Comment by RandallBrown

1 year ago

> you have to spend more and more of your IQ points figuring out basic shit

I'm not sure that watching a movie on a streaming service requires more IQ points than watching it on a DVD.

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RandallBrown

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dusted  1 year ago

I thought about that earlier today, I'm pretty sure it does.

Worst-case DVD experience: Step 1. Unbox TV and DVD Player Step 2. Plug scart cable from DVD player into TV. Step 3. Connect TV and DVD player to power, insert batteries in remotes. Step 4. Turn on DVD Player, TV, press "Source" a few times, the DVD player shows something. Step 5. Gander at some DVDs, decide which to watch. Step 6. Press Eject Step 7. Insert DVD Step 8. Press Eject Step 9. Press Play.

Now, assuming that electricity is provided, care to write down how to netflix? From the beginning, so we need to start by unboxing our very first computer, setting it up to the point where we can connect to the internet, also, we need an internet connection, oh, and some way to order that, so a phone.. Now, there will be a few steps before we reach to the point where we can create an email account, needed to even register for the streaming service.. Oh, something about credit cards too, and passwords for stuff?

Sure, you will think this is absurd, because all that stuff is "already in place" yeah, it is, for us, we set it up bit by bit, it's an enormous amount of infrastructure and different, disconnected concepts and services that is now REQUIRED before you can watch a movie..

I'll bet I can teach most 4 year olds to go from "empty living room with a power socket" to "watching dvd movies". You'll have a hard time convincing me you can teach them to go from empty living room with a power socket, to watching netflix before their next birthday or two :)

  • nsteel  1 year ago

    Hang on, but we already have a library of DVDs?! The main benefit of streaming and what makes it worth the effort is you have thousands of films available. You've just ignored that part. Yes, that is absurd.

    • dusted  1 year ago

      Honestly, that time where I had HBO, Netflix and Disney+ at the same time, it still didn't feel like I had even 1000s available, getting them listed and sorted by something relevant (like year of release) was a pain, and it seemed like the same 6 orange-blue shaded poster appeared first in every category.

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