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The problem with buying Season Passes is that they're usually a terrible option for many reasons. They're usually not available until well after the season pre

The problem with buying Season Passes is that they're usually a terrible option for many reasons. They're usually not available until well after the season premiered (12+ months later), roughly at the same time that the DVD/Bluray comes out. The quality of them is iffy, at best - SD or HD at poor bitrates. Fine for watching on a tablet or laptop, marginal at best on a TV/Surround system. They're tied to watching on that specific platform, and you're fucked if you wanted to watch on another platform, and if that platform goes away so do all your purchases. They're region locked, so if you went overseas for a bit, you can't access them. They're often either as expensive, or more, than the physical Bluray.

Mindwipe 7y ago
All those also apply to subscription services, and subscription services remain significantly more popular with users. Sometimes people on HN might have to accept they are not typical users a bit.
- concerned_user 7y ago
  Subscription services at least don't lie to you by disguising themselves as if they sell you dvd/bluray but in digital form, and all the process resembling that of dealing with a tangible item.
- Goladus 7y ago
  > All those also apply to subscription services They quite obviously don't. Perhaps most notably availability at premier, which tends to matter a lot for TV shows if you have any desire to be part of the conversation about them.
Benji_San 7y ago
I'm still waiting for "Steam for TV series/Films". I've always felt that that approach would work better as we're unlikely to get a single streaming service with "most content" akin to music streaming". The model works well for distributing games and doesn't have any of the deal breaking problems that you listed (well except for it going out of business, but should not be a problem as long as you have access to the files). I can't really see a reason why it would not work for films or TV series. Just provide something that isn't worse than torrents and reasonably priced and I'll happily buy the content I'm interested in.
- sammorrowdrums 7y ago
  Incidentally, steam does stream both standard film and VR content - just not much of it. (So steam is already steam for TV/Films in theory) For example: https://store.steampowered.com/app/468060/PADAK/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/468060/PADAK/
  - WorldMaker 7y ago
    Steam briefly had a content deal with Lionsgate, but the partnership didn't work out (very few sales) and they abandoned the idea of selling TV/Films soon after the partnership collapsed. They didn't seem able to get interest from any other studio in that time, either. (Plus they were not able to and disinterested in supporting the industry standard Movies Anywhere mutual-DRM-unlocks-assurance system, so for at least some consumers their attempt was DOA from the start.)
- cercatrova 7y ago
  Do you mean...iTunes? Or are you imagining something different?
chipotle_coyote 7y ago
The season passes I bought on iTunes -- which was admittedly some years ago at this point -- actually added each episode the day after they aired on TV. It's my impression that's still the case with most shows; the exceptions are shows on "premium cable" channels like HBO. The bit rates of the shows that I got were comparable to most of the files that I'd previously pirate^H^H^H^H^H^Hfound just lying on the street like they'd fallen off the back of trucks. The rest of your complaints are certainly true, though. As I mentioned in another reply, I think it's possible that if this a la carte model had taken off, there would have been successful pressure to go DRM-free just the way that there had been for music, although your mention of region-locking brings up that whole "international rights" folderol that's still with us even in the streaming world, so...

Mindwipe 7y ago

All those also apply to subscription services, and subscription services remain significantly more popular with users. Sometimes people on HN might have to accept they are not typical users a bit.

concerned_user 7y ago
Subscription services at least don't lie to you by disguising themselves as if they sell you dvd/bluray but in digital form, and all the process resembling that of dealing with a tangible item.
Goladus 7y ago
> All those also apply to subscription services They quite obviously don't. Perhaps most notably availability at premier, which tends to matter a lot for TV shows if you have any desire to be part of the conversation about them.

Benji_San 7y ago

I'm still waiting for "Steam for TV series/Films". I've always felt that that approach would work better as we're unlikely to get a single streaming service with "most content" akin to music streaming". The model works well for distributing games and doesn't have any of the deal breaking problems that you listed (well except for it going out of business, but should not be a problem as long as you have access to the files). I can't really see a reason why it would not work for films or TV series. Just provide something that isn't worse than torrents and reasonably priced and I'll happily buy the content I'm interested in.

sammorrowdrums 7y ago
Incidentally, steam does stream both standard film and VR content - just not much of it. (So steam is already steam for TV/Films in theory) For example: https://store.steampowered.com/app/468060/PADAK/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/468060/PADAK/
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  Steam briefly had a content deal with Lionsgate, but the partnership didn't work out (very few sales) and they abandoned the idea of selling TV/Films soon after the partnership collapsed. They didn't seem able to get interest from any other studio in that time, either. (Plus they were not able to and disinterested in supporting the industry standard Movies Anywhere mutual-DRM-unlocks-assurance system, so for at least some consumers their attempt was DOA from the start.)
cercatrova 7y ago
Do you mean...iTunes? Or are you imagining something different?

chipotle_coyote 7y ago

The season passes I bought on iTunes -- which was admittedly some years ago at this point -- actually added each episode the day after they aired on TV. It's my impression that's still the case with most shows; the exceptions are shows on "premium cable" channels like HBO. The bit rates of the shows that I got were comparable to most of the files that I'd previously pirate^H^H^H^H^H^Hfound just lying on the street like they'd fallen off the back of trucks. The rest of your complaints are certainly true, though. As I mentioned in another reply, I think it's possible that if this a la carte model had taken off, there would have been successful pressure to go DRM-free just the way that there had been for music, although your mention of region-locking brings up that whole "international rights" folderol that's still with us even in the streaming world, so...