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Your points about usage of TPB, less convenience, lower quality, cost being low enough - all of them seem to be from the U.S. or first world perspective. In man
by wtmt 9y ago
Your points about usage of TPB, less convenience, lower quality, cost being low enough - all of them seem to be from the U.S. or first world perspective. In many other countries, TPB or equivalent is very common across classes of people (not just students but also workers in different non-technology industries). Unauthorized copies are more convenient because most people watch media on a tiny laptop or a small monitor desktop (often several years old or low end), where a free VLC or other player will play whatever is thrown at it. Quality of the video/audio isn't a big deal on these lower end, smaller screen and older devices (plus, many people may prefer lower quality for the lower data consumed from a broadband connection).
One might argue that these people would never pay for content and so mustn't be considered when talking about paid content. But given a chance not to jump through hoops and with geography specific pricing, there are ways to get people to pay. That could add up when done right on a large population base. Right now the big content houses are literally leaving money on the table and encouraging piracy (to put it in a different way)!
- hacking_again 9y agoTPB quality is usually very good, 1GB per hour is common and 4GB per hour is possible for high demand stuff. Plus you get a much better library. A fast internet connection makes the inconvenience of downloading vs. streaming go away.
- barrkel 9y ago1GB per hour isn't enough if you have a big screen (I use a 100" screen with projector). Not even Amazon encodes video well, they have particularly poor colour quantization that ends up filling the screen with blotchy seas of uniform colour; Netflix has the best encoding settings IME.
- nasredin 9y agoYou are not downloading the right type releases. WRT movies: WEBDL is usually 4-5GB 720p Bluray: 6GB 1080p: 8GB and up.
- hacking_again 9y agoRight, so since movies are about 2 hours, divide those numbers by 2 to get GB per hour. It's hard to find that quality for good but unpopular movies or shows. But then again, it's usually hard to find good but unpopular movies or shows at all on Netflix.
- franga2000 9y agoNot to mention that you can usually start streaming a decent torrent after the first 10%.
- josteink 9y ago> TPB, less convenience, lower quality For me, a DRM-free experience is one I can enjoy on all platforms and devices I have. It also has a much better general UX. Measured in all ways I can measure quality, DRM only reduces it. Thus sites like TPB still has the upper hand for people who care about quality, portability and UX.