video rental store
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video rental store
A shop where people used to be able to rent films on videocassettes, DVDs, or Blu-rays for a limited period of time.
Ich kann mich noch erinnern, wie wir als Kinder am Wochenende immer in die Videothek gegangen sind.
I can still remember how, as children, we always went to the video rental store on weekends.
The suffix '-thek' comes from Greek and refers to a place of collection or storage. If you know this ending, you can also understand other words like 'Bibliothek' (library; book collection) or 'Diskothek' (discotheque; record collection).
Die Universitätsbibliothek hat eine riesige Sammlung alter Manuskripte.
The university library has a huge collection of old manuscripts.
Video rental stores have almost completely disappeared in Germany today. They were very popular before the age of streaming services, but by now they are a symbol of the past (the 1980s to the 2000s).
Mein Vater erzählt oft Geschichten von den Abenden, die er in der Videothek verbracht hat.
My father often tells stories about the evenings he spent in the video rental store.
Typical verbs used in connection with a video rental store are '(sich) einen Film ausleihen' (to rent a film), 'eine DVD zurückbringen' (to return a DVD), or 'eine Mitgliedskarte haben' (to have a membership card).
Hast du den Film schon in die Videothek zurückgebracht?
Have you already returned the film to the video rental store?
media library
Here, Mediathek refers to a broadcaster’s online service, where programs that have already been broadcast can be accessed. Videothek, by contrast, was a shop where people rented films on videocassettes, DVDs, or Blu-rays. The key difference is therefore digital versus physical access.
Früher lieh sie denselben Film auf DVD in der Videothek aus.
She used to rent the same film on DVD from the video rental store.
Sie sieht den verpassten Film am Abend in der Mediathek des Senders.
She watches the film she missed that evening in the broadcaster’s media library.
