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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Blockbuster

JD Holloway

JD Holloway

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Blockbuster files for bankruptcy protection.

RedRay, or whatever you want to call it, is waiting in the wings gathering dust.

I see opportunity here. Implementation speed is key in the vacuum.

Any thoughts?
 
Blockbuster is just reorganizing, not folding (yet). Their online service is the future (like Netflix) REDRAY seems more targeted towards THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION... so Im not sure your point here?
 
Bluckbuster better come out swinging after the reorganization, if they can. Netflix and iTunes have been kicking their ass without mercy and have no plans to ease up.
 
I expect Apple to buy Netflix within 2 years. Before this happens: Blockbuster foregoes brick and mortar stores for another shot at copying Netflix. Hulu or Google acquire Blockbuster at firesale prices, kill all the big stores, load up grocery stores and 7-11 with vending machines. Google and Apple power it out for supremacy in the home.
 
Blockbuster has been dying for a long time.

I doubt Apple would buy Netflix at this point. iTunes is enough for Apple.


Netflix just came to Canada. I am thinking an Apple TV for $100 bucks and Netflix (7.99/mnt)is a decent thing to do considering today I pretty much only download and go to the cinema maybe 2-3 movies a year. Beats driving to blockbuster and paying 6 bucks for a rental.
 
As filmmakers we currently have to rely hardcore on physical DVD sales. Relying on instant download royalties and licensing is still unproven. Let Blockbuster live for ten more years. They pay cold hard cash to filmmakers, (unless of course you get screwed by your distributor).
 
The cost of producing films has to get cheaper to have a viable commercial film industry. Blockbuster is an important market segment, but the financial trouble is only going to get worse over time.
 
@ Tim

One of the huge advantages of RedRay is the possibilities of IP distribution of HD material (and 4K when required) at marginal bandwidths. Real time streaming is easily achievable too (though it can have its issues, eg annoying dropouts). While at this point, Red Ray requires a home set top box, I have a suspicion that its probably not required for many of us who use decent home computers as media centers. The real beauty is that SD/HD/bluray libraries can be effectively stored and distributed will little overhead. All that is required is Digital Rights to the material and way for people to play that material at home, whether its a set top box or a funky new decode software; like QT wrapped REDRAY compressed material.

While 4K RedRay may very well be suitable for theatrical distribution, I feel the real money lies in home theater applications. While there are maybe 15000 theaters in the US, there are 307,000,000 possible households that could be targeted...

RED RAY (non pro) wont be expensive. But will it be destined to view only fellow reduser's content, IP to IP, or will it reach out to a broader audience. M Most made some very good points about what the codec needs to achieve some level of universality for product distribution. They have had frickin ages to make progress there.

Deanan wrote some time ago

"The DCI market is a smaller subset of what we're targeting. While DCI is great for many many reasons, there are disadvantages that we believe are worth addressing differently and that's the intention of REDray."

So "WUUUSSSSS UPPPPP!"

Just thinking.
 
All I can say is that with my cable company finally putting bandwidth into their HDOD offerings and Blu-Ray prices hitting $10-15, I really haven't used Blockbuster all that much in the past few months for anything other than video games.
 
Speaking of RedRay, anyone know why it's been held up? It was my understanding that it's been close to ready to go for a while now.
 
Steve Jobs hates discs, so the Netflix play isn't a good option there.

There are two other things they would get with Netflix: a UI for set-top box plus their customer list. They've had three chances with Apple TV and still haven't opted for a 3rd party UI, so that is unlikely.

Jobs was bragging the other day in a post about having 300,000,000 customers. Those aren't Mac users--they're iTunes accounts. Its likely that they already have 99% of those Netflix accounts somewhere in that 300m people.

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Build your own RED Rocket system: http://bit.ly/7F4QA1
 
I think the market has finally changed to the point where Blockbuster can no longer support their brick and mortar locations with their current business model. I really don't know if it's possible for them to sustain those store locations with any video rental model to tell the truth. Their online / on-demand service does seem to be competitive though. But with no compelling reason for people to actually go inside a Blockbuster retail store, how do they expect to sustain them?

As Evin points out, Redbox is awesome. They're the best deal going if you want to rent Blu-Ray discs. Netflix is OK too and most major markets have a mailing center so turn-around time is usually 2 days to send off a disc and receive another one. They charge an extra $2/month to have Blu-Ray access, which I haven't done as most of my Netflix viewing is on-demand anyway. I'd rather see them dump their mail service altogether and increase their online offerings, as well as make bigger efforts to get more online content in HD. Although, I think they would have more on-demand and more HD if they could negotiate the proper deals with the studios.

If Apple were to open up an iTunes subscription service where they could offer their entire library for a set monthly fee, like $15/month, it would be game-over for just about everyone else.
 
Blockbuster needs to turn their brick and morter difference into a big advantage vs. their achilies heel. Yes, very expensive to have them. But they're the only movie chain like that which could potentially offer a social experience. They could be offering the antidote to isolated lives of people who now never leave their homes but love movies. It's a different thing to be around people in a social environment. They are the movie hub, why not exploit that? Seems like they're just thinking "close the stores down, immitate Netflix" - well, they're going to lose there I think because in that scenario, the fact they have stores at all is going to kill them. Either they commit to what makes them different or give up.
 
It starts with blockbuster....

Just part of the slow but inevitable dismantling of the service industry. Next up grocery checkers.

Anything that can be done by a minimum wage worker will probably be handled through software in the not too distant future as long as it doesn't require very human technique such as picking asparagus and determining ripeness which will probably take longer.

Redbox has taken an entire store and fit it into a vending machine because that's all the space that's necessary. I almost entirely shop on Amazon + Prime.
 
Mark, I agree, but I really don't know what they could do to their retail stores to draw people. A social experience may be part of that something, but who knows... No matter what, the fact that they rent movies is incidental and should be treated as such. All that can be fit into a corner of the store -- ala RedBox, but with a larger selection. So what do they do with all that other space? What can they do that would make me want to even go inside? The Blockbuster closest to my house is a self-contained ghost town. It occupies about 3500-4000 square feet of store space and yet I have never been inside. And I rarely see anyone else go inside... Let alone anyone even parking near it in the lot, except for overflow from the adjacent Papa Johns pizza or Wendy's.

@Gavin, grocery checkers are indeed on the way out. Our local grocery stores have all but done away with them. The main store I shop at has 8 self check-out stations and one person that monitors them. They have another 10 or 12 traditional lanes. However, they only keep one traditional lane open with a checker during most hours and only open up another lane or two when it gets really busy. Screw the customers, let them stand in line... The most annoying place in the world to shop has to be Target. All the Target stores here have something like 30 to 50 check-out lanes and never more than 2 or 3 open and those couple open lanes have a line a mile long. I'd rather shop at Wal-Mart. At least they have all their check-stands populated with senior citizens and a nice old guy that greets me at the door. Besides, going to Wal-Mart is worth it just to watch the other people that shop there. Barrel of laughs most of the time.
 
I'm surprised McDonalds still has employees. Seems like a fry cooker machine would be a breeze. Frozen Fry Hopper -> Fry Machine -> Cooked Fry Hopper -> Dispenser.

RedBox McDonalds. The next frontier.
 
Blockbuster has operated with a dying business model for several years now. They made a last gasp attempt to compete with no late fees, but even gave that up recently.

WHY would someone drive/walk to a video store, look for a movie that possibly is sold out, hope that it is not scratched and plays properly, watch it and then have to return it or pay fines? It's 2010. All of Blockbuster's new releases are available whenever I want on my cable box, my computer, my PS3 and my AppleTV.
 
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