“We can do without the Internet”: it became known why Russians keep video and DVD players

From a formal point of view, everything is sad with video cassettes: new ones have not been produced anywhere in the world for several years, and professional recording on them, accordingly, is also not carried out. DVDs are in a borderline situation: they are still being produced, but in the world they are openly considered an endangered medium. For example, last fall of 2023, the already mentioned Netflix announced the closure of its mail-in video rental service. But, let us note, this is where this company started, only later developing into a streaming giant capable of independently producing films and TV series.

The classic music CD holds its position: academic music and jazz are still produced and sold on these media, designed to be listened to by a conservative and sophisticated audience on high-end – maybe even tube – equipment.

And here are a couple of offline media that were previously popular, but dropped out of the race twenty years ago, and are experiencing a kind of “life after death”: quite modern music is recorded and sold on vinyl records (LP) and audio cassettes. It’s the authors and producers who are so “interesting” by playing retro games, and at the same time they receive direct revenue, and not through streaming platforms.

This is a look at things from the height of world statistics, and from this height the state of affairs in specific regions of the planet and market niches is not too noticeable. And of course, we are interested in what is happening in Russia. Where, on the one hand, the Internet has penetrated into all spheres of life, and on the other hand, the habit of stockpiling is strong. Including that same entertainment content.

To reality through offline

So, we’re trying to buy a video to watch (family or whatever) on a fairly dusty DVD player. First we try the most obvious step: go to the online marketplace. In the end, we are only preparing for an apocalypse without the Internet and platforms, and not experiencing it here and now.

Marketplaces, it must be said, do not fail: right now you can find on them both new, in packaging, and used discs and even video cassettes with recordings (the latter, however, not on all sites, but only where they are used to working with antique and second-hand books goods). In addition to regular DVDs, there are also the latest generation laser discs – Blu-Ray, which, let us remind you, can hold more data, which means it is possible to record a large series on one disc or a movie in super quality.

Repertoire? Most often – various kinds of classics. On DVD, the best sellers are blockbusters of all times (from 200 rubles per disc) and various director’s gift versions (of the same “Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter”) – here the price can exceed 5,000 rubles.

Among the latest films on DVD, marketplaces even offer new releases from last year, such as Oppenheimer. But it’s on marketplaces that you’ll have to look for this kind of “new thing”: the offers are lost against the backdrop of Pixar cartoons and hot hits of the early 2000s. After all, the heyday of the video-on-laserdisc culture was at that time.

For the most complete coverage you will have to go – just like twenty years ago, by the way! – to a specialized website of one of the online stores selling discs. Not only the Hollywood hits of last year, but even “The Boy’s Word” and the latest series of “Christmas Trees” are instantly there. They deliver by mail and are located together with a warehouse in St. Petersburg, so you will have to wait a few days (or even a week).

“The delivery geography is extensive, Moscow and St. Petersburg are rather among the laggards,” individual entrepreneur Elena, the owner of one of these online stores, told MK. — Regular customers – in those regions where broadband Internet is still very expensive. And also in military camps and other closed institutions, where there are restrictions on smartphones and access to mobile Internet, but DVD players, including portable ones, are allowed.”

According to MK’s interlocutor, DVD stores gained more customers several years ago with a new preventive measure in criminal cases – a ban on certain actions. Most often, these “defined actions” include Internet access; Therefore, both people under house arrest and people under investigation without the Internet order films through lawyers or relatives in the traditional way. This is reminiscent of the renaissance of push-button telephones – “dialers”: the army and the penitentiary system also do not allow them to die.

With your feet

For those who think of not only watching, but also buying music and movies without the Internet, it is somewhat more difficult. Anyone who hasn’t been to good old Gorbushka or Savela for about 15 years will be very surprised: only a few sellers deal with offline discs, cassettes – and depending on your luck, not all former markets have such people left.

“There’s no point, I stopped renting the outlet,” shares CD seller Samvel, who a few years ago could be met on Gorbushka. — I trade little by little with delivery through the free classifieds platform. And I don’t pay any rent…

As before, such sellers have a good “warehouse”, and even more stuff can be recorded for the client upon request (the main supply of content lies on several times reserved hard drives). The catalog contains up to a thousand titles of films alone, not counting TV series and music.

“I personally thank God that torrents are blocked in Russia,” says Samvel, meaning, of course, the most common torrent trackers, that is, “search engines” for everything located in a distributed user “cloud.” Trackers were blocked a few years ago for copyright infringement; Now those rights holders themselves have solemnly left Russia, but the claims against torrents also related to content prohibited in the Russian Federation, so unblocking is not expected in the near future.

What do torrents actually have to do with it: where do you think DVD sellers get movies, including new ones? Of course, it is from the Internet, and on the Internet this lies primarily in torrents. And if before trackers were blocked, anyone who had become more or less familiar with this technology could find and download the content there on their own, but now it has become easier for some categories of users to buy DVDs inexpensively.

The seller of one of the few remaining “points” in the former radio market – by the way, it’s a sign of the times that now such places are staffed not by movie or music fans, but by ordinary hired sellers – said that people over 50 most often look for discs. Recently, there have been more young people: the fashion for portable DVD players, similar to miniature laptops, has returned.

“Truck drivers often buy this for the road,” said the disk salesman. — They take action films and films for adults.

For rare films that are out of stock, you can place an order and come back the next day to pick up the finished disc. Similarly, they sell a wide variety of software, including for serious design, construction, architecture, and video editing. They say that they can even find industrial software for machine tools. We admit, we didn’t check: there was nothing to install it on.

The story, however, would be incomplete if we were to keep silent about the new, emerging outlets where DVD films are sold side by side with vinyl and CDs. One of these opened recently in the Donskoy district, in a new residential complex. There are still few visitors here – and the assortment, alas, does not yet compete with the stores of the recent past. In terms of vinyl, there is a lot to look at (including unplayed vinyl – or rather, the kind that is sold as unplayed, and then it’s a question of the seller’s conscience). But those films on discs that are sold there are also available on marketplaces. Only hits, and nothing but hits.

Used point

And where should the real “those who want the strange” go, who want not only to order and buy something rare, but also to “hunt”? And also for fans of video cassettes – after all, there are also SVHS tape recorders that produce very decent quality.

Such people should definitely go to a flea market – real or virtual. First, about the real thing: in Moscow, as before, there is only one – in Novopodrezkovo, working on weekends (the one for tourists, in Izmailovo, also functions, but it is less likely to find what we need there).

Worn, chewed, worn-out cassettes and discs can be found here on literally every counter – traces of a highly developed civilization twenty years ago. Not everything here is worthy of attention: most often you can buy all the same movie classics, action films, films for adults, and in a fairly shabby state. But it’s cheap, almost free – take it already, they just take up space.

— It was previously believed that laser discs, unlike records, do not scratch or “jump”; It turned out to be a lie,” says classical music CD collector Grigory Lyapin. — You have to take care of laser discs no less carefully than vinyl. One way or another, when buying used wheels, you need to be very picky about scratches. Because there is a risk that the disc simply will not play.

Scratches closer to the center of the disk (the deeper, the worse, radial scratches are worse than ring or “chordate”) threaten that the media will not be recognized by the equipment at all. Discs that are worn out (laid without a case or spun thoroughly in a dusty car) will most likely be recognized, but will “jump” mercilessly: in the case of an audio disc, this will result in “broken” tracks, when the system simply switches to the next track, and the DVD video will “stripe”, “go in cubes” and so on.

And also – in most cases, discs recorded on CDs and DVDs at home are not worth attention. Unless, of course, this is some kind of archive that can only be found in this form. The fact is, says MK’s interlocutor, that DVD players, including serious ones for home theaters, most often do not digest “homemade” discs. Moreover, their shelf life is much lower than that of factory ones: after 10 years, more than half of self-recorded archives are read with errors.

But you can buy cassettes (both video and audio) in this form: their defects are obvious. You can see the condition of the packaging – you can immediately tell whether they were handled carefully – and the integrity and condition of the magnetic tape.

“By the way, if we talk about video cassettes, they are worth purchasing in good condition, just like Hi-Fi VCRs with stereo sound from the nineties,” says the collector. — The quality of analog sound recording on these cassettes is the highest available in everyday life, if you do not take expensive studio reel-to-reel tape recorders. So if you want to duplicate vinyl records dear to your heart without losing the analogue nature of the sound, then a Hi-Fi video recorder is better suited than any audio cassette recorder on “normal” or “chrome” cassettes.

Regarding the classification of audio cassettes, since we are talking about this: in 90% of cases, the breakdowns will be “normal” (type 1), and media that are very battered by life. But among the piles and stacks of such cassettes, “chrome” (type 2) and even “metal” (type 4) may be in good condition. These sometimes cost serious money and are suitable for high-quality audio recording. If, of course, there is something to record on.

Master required

And here we have to talk about the sad thing: in order to enjoy films or music on offline media, you will first have to return to working condition the equipment on which they were once played (after all, almost all DVDs and absolutely all VHS devices – whether they come from the family collections or bought right now – used). And this is not so simple: unlike a stream player (also sometimes a TV set-top box), there are not only electronics, but also mechanics.

“The maintenance procedure is standard: cleaning, lubricating, replacing belts,” says Sergei, a VCR repairman. — It’s the same with DVD drives, only there is much less lubrication, but the lens needs to be cleaned, and this is a rather delicate procedure. Once upon a time there were books like “Repairing Household VCRs”; enthusiastic people can find them in libraries or on the Internet. Now some, especially English-speaking masters, are posting corresponding videos. But I will say right away: if the device is valuable to you and if you have not done such repairs before, it is better to take it to a specialist for preventive maintenance.

You can find craftsmen on the same free ad portals or service aggregators. The price of “revitalizing a dead person” so that he can subsequently spin discs or cassettes regularly for several more years is about 5,000 rubles, if there are no serious breakdowns (if there are, you can easily find a new device within the same amount). Is it worth the effort and money to have the privilege of not depending on the Internet when watching movies and listening to music? Everyone will probably decide for themselves.