon Genesis Evangelion is getting its first Blu-ray release in North America as part of a limited edition box set.
Star Trek animated comedy 'Lower Decks' heads to Blu-ray on May 18th
Star Trek fans rejoice as animated parody 'Lower Decks' hits Blu-ray this May, with plenty of special features and a steelbook edition.
PlayStation 2 can play homebrew games by using DVD player exploits
A software engineer has discovered that you can 'hack' the PlayStation 2 to play homebrew games by feeding it specially crafted DVDs.
My favorite PlayStation 2 game was DVDs
The PlayStation 2 was the first game console I ever bought. Heck, it was the first big ticket item I ever bought, period. That was a big deal at a time when I was only making $135 a week, and most of that cash was going toward college costs: tuition, textbooks and transportation. So I had to save up for months, while also finding a way to justify the high cost to myself (and my skeptical mother). The PS2 had one trump card in its deck, one thing that I could point at and say, "Look, it's not just a game machine, I didn't waste my money on such a single-use luxury!" It could play DVDs. It was in fact, my first DVD player.
Redbox will stop selling Disney movie codes as part of settlement
Disney's lawsuit against Redbox is over, and it's not great news for Redbox. The two sides have agreed to a settlement that will have Redbox stop the sale of movie download codes from Disney disc packs. Attorneys for Disney had accused Redbox of violating copyright by offering the codes separately from the discs that went into rental kiosks. Redbox had accused Disney of anti-competitive behavior and succeeded in thwarting a preliminary injunction that would have blocked sales, but its defense fell apart after Disney reworked the disc packs' terms to make code access contingent on how you bought the movies rather than physical ownership.
Netflix has shipped 5 billion discs
Streaming dominates Netflix's universe, but don't think its disc-based service is dead yet -- in fact, it just marked a big milestone. The other part of Netflix's business just shipped its 5 billionth disc (Rocketman, if you're curious) 21 years after deliveries began. Many of those discs shipped back when streaming was just a nice-to-have bonus at Netflix, but it's still a significant achievement at a time when fewer and fewer people have disc players.
Netflix puts a 'Patriot Act' episode about bad internet access on DVD
The latest episode of Netflix variety talk show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj focuses on the digital divide. In it, Minhaj breaks down some of the many reasons why internet access is so terrible across much of the US, including the roles of carriers and the Federal Communications Commission.
Redbox, Lionsgate deal keeps new movies in kiosks
Lionsgate has signed a multi-year agreement with Redbox on its titles, including day-and-date distribution for its discs. Films from the studio will be available to rent at Redbox's 42,000 kiosks on the same day they go on sale. It's a good sign for the DVD rental operator, which continues to stay in business despite declines in disc sales and rentals since the advent of streaming.
Redbox will rent Warner Bros. films on release day (updated)
Redbox's new deal with Warner Bros. to make all its movies available for rental the day they're released on home video. The previous agreement delayed arrivals until a week after they'd come out for consumer market. Now, not only can folks pick them up on DVD in the company's signature kiosks, they can also access them via the provider's Redbox On Demand service.
‘Babylon 5’ is great, so why does it look so bad?
When the histories of this golden age of television are written, they will likely begin with The Sopranos. But that would be a mistake because the template a lot of modern-day TV copies was instead created by Babylon 5. A decade before The Wire would be hailed as a "novel for television," B5 was a hyper-serialized grand story that was conceived as a single five-year epic.
Alamo Drafthouse to open video rental store with rare VHS tapes
Do you miss the days when finding a movie to watch meant browsing the local video store, hoping that you'd stumble across some rare gem? Alamo Drafthouse sure does. After amassing collections from small shops, the enthusiast-driven theater chain is opening a "reimagining" of rental stores, Video Vortex, that will sit in the lobby of the company's future Raleigh location. It'll include Blu-ray and DVD titles, but the real highlight will be a "massive" selection of rare VHS tapes, some of which never made the leap to digital. Alamo will even rent you a VCR (complete with an RCA-to-HDMI adapter), since you probably don't have one hooked up to your 4K TV.
Disney sues Redbox for reselling DVD download codes
Disney isn't too happy with Redbox at the moment. The short-term movie rental service has been selling the download codes that come with the Disney discs it buys and subsequently lends out to customers. The Wall Street Journal reports that unlike other studios, Redbox doesn't have a distribution deal in place with Disney and as a result, it has to buy discs at retail. Then, it sells the download slips to customers at its kiosks for between $7.99 and $14.99.
Sky Store lets you scrap the DVD for a cheaper digital download
When the Sky Store's "Buy & Keep" option first launched in 2014, it offered the best of both worlds: A digital copy of a film (and later, TV box sets) to download and watch immediately, followed by a physical DVD copy to add to your collection when it eventually turned up in the post. Times have changed since then, though, and these days physical disc sales are dwindling as streaming and downloads become ever more popular. Embracing this shift, Sky is changing how Buy & Keep works this week, allowing you to sack off the DVD or Blu-ray copy for a cheaper, digital-only purchase.
Netflix’s DVD queue app is available on Android
Earlier this year, Netflix released a new app that allows users to manage their DVD queues. That feature had previously been available on Netflix apps until an update in 2011 removed it, but surprisingly the now separate DVD portion of Netflix is still profitable and used by around four million people. So while it may have seemed like a "why now" sort of move, it apparently made sense with so many people still choosing to rent DVDs. However, that app was released in January and only for iOS and it has taken until now for the company to release an Android version.
Next 'MST3K' DVD box set could be its last
The cult of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is currently in full swing. There's the gleefully cheesy Netflix revival, which came off the back of a successful Kickstarter from the show's creator Joel Hodgson. And, Twitch recently aired a six-day long MST3K binge-fest for b-movie devotees. While streaming services have stepped in to continue its legacy, those seeking physical copies of the show are in for a hard time. Distributor Shout! Factory's plans to release more DVDs of the series just hit a speed bump. In a post on the show's Facebook page, it claims that MST3K Volume 39 will "likely" be the last collection of unreleased episodes of the show.
Redbox bets DVD rental kiosks are making a comeback
Redbox has spent years trying to reduce its dependence on disc rentals, and not without reason. You don't have much as incentive to rent from a kiosk when online video (including from Redbox) is just a heartbeat away. That doesn't mean the company is giving up on the idea, though -- in fact, it just made a fresh commitment to the concept. CEO Galen Smith has revealed that Redbox will add a net total of 1,500 new DVD kiosks across the US, and will add more still in 2018. Don't think of this as an attempt to pretend the internet doesn't exist, mind you. Instead, it's about a smarter use of resources.
