9 ms·

As for Netflix I found a great alternative. Many people are selling their DVD/BluRay collections on eBay as bundles. With the rise of streaming services, there

As for Netflix I found a great alternative. Many people are selling their DVD/BluRay collections on eBay as bundles. With the rise of streaming services, there is usually not a whole lot of competition on these auctions. I somehow managed to get 30 pretty decent movies/series on DVD and 20 on BluRay for 25€ including shipping. Sure, these are usually not very new movies, but I like to watch older movies and its a lot better than subscribing to dozens of streaming services just to watch one specific movie. As for comfort, sure DVDs are not as comfortable as clicking on Netflix, but if you have a decent NAS at home anyways, Plex still makes a great experience.

whimsicalism 6y ago
Or just engage in piracy.
- TonyTrapp 6y ago
  Buying a used CD/DVD is usually less work, safer and costs next to nothing. Discogs is great for music CDs in particular.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    Less work? It is trivial to do, trivial to do untraceably, and costs literally nothing.
    - lwhalen 6y ago
      $30/yr for a VPN service so your isp doesn't disconnect you for torrenting, at least in the US
      - Red_Leaves_Flyy 6y ago
        So 2 months of Netflix?
      - whimsicalism 6y ago
        > $30/yr so, $2.5/month and you get access to all of the content on netflix, all of the content on hulu, all of the content on amazon prime, etc. > isp doesn't disconnect you for torrenting in places with isp competition, they don't even disconnect you. e: and i'm downvoted because...?
      - thesuitonym 6y ago
        I have no idea why a person would pay for a VPN to trickle torrents when they could pay the same to get usenet and download 1080p movies in a couple of minutes, or 4k in ~10.
        whimsicalism 6y ago
        > I have no idea why a person would pay for a VPN to trickle torrents when they could pay the same to get usenet and download 1080p movies in a couple of minutes, or 4k in ~10. I don't know what services you're using, but I can download 4k in sub-10 minutes from my seedbox. My understanding was usenet did not have as many options.
        jrockway 6y ago
        I don't really watch TV anymore, but when I did my experience was that Usenet was very good for anything English-language (movies, TV shows), but I had to torrent same-day anime releases.
      - vangelis 6y ago
        Don't torrent at home. If you're going to share Linux ISOs (because that's all p2p is good for) pay for a dedicated seedbox. You don't have to worry about cutting into your own bandwidth but for downloading once. It's more expensive, but it's cheaper than Netflix.
      - theelous3 6y ago
        openvpn on a vps you already run, or some dirt cheap box. If you're buying dvds and cds every year you're more than likely spending more than you would on a vpn setup, or just use safer trackers. You could probably use nothing and any fines you eventually probably won't get would be less than the cost of the hard media anyway.
    - meowster 6y ago
      I don't know how the used market affects the creators' pockets, but let people who want to pay, pay. Enough people still need to pay to make it worthwhile for the creators to publish the content.
      - whimsicalism 6y ago
        I only made my comment because they were already in the used market and I don't think most people who buy movies do so with an eye towards the resale value, so there is minimal impact on the creators' pockets at all.
        cgriswald 6y ago
        I’m not sure that follows. Someone bought the content new. When someone else buys their old stuff, this gives them more money with which to buy new content. I suspect this is a very small effect, but I doubt it’s zero.
        whimsicalism 6y ago
        > I suspect this is a very small effect, but I doubt it’s zero. As I said, minimal. If I save money by pirating content and then use that money to pay higher tips to service workers, then maybe they'll turn around and buy more content - helping content creators. These are very tenuous links. The more clear link would be the used market shifting the demand curve for the new market outwards due to the resale value. I think this is a real effect, but a small one.
        sfg 6y ago
        The reason to switch from resold to infringed is that infringed is a superior substitute. However, these are not the only two substitutes in the market, and given that the consumer is consuming a stream of items over time, it is the case that by switching to infringed that the consumer will have less reason to ever buy, either at all or in the same quantity, the substitutes that make money for the creators, such as paid streaming or new discs, and so it is plausible (and for many individual consumers likely) that the impact on creators will be non-negligible.
- pg_1234 6y ago
  Downloading torrents isn't piracy. Sharing torrents for free isn't piracy. These MIGHT be illegal copyright infringement, depending on where you're located. Piracy is ONLY selling illegal copies of content ... ... or hijacking ships ...
  - newswasboring 6y ago
    Isn't sharing copyrighted work illegal and thus piracy? I thought the laws about that are pretty uniform now.
schwartzworld 6y ago
There is definitely a huge secondhand DVD market. Also your local library has a selection of DVDs. I was just at mine yesterday and I saw lots of titles that aren't available to stream on any of the big subscription platforms. Plex doesn't even require an NAS. I run mine off an old laptop. 100gb of storage is plenty if you have a DVD or are willing to burn one, since you don't need to keep stuff you don't watch in your library if it's backed up to optical media.
- cgriswald 6y ago
  Without a NAS what is the benefit of Plex over a DVD player?
  - bentcorner 6y ago
    My guess is that they're talking about ripping DVDs and storing video files on the laptop HD. It's functionally equivalent to a NAS as far as Plex is concerned.
    - cgriswald 6y ago
      I understand that, but the process seems to be rip, watch, delete due to limited storage. I’m sure I’m missing something but I don’t know what benefit this process adds over just watching the DVD.
      - Symbiote 6y ago
        Do DVDs in the last (~10?) few years still have non-skippable adverts at the start? That could be one potential benefit. But otherwise, I don't see any real plus. Unless you have such a large collection that the search/recommend features are useful. You still have to take the DVD out, put it in the computer, run some program, etc.
        cgriswald 6y ago
        > Do DVDs in the last (~10?) few years still have non-skippable adverts at the start? I honestly don't know, because I rip all my content and play it on Plex. :) This could be the answer and once you're ripping content anyway, Plex is a decent way to stream it to whichever devices.
shp0ngle 6y ago
Only tangentially related, but I recently tried Plex to see what the fuzz is about, and the UX is horrible. Both on the smart TV side and on the PC side. It always takes me forever to find out anything in the GUI and I can never find out how to do the simple things I want - that is - put bunch of files into one end and watch them on smart TV on the other end.
- jabroni_salad 6y ago
  It used to be a lot better. Over the past year they started to prioritize internet content, and your personal server is under a submenu instead of front & center. I've been running Jellyfin on the side. It isn't perfect (yet!) but it matches up with what I want, which is something that can play files on my network with a TV Remote-friendly interface.
  - alfyboy 6y ago
    +1 for jellyfin. It is a lot of work going on and 10.7 which will be launching soon will bring a lot of more nice features. Also, SyncPlay is sweet!
bartread 6y ago
> As for comfort, sure DVDs are not as comfortable as clicking on Netflix I'm starting to see this as an advantage because it forces me to get up and do something - actually move, even if not very far. Working at home since March I've also returned to much more frequently listening on CD (I have a modestly large CD collection, with maybe 500 - 600 albums, accrued gradually and over many years, much of it second hand). A big advantage (apart from sound quality vs. streaming)? Most albums fall into the 40 - 60 minute range so I have to get up and move around to change the music at least that often, rather than sitting essentially motionless for hours on end at my desk or on the sofa.

whimsicalism 6y ago

Or just engage in piracy.

TonyTrapp 6y ago
Buying a used CD/DVD is usually less work, safer and costs next to nothing. Discogs is great for music CDs in particular.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  Less work? It is trivial to do, trivial to do untraceably, and costs literally nothing.
  - lwhalen 6y ago
    $30/yr for a VPN service so your isp doesn't disconnect you for torrenting, at least in the US
    - Red_Leaves_Flyy 6y ago
      So 2 months of Netflix?
    - whimsicalism 6y ago
      > $30/yr so, $2.5/month and you get access to all of the content on netflix, all of the content on hulu, all of the content on amazon prime, etc. > isp doesn't disconnect you for torrenting in places with isp competition, they don't even disconnect you. e: and i'm downvoted because...?
    - thesuitonym 6y ago
      I have no idea why a person would pay for a VPN to trickle torrents when they could pay the same to get usenet and download 1080p movies in a couple of minutes, or 4k in ~10.
      - whimsicalism 6y ago
        > I have no idea why a person would pay for a VPN to trickle torrents when they could pay the same to get usenet and download 1080p movies in a couple of minutes, or 4k in ~10. I don't know what services you're using, but I can download 4k in sub-10 minutes from my seedbox. My understanding was usenet did not have as many options.
        jrockway 6y ago
        I don't really watch TV anymore, but when I did my experience was that Usenet was very good for anything English-language (movies, TV shows), but I had to torrent same-day anime releases.
    - vangelis 6y ago
      Don't torrent at home. If you're going to share Linux ISOs (because that's all p2p is good for) pay for a dedicated seedbox. You don't have to worry about cutting into your own bandwidth but for downloading once. It's more expensive, but it's cheaper than Netflix.
    - theelous3 6y ago
      openvpn on a vps you already run, or some dirt cheap box. If you're buying dvds and cds every year you're more than likely spending more than you would on a vpn setup, or just use safer trackers. You could probably use nothing and any fines you eventually probably won't get would be less than the cost of the hard media anyway.
  - meowster 6y ago
    I don't know how the used market affects the creators' pockets, but let people who want to pay, pay. Enough people still need to pay to make it worthwhile for the creators to publish the content.
    - whimsicalism 6y ago
      I only made my comment because they were already in the used market and I don't think most people who buy movies do so with an eye towards the resale value, so there is minimal impact on the creators' pockets at all.
      - cgriswald 6y ago
        I’m not sure that follows. Someone bought the content new. When someone else buys their old stuff, this gives them more money with which to buy new content. I suspect this is a very small effect, but I doubt it’s zero.
        whimsicalism 6y ago
        > I suspect this is a very small effect, but I doubt it’s zero. As I said, minimal. If I save money by pirating content and then use that money to pay higher tips to service workers, then maybe they'll turn around and buy more content - helping content creators. These are very tenuous links. The more clear link would be the used market shifting the demand curve for the new market outwards due to the resale value. I think this is a real effect, but a small one.
      - sfg 6y ago
        The reason to switch from resold to infringed is that infringed is a superior substitute. However, these are not the only two substitutes in the market, and given that the consumer is consuming a stream of items over time, it is the case that by switching to infringed that the consumer will have less reason to ever buy, either at all or in the same quantity, the substitutes that make money for the creators, such as paid streaming or new discs, and so it is plausible (and for many individual consumers likely) that the impact on creators will be non-negligible.
pg_1234 6y ago
Downloading torrents isn't piracy. Sharing torrents for free isn't piracy. These MIGHT be illegal copyright infringement, depending on where you're located. Piracy is ONLY selling illegal copies of content ... ... or hijacking ships ...
- newswasboring 6y ago
  Isn't sharing copyrighted work illegal and thus piracy? I thought the laws about that are pretty uniform now.

schwartzworld 6y ago

There is definitely a huge secondhand DVD market. Also your local library has a selection of DVDs. I was just at mine yesterday and I saw lots of titles that aren't available to stream on any of the big subscription platforms. Plex doesn't even require an NAS. I run mine off an old laptop. 100gb of storage is plenty if you have a DVD or are willing to burn one, since you don't need to keep stuff you don't watch in your library if it's backed up to optical media.

cgriswald 6y ago
Without a NAS what is the benefit of Plex over a DVD player?
- bentcorner 6y ago
  My guess is that they're talking about ripping DVDs and storing video files on the laptop HD. It's functionally equivalent to a NAS as far as Plex is concerned.
  - cgriswald 6y ago
    I understand that, but the process seems to be rip, watch, delete due to limited storage. I’m sure I’m missing something but I don’t know what benefit this process adds over just watching the DVD.
    - Symbiote 6y ago
      Do DVDs in the last (~10?) few years still have non-skippable adverts at the start? That could be one potential benefit. But otherwise, I don't see any real plus. Unless you have such a large collection that the search/recommend features are useful. You still have to take the DVD out, put it in the computer, run some program, etc.
      - cgriswald 6y ago
        > Do DVDs in the last (~10?) few years still have non-skippable adverts at the start? I honestly don't know, because I rip all my content and play it on Plex. :) This could be the answer and once you're ripping content anyway, Plex is a decent way to stream it to whichever devices.

shp0ngle 6y ago

Only tangentially related, but I recently tried Plex to see what the fuzz is about, and the UX is horrible. Both on the smart TV side and on the PC side. It always takes me forever to find out anything in the GUI and I can never find out how to do the simple things I want - that is - put bunch of files into one end and watch them on smart TV on the other end.

jabroni_salad 6y ago
It used to be a lot better. Over the past year they started to prioritize internet content, and your personal server is under a submenu instead of front & center. I've been running Jellyfin on the side. It isn't perfect (yet!) but it matches up with what I want, which is something that can play files on my network with a TV Remote-friendly interface.
- alfyboy 6y ago
  +1 for jellyfin. It is a lot of work going on and 10.7 which will be launching soon will bring a lot of more nice features. Also, SyncPlay is sweet!

bartread 6y ago

> As for comfort, sure DVDs are not as comfortable as clicking on Netflix I'm starting to see this as an advantage because it forces me to get up and do something - actually move, even if not very far. Working at home since March I've also returned to much more frequently listening on CD (I have a modestly large CD collection, with maybe 500 - 600 albums, accrued gradually and over many years, much of it second hand). A big advantage (apart from sound quality vs. streaming)? Most albums fall into the 40 - 60 minute range so I have to get up and move around to change the music at least that often, rather than sitting essentially motionless for hours on end at my desk or on the sofa.