Audio Video News

Netflix Discs-by-Mail Service Alive and Well

SV Staff  |  Jul 30, 2015

If you haven’t yet embraced streaming and still order discs through the mail from Netflix, you may be worried that your disc days are numbered. But even as streaming booms with continued aggressive expansion and more than 65 million customers worldwide, Netflix is not ready to back away from its disc rental business, according to a recent New York Times report.

The company has been able to maintain profitability by automating its disc-processing operation using what it calls the “amazing arm” to open envelopes and identify and check discs before putting them back their sleeves, the Times reported. More than 3,000 discs are processed in an hour.

Although the disc-by-mail business is dwindling, Netflix still has 5.3 million subscribers down from a peak of about 20 million five years ago. There’s still huge demand among a loyal base of subscribers, many living in rural areas.

Read the full report here.

COMMENTS
trynberg's picture
Submitted by trynberg on July 30, 2015 - 9:18am

Surprising that so few people care about picture and audio quality.

mtymous1's picture
Submitted by mtymous1 on July 30, 2015 - 12:28pm

If the most you're going to get out of a Netflix disc is a 5.1 soundtrack, then it doesn't make sense to wait for the disc to arrive in the mail -- might as well just stream. (Remember, Netflix has blu-ray pressings "specially" made for them - they don't send you the retail versions that include 7.1 soundtracks nor any bonus content.)

Echoing trynberg: it is indeed surprising that so few people care about picture and audio quality.

trynberg's picture
Submitted by trynberg on July 31, 2015 - 7:38pm

While I've noticed that Netflix does use special rental discs, I've never rented a BD I can recall that didn't have a TrueHD or DTS Master soundtrack (barring movies that didn't have one in the first place).

William Lee's picture
Submitted by William Lee on July 30, 2015 - 3:37pm

Streaming does not have the latest releases or old movies. Try to stream all the James Bond series or Star War series, they are not available for streaming. Some old movies are only available in 2.0 stereo. There is no 24 frame per second streaming.

Only Lionsgate rental disc have 5.1 Dolby Digital, but certain Lionsgate titles have the DTS Master. I guess whether the soundtrack is lossless depends on the success of the movies in the box office.

Traveler's picture
Submitted by Traveler on July 31, 2015 - 12:42pm

Most of the movies and tv disks on Netflix worth watching are NOT available for streaming.

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