It's been about 3 years since netflix ended their rbm service correct? Please let me know if I got that wrong,

And soon after that redbox fucking folded, and I'll be honest I miss those red fucking machines at my local grocery store 😢,

Thankfully I live by a library so I tend to just rent movies there, but sadly they don't have much in the way of obscure hidden gems from the 80s that I love to discover, I usually just rent new releases there as it's free,

I've tried many of the alternatives, cafedvd, dvdinbox, gamefly, and scarecrow but sadly my budget is fucking tight right now so I'm pretty much restrained to what my local library has available and unfortunately the free fast streamers like tubi for my obscure media interest,

But I'm curious what you guys are doing? Are you subscribed to cafedvd and dvd inbox? If so, how do you like it? Do you use your local library as well?

According to this post:

Sony has reportedly left the Blu-ray UHD player market🚀

✅Sony Japan discontinued their last remaining UHD Blu-ray player, UBP-X700/K

✅This seemingly marks the company's exit from the industry

✅This leaves PlayStation 5 as the only remaining Sony Blu-Ray player

This marks another predatory move from Sony to end physical media, despite the ongoing demand for Blu-ray UHD films

NO DISC 💿 NO BUY

Source: Japanese blog Kunkoku, (also a Sony retailer) Sales officially end in Japan today

My take on this news...

Sony really is trying to destroy physical media, not just for their gaming platform, but for movies too. That is so pathetic, as they were once the major driving force behind Blu-ray.

Sony's push to get rid of PlayStation discs reminds me of the streaming "gold rush", when everyone looked at Netflix and said, "Wow, look how much money they are making! Me too!"
Then a bunch of other companies tried to make a streaming service like Netflix.

We've seen how that played out. A small group of executives and investors cashed out early. Meanwhile, that fad went on to have a devastating effect on the film & TV industry.

Some consumers are very slowly starting to realize what was lost and are getting back into physical movies again. But Sony itself is actively fighting that change by trying to suppress the supply of Blu-ray players and disc manufacturing.

On the video game side of things, Sony has declared all-out war. They are trying to move to an all-digital model. Again, trying to emulate Netflix. They want all purchases to be digital starting in 2028. Their ultimate goal is to move all PlayStation gamers to a subscription service, just like the Netflix model.

"You will own nothing and be happy."

Please delete if this breaks subs rules, I’m not trying to sell anything well at least not yet.

I have amassed around 3,500 titles not including Tv series and VHS tapes. (Photo is less than a quarter of the collection)

I’ve watched most of the films and am almost complete in my process of digitizing the collection.

Once I have digitalized everything I’m looking to cut down to sub 1000 titles to make room for other hobby’s (this takes an entire room of my house)

I’d really prefer to keep them in the DVD community and don’t want to go the thrift store route and no way I’m taking the time to list on eBay

Is this something Netflix alternative companies would be interested in?

It's been great up until two months ago, then nothing. I ask and they send some. I return and two weeks go by, nothing. I'm on the Premium two disk plan...

I think 3D Blu-ray Rental and Scarecrow Video are the only options for those few of us who enjoy 3D Blu-rays. Do you know of any other services which rent them?

3DTV production ended a decade ago but 3D projectors remain in production and high-resolution OLED VR headsets and AR glasses make them watchable anywhere.

I watch mine in my Apple Vision Pro M5 with 3660x3200 (11.7 megapixels) per eye, more than the eight megapixels of 4K (3840x2160 in 16:9). They don’t play directly from a disc player but can be easily digitized using the free program MakeMKV. My Vision Pro also gives me exclusive access to 3D movies such as the Wicked duology, No Time to Die, the Björk-narrated “Fungi: Web of Life,” and immersive productions such as “Submerged” which aren’t available in 3D (or at all) anywhere else. Autospatialization allows me to watch any 2D video in 3D. It’s not yet as good as native stereoscopy or a studio conversion but can look good enough.

The Samsung Galaxy XR has an even higher resolution of 3840x3552 (13.6MP) per eye with a taller field of view than the Vision Pro. With good headstraps and counterweights, many don’t mind the weight of these wireless headsets, and there are much lighter wired headsets such as the Pimax Dream Air and MeganeX Superlight 8K Mark II which have the same resolution as the Galaxy XR but weigh under 200 grams. The DPVR Titan, planned for release early next year, will have the same resolution in an even smaller and lighter device projected to weigh 110g.

The 100-meter CineUltra IULTRA virtual screen is significantly larger than the largest IMAX screen (which is a mere 38m) and no physical theater has a 3D OLED screen. The much higher bitrates of Blu-Ray and 4K Blu-ray compared to streaming become most apparent at these enormous screen sizes. Brightness is currently low at under 200 nits, but a prototype Samsung Galaxy XR with much higher brightness exists, and more will follow. Once virtual displays are bright enough, the virtual cinema experience will completely eclipse the best and largest televisions and projection screens—and I already prefer my Vision Pro to any physical screen, including commercial theaters.

Used Vision Pro M2s and Galaxy XRs now sell for under $1,500 on sites such as Swappa, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace, and prices will continue to fall. For $380 refurbished or under $300 used, you can watch movies in the Meta Quest 3 which has lower resolution and uses LCDs instead of OLEDs. (I don’t recommend the cheaper Quest 3S because it uses Fresnel instead of pancake lenses.)

There are also 1080p OLED AR glasses with higher brightness but more limited fields of view from companies such as XREAL, Viture, RayNeo, and Rokid. The upcoming XREAL Project Aura will have a larger FOV than current AR glasses.

Do you watch 3D Blu-rays or watch movies in VR or AR?

They sent an email that I could get on the waitlist to Beta test the service, so I did that. They’ve also added a separate TV Series section to everyone’s wishlist (not watchlist) and the email does indicate that what people add there will influence which series they add when this gets up and running. If you don’t know how to access your wishlist: click on your name in upper right corner, it’s in that menu.

Has anyone found a suitable site that can upload your Netflix DVD rental/rating history file and is a good site to manage, add to, and get good movie recommendations? I signed up for Trakt and had been off for a while and just got back on to find they deactivated my account and deleted my rating data. I tried DVDInbox, but was very disappointed with them. I am with GameFly now, but you can't upload data. So I am just looking for an independent one now.

you guys still in here?

If you believed that DVDs were a relic of the past, you are mistaken. There exists a place where beloved movies, television series, and numerous films that people have cherished have found a new home. This may very well be someone’s treasure, a diamond in the rough. If you are wondering about the location of this new home, the answer is cafédvd.com. You can register for a free account and become a viewer where you can explore a vast collection of films to rediscover cherished memories from the past or your all-time favorites. Additionally, if you possess a collection that is merely gathering dust on your shelf, you can contribute to this remarkable site by reaching out via email. They will be more than happy to welcome your donation, and you may even come to an arrangement that allows you to earn money from it. Why wait? Visit now!! Cafedvd.com

When reached for comment Netflix said: "New phone, who dis?"

Those of you that are on the 4K beta list... how's the 4K selection so far? Mainly new titles only, or are they slowly filling in back catalog stuff?

Also, how is the BluRay selection? I basically only want the highest quality stuff, even if that means a slightly longer wait for things, or having to skip the most popular things for a few weeks or months until it gets down to me in the list... but if the selection is so small that I can't be getting five or six 4K movies a month for $30 (2 out at a time + the $10 4K supplement charge), that might be a hard sell... especially since I've been a Choovie user for the last six months or so and haven't received a single non-4K disc on their 16 movies a month plan!

Also, anyone know where they ship out of? I'm in Washington State and for example, Choovie already took about 4 to 5 days to ship from Houston area in Texas (get an order selected Sunday night, get a "shipped" notification Monday, it would show up mid day Friday or occasional Saturday).