Netflix teams with AWS to launch VHS-as-a-service Streaming video titan Netflix will shortly launch a variant of its service in which classic 1980s programs, and modern content, are streamed in a form that approximates the unbelievably bad video quality of the VHS video cassette. The Reg understands Netflix has worked with Amazon Web Services to tweak the cloud giant's …
As with all the best terrible ideas, it's not that bad - Instagram showed there's a market for 'shabby chic'-ification of 16Mpx crisp, bright images of lunch. And look at the appeal of the low-fi titles for 'Better Call Saul' - those guys worked hard to make them look that shit (and it works)
It as an experimental system installed at the headend of a pilot project.
You could order your movie via the remote. Then someone at the headend would run to the archive to get the tape, and put that tape into a VCR. You could then control that VCR.
"What gave it away for me, was this sentence..."
Dear Sir,
Absolute rot! The author clearly means the 4th of January, and is referring to the anniversary of the defeat of Æthelred of Wessex by the Danes at the Battle of Reading.
Couldn't be more obvious as a clue really. Now where's today's crossword?
Yours etc.,
Herbert Smythe-Podderington, Tunbridge Wells
Frankly, I'd rather have consistent VHS quality than the periodic gross image artifacts, complete loss of sound, and !@#$% screen aspect-ratio shifts I get from Netflix now.
Fortunately, I can have that, when I'm watching by myself, because I still have two VHS VCRs: a late-model Sony that's about as good as consumer-grade VHS machines got, and a Panasonic that's now 23 years old but still going strong.
I know of an independent DVD Rental shop in Bristol that still has a small number of VHS cassettes in its library - films that never received a DVD release. Should a customer rent one, the shop will lend them a VHS machine for free.
Occasionally they turn their web-cam on - so they could in theory point the cam at the TV on their desk and stream VHS movies at one frame every two seconds...
The MPAA has adopted Bittorrent as the official distribution channel for the industries best output. In a press release today they said:
"We had so much joy making these prized artistic creations, we just want them to get to the lovely public in the most efficient way possible. We have moved the FBI warnings and arbitrary advertising content to a separate outlet, where you can purchase them for enjoyment at your leisure ."
P.
April 1 and all, but in this ridiculous hipster market, it wouldn't be that surprising. It's ironic don't you know . . .
It's also a perfectly good marketing stunt - if they were releasing a whole batch of re-mastered versions of 80s movies and TV shows then having the option of streaming them in VHS quality would be a semi-amusing gimmick. Especially if the shows/movies were particularly products of their time.
When I think of the Halo Anniversary re-make, you could swap between the original graphics and the re-done version. That was cool and made you appreciate how far it had come. (Though I still preferred the original style most of the time : )
The VCR in the picture is a D-VHS one, the attempt to provide a digital variant of VHS. Unfortunately it was stopped by movie executives who demanded digital inputs to be disabled when those devices went to the manufacturer for maintenance.
Anyow, D-VHS would record something from 2.8 to 28 MBit/s so it's probably _much_ better than what Netflix currently offers.
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