48K views · Jun 12, 2008 · 0:31 · 0 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2010–2019
A 1999 Qwest commercial in which a weary traveler at a remote motel is told every room offers every movie ever made, on demand. It was shot at Roy's Motel in Amboy, California.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN brings it up as an eerily prescient ad that foresaw on-demand streaming years before YouTube or Netflix.
“seemed incredibly futuristic at the time”HN comment, 2017
“One ad in particular that later struck me as prescient”
1999 Qwest ad that prefigured on-demand movies
One ad in particular that later struck me as prescient was the ~1999 Quest ad of the guy asking what movies a hotel had: "All rooms have every movie in every language, anytime, day or night." this video
“seemed incredibly futuristic at the time”
1999 Qwest ad foreseeing every movie on demand
In 1999, Qwest had a 30-second commercial that seemed incredibly futuristic at the time, talking about a hotel where "every room has every movie ever made in every language anytime day or night" and it seemed impossibly futuristic. Not 20 years later, the technology for this is already well-established; the only thing stopping it is that the owners of the films don't want to make them available this way. this video
“kind of mind blowing at the time”
Qwest commercial predicting on-demand movies
Qwest had similar commercials in 1999 [0]. "Every movie ever made any time" was kind of mind blowing at the time - then 10 years later it happened. [0] this video
