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Vintage OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES VHS...
I keep advising a friend who has amassed a sizable vintage VHS collection over the last three decades to transfer them to DVD-R before they are gone forever. He keeps resisting and he may have a point. These oversized box/Mom n' Pop video store/grey market treasures may be the real deal when the inevitable end comes to the present DVD era. The end may already be in sight.
A few weeks ago a fascinating article in TIME magazine on the impact of NETFLIX on DVD buyer's habits and on popular culture in general caught my eye. TIME movie critic Richard Corliss laments the passing of the likes of Kim's Video in Manhattan while noting that DVD sales have dropped by nearly 20% in the first half of 2009. At the same time NETFLIX rentals have surged. People may be going out to see movies in theaters more often but they are purchasing fewer DVD's and renting more. He speculates that we are possibly at the end of the DVD era and heading into a Streaming Video era, where movies will be delivered on the Internet and TV through cable providers and Internet hookups. In fact, it's already happening. You can download just about anything off the Internet, including legitimately released DVD content. This has to be hurting sales. You can download movies that have never been on video or DVD anywhere. You can even download movies currently playing at your local multiplex.
I tend to think he has a point. DVD's will be around for some time but people have less disposable income in the wake of the economic downturn and would rather rent or download content out of economic necessity. I can't blame them. It's free and easy. It's only a matter of time before it all becomes Corporate. Market value may be damned, but it is rarely ignored.
We've seen the end of the VHS/Mom and Pop Video store era (and I really miss those venues), the coming and going of Laser discs. I'm buying fewer DVD's myself, but I still don't plan to get into frequent downloading or streaming video or increase my mainstream movie going.
But I do wonder what the DVD landscape will look like, say, five years from now. Will Blu-ray DVD be booming or struggling. If people can't afford regular DVD's...
I'm going to appreciate my own collection of vintage VHS more.
