Editorial: Quantity - not quality - of TV-streaming options has killed DVD stores

Bright is a Netflix movie .... is the future dim when it comes to the quality of "original" movies on streaming services?

The final credits are rolling on video stores around the country.

Killed by technology (primarily streaming services), by the end of February there will be just one Video Ezy outlet left in Whangarei.

Five years ago there were seven.

Nationwide, in 2013 there were 115 Video Ezy stores. Now there are seven.

The irony is, just like CDs and cassette tapes, DVDs killed video because they were a superior viewing and listening experience.

But streaming services have not killed DVD stores.

They are not dying because streaming services offer a superior viewing experience - they are an endangered species because streaming services offer cheap convenience, quantity and choice.

Yet I would still rather watch a DVD.

Because when I do, there is no need to wait while the movie loads or buffers, flicks in and out of high definition, or grinds to a halt because someone else in the house is sucking up most of the internet usage on their phone or gaming device.

Nor do I have to plug a casting device directly into the TV because when it is plugged into the splitter with the HDMI Sky input (don't start me on Sky) it doesn't work properly.

There is also no need to upgrade my internet package, change to fibre and upgrade my modem to avoid the above.

I also am not required to sign up to a rival service because the one I originally subscribed to only has movies or television series "similar to" the one I am looking for.

And while we are on quality, if movie stars like Will Smith continue to be paid big dollars to appear in Netflix originals like the movie Bright, the future is dim.

Am I old school?

I get that "all you can eat" streaming services are the way of the future, the array is amazing and it has created new genres of storytelling via series like Stranger Things, the controversial 13 Reasons Why and Orange is the New Black.

And one day the quality of the viewing experience will match DVDs.

But it irks me right now that making it easier to get more - thereby successfully exploiting the human traits of laziness and greed - has killed DVD stores, not quality.

RIP the DVD stores, but - like vinyl which has survived CDs - long live the DVD.