By Charles Miller
This news is going to have absolutely zero impact on readers here in Mexico, but I have friends north of the border who are quite disappointed to learn that those bright red envelopes will no longer be appearing in their mailbox as they have for the last quarter century. Netflix is killing off its old DVD rental-by-mail business. Financially this was probably inevitable because the company receives most of its revenue from streaming content online. Still, this is a good opportunity to look at why the DVD rental-by-mail service was so beloved by its hard-core users. There are actually several good reasons for wanting to have that shiny round digital video disk in your hand.
First and foremost is the fact that having a movie on a DVD completely eliminates the interruptions that all too often come with streaming over an internet connection. Next is the reality that even though Netflix offers streaming access to 6,000 movies (that varies by country) the Internet Movie Database lists over one million titles. Due to a mess of legal licensing issues, some movies are available for streaming only for a limited time while others probably never will be available online. Obviously, a lot of the classics are not available for streaming but not to worry because many of them can be purchased on DVD.
For some movie lovers one of the most appreciated reasons for buying DVDs can be found in the special features and bonus content they can include. Features can range from deleted scenes, interviews with the cast or crew, to critiques and commentaries (sometimes called the Director’s Apology Track).
For those studying a foreign language it can be educational if you can find a DVD of your favorite movie classic—one that includes multiple language and subtitle tracks. You can enjoy watching in English with Spanish subtitles afterward listening to the Spanish voice track while being helped along with the English subtitles.
DVDs offer superior audiovisual quality with uncompressed high-quality image and sound. Some DVDs come with enhanced audio options like Dolby Digital or DTS while streaming online always uses heavy compression to save bandwidth resulting in a much lower-quality viewing experience. Granted, sometimes the quality of a DVD is lousy, and sometimes the copies are bootlegged, but legitimate DVD disks do have advantages over streaming online.
Last but not least, one reason for buying a DVD is the little-known issue of cinematographic vandalism. Oscar-winning movie director Steven Spielberg now says, “I never should have done that,” referring to the politically correct edits he made to “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” in 2002 for its 20th anniversary re-release. He had digitally edited the original to remove law enforcement officers’ guns replacing them with non-lethal walkie talkies. Another 20 years after doing that Spielberg has come down firmly against such censorship and we can hope that having someone of his stature speaking out will encourage others to stand against the rewriting of history and who is in favor of artistic freedom.
Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 415 101 8528 or email FAQ8@SMAguru.com.
