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I've been trying to watch old 80s-90s movies recently. I'm happy to pay $5 or whatever, and they just aren't available anywhere. Rental stores are dead, so I ca

• LeonardoTolstoy 1y ago
  How's your local library system?
  • HanClinto 1y ago
    I live in a small country town. It's decent for its size, but it's very small. In contrast, Archive.org is an absolutely fantastic library, and we're happy to support them. Way better than my public library -- especially for hard-to-find media.
    • bombcar 1y ago
      Ask about interlibrary loans; our rural library can get almost anything, given time.
      • csnover 1y ago
        Where I live, ILLs do not work for video games because the format identification for video games is “Electronic”, and their software is programmed to suppress the request button for these items because it is interpreted as “no physical media”. I emailed the people who run the system, they said it is a known issue, and as far as I can tell that just means they aren’t going to fix it, since it has been this way for at least three years.
  • standardUser 1y ago
    I wonder what the material difference is between borrowing a film from the library (is this DVD? Blu-ray? Streaming?) and downloading it from a peer-to-peer network. I suppose it's an act of support for your public library. But no one with a financial stake in that particular media is impacted in any way by using either method to obtain the film.
  • endemic 1y ago
    Came here to recommend this. A viable option, at least until Republicans completely defund public libraries.
• elijaht 1y ago
  I watch a decent amount of movies, I can count on one hand the number of times I couldn’t rent it for <$5 on Prime or YouTube. I’ve never been unable to identify where I could find a particular movie to stream, and it’s certainly less effort than going to a physical storefront. I think there are plenty of problems with the streaming model, but I think it’s borderline bad faith to try and make the claim that piracy is needed because it’s hard to navigate streaming sites. It’s certainly easier than finding obscure movies was pre-streaming
  • MichaelBosworth 1y ago
    It happens to me often enough. Might be a matter of taste in movies?
    • elijaht 1y ago
      I’m sure it’s related. I’m curious for any examples
      • WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
        I regularly run into shows and movies no one will carry. A recent example is Hot l Baltimore. It's an early Norman Lear production and stared James Cromwell and Charlotte Rae. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_l_Baltimore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_l_Baltimore I planned to add Turn On (1969), Tim Conway. It was canceled while the 1st episode was airing. But since the last time I looked for it, some ethical soul uploaded it to wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn-On https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn-On
      • ziml77 1y ago
        Not a movie, but Police Squad is missing from streaming services. It's strange given it spawned 3 movies and now we even have an upcoming sequel to those.
      • WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
        BBC: This Was the Week That Was. TV, aired 1962-1963 NBC: This Was the Week That Was. TV, aired 1963-1965. Someone found acetate audio recordings of two episodes and ripped them to YT. An act of culture, done in spite of rights holders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtVRJ2qdYw4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtVRJ2qdYw4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pprBfg6OSRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pprBfg6OSRM
• pwthornton 1y ago
  You can’t find them to rent on iTunes and similar platforms?
  • VWWHFSfQ 1y ago
    I'm guessing they can. They just don't want to.
    • exe34 1y ago
      No, they explained they don't want to scrub through each and every rent-seeker app to find which one has it.
  • hahn-kev 1y ago
    There's plenty of stuff that isn't listed there
  • tarnith 1y ago
    Who wants to rent? I have money, give me a file for money. DRM is laughable anyway, if you give me the data I have the file if I really want it. Let me, the consumer, legally purchase a high res copy of media I can own. Why is this so hard?
    • Bud 1y ago
      [dead]
    • sib 1y ago
      In most cases, in the world of TVOD (transactional video on demand), an item that is rentable is purchasable, but the reverse is not always true. That is, the window for purchasing is much longer than the window for renting.
  • Me1000 1y ago
    Not OP, but yes believe it or not it's impossible to find certain movies anywhere other than pirating them. One example is "Pirates of Silicon Valley", I watched it when I was young and recently wanted to watch it again. I pay for basically all the streaming services, I'm would have been happy to rent it from any service at all. I spent several hours trying to find a way to pay to watch it and never could.
• indoordin0saur 1y ago
  I'm at the point where I just automatically assume any new movie is derivative, uninspired slop. Professional reviewers don't really seem trustworthy these days and user reviews are constantly being gamed based on fandom, political sentiments or just bots boosting or tanking reviews. I do love movies, particularly ones that are pre-2010 or so. I've actually started going to a local indie theater that curates excellent older stuff so I just check their calendar every once in a while and pick something that sounds interesting to go see a couple times a month. Often times it's foreign stuff or things I've never heard of but those guys have excellent taste and I have yet to see a bad film. For anyone curious, here's my spot: metrograph.com
  • dev1ycan 1y ago
    Because they aren't trustworthy: 1)Disney-adjacent properties. Look at the amazing spiderman 1, it was better than anything Marvel has released with Spiderman, it got trashed on for a very simple reason in my eyes, Disney wanted the rights for Spiderman and tried to force them to give them it (it worked) via giving it terrible reviews. Opposite thing happened with Star Wars, another Disney "product", the new trilogy getting "amazing" reviews at the start was ridiculous, they were very bad movies, like terrible, the first one which was the most watchable of the three was just bad acting mixed in with nostalgia bait, didn't push the universe forward at all which the prequels get hate for but they did hugely expand what star wars was, in good ways. Even midichlorians which people gave so much hate to in episode 1, makes sense if you rewatch the OT, Darth Vader suddenly turning good is like "snapping" out of the trance state he was in, because as we know now, the "force" in star wars is not like morality in the real world, while you play a part in you getting taken "over" by a side (light/dark side), once it happens you sort of lose control, sort of like a hard drug in the real world, it takes a lot for someone who has given in to the dark side to go back to normal, which I believe makes for a better science fiction universe, the concept of only giving in enough to receive the power but not enough to become evil was even explored with mace windu with Vapaad, anyways. Lastly, Black Adam, I watched it and the movie was objectively not beyond terrible for current day standards, it was a watchable popcorn flick and the CGI was very very good compared to Marvel movies which made the movie look cool, the main villain was uninspiring but so are most first movie villains, it's all about the setup. It received beyond terrible reviews in my opinion directed from Disney/Marvel in an attempt to fully kill competition especially during Marvel's weak point post endgame. I would have enjoyed seeing a movie of Superman vs Black Adam but it is what it is. Lastly any anime movie competing with Disney, just look at the Oscars, how many anime movies get snubbed? I still remember being shocked at how when marnie was there did not win vs inside out... or how look back wasn't even nominated, lol.
• larrik 1y ago
  The Roku app is actually really good at determining where everything ever is currently streaming (or purchasable). It's not 100% perfect, but it's generally correct. I go there first for basically everything. For example, it tells me Wake Up Ron Burgundy (which isn't even a "real" movie) can be purchases on Prime, Fandango, or iTunes. Actually, iTunes and Prime have mostly everything for rent, what movies were you actually looking for?
  • deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  • buran77 1y ago
    It gets worse when you're looking for a movie only to realize it's different from what you remember. Either a change of substance (different scenes), or a change of form (adjusted color palette). Occasionally the original version is no longer officially available anywhere.
  • a2tech 1y ago
    Just wanted to watch a relatively recent movie yesterday (Antichrist) and the only place that has it is a streaming service called Mooby. Not signing up for a service to watch one movie. Would have gladly paid 4 bucks to watch it, so had to find it in the usual places instead.
  • nickthegreek 1y ago
    Plex does this as well.
    • llbbdd 1y ago
      Too much. I love Plex but it's increasingly hard to avoid the search integrations and other non-local features. I recently set up access to my library across a few devices and it's disappointing how hostile it now feels to turn off a lot of stuff that should not be enabled by default just to get to my own files.
      • nickthegreek 1y ago
• mmcclure 1y ago
  I recently joined a local independent video rental store and it's so, so good. My partner looked at me like I was crazy when I told her, but she was a convert after one trip to pick out a movie in person. Something about browsing in person is just so much more enjoyable than flipping between 9 services. Having a cinephile right there behind the desk that wants to nerd about movies and help pick something out is awesome. It's not a big store, but they've got thousands of movies in their catalog, which is (apparently) way bigger than any of the streaming services. This doesn't solve your problem, but for the folks that are near the few remaining physical rental stores: consider supporting them, because they're great. Edit: Actually, on the "your problem" part...maybe give the store a call? Looks like he'll mail discs too: https://myvideowave.weebly.com/services.html https://myvideowave.weebly.com/services.html
  • eagerpace 1y ago
    Out of curiosity, what formats do they rent?
    • mmcclure 1y ago
      Most of the collection is DVD and/or Blu-ray, but he's got some VHS tapes and video games across a few platforms. When he was giving me the spiel about joining he was explicit that he doesn't have any Laserdisc or Betamax, though.
      • dml2135 1y ago
        I really love that enough movie nerds came in there and asked about Laserdisc and Betamax that it became part of the spiel.
• gddgb 1y ago
  [dead]
  • alistairSH 1y ago
    Citation for that? I've never heard such an interpretation before.
    • otterley 1y ago
      That's because it's bullshit. (IP-trained attorney here, not legal advice.) IP law is like real property law in the sense that it provides the owner the power to exclude others from using it. As with real property, there is no requirement that the owner be using the subject property in an economically viable way.
      • gddgb 1y ago
        [dead]
    • iaaan 1y ago
      It's incorrect. The copyright holder of any work is obviously well within their rights to yank it from shelves (physical or otherwise). That doesn't make piracy legal.
    • gddgb 1y ago
      [dead]
  • wmf 1y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work
  • dragonwriter 1y ago
    > No one can argue that you’re stealing a product that’s not being distributed, the law specifically says you need to put in a reasonable amount of effort to commercialize something to claim it damages you for someone to steal it The law literally does not say that, either for things that are literally subject to be stolen, or, more to the point here, for copyright protection where “steal” is merely a very loose metaphorical term sometimes used to refer to infringement.
• anonymars 1y ago
  I find justwatch.com useful
  • haunter 1y ago
    Useful but +95% of the films I watch are not available in my country :shrug:
• tarnith 1y ago
  Video games too. Try to buy Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005). You can't.
  • FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    >Try to buy Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005). You can't. I searched the biggest used online (flea)marketplace in my country and I could find the DVD for sale from several people. So I can buy it and play it right now legally if I want to, without resorting to piracy. What point were you trying to make with this? Because I also can't buy a brand new 1969 Ford Mustang. Nothing is made forever.
    • bilekas 1y ago
      The point could be made that if it's not available from the publisher for sale then piracy is not illegal.
      • FirmwareBurner 1y ago
        Agree. However I'm willing to cut EA some slack here. NFS series (like some other games) has music in it that's been licensed by the devs for a limited time. Selling the game today would mean either ripping out the music which is what made the game fun, or paying the record labels more money, which will not be offset by the few sales to 30+ year old nostalgics. But at least EA isn't actively preventing you from playing that old game if you own a licensed copy by requiring always-on DRM. BTW: today is the last day to sign the Stop killing games EU initiative : https://www.stopkillinggames.com/eci https://www.stopkillinggames.com/eci
        • standardUser 1y ago
          > Selling the game today would mean either ripping out the music which is what made the game fun, or paying the record labels more money, which will not be offset by the few sales to 30+ year old nostalgics. Well if the market can't provide, Pirate Bay can. Maybe they should fix "the market".
• spullara 1y ago
  my son gets all the old movies from the local library
• parliament32 1y ago
  This is precisely the problem, and the whole reason why we still pirate TV/movies. I would have no problem paying $XX to a unified service that has basically everything; I have no interest in paying a dozen different streaming platforms for effectively "cable packages" that often add/remove/shift content around. The music industry figured this out: I pay Spotify, they have 95% of music content I could ever way, the UX is good enough. I have no reason to pirate music anymore. Why is this so hard for the film industry?
  • MSFT_Edging 1y ago
    > The music industry figured this out > Why is this so hard for the film industry Music industry runs on barely paying any artist that cant fill a stadium. Movie industry runs on constantly re-licensing content to min-max their returns from IP. Music industry can happily barely pay musicians via the spotify model, but the Movie industry can't continually re-license their stuff to a higher bidder if it's all on one site.
    • hyghjiyhu 1y ago
      If you have Indie artists on the music side of the comparison, you should have barely paid tiktokers and YouTubers on the movie side.
    • standardUser 1y ago
      I broadly agree with your assessment, but I think the important takeaway is that these situations are created artificially, usually by dominant market players for their own benefit. There is nothing natural or neccesary with the way these markets work, and it's certainly not unchangeable.
      • Wojtkie 1y ago
        >but I think the important takeaway is that these situations are created artificially Are they really though? It's easier than ever for an indie creative to create and distribute their works through the many channels. Problem is, people don't spend as much money as a whole on indie works compared to focus-grouped blockbusters.
• haunter 1y ago
  Not just 80s-90s but try everything non-vanilla Hollywood stuff. Asian cinema, MENA, Eastern Europe etc. Piracy is just superior because I can actually watch what I want.
• philips 1y ago
  An archival incentive is the reason I am pro 25 year copyright. This current situation is causing our cultural heritage to rot.
  • criddell 1y ago
    Seems like a fair solution might be limiting damages on pirating movies that aren't widely available. For example, if a movie isn't available for streaming cap damages at $2.99 or whatever the going rental rate is.
    • AngryData 1y ago
      I don't see why there should be any damages paid out if something isn't available to stream. How can you claim a loss of sales for a product you aren't even selling? Why why should anyone be rewarded for not providing a product and just sitting on it so nobody else can use it? There certainly isn't any excuse for not being able to bring a product to market fast enough when it previously was already on the market and there are plenty of services to license it for streaming or sale.
• gchamonlive 1y ago
  And good luck trying to find anything marginally erotic, like "Bliss (1997)". Not only you don't own anything anymore, you can't purchase anything anymore and you can't view content that the overseers deem imoral. At this point pirating is just civil disobedience against the stronghold that corporations have on the American society that ripples across the globalized world.
• EliRivers 1y ago
  Unhelpful but related; back in the day (15 or so years ago), Netflix had a truly excellent back catalogue of old movies. Over a hundred thousand titles. A DVD collection that we just didn't realise was going to vanish as quickly as it arose. The current offering is just... less. I don't know if I mean in terms of sheer number of titles, but a million episodes of slop is just more slop. Netflix peaked 15 years ago and we didn't even notice.
  • HelloMcFly 1y ago
    This is why I started getting into physical media. I was subbed to so many services, but I felt like only 15% of the time would any service I want have the movie (and almost never Netflix as they prefer their own content slop).
  • imglorp 1y ago
    They've ended/sold/traded away many of their licensing agreements. Many things they used to have are gone. It stinks because some of the things they tossed are mundane, but they add to the depth of the catalog if you're looking for something and improve the experience.
  • Reason077 1y ago
    In fairness to Netflix, in the old days they only had to own a copy of the DVD in order to rent it out. Now they have to secure rights for every title they want to stream. That’s a lot of work (and cost) for a hundred thousand titles, especially when your competitors own some of the studios that license those titles. Disney, for example, owns the Disney / Marvel / Fox / Searchlight / Lucasfilm back catalogues and wants to hoard much of it for its own streaming service.
• thefourthchime 1y ago
  This is actually a larger problem that has to do with lost licensing negotiations and residuals. For a place to offer up streaming, they have to know they can license the content. But oftentimes, that production company is closed shop. They've sold the licenses off to someone else, who split it into something else. And then there's the music rights. The whole thing becomes extremely complicated. There's a whole set of movies that were somewhat popular that you just cannot find streaming. 100 cigarettes and Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors are good examples. I'd say if they can't figure out the rights, just put it on YouTube.
  • Pfhortune 1y ago
    The length of time it takes for media to enter the public domain is absolutely absurd. It if didn't take over a century for works to enter the PD, we could say, "Eh, just wait a few years." But instead we hold these works of art captive for no reason, other than a few multi-billion-dollar conglomerates want to keep milking art for money again and again. If we had a more reasonable period like a decade, it would be a driver for creating new art, and prevent works from being locked away arbitrarily until our great-grandchildren can enjoy them (unless the art was just... lost to time).
    • ryandrake 1y ago
      > But instead we hold these works of art captive for no reason, other than a few multi-billion-dollar conglomerates want to keep milking art for money again and again. In many cases, the conglomerates aren't even making money from them. How much do you think the movie company (and all the various middlemen) are making from some obscure movie from the 80s that they don't even make available on DVD or streaming anywhere? They're just griefing the public by withholding it and not even making any money.
      • janstice 1y ago
        I think the reason that the big guys don’t make money out of old films is that if they did they’d be on the hook to pay the cast & crew(‘s retirement plans).
• beej71 1y ago
  > I can't go rent them from blockbuster I can. :) But for those not so lucky, second hand stores have tons of DVDs usually for peanuts. Also your library might lend them out. I'm still in the process of ripping our collection, but we can watch stuff on TV with Jellyfin. But to your point, Louis Rossman suggests that when piracy provides the best experience, providers might want to rethink their strategy...
• Cytobit 1y ago
  Pirates always pull this out as justification. Like they are starving people who are forced to steal bread just to survive. Maybe just because a piece of media has been published in the past, we don't all have some God-given right to access it in perpetuity for a nominal fee. Lost media is not a sin.
• firefax 1y ago
  > Rental stores are dead, so I can't go rent them from blockbuster or whatever Try the library, I've found lots of things not on streaming in mine's DVD collection.
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• akaitea 1y ago
  try local second hand sites and physical copies, although the quality will most likely not be as good if its only been released on DVD
• snthpy 1y ago
  Same here. I have 4 streaming service subscriptions and it really frustrates me when I can't find classic films that I want to show my kids or just watch myself.
• const_cast 1y ago
  > streaming sites have splintered to the point I'm not even sure what is a scam and what is a legitimate business anymore They're all scams, of varying levels of scammyness ;P No but seriously, the pricing is intentional deceptive and a lot of werives won't offer ad free viewing, no matter how much you pay. They'll also weasel around it with "most media won't have ads, but some will". Thanks, how helpful. Paramount plus apparently doesn't consider ads for itself to be ads - so on the ad free plan, you still get ads for Paramount. But the worst part is that every app is different and some are really, really poor quality. You'd think we would just invent an API for this and then have one viewer, like we had for TV. But then again, maybe nobody wants to reinvent TV. Also, blocking VPNs: if I'm logged in and you know my real country and I'm paying, you don't need to block VPNs. It doesn't do anything but annoy customers