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So even not taking any notion of price into account, the piracy solution is far more convenient. I'm not convinced by that argument. It's possible that for a

So even not taking any notion of price into account, the piracy solution is far more convenient. I'm not convinced by that argument. It's possible that for a technically-skilled user with everything set up correctly, that could be the case - but you're exaggerating the scale of the difference for most users. Let's say you're already a Netflix subscriber, for example; you want to watch a movie. It's offered by Netflix. You open the app, select the movie and it starts playing. You want to watch it on your TV? You use your Apple TV/Chromecast and it magically works. There's no waiting for a download, no need to worry about the format or resolution, and no concerns about the legality of it. The same applies to e.g. Amazon Prime, or iTunes, or whatever cable service you have available. It will probably work, probably won't be a pain in the arse to setup, and won't get you into any trouble with your internet provider. "Far more convenient" is simply overstating it.

coob 11y ago
Isn't that the very problem popcorn time is addressing?
kuschku 11y ago
If you are in the US, yes. For me, it works like this: I want to watch a movie. I look in Netflix, which has less than a few dozen movies. Can’t find it. So I turn on the VPN, for which I pay also money. Ah, there it is. Now, let’s Chromecast it... Oh, fuck, forgot Chromecast doesn’t have the VPN. Let’s set up the VPN on the router... (by now the person with which I wanted to watch the movie turned on Popcorn Time and has already started the movie, while I try to read the documentation of my router). In the US, Popcorn Time is not really useful. But especially in english-speaking european countries with bad coverage from US services, like the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Scandinavia, parts of Germany, etc, Popcorn Time is often the simplest way to watch a movie. Before Popcorn Time, German online streaming portals like Movie4k.to, Kinox.to, which are built around hosters like streamcloud.eu or megaupload.com (RIP), were so popular that 80% of the German population has used them at least once.

coob 11y ago

Isn't that the very problem popcorn time is addressing?

kuschku 11y ago

If you are in the US, yes. For me, it works like this: I want to watch a movie. I look in Netflix, which has less than a few dozen movies. Can’t find it. So I turn on the VPN, for which I pay also money. Ah, there it is. Now, let’s Chromecast it... Oh, fuck, forgot Chromecast doesn’t have the VPN. Let’s set up the VPN on the router... (by now the person with which I wanted to watch the movie turned on Popcorn Time and has already started the movie, while I try to read the documentation of my router). In the US, Popcorn Time is not really useful. But especially in english-speaking european countries with bad coverage from US services, like the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Scandinavia, parts of Germany, etc, Popcorn Time is often the simplest way to watch a movie. Before Popcorn Time, German online streaming portals like Movie4k.to, Kinox.to, which are built around hosters like streamcloud.eu or megaupload.com (RIP), were so popular that 80% of the German population has used them at least once.