People still rent/buy DVD's from movie stores? After ripping my entire collection to my HTPC, I sold all 250+ of them to Everyday Music on Burnside. Been using Netflix since 2007 and never looked back.

Video stores are D-E-A-D. Anyone stating otherwise is clinging to nostalgia. The industry has moved on. You should, too.

Hell I'm surprised there's still a Cockbuster on SW 10th Ave. Downtown. I have a feeling if it weren't for the PSU students there wouldn't be.

I never liked Hollywood Video. Their owners were a bit too religious, and as a result wouldn't carry certain movies, or had edited versions of movies.

Their selection always amazed me in the breadth of it's general lameness. Unlike the Videorama in Ladd's Circle that closed a year or so ago, it won't be missed.

I ran out of their store screaming once when they once had a 10' wide section (full height) full of Mariah Carey's movie "Glitter." Noooooooo!!!

"Video stores are D-E-A-D. Anyone stating otherwise is clinging to nostalgia. The industry has moved on. You should, too."

I get real tired of this argument whether it's video rental stores or record stores or phonebooks or whatever. Not everyone spends they're entire life jacked into a computer. At least not yet, anyway.

And what's wrong with nostalgia? And why are you still on my lawn? I remember when kids got off your lawn when you told them to.

This doesn't surprise me, HV's response to the video store crisis and the cheaper rental alternatives was to actually increase their prices, not kidding. I went in two months ago when my netflix account was frozen trying to rent a couple movies and they were five bucks apiece.

Oh and Jackattak, you obviously like new releases and mainstream fare. I go into videostores to find things that are not streaming online nor on DVD.

Not at all, seanpdx. Netflix has a wonderful selection of Indie flicks on either format, I've found. Plus a marvelous collection of kung fu flicks.

Plus, there's always bittorrent for the ultra-rare stuff. But I get what you mean.

Consequently I through out my VCR (along with my microwave) about 2.5 years ago when last I moved.

Microwaves are for suckers!

Right?!

@Jackattak: It sounds time consuming to rip everything, but really damn tempting.

Oh dear Dog it is time consuming. I worked on it for ~1.5 years for all 250+ of my DVDs. It's worth it, though. If you plan your attack and try to get 10 done per week, it goes by faster than you think.

On modern-day PC hardware (Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz or newer tech, 3GB+ RAM) you can rip one DVD in native format in about 15 mins. You can rip and upconvert to a higher resolution (not quite "full" HD but close...720p) but that takes longer and I don't recommend it unless the movie warrants the task (like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc). An upconvert and rip process takes about an hour on a 3-hr. movie.

Also keep in mind if you have a decent-sized movie collection, you'll want a lot of hard disk space on your HTPC (like 2TB's, which comes very cheaply nowadays...1TB hard drives are ~$90).

I've got the hard drive space, I might do just that.

I never really liked going to a video rental place anyway. Any time someone invents a means to more pajama time I am down.

Sorry Hollywood Video. Also sorry about the money I still owe you for My Life is in a Turnaround and Henry and June.

Say what you will about them... *my* HV at NE 15/Fremont stocks the best Portland film ever made: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_Geek (I really don't need to hear any more about GVS, thank you). PLUS (triple-underline), actual knowledgeable film geeks work there and can INTERACT with you on the subject of film > thanks Allie and Andrew for you splendid and worthwhile recommends; you will be missed.

Film Geek was hands down one of the worst movies I'd ever watched, period. You're a total Portland homer if you believe if it was anything close to good.

also Jak, I've thought about using your approach in the past but haven't because I haven't gotten around to building an HTPC yet (I want the balls out version with MythTV and such) and moreso because Blu-Ray has such great definition and are way too massive to rip onto a computer. I kind of like having the physical media better anyways.

Good riddance. Hopefully Blockbuster joins them soon. And some sort of competition for Netflix pops up, since they've turn into the same bureaucratic train wreck that these two places use to be.

In between a wonderful, reasonably priced and genuinely cinephilic place like Movie Madness, and the decent selection of films at our Libraries (which is pretty thorough if you have access to one of the college interlibrary loan systems), I don't see why we need them. I mean, Portland is suppose to be all hip, anti-establishment and all about buying local, right?

A movie business ran by people who don't care about movies is bound to fail. If only I could see those Redbox monstrosities disappearing soon. And Regal Cinemas. And if people would figure out that the actual studios making movies view you with contempt.

@ el cubano -

Word. It's not for everybody, for sure. YMMV and all that.

Alright haters, lets get real: do you really think mom and pop shops could ever be the sole movie providers for a city? They can't. While Portland would like to think itself too hip for corporations, my experience with HV customers reveal that this city also houses parents, children, and the occasional person whose has tired their independent film collection and wants to see what the studios are producing. Believe or not, there have been some amazing movies put out this year, and not every person wants to rent Gummo for their movie nights. The people at HV have a breadth of knowledge and even if they don't stock a movie, they will always point you to a place that does. We have the technology to get a film anywhere, you can't get customer service anywhere.

"Alright haters, lets get real: do you really think mom and pop shops could ever be the sole movie providers for a city?"

Yes. If neighborhood video store were allowed to exist still, the demand would be met. And they'd be getting better prices and service than what they are getting from Blockbusters and Hollywoods.

I am going to miss my HV on NE 15th and Fremont! Service is always friendly and the powerplay option was great! No late fees! 3 dollars for new releases and NO LATE FEES! Say what you will about Netflix, redbox etc. I prefer Hollywood any day! Who wants to wait 2 days to get a movie, when I want to watch a movie I want to go find the one I want, take it home and watch it, I don't want to search online and plan to watch it when I receive it in the mail 2 days later. Also FYI the watch it now option at netflix is not compatible with all computers. I can watch shows on Hulu, but netfix doesn't work on my mac, what a shame and a waste of the free trial at netflix... Farewell to the friendly & fun employees of my neighborhood Hollywood Video you WILL BE MISSED! I have been going to Hollywood's all over the country since I was a little girl, sooooo much better than blockbuster. Much love to HV!