6 ms·

Really? Here in Brazil I remember Blockbuster having a fairly limited number of options, mostly the new releases. The old pop and mom video store usually had wa

Really? Here in Brazil I remember Blockbuster having a fairly limited number of options, mostly the new releases. The old pop and mom video store usually had way more options (because they didn't throw anything away most of the time). There are still days I can't find anything I want to watch on Netflix but it seems way better than the DVD/Blueray situation we had here.

pmoriarty 8y ago
"Here in Brazil I remember Blockbuster having a fairly limited number of options, mostly the new releases." This was exactly what Blockbuster was like in New York. They focused on mainstream, mostly blockbuster movies (hence the name, maybe). For a really good selection, you had to go to independent video rental stores, like Kim's Video in Manhattan, which had way, way, waaaay more movies available than any Blockbuster store I've ever been in could dream of. There were some other independent video rental stores scattered across NYC and Long Island with similarly good selections. Also, Blockbuster movies were often cut or censored, so you had to go to an independent video rental store to find uncut films. I've heard some people dispute that Blockbuster ever carried such films, but I'm far from the only one who remembers this happening. Search around on the web, and you'll see others reporting the same thing.
- pixl97 8y ago
  Was it a limited space store or something? The blockbusters down here in Texas, where property was cheap were huge.
  - pmoriarty 8y ago
    The store itself was big enough, but their use of space was not very efficient. I'm not sure why they chose to have that focus, but it was clearly a choice on their part, not something they were forced to to. My guess is that they did what they thought was most profitable for them, because most of the customers they catered to just preferred to watch mainstream, very popular movies. Good independent video stores had a different model of catering towards viewers with more discerning tastes, so had extensive selections of more obscure films.
    - dragonwriter 8y ago
      Blockbuster, from what I heard, was pretty data-based with both predictive (demographic driven) and continuous modeling/monitoring of demand for each corporate location (they also had franchises, which may have been different) which drove quantity and selection of stock. > Good independent video stores had a different model of catering towards viewers with more discerning tastes, so had extensive selections of more obscure films. Of course independents had to focus on the market underserved by Blockbuster, even if that was a less profitable segment.
      - pmoriarty 8y ago
        "Blockbuster, from what I heard, was pretty data-based with both predictive (demographic driven) and continuous modeling/monitoring of demand for each corporate location (they also had franchises, which may have been different) which drove quantity and selection of stock." I'm not sure how much that kind of demographic data and prediction/modeling was worth. Even now, though I've rated hundreds of movies on Netflix, Netflix routinely recommends me movies that I absolutely hate. Their recommendations are far more often wrong than right. Blockbuster didn't have individual customer's ratings of the movies they watched to go on, and the technology and predictive/modeling algorithms they had access to 20 or 30 years ago must have been far, far worse than Netflix has now.
        dragonwriter 8y ago
        > Blockbuster didn't have individual customer's ratings of the movies they watched to go on But they weren't doing individual recommendations, they were trying to predict aggregate demand for titles at local stores; aggregate predictions of the type are a lot easier to get usefully correct that individualized predictions of subjective quality.
- ukyrgf 8y ago
  At a certain point, Blockbuster had some sort of "guaranteed to be in stock" kind of thing, which meant they would just have walls and walls of one single movie.
hinkley 8y ago
It could very much be a function of town size, and year. There was always a prominent and large section dedicated to recent releases but once you wandered off into Sci Fi or Action or Horror, there were a lot of classics and quite a few B movies available. It's important to keep in mind that there are some Dark Patterns in Netflix to try to fool you into thinking there is more back inventory than there really is. And now they've started flipping the cover art even in My List every time you wrap around. If it happened once in a while I'd think they were A/B testing on different cover art to see what happens, but the fact it happens in your List and every time you navigate is pretty damned sketchy. Also as someone else complained, their UI has sucked sucked sucked for a while now. I think the only reason people don't complain is that Hulu has somehow created one that's substantially worse. Honestly the whole management chain for the UI team at Hulu should be fired. How that abomination survived so many approvals is shocking.
- estreeper 8y ago
  > their UI has sucked Would you be willing to elaborate on what you find frustrating? We're doing work in a similar area.
  - fgonzag 8y ago
    The interface is slow (though I think the actual design is decently usable but nothing great). Which categories you get are random, yes you can search for specific tags but that's a bit of a hassle and involves typing on a remote. What I'd really like would be both custom and sticky categories. Categories that will always be shown to me (simply by liking a category), and sticky custom categories by combining tags (like creating a action comedy category by combining the action and comedy tags and having that category always show up on my feed). Netflix lacks personalization IMHO, because algorithms will never replace my actual taste. Let me tell you what I want you to show me. Also, they should make a drill down search (minimize typing, please!). What I mean is a simply search menu with 5-10 major category types (genre, actor, director, tags) then being able to continue filtering by different categories on the fly. Also, add a completely optional where I can see what my friends liked (with their permission ofc). That way I can, hassle free, get recommendations from people I trust. You can even make public feeds! Famous movie critic public feed, etc. So many possibilities to improve Netflix, I wouldn't even know where to start.
SatvikBeri 8y ago
My family moved around a lot, and I saw many types in the US, including Blockbusters with almost nothing but newest releases, Blockbusters with almost every movie & video game I could imagine, and several in between.
asveikau 8y ago
I remember Blockbuster seeming to have lots of selection in the 90s and then they beat out a bunch of smaller stores and chains, then seemed to have less incentive not to suck and by the mid 2000s was as you say, limited, mostly new releases.

pmoriarty 8y ago

"Here in Brazil I remember Blockbuster having a fairly limited number of options, mostly the new releases." This was exactly what Blockbuster was like in New York. They focused on mainstream, mostly blockbuster movies (hence the name, maybe). For a really good selection, you had to go to independent video rental stores, like Kim's Video in Manhattan, which had way, way, waaaay more movies available than any Blockbuster store I've ever been in could dream of. There were some other independent video rental stores scattered across NYC and Long Island with similarly good selections. Also, Blockbuster movies were often cut or censored, so you had to go to an independent video rental store to find uncut films. I've heard some people dispute that Blockbuster ever carried such films, but I'm far from the only one who remembers this happening. Search around on the web, and you'll see others reporting the same thing.

pixl97 8y ago
Was it a limited space store or something? The blockbusters down here in Texas, where property was cheap were huge.
- pmoriarty 8y ago
  The store itself was big enough, but their use of space was not very efficient. I'm not sure why they chose to have that focus, but it was clearly a choice on their part, not something they were forced to to. My guess is that they did what they thought was most profitable for them, because most of the customers they catered to just preferred to watch mainstream, very popular movies. Good independent video stores had a different model of catering towards viewers with more discerning tastes, so had extensive selections of more obscure films.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    Blockbuster, from what I heard, was pretty data-based with both predictive (demographic driven) and continuous modeling/monitoring of demand for each corporate location (they also had franchises, which may have been different) which drove quantity and selection of stock. > Good independent video stores had a different model of catering towards viewers with more discerning tastes, so had extensive selections of more obscure films. Of course independents had to focus on the market underserved by Blockbuster, even if that was a less profitable segment.
    - pmoriarty 8y ago
      "Blockbuster, from what I heard, was pretty data-based with both predictive (demographic driven) and continuous modeling/monitoring of demand for each corporate location (they also had franchises, which may have been different) which drove quantity and selection of stock." I'm not sure how much that kind of demographic data and prediction/modeling was worth. Even now, though I've rated hundreds of movies on Netflix, Netflix routinely recommends me movies that I absolutely hate. Their recommendations are far more often wrong than right. Blockbuster didn't have individual customer's ratings of the movies they watched to go on, and the technology and predictive/modeling algorithms they had access to 20 or 30 years ago must have been far, far worse than Netflix has now.
      - dragonwriter 8y ago
        > Blockbuster didn't have individual customer's ratings of the movies they watched to go on But they weren't doing individual recommendations, they were trying to predict aggregate demand for titles at local stores; aggregate predictions of the type are a lot easier to get usefully correct that individualized predictions of subjective quality.
ukyrgf 8y ago
At a certain point, Blockbuster had some sort of "guaranteed to be in stock" kind of thing, which meant they would just have walls and walls of one single movie.

hinkley 8y ago

It could very much be a function of town size, and year. There was always a prominent and large section dedicated to recent releases but once you wandered off into Sci Fi or Action or Horror, there were a lot of classics and quite a few B movies available. It's important to keep in mind that there are some Dark Patterns in Netflix to try to fool you into thinking there is more back inventory than there really is. And now they've started flipping the cover art even in My List every time you wrap around. If it happened once in a while I'd think they were A/B testing on different cover art to see what happens, but the fact it happens in your List and every time you navigate is pretty damned sketchy. Also as someone else complained, their UI has sucked sucked sucked for a while now. I think the only reason people don't complain is that Hulu has somehow created one that's substantially worse. Honestly the whole management chain for the UI team at Hulu should be fired. How that abomination survived so many approvals is shocking.

estreeper 8y ago
> their UI has sucked Would you be willing to elaborate on what you find frustrating? We're doing work in a similar area.
- fgonzag 8y ago
  The interface is slow (though I think the actual design is decently usable but nothing great). Which categories you get are random, yes you can search for specific tags but that's a bit of a hassle and involves typing on a remote. What I'd really like would be both custom and sticky categories. Categories that will always be shown to me (simply by liking a category), and sticky custom categories by combining tags (like creating a action comedy category by combining the action and comedy tags and having that category always show up on my feed). Netflix lacks personalization IMHO, because algorithms will never replace my actual taste. Let me tell you what I want you to show me. Also, they should make a drill down search (minimize typing, please!). What I mean is a simply search menu with 5-10 major category types (genre, actor, director, tags) then being able to continue filtering by different categories on the fly. Also, add a completely optional where I can see what my friends liked (with their permission ofc). That way I can, hassle free, get recommendations from people I trust. You can even make public feeds! Famous movie critic public feed, etc. So many possibilities to improve Netflix, I wouldn't even know where to start.

SatvikBeri 8y ago

My family moved around a lot, and I saw many types in the US, including Blockbusters with almost nothing but newest releases, Blockbusters with almost every movie & video game I could imagine, and several in between.

asveikau 8y ago

I remember Blockbuster seeming to have lots of selection in the 90s and then they beat out a bunch of smaller stores and chains, then seemed to have less incentive not to suck and by the mid 2000s was as you say, limited, mostly new releases.