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Outside of going to the movies, Blockbuster was pretty much my sole source of video. I had a TV, but no cable and poor reception (I remember watching snowy new

Outside of going to the movies, Blockbuster was pretty much my sole source of video. I had a TV, but no cable and poor reception (I remember watching snowy news broadcasts of the LA riots). I honestly did be not miss it. This was pre-internet, so most of my consumption was through books. The interesting thing was when BB would get the latest box set of the X-files. Pretty much the closest you could get to binging at the time. 4-5 tapes, 2 episodes per (it was never the entire season). Watch a tape per week. Always excited when the new set arrived.

repeekad 2y ago
it’s crazy to think VHS and DVD came and went in only a few decades I remember when Netflix started separating the DVD service from streaming and thinking they were absolutely crazy, because no one would ever want to watch movies from their computer, movies go in that box under the TV…
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  They launched their streaming service in 2007. I think I first connected a laptop with a tv-out to a TV in like 2003. Wasn’t hard to find a desktop video card with video out. But the people doing that probably weren’t the first to sign up for a pay streaming service. The Boxee came out in 2010. Like an early android box for your TV and supported Netflix, but could also stream from a network drive. I remember paying ~CAD$200 (or CAD$250?) for one and got a $25 best buy gift card. ~3 years later I sold the boxee for $100 and bought a Chromecast with that gift card and another few bucks.
  - pests 2y ago
    I had the first device that Netflix supported, a Roku. Strange it's a household name now but back then it was completely unheard of. You couldn't browse the catalog on the device. You had to open the website on a computer and add anything you wanted to watch to your queue. The Roku would only let you select items from that list. The same queue that was used for the DVD mailings.

repeekad 2y ago

it’s crazy to think VHS and DVD came and went in only a few decades I remember when Netflix started separating the DVD service from streaming and thinking they were absolutely crazy, because no one would ever want to watch movies from their computer, movies go in that box under the TV…

Scoundreller 2y ago
They launched their streaming service in 2007. I think I first connected a laptop with a tv-out to a TV in like 2003. Wasn’t hard to find a desktop video card with video out. But the people doing that probably weren’t the first to sign up for a pay streaming service. The Boxee came out in 2010. Like an early android box for your TV and supported Netflix, but could also stream from a network drive. I remember paying ~CAD$200 (or CAD$250?) for one and got a $25 best buy gift card. ~3 years later I sold the boxee for $100 and bought a Chromecast with that gift card and another few bucks.
- pests 2y ago
  I had the first device that Netflix supported, a Roku. Strange it's a household name now but back then it was completely unheard of. You couldn't browse the catalog on the device. You had to open the website on a computer and add anything you wanted to watch to your queue. The Roku would only let you select items from that list. The same queue that was used for the DVD mailings.