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You Hated Your Cable Package. Your Streaming Services Are Bringing It Back

115 points by collegeburner 4y ago

THENATHE 4y ago
I would gladly pay 3x the price to get TV that had no ads at all. Even if it only had like 30 channels. I can’t even think about all of that content I really care about. Seriously. Have two of each of these channels to provide variety: Left wing news, right wing news, alternative news and indie documentary news, cartoons, westerns and classic TV, actions, dramas, “daytime TV”, home improvement, discovery-like, sci-fi, movies, classics movies, history and documentaries, nature channel, comedy channel, reality TV, and I think that’s it. That’s 36 channels if there’s two of each. I’d unironically pay like $100 a month if I got a DVR and ABSOLUTELY NO ADS.
cinntaile 4y ago
At least we can switch every month with relative ease, unlike when you had to deal with real cable packages.
- teddyh 4y ago
  I’d bet that it was easy to switch cable packages when those were a new concept.
  - cinntaile 4y ago
    I doubt that, monthly subscriptions would have been a major hassle back in the day. Requiring a lot of administration.
  - FPGAhacker 4y ago
    Definitely not. Switching required a specialist to come out and change hardware.
- nicce 4y ago
  Have you tried to unsubscribe Amazon Prime?
  - KingOfCoders 4y ago
    I unsubscribed with relative ease. The difficulty is finding the one - ever chanhing - link during checkout that doesn't resubscribe you. Resubscribe links are plastered all over the place, some of them deceptive.
  - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
    1. Google "Amazon Prime Unsubscribe". 2. First result opens the Amazon App on my phone with a big button that says "End Membership". Why do you think this is hard?
    - ocdtrekkie 4y ago
      Because if you tried doing it, you'd discover it makes you go through four confirmation screens, and on each one the correct button is in a different spot and a different color, and if you screw up on any one of them you remain subscribed.
      - thayne 4y ago
        Still a whole lot easier than ending your comcast subscription, where you have to talk to someone on the phone, who will spend a consuderable amount of effort trying to get you to upgrade instead of cancel.
    - smegsicle 4y ago
      your workflow for finding links in amazon's user settings is to use google?
      - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
        Yes, my workflow to find settings in tons of apps is to use Google. I could hunt for the right checkbox, or just as easily ask the question and get a directed answer immediately. I don't see anything wrong with this either. I mean, tons of times when I need to do something specific in my car, for example, I just google it and get a detailed YouTube video explaining it. Better than hunting in a manual.
- tenebrisalietum 4y ago
  What cable does is force you to buy basic cable, plus a bunch of regulatory recovery and other fees, to get cable's real equivalent to streaming services which were the pay movie channels. I'd rather pay $80/mo. for Internet, then jump in an out of STARZ and other services for $10/mo. instead of paying $80/mo. for Internet, $100/mo. for TV+basic cable (which I don't watch and TV is free OTA), and then the movie channels on top of it. Plus the streaming services work on my phone which is pretty neat when I'm stuck somewhere.
  - derefr 4y ago
    > Plus the streaming services work on my phone which is pretty neat when I'm stuck somewhere. FYI, that’s true of most cable networks now as well. They’ve all developed apps that are hybrids of (legitimized) IPTV streaming of their live broadcast of the channels available in your package, plus VOD catalogues of seemingly-random seasons of shows (i.e. the ones they happen to currently have licensed for syndication at any given time.)
mateja 4y ago
https://archive.ph/tfGC1 https://archive.ph/tfGC1
gpapilion 4y ago
When I look at this article all I can think is that the cost of cable internet was too high when bundled with tv.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
It was easier for me to cut all my streaming services than it was to cut my cable TV subscription. The TV subscription was bundled with internet. Except for Amazon Prime, the streaming subscriptions weren't bundled with anything else.
- thetinguy 4y ago
  And no equipment rentals.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
treis 4y ago
Packages exist because its win win for everyone. People hate them because they think they can split them apart and pay proportionally for the channels they want. But that's not how it works.
- noSyncCloud 4y ago
  Cable packages are a win-win for everyone? This is going to be breaking news for the tens of millions of people who've dropped cable; please elaborate.
  - PraetorianGourd 4y ago
    “Channels” are not uniformly priced. Some, like ESPN, are very expensive for the cable providers while others are cheap. But, those expensive (and popular) channels subsidizes smaller or niche channels.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - treis 4y ago
    Because packages allow both sides to get the long tail of revenue/content. If it's individual channels with a price $X then those not willing to pay X lose the content and the channel loses the revenue. To make up for the missing tail each channel will have to be priced higher individually than their slice of the package revenue.
    - spuz 4y ago
      You're assuming the only alternative is a pay per channel model. How about a Spotify-like all-you-can-eat model where providers actually compete on what they actually have control over such as user experience, quality and customer support?
- blibble 4y ago
  can you explain how paying for hundreds of channels I don't want is a win for me?
falcolas 4y ago
* have brought it back. See Disney with its Hulu tie-in and ppv movie releases. The modern corporation’s war cry in action: “Why settle for some of your customer’s money when you can get all of it?”
- colinmhayes 4y ago
  Cable was bad because of long contracts, ads, and forced bundling. What's wrong with optional bundles? From my view point streaming is still better than cable in every way.
TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
It went full circle, people were leaving cable for on demand streaming without ads so they can be back at on demand cable package with ads....
- anyonecancode 4y ago
  At least with streaming we have tools available to mitigate the ads, though it's a constant fight. A few months ago I added ublock origin to all my family's browsers, but recently some of the streaming services have noticed and won't play unless I disable it. I'm trying out NextDNS now. On Hulu it doesn't skip the ads, but does block them, but something about watching 30s of black screen knowing there's supposed to be an ad there but isn't is still satisfying...
- peteradio 4y ago
  Who's suffering ads? I get ads on free services that's it, fair play IMO. The real reason I switched was because of the godawful remote controls and laggy and shitty interfaces. It would take me full minutes to navigate to whatever I wanted.
  - notacoward 4y ago
    Lately I've been getting ads on Hulu even though I subscribe. To be more precise I get 90s of blank space where the ads would have been, because Hulu's ad-blocker detection is totally FUBAR. First it complains even when I have my ad blocker turned off, then it continues anyway after the prescribed time. The two kinds of brain damage almost cancel each other out. The net result annoys me slightly on principle, but not enough to make me turn to even less convenient ways of getting that content.
  - dewey 4y ago
    Amazon Prime and Sky (or after their forth rename in 5 years, now they are called: "Wow" here in Germany) have ads for their own shows in front of paid content.
sys_64738 4y ago
I don't have any streaming services if I exclude Netflix, Disney+, online soccer team sports package, and Amazon Prime.
- hunter-gatherer 4y ago
  As someone who actually has no streaming services, this sounds like a lot. Is it not?
  - thayne 4y ago
    It's a joke.
    - hunter-gatherer 4y ago
      ah. oops.
- nehal3m 4y ago
  What a strange comment. I don't have socks on if I exclude the left and the right one. What are you saying?
  - fHr 4y ago
    yeah I don't get it either
    - 1123581321 4y ago
      I don’t know if their intent was to mock this, but I’ve heard people brag they don’t pay for much streaming and then end with “except for Netflix, of course, and Prime, and Disney through my phone service…”
      - 8jef 4y ago
        Same difference.
marcrosoft 4y ago
They are also bringing back ads even with paid subscription.
- kelseyfrog 4y ago
  That's a relief. For a moment I thought we were going to have meaningful competition that resulted in quality of life improvements for viewers.
BurningFrog 4y ago
Bundled streaming services will still be infinitely better than cable was.
i_like_apis 4y ago
I’m done with video ads. My new policy is: “not even once”. I’d rather not pirate but it doesn’t feel wrong since I’m perfectly willing to pay for no-ads products if they are available. 90% of my entertainment is from YouTube Premium and I love it. The rest is HBO and Hulu with the no-ads package. I bought Hulu Live for a show, cancelled it immediately when I realized it forced ads.
- irrational 4y ago
  That’s why I use YouTube-dl to watch anything on YouTube.
  - i_like_apis 4y ago
    Youtube Premium is very worth the money IMO. You’re missing out on being able to click around easily, I couldn’t get by with just YouTube-dl. But it is a good hack to get around ads. I’m a huge YouTube user though. The other nice thing about premium is that you can background play on mobile. I’d pay 3x for these features. I guess I shouldn’t let YT know that though.
- batch12 4y ago
  It cracked me up the other day when the kids watched two ads to be allowed to watch the trailer for the Mario movie. Watch an ad to watch an ad.
  - socialismisok 4y ago
    While a trailer is maybe technically an ad, it's also more. The social phenomena of being a part of the zeitgeist is fun for a lot of folks. We can all meme about Jack Black together or how Chris Pratt is a weird choice.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    Watch a {Google ad} to watch a {Universal Pictures ad}. The last mile device ad interposition is going to keep pushing the boundaries until it's limited by law. Which would be something like "hardware/software platform companies cannot own ad businesses* and must allow equal+ access to any ad bidder who wants to run an ad" *Defined as anything more nuanced than bulk sales of ad space +For some definition of equal That we ever let platforms own ad businesses is the cause of so many current failures.
sbf501 4y ago
I ditched all my subscription services a year ago and now use the DVD rental place on the other side of town. It has 120,000+ titles, including TV shows. Sure, I don't get to watch the latest trends, but it is superior than streaming for my needs. (I was using Kanopy, which is fantastic, but has a limit per month of 6!) I think we need to return to this model because streaming services have completely effed it all up. EDIT: Which is ironic, because I really thought streaming video would be the future, instead it is just a bunch of scammy charges for content you don't own, and hoards of crappy shows because major studios are too greedy and repetitive. I'm glad A24 exists.
- eslaught 4y ago
  How does your local video rental place have 120K+ titles? We used several video rental stores around the time the Netflix DVD service debuted. The reason we switched and never looked back was that frankly, none of our rental stores had ever been very good. The selection was always limited and spotty, and if you got unlucky it might be checked out already even if they owned a copy. This streaming thing we've got now doesn't match Netflix in its heyday, but it's still miles better than anything we had pre-Netflix.
  - jusssi 4y ago
    At least the local rental store has (edit: had) the incentive to have things people want to watch, because they're pay per view. Streaming services seem to have a perverse incentive to be full of stuff you actually don't want to watch, because you pay per month and every time you watch something it's an expense to them.
    - eslaught 4y ago
      I don't completely get this comment, to be honest. As a matter of empirical fact, many video rental stores sucked. Your sibling comment addresses the case of Block Buster, but I remember going to our one truly independent store and not being impressed by it either. So there's that. But addressing your second point, I think we must have different viewing habits. I figure out what I want to watch, then I subscribe to it and I watch that show. If that increases my total subscriptions beyond what I'm comfortable with, I cancel the least recently used service. At no point do I use the in-service search function, so it really doesn't matter to me what else they offer. If they have one great show and a bunch of mediocre fluff, I'll watch that one show and leave. Maybe this sounds crazy, but if I'm careful about it it's not even that much more expensive then video rentals were back in the day.
ryanmccullagh 4y ago
Netflix has higher quality movies these days. I was happy about that, especially after the small price increase.
prirun 4y ago
It's crazy to me that someone would pay for Verizon's highest-cost phone package that includes some streaming package when they could get a cheap cell phone plan like Pure Talk USA, Ting Mobile, etc. and buy the streaming package, both for less.
- tristor 4y ago
  I’m one of those people. I went from paying $75/mo for T-Mobile and $40 for streaming services and Apple Arcade to paying $90 for the top Verizon plan. Why? I needed coverage where T-Mobile doesn’t have it and also need non-ridiculous terms (looking at you AT&T) for international roaming, and it effectively saved $15/mo. On top of that, bringing my unlocked device got a credit that paid for 7 months of service.
  - deleted 4y ago
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  - driverdan 4y ago
    Have you looked at other MVNOs? $75-90/m for phone service seems incredibly high to me. I pay $20/m for Mint (T-Mobile MVNO) and there are similarly priced services that are Verizon MVNOs.
    - tristor 4y ago
      None of the MVNOs offer proper international roaming, if not for that I had been using StraightTalk for years before I switched to T-Mobile
    - lostmsu 4y ago
      I believe Mint does not do international roaming that parent mentioned.
- scarface74 4y ago
  The plan with the features I want - unlimited data and enough hotspot data is just as expensive as T-mobile and you don’t get international roaming
dehrmann 4y ago
Sadly for consumers, no one did what Spotify did for video. Spotify has 99% of of the content 99% of users want. Maybe because of the success of Netflix, content owners saw dollar signs and video streaming balkanized.
- gffrd 4y ago
  What about the music industry allowed Spotify to happen? Is licensing set up in a way that made it possible whereas Movie/TV makes it impossible/unlikely? (I remember Classic Netflix, where I could get 99% of what I wanted … or, in many cases, over 100% of what I wanted!)
  - scarface74 4y ago
    There are only three major studios and music costs a lot less to produce. There are also various release windows for movies where studios can get paid multiple times. Also Spotify is losing money and can never be truly profitable with 70% of everything they make contractually going back to the labels. Subscription music is a sucky business and it only makes sense as a feature for a larger platform
- parenthesis 4y ago
  This. I want a streaming service that has more or less every movie and TV show ever made before, let's say ten years ago. Fair enough if Disney etc. want to keep new stuff exclusive to them. Also, fair enough if certain big evergreen content is kept exclusive (Star Wars, classic Disney movies etc.). But, seriously, why can't I go to one service and watch every Cary Grant movie, or every movie directed by John Ford, or every episode of Remington Steele, or every episode of Matlock or whatever.
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    I've been buying DVDs for ... 20 years now? I have quite a few old movies now. I wrote an app that is playing them (according to a schedule I created) on a Raspberry Pi from a 5TB drive (they're ripped to drive). It's kind of fun to walk by the TV downstairs and see the original "The Fly" or whatever on. No fast-forward or pause, but no internet required either (no ads, of course).
kbrosnan 4y ago
All through the 80s and 90s there were people asking for a la carte cable service so that way they could get only the channels that they cared about. That time is now and I hear a lot more people complaining about how many subscription services that are out there. The general public responds to bundle deals.
- FPGAhacker 4y ago
  It used to be that you got a bundle with a ton of channels but only a few played shows worth watching. Now, you can pay for individual channels, but each one has only 1 show worth watching. Anytime a new show becomes popular, it gets its own “channel” that you have to subscribe to.
- tomjen3 4y ago
  When I signed up for Netflix it had a huge back catalogue, and I could rewatch so much stuff I didn't remember or that I missed. It didn't matter to me that Buffy had been in syndication for 10+ years. I never saw it back then, so I got to enjoy it. The same with so many other shows. When I canceled my subscription, it had less than 1/5th of the shows and cost over 50% more. That is what people are comparing and complayning about.
musha68k 4y ago
It would be great if they’d just offer (marked up or not) DRM free, high quality 4K video files to download / own. I’m really not interested in 99% of the content on any of these platforms.
- bboygravity 4y ago
  This is basically what GameStop NFT marketplace is all about: true digital ownership. I believe there's already some indy music on there and perhaps movies as well, haven't checked recently. Disclaimer: not working for or otherwise have any relationship with GameStop, never been to one in my life.
  - deleted 4y ago
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  - driverdan 4y ago
    > This is basically what GameStop NFT marketplace is all about: true digital ownership. You're joking right?
  - lern_too_spel 4y ago
    GameStop NFT marketplace is about taking money from rubes.
- endisneigh 4y ago
  can't you buy 4K UHD blu-rays?
  - monocasa 4y ago
    That's not DRM free.
    - endisneigh 4y ago
endisneigh 4y ago
people who brag about pirating remind me of a guy I used to live next to who bragged about breaking the comcast junction box, bringing a splitter and accessing cable through their neighbor. it's a shame that there are so many services, but ultimately the creators/companies want to be paid. my personal strategy have been to unsubscribe from all except YouTube, note which things are good on each service, subscribe for a single month to watch all of them and unsubscribe. it's unlikely to happen, but I'd rather pay a fixed amount and access all of these streaming services and have the money proportionally be divided on my watching patterns.
- matheusmoreira 4y ago
  > ultimately the creators/companies want to be paid Oh please, enough of this "poor creators" narrative. These copyright monopolists are worth what, trillions of dollars? How many millions are they spending on government lobbying to rob people of their rights? Maybe it's billions?
  - endisneigh 4y ago
    Not all creators are hacked by large companies, and even if they are - they deserve compensation, or no?
  - scarface74 4y ago
    How is it “your right” to access content other people paid to create?
    - matheusmoreira 4y ago
      How is it their right to hold a functionally infinite state granted monopoly on easily copied information? How is it their right to push back the expiration date on their copyrights whenever they're about to expire, effectively robbing the public of its public domain rights? How is it their right to abuse DMCA take down process to destroy the concept of fair use?
      - 4y ago
MisterBastahrd 4y ago
If I could only receive streaming sports networks and cartoon network, it would fulfill 90% of what my household watches TV for. Throw on netflix for toddler shows and I'm golden. I'd save more money by renting videos from Prime or Youtube whenever I have an urge to watch a specific show.
ineedasername 4y ago
I don’t mind this, it was the forced bundles of traditional cable I hated. I’m perfectly okay with discounted bundles so long as I can still pick & choose smaller pieces as well. I add & drop them all if the time. I had HBO Max for 3 non-contiguous months this year. Netflix for about 8, and Disney+ all of the time. Even digital streaming cable is significantly more convenient: I just picked up Sling for $25 a month, that I’ll only keep for a month, so that I can stream MLB playoffs on my phone, home computer, work computer, large screen TV, etc. with included 50hrs DVR. That’s a PITA and often not possible with for some channels with the traditional cable I cancelled. Overall I spend about 1/2 of what I was on regular cable and have no reduction in available content. It’s also easy to start and stop these, much much easier than it ever was to add and remove cable tv options (when I cancelled cable tv it took me almost 2 hours and 4 different “retention specialists” in increasing levels of authority forcing me to listen to their reasons for staying and potential discounts) It’s still a dynamic marketplace, and consolidation could bring back negative things for consumers. But for now the presence of individual offerings along with their discounted bundles seems like a win for consumer choice.
arrosenberg 4y ago
The only workable solution is to eliminate exclusive distribution. Content producer sets a price, any distributors gets to carry it for that price. Then businesses actually have to compete on price and service instead of content library.
- scarface74 4y ago
  Yes let the government step in what could possibly go wrong?
  - FpUser 4y ago
    It is already wrong. I think introducing some basic fair rules will rather make it way better.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      Yea because I’m sure you’re struggling because you can’t watch the latest blockbuster the way you want. Should Netflix or the other companies not be able to fund exclusive content?
      - FpUser 4y ago
        Privately I do not give a flying fuck what they would do. If I am dissatisfied with the service I just cancel it. let them worry about why.
        scarface74 4y ago
        So what you’re saying is that you didn’t need the nanny state to step in and you were able to make your own choices what to do with your money and your time?
        FpUser 4y ago
        What I am saying is that I would like government to control some of that corporate rampage. After all you do not mind when it works the other way and those companies can sell their non material product because "nanny state" protects them by way of recognizing and enforcing copyright, IP laws etc. etc. Still I am an adult and yes would vote with my wallet regardless.
Aaronstotle 4y ago
I have Youtube TV for football season and then cancel it when the season is over. At least shared logins work for streaming services, so I can be on a family's hbo max, etc.
Tangokat 4y ago
The US is absolutely infested with ads. Visiting from Europe turning on the hotel TV is unwatchable. Also a fair amount of the ads are outright scams. "Buy this rare silver dollar by calling a phone number" LIMITED SUPPLY!! Making money by any means necessary even by scamming people who don't know better. The worst thing is that Americans I asked about this thought it was perfectly fine and normal.
- sorenjan 4y ago
  I watched the Ironman world championships for women the other day (the men's race are happening right now) and it was so full of ads. Not only are the race named after a sponsor, even the aerial photography was "courtesy of Qatar airways", even when it was clearly from a helicopter and a cable mounted camera. The hosts took every opportunity to talk about their sponsors, at the podium ceremony the sponsor's car was more prominent than the winner, etc. And this is an event where the price of entry is more than $1000 for the thousands of participants, and they have to qualify by doing at least one other event from the same organisation previously. Same thing with other American sport events, every single thing is "brought to you by x". It permeates everything.
  - einherjae 4y ago
    To be fair sport sponsorships are a thing everywhere, just look at any team shirt or race car.
    - NamTaf 4y ago
      It's different though. I get what the OP is saying. It's happened in Aussie sports too - the commentators announcing any replay as the "Harvey Norman replay" during the NRL, as an example. Sponsorships of features of a programme stand out much more than sponsorship logos on jerseys, probably because you're much more actively focused on the commentary audio than you are on the particular images on a jersey of a player.
    - sorenjan 4y ago
      I got the men's event on now. Instead of "look at the time" it's "look at the time on the Wahoo Element" (a Wahoo Element is a particular sports watch). Instead of the swim leg it's the Roka swim leg (Roka makes wetsuits). There's a Vinfast logo on screen all the time (Vinfast is a car brand and the title sponsor). It's not just the commercials (I've seen a beer commercial so far) or the brand logos on the athletes, it's the fact that every single thing is "courtesy of x", which means that even between the ad breaks the commentators has to talk about sponsors. This is different from soccer games, cycling races live Tour de France, most world championships, etc. But I recognize it from UFC and various clips I've seen from NFL and other American sports.
FpUser 4y ago
The minute Netflix shows me ad will be the minute I will unsubscribe.
sjellen 4y ago
The Warmer Bros Discovery investors call slides basically laid out the future of streaming. You'll have threes choices 1. FAST 2. AST 3. Ad free version with a premium tax applied to make you more likely to subscribe to AST. For me the quality of entertainment has dropped to the point where I'll probably just drop all streaming and buy the things I like on sale.
- ericabiz 4y ago
  An aside, but I really hate how the tech and media industries have so many unintuitive acronyms. I am highly tech-savvy, as I would assume are most people on Hacker News. I have no idea what FAST and AST are in your comment. By context of you saying “ad free” I can guess that “AS” may mean “ad-supported”, but I have no idea what the F and T are and why they’re different. Yes, I know I can “just Google it!” But by virtue of Google being useless these days, Googling “fast acronym” is all pages about strokes. This is how tech shoots itself in the foot (yes, this is a general rant.) Use a bunch of acronyms no one understands, and then build a search engine that makes the meanings impossible to find. Hopefully this will be better in the future. But I am not sure it will if people continue to use acronyms so frequently.
socialismisok 4y ago
Meanwhile Sonarr, Radar, Plex, and Usenet provide a truly incredible user experience. Combine with Doplarr to make requesting media a snap over discord. Steam "beat" piracy because it's just a better experience. Streaming media (and sports streams especially) seem adamant in not learning that lesson.
- daveevad 4y ago
  Would someone with more knowledge explain how Usenet has managed to be resilient to legal and/or technical shutdown in the face of rampant piracy that has seemingly always existed there?
  - collegeburner 4y ago
    isps stopped providing it years ago and it's way too obscure to be mainstream. torrents are lower barrier to entry so they get the heat though nzb indexers sometimes get killed.
  - pacifika 4y ago
    Decentralisation of roles
  - doublerabbit 4y ago
    Before the industry caught on that content were being shared via USENET you could download a film off an usenet provider with no issues. Maybe some PAR2s to repair a broken download but mostly ended up at 100%. Nowadays the industries launch DMCAs, the provider complies. Providers, to fulfill the requests tend to remove parts of the archive rather than all. If can't download rar part 22,23 you can't complete the movie. They've done their part. The movie "The HackerNews" has 20 rar parts, usenet provider #1 has 1-18 rar parts and 19-20 rar parts are missing. usenet provider #2 has 16-20 rar parts but missing 1-15. Combine two or more backbackbone providers and you can grab all files. PAR2 is a godsend, and usenet is a hidden cave of treasure. A cool map of usenet providers and backbones [1] [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Usenet_Providers_and_Backbones.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Usenet_P...
dustymcp 4y ago
We got disney plus, netflix and switch between hulu/hbo/discovery, and plex to fill in the gaps, i dont give a crap about piracy they could just have made a proper collaboration at this point.
cercatrova 4y ago
The UX of piracy is simply incredible compared to streaming services. I visit one website that has everything I'd ever want to watch, download and start watching with one click, in 4k, with no streaming degradation, in a video player I like, with features like upscaling and which works offline.
- lostlogin 4y ago
  Could you name what you’re using? Not because I want to use it, more to see what it is. My piracy stack is not changing any time soon.
  - cercatrova 4y ago
    I'm using rarbg as my main source which has magnet links that qBittorrent detects on click. I use mpv with Anime4k for animated content or an Nvidia Image Scaling glsl filter which is a decent upscaler/sharpener. I also use SVP for frame interpolation with an RTX 3080 which supports optical flow, and I assume it'll be even better in the RTX 40 series given their DLSS 3's frame interpolation exclusivity. It all looks incredible on my LG OLED TV/monitorm with 4k HDR 10 bit support. Imagine doing all this on Netflix, it's simply not possible unless you have the physical media files, and for that reason, even if I had Netflix, I'd still pirate. Curious to hear your stack. I assume something with Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, etc? I like looking for files manually so I haven't set those up since I'm not sure how to precisely select for the file with specific 4k/HDR support.
    - lostlogin 4y ago
      Mine setup is as you describe. Sonarr and Radarr have quality filters that allow you to choose file size limitations, and they work almost 100% in my experience.
- ModernMech 4y ago
  UX of my weed dealer is also better than my local dispensary, and I don’t have to pay any taxes. It’s easy to have better experiences for yourself when you just ignore laws and other people’s rights in order to do whatever you want.
ncmncm 4y ago
Time to go back to torrenting, I guess. I thought they liked us subscribing, but evidently I was wrong.
sieste 4y ago
This comment thread is a great resource for movie pirating sites.

115 points by collegeburner 4y ago

I would gladly pay 3x the price to get TV that had no ads at all. Even if it only had like 30 channels. I can’t even think about all of that content I really care about. Seriously. Have two of each of these channels to provide variety: Left wing news, right wing news, alternative news and indie documentary news, cartoons, westerns and classic TV, actions, dramas, “daytime TV”, home improvement, discovery-like, sci-fi, movies, classics movies, history and documentaries, nature channel, comedy channel, reality TV, and I think that’s it. That’s 36 channels if there’s two of each. I’d unironically pay like $100 a month if I got a DVR and ABSOLUTELY NO ADS.

cinntaile 4y ago

At least we can switch every month with relative ease, unlike when you had to deal with real cable packages.

teddyh 4y ago
I’d bet that it was easy to switch cable packages when those were a new concept.
- cinntaile 4y ago
  I doubt that, monthly subscriptions would have been a major hassle back in the day. Requiring a lot of administration.
- FPGAhacker 4y ago
  Definitely not. Switching required a specialist to come out and change hardware.
nicce 4y ago
Have you tried to unsubscribe Amazon Prime?
- KingOfCoders 4y ago
  I unsubscribed with relative ease. The difficulty is finding the one - ever chanhing - link during checkout that doesn't resubscribe you. Resubscribe links are plastered all over the place, some of them deceptive.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  1. Google "Amazon Prime Unsubscribe". 2. First result opens the Amazon App on my phone with a big button that says "End Membership". Why do you think this is hard?
  - ocdtrekkie 4y ago
    Because if you tried doing it, you'd discover it makes you go through four confirmation screens, and on each one the correct button is in a different spot and a different color, and if you screw up on any one of them you remain subscribed.
    - thayne 4y ago
      Still a whole lot easier than ending your comcast subscription, where you have to talk to someone on the phone, who will spend a consuderable amount of effort trying to get you to upgrade instead of cancel.
  - smegsicle 4y ago
    your workflow for finding links in amazon's user settings is to use google?
    - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
      Yes, my workflow to find settings in tons of apps is to use Google. I could hunt for the right checkbox, or just as easily ask the question and get a directed answer immediately. I don't see anything wrong with this either. I mean, tons of times when I need to do something specific in my car, for example, I just google it and get a detailed YouTube video explaining it. Better than hunting in a manual.
tenebrisalietum 4y ago
What cable does is force you to buy basic cable, plus a bunch of regulatory recovery and other fees, to get cable's real equivalent to streaming services which were the pay movie channels. I'd rather pay $80/mo. for Internet, then jump in an out of STARZ and other services for $10/mo. instead of paying $80/mo. for Internet, $100/mo. for TV+basic cable (which I don't watch and TV is free OTA), and then the movie channels on top of it. Plus the streaming services work on my phone which is pretty neat when I'm stuck somewhere.
- derefr 4y ago
  > Plus the streaming services work on my phone which is pretty neat when I'm stuck somewhere. FYI, that’s true of most cable networks now as well. They’ve all developed apps that are hybrids of (legitimized) IPTV streaming of their live broadcast of the channels available in your package, plus VOD catalogues of seemingly-random seasons of shows (i.e. the ones they happen to currently have licensed for syndication at any given time.)

mateja 4y ago

https://archive.ph/tfGC1 https://archive.ph/tfGC1

gpapilion 4y ago

When I look at this article all I can think is that the cost of cable internet was too high when bundled with tv.

MichaelCollins 4y ago

It was easier for me to cut all my streaming services than it was to cut my cable TV subscription. The TV subscription was bundled with internet. Except for Amazon Prime, the streaming subscriptions weren't bundled with anything else.

thetinguy 4y ago
And no equipment rentals.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

treis 4y ago

Packages exist because its win win for everyone. People hate them because they think they can split them apart and pay proportionally for the channels they want. But that's not how it works.

noSyncCloud 4y ago
Cable packages are a win-win for everyone? This is going to be breaking news for the tens of millions of people who've dropped cable; please elaborate.
- PraetorianGourd 4y ago
  “Channels” are not uniformly priced. Some, like ESPN, are very expensive for the cable providers while others are cheap. But, those expensive (and popular) channels subsidizes smaller or niche channels.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- treis 4y ago
  Because packages allow both sides to get the long tail of revenue/content. If it's individual channels with a price $X then those not willing to pay X lose the content and the channel loses the revenue. To make up for the missing tail each channel will have to be priced higher individually than their slice of the package revenue.
  - spuz 4y ago
    You're assuming the only alternative is a pay per channel model. How about a Spotify-like all-you-can-eat model where providers actually compete on what they actually have control over such as user experience, quality and customer support?
blibble 4y ago
can you explain how paying for hundreds of channels I don't want is a win for me?

falcolas 4y ago

* have brought it back. See Disney with its Hulu tie-in and ppv movie releases. The modern corporation’s war cry in action: “Why settle for some of your customer’s money when you can get all of it?”

colinmhayes 4y ago
Cable was bad because of long contracts, ads, and forced bundling. What's wrong with optional bundles? From my view point streaming is still better than cable in every way.

TheLoafOfBread 4y ago

It went full circle, people were leaving cable for on demand streaming without ads so they can be back at on demand cable package with ads....

anyonecancode 4y ago
At least with streaming we have tools available to mitigate the ads, though it's a constant fight. A few months ago I added ublock origin to all my family's browsers, but recently some of the streaming services have noticed and won't play unless I disable it. I'm trying out NextDNS now. On Hulu it doesn't skip the ads, but does block them, but something about watching 30s of black screen knowing there's supposed to be an ad there but isn't is still satisfying...
peteradio 4y ago
Who's suffering ads? I get ads on free services that's it, fair play IMO. The real reason I switched was because of the godawful remote controls and laggy and shitty interfaces. It would take me full minutes to navigate to whatever I wanted.
- notacoward 4y ago
  Lately I've been getting ads on Hulu even though I subscribe. To be more precise I get 90s of blank space where the ads would have been, because Hulu's ad-blocker detection is totally FUBAR. First it complains even when I have my ad blocker turned off, then it continues anyway after the prescribed time. The two kinds of brain damage almost cancel each other out. The net result annoys me slightly on principle, but not enough to make me turn to even less convenient ways of getting that content.
- dewey 4y ago
  Amazon Prime and Sky (or after their forth rename in 5 years, now they are called: "Wow" here in Germany) have ads for their own shows in front of paid content.

sys_64738 4y ago

I don't have any streaming services if I exclude Netflix, Disney+, online soccer team sports package, and Amazon Prime.

hunter-gatherer 4y ago
As someone who actually has no streaming services, this sounds like a lot. Is it not?
- thayne 4y ago
  It's a joke.
  - hunter-gatherer 4y ago
    ah. oops.
nehal3m 4y ago
What a strange comment. I don't have socks on if I exclude the left and the right one. What are you saying?
- fHr 4y ago
  yeah I don't get it either
  - 1123581321 4y ago
    I don’t know if their intent was to mock this, but I’ve heard people brag they don’t pay for much streaming and then end with “except for Netflix, of course, and Prime, and Disney through my phone service…”
    - 8jef 4y ago
      Same difference.

marcrosoft 4y ago

They are also bringing back ads even with paid subscription.

kelseyfrog 4y ago
That's a relief. For a moment I thought we were going to have meaningful competition that resulted in quality of life improvements for viewers.

BurningFrog 4y ago

Bundled streaming services will still be infinitely better than cable was.

i_like_apis 4y ago

I’m done with video ads. My new policy is: “not even once”. I’d rather not pirate but it doesn’t feel wrong since I’m perfectly willing to pay for no-ads products if they are available. 90% of my entertainment is from YouTube Premium and I love it. The rest is HBO and Hulu with the no-ads package. I bought Hulu Live for a show, cancelled it immediately when I realized it forced ads.

irrational 4y ago
That’s why I use YouTube-dl to watch anything on YouTube.
- i_like_apis 4y ago
  Youtube Premium is very worth the money IMO. You’re missing out on being able to click around easily, I couldn’t get by with just YouTube-dl. But it is a good hack to get around ads. I’m a huge YouTube user though. The other nice thing about premium is that you can background play on mobile. I’d pay 3x for these features. I guess I shouldn’t let YT know that though.
batch12 4y ago
It cracked me up the other day when the kids watched two ads to be allowed to watch the trailer for the Mario movie. Watch an ad to watch an ad.
- socialismisok 4y ago
  While a trailer is maybe technically an ad, it's also more. The social phenomena of being a part of the zeitgeist is fun for a lot of folks. We can all meme about Jack Black together or how Chris Pratt is a weird choice.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Watch a {Google ad} to watch a {Universal Pictures ad}. The last mile device ad interposition is going to keep pushing the boundaries until it's limited by law. Which would be something like "hardware/software platform companies cannot own ad businesses* and must allow equal+ access to any ad bidder who wants to run an ad" *Defined as anything more nuanced than bulk sales of ad space +For some definition of equal That we ever let platforms own ad businesses is the cause of so many current failures.

sbf501 4y ago

I ditched all my subscription services a year ago and now use the DVD rental place on the other side of town. It has 120,000+ titles, including TV shows. Sure, I don't get to watch the latest trends, but it is superior than streaming for my needs. (I was using Kanopy, which is fantastic, but has a limit per month of 6!) I think we need to return to this model because streaming services have completely effed it all up. EDIT: Which is ironic, because I really thought streaming video would be the future, instead it is just a bunch of scammy charges for content you don't own, and hoards of crappy shows because major studios are too greedy and repetitive. I'm glad A24 exists.

eslaught 4y ago
How does your local video rental place have 120K+ titles? We used several video rental stores around the time the Netflix DVD service debuted. The reason we switched and never looked back was that frankly, none of our rental stores had ever been very good. The selection was always limited and spotty, and if you got unlucky it might be checked out already even if they owned a copy. This streaming thing we've got now doesn't match Netflix in its heyday, but it's still miles better than anything we had pre-Netflix.
- jusssi 4y ago
  At least the local rental store has (edit: had) the incentive to have things people want to watch, because they're pay per view. Streaming services seem to have a perverse incentive to be full of stuff you actually don't want to watch, because you pay per month and every time you watch something it's an expense to them.
  - eslaught 4y ago
    I don't completely get this comment, to be honest. As a matter of empirical fact, many video rental stores sucked. Your sibling comment addresses the case of Block Buster, but I remember going to our one truly independent store and not being impressed by it either. So there's that. But addressing your second point, I think we must have different viewing habits. I figure out what I want to watch, then I subscribe to it and I watch that show. If that increases my total subscriptions beyond what I'm comfortable with, I cancel the least recently used service. At no point do I use the in-service search function, so it really doesn't matter to me what else they offer. If they have one great show and a bunch of mediocre fluff, I'll watch that one show and leave. Maybe this sounds crazy, but if I'm careful about it it's not even that much more expensive then video rentals were back in the day.

ryanmccullagh 4y ago

Netflix has higher quality movies these days. I was happy about that, especially after the small price increase.

prirun 4y ago

It's crazy to me that someone would pay for Verizon's highest-cost phone package that includes some streaming package when they could get a cheap cell phone plan like Pure Talk USA, Ting Mobile, etc. and buy the streaming package, both for less.

tristor 4y ago
I’m one of those people. I went from paying $75/mo for T-Mobile and $40 for streaming services and Apple Arcade to paying $90 for the top Verizon plan. Why? I needed coverage where T-Mobile doesn’t have it and also need non-ridiculous terms (looking at you AT&T) for international roaming, and it effectively saved $15/mo. On top of that, bringing my unlocked device got a credit that paid for 7 months of service.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- driverdan 4y ago
  Have you looked at other MVNOs? $75-90/m for phone service seems incredibly high to me. I pay $20/m for Mint (T-Mobile MVNO) and there are similarly priced services that are Verizon MVNOs.
  - tristor 4y ago
    None of the MVNOs offer proper international roaming, if not for that I had been using StraightTalk for years before I switched to T-Mobile
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    I believe Mint does not do international roaming that parent mentioned.
scarface74 4y ago
The plan with the features I want - unlimited data and enough hotspot data is just as expensive as T-mobile and you don’t get international roaming

dehrmann 4y ago

Sadly for consumers, no one did what Spotify did for video. Spotify has 99% of of the content 99% of users want. Maybe because of the success of Netflix, content owners saw dollar signs and video streaming balkanized.

gffrd 4y ago
What about the music industry allowed Spotify to happen? Is licensing set up in a way that made it possible whereas Movie/TV makes it impossible/unlikely? (I remember Classic Netflix, where I could get 99% of what I wanted … or, in many cases, over 100% of what I wanted!)
- scarface74 4y ago
  There are only three major studios and music costs a lot less to produce. There are also various release windows for movies where studios can get paid multiple times. Also Spotify is losing money and can never be truly profitable with 70% of everything they make contractually going back to the labels. Subscription music is a sucky business and it only makes sense as a feature for a larger platform
parenthesis 4y ago
This. I want a streaming service that has more or less every movie and TV show ever made before, let's say ten years ago. Fair enough if Disney etc. want to keep new stuff exclusive to them. Also, fair enough if certain big evergreen content is kept exclusive (Star Wars, classic Disney movies etc.). But, seriously, why can't I go to one service and watch every Cary Grant movie, or every movie directed by John Ford, or every episode of Remington Steele, or every episode of Matlock or whatever.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  I've been buying DVDs for ... 20 years now? I have quite a few old movies now. I wrote an app that is playing them (according to a schedule I created) on a Raspberry Pi from a 5TB drive (they're ripped to drive). It's kind of fun to walk by the TV downstairs and see the original "The Fly" or whatever on. No fast-forward or pause, but no internet required either (no ads, of course).

kbrosnan 4y ago

All through the 80s and 90s there were people asking for a la carte cable service so that way they could get only the channels that they cared about. That time is now and I hear a lot more people complaining about how many subscription services that are out there. The general public responds to bundle deals.

FPGAhacker 4y ago
It used to be that you got a bundle with a ton of channels but only a few played shows worth watching. Now, you can pay for individual channels, but each one has only 1 show worth watching. Anytime a new show becomes popular, it gets its own “channel” that you have to subscribe to.
tomjen3 4y ago
When I signed up for Netflix it had a huge back catalogue, and I could rewatch so much stuff I didn't remember or that I missed. It didn't matter to me that Buffy had been in syndication for 10+ years. I never saw it back then, so I got to enjoy it. The same with so many other shows. When I canceled my subscription, it had less than 1/5th of the shows and cost over 50% more. That is what people are comparing and complayning about.

musha68k 4y ago

It would be great if they’d just offer (marked up or not) DRM free, high quality 4K video files to download / own. I’m really not interested in 99% of the content on any of these platforms.

bboygravity 4y ago
This is basically what GameStop NFT marketplace is all about: true digital ownership. I believe there's already some indy music on there and perhaps movies as well, haven't checked recently. Disclaimer: not working for or otherwise have any relationship with GameStop, never been to one in my life.
- deleted 4y ago
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- deleted 4y ago
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- driverdan 4y ago
  > This is basically what GameStop NFT marketplace is all about: true digital ownership. You're joking right?
- lern_too_spel 4y ago
  GameStop NFT marketplace is about taking money from rubes.
endisneigh 4y ago
can't you buy 4K UHD blu-rays?
- monocasa 4y ago
  That's not DRM free.
  - endisneigh 4y ago

endisneigh 4y ago

people who brag about pirating remind me of a guy I used to live next to who bragged about breaking the comcast junction box, bringing a splitter and accessing cable through their neighbor. it's a shame that there are so many services, but ultimately the creators/companies want to be paid. my personal strategy have been to unsubscribe from all except YouTube, note which things are good on each service, subscribe for a single month to watch all of them and unsubscribe. it's unlikely to happen, but I'd rather pay a fixed amount and access all of these streaming services and have the money proportionally be divided on my watching patterns.

matheusmoreira 4y ago
> ultimately the creators/companies want to be paid Oh please, enough of this "poor creators" narrative. These copyright monopolists are worth what, trillions of dollars? How many millions are they spending on government lobbying to rob people of their rights? Maybe it's billions?
- endisneigh 4y ago
  Not all creators are hacked by large companies, and even if they are - they deserve compensation, or no?
- scarface74 4y ago
  How is it “your right” to access content other people paid to create?
  - matheusmoreira 4y ago
    How is it their right to hold a functionally infinite state granted monopoly on easily copied information? How is it their right to push back the expiration date on their copyrights whenever they're about to expire, effectively robbing the public of its public domain rights? How is it their right to abuse DMCA take down process to destroy the concept of fair use?
    - 4y ago

MisterBastahrd 4y ago

If I could only receive streaming sports networks and cartoon network, it would fulfill 90% of what my household watches TV for. Throw on netflix for toddler shows and I'm golden. I'd save more money by renting videos from Prime or Youtube whenever I have an urge to watch a specific show.

ineedasername 4y ago

I don’t mind this, it was the forced bundles of traditional cable I hated. I’m perfectly okay with discounted bundles so long as I can still pick & choose smaller pieces as well. I add & drop them all if the time. I had HBO Max for 3 non-contiguous months this year. Netflix for about 8, and Disney+ all of the time. Even digital streaming cable is significantly more convenient: I just picked up Sling for $25 a month, that I’ll only keep for a month, so that I can stream MLB playoffs on my phone, home computer, work computer, large screen TV, etc. with included 50hrs DVR. That’s a PITA and often not possible with for some channels with the traditional cable I cancelled. Overall I spend about 1/2 of what I was on regular cable and have no reduction in available content. It’s also easy to start and stop these, much much easier than it ever was to add and remove cable tv options (when I cancelled cable tv it took me almost 2 hours and 4 different “retention specialists” in increasing levels of authority forcing me to listen to their reasons for staying and potential discounts) It’s still a dynamic marketplace, and consolidation could bring back negative things for consumers. But for now the presence of individual offerings along with their discounted bundles seems like a win for consumer choice.

arrosenberg 4y ago

The only workable solution is to eliminate exclusive distribution. Content producer sets a price, any distributors gets to carry it for that price. Then businesses actually have to compete on price and service instead of content library.

scarface74 4y ago
Yes let the government step in what could possibly go wrong?
- FpUser 4y ago
  It is already wrong. I think introducing some basic fair rules will rather make it way better.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Yea because I’m sure you’re struggling because you can’t watch the latest blockbuster the way you want. Should Netflix or the other companies not be able to fund exclusive content?
    - FpUser 4y ago
      Privately I do not give a flying fuck what they would do. If I am dissatisfied with the service I just cancel it. let them worry about why.
      - scarface74 4y ago
        So what you’re saying is that you didn’t need the nanny state to step in and you were able to make your own choices what to do with your money and your time?
        FpUser 4y ago
        What I am saying is that I would like government to control some of that corporate rampage. After all you do not mind when it works the other way and those companies can sell their non material product because "nanny state" protects them by way of recognizing and enforcing copyright, IP laws etc. etc. Still I am an adult and yes would vote with my wallet regardless.

Aaronstotle 4y ago

I have Youtube TV for football season and then cancel it when the season is over. At least shared logins work for streaming services, so I can be on a family's hbo max, etc.

Tangokat 4y ago

The US is absolutely infested with ads. Visiting from Europe turning on the hotel TV is unwatchable. Also a fair amount of the ads are outright scams. "Buy this rare silver dollar by calling a phone number" LIMITED SUPPLY!! Making money by any means necessary even by scamming people who don't know better. The worst thing is that Americans I asked about this thought it was perfectly fine and normal.

sorenjan 4y ago
I watched the Ironman world championships for women the other day (the men's race are happening right now) and it was so full of ads. Not only are the race named after a sponsor, even the aerial photography was "courtesy of Qatar airways", even when it was clearly from a helicopter and a cable mounted camera. The hosts took every opportunity to talk about their sponsors, at the podium ceremony the sponsor's car was more prominent than the winner, etc. And this is an event where the price of entry is more than $1000 for the thousands of participants, and they have to qualify by doing at least one other event from the same organisation previously. Same thing with other American sport events, every single thing is "brought to you by x". It permeates everything.
- einherjae 4y ago
  To be fair sport sponsorships are a thing everywhere, just look at any team shirt or race car.
  - NamTaf 4y ago
    It's different though. I get what the OP is saying. It's happened in Aussie sports too - the commentators announcing any replay as the "Harvey Norman replay" during the NRL, as an example. Sponsorships of features of a programme stand out much more than sponsorship logos on jerseys, probably because you're much more actively focused on the commentary audio than you are on the particular images on a jersey of a player.
  - sorenjan 4y ago
    I got the men's event on now. Instead of "look at the time" it's "look at the time on the Wahoo Element" (a Wahoo Element is a particular sports watch). Instead of the swim leg it's the Roka swim leg (Roka makes wetsuits). There's a Vinfast logo on screen all the time (Vinfast is a car brand and the title sponsor). It's not just the commercials (I've seen a beer commercial so far) or the brand logos on the athletes, it's the fact that every single thing is "courtesy of x", which means that even between the ad breaks the commentators has to talk about sponsors. This is different from soccer games, cycling races live Tour de France, most world championships, etc. But I recognize it from UFC and various clips I've seen from NFL and other American sports.

FpUser 4y ago

The minute Netflix shows me ad will be the minute I will unsubscribe.

sjellen 4y ago

The Warmer Bros Discovery investors call slides basically laid out the future of streaming. You'll have threes choices 1. FAST 2. AST 3. Ad free version with a premium tax applied to make you more likely to subscribe to AST. For me the quality of entertainment has dropped to the point where I'll probably just drop all streaming and buy the things I like on sale.

ericabiz 4y ago
An aside, but I really hate how the tech and media industries have so many unintuitive acronyms. I am highly tech-savvy, as I would assume are most people on Hacker News. I have no idea what FAST and AST are in your comment. By context of you saying “ad free” I can guess that “AS” may mean “ad-supported”, but I have no idea what the F and T are and why they’re different. Yes, I know I can “just Google it!” But by virtue of Google being useless these days, Googling “fast acronym” is all pages about strokes. This is how tech shoots itself in the foot (yes, this is a general rant.) Use a bunch of acronyms no one understands, and then build a search engine that makes the meanings impossible to find. Hopefully this will be better in the future. But I am not sure it will if people continue to use acronyms so frequently.

socialismisok 4y ago

Meanwhile Sonarr, Radar, Plex, and Usenet provide a truly incredible user experience. Combine with Doplarr to make requesting media a snap over discord. Steam "beat" piracy because it's just a better experience. Streaming media (and sports streams especially) seem adamant in not learning that lesson.

daveevad 4y ago
Would someone with more knowledge explain how Usenet has managed to be resilient to legal and/or technical shutdown in the face of rampant piracy that has seemingly always existed there?
- collegeburner 4y ago
  isps stopped providing it years ago and it's way too obscure to be mainstream. torrents are lower barrier to entry so they get the heat though nzb indexers sometimes get killed.
- pacifika 4y ago
  Decentralisation of roles
- doublerabbit 4y ago
  Before the industry caught on that content were being shared via USENET you could download a film off an usenet provider with no issues. Maybe some PAR2s to repair a broken download but mostly ended up at 100%. Nowadays the industries launch DMCAs, the provider complies. Providers, to fulfill the requests tend to remove parts of the archive rather than all. If can't download rar part 22,23 you can't complete the movie. They've done their part. The movie "The HackerNews" has 20 rar parts, usenet provider #1 has 1-18 rar parts and 19-20 rar parts are missing. usenet provider #2 has 16-20 rar parts but missing 1-15. Combine two or more backbackbone providers and you can grab all files. PAR2 is a godsend, and usenet is a hidden cave of treasure. A cool map of usenet providers and backbones [1] [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Usenet_Providers_and_Backbones.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Usenet_P...

dustymcp 4y ago

We got disney plus, netflix and switch between hulu/hbo/discovery, and plex to fill in the gaps, i dont give a crap about piracy they could just have made a proper collaboration at this point.

cercatrova 4y ago

The UX of piracy is simply incredible compared to streaming services. I visit one website that has everything I'd ever want to watch, download and start watching with one click, in 4k, with no streaming degradation, in a video player I like, with features like upscaling and which works offline.

lostlogin 4y ago
Could you name what you’re using? Not because I want to use it, more to see what it is. My piracy stack is not changing any time soon.
- cercatrova 4y ago
  I'm using rarbg as my main source which has magnet links that qBittorrent detects on click. I use mpv with Anime4k for animated content or an Nvidia Image Scaling glsl filter which is a decent upscaler/sharpener. I also use SVP for frame interpolation with an RTX 3080 which supports optical flow, and I assume it'll be even better in the RTX 40 series given their DLSS 3's frame interpolation exclusivity. It all looks incredible on my LG OLED TV/monitorm with 4k HDR 10 bit support. Imagine doing all this on Netflix, it's simply not possible unless you have the physical media files, and for that reason, even if I had Netflix, I'd still pirate. Curious to hear your stack. I assume something with Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, etc? I like looking for files manually so I haven't set those up since I'm not sure how to precisely select for the file with specific 4k/HDR support.
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    Mine setup is as you describe. Sonarr and Radarr have quality filters that allow you to choose file size limitations, and they work almost 100% in my experience.
ModernMech 4y ago
UX of my weed dealer is also better than my local dispensary, and I don’t have to pay any taxes. It’s easy to have better experiences for yourself when you just ignore laws and other people’s rights in order to do whatever you want.

ncmncm 4y ago

Time to go back to torrenting, I guess. I thought they liked us subscribing, but evidently I was wrong.

sieste 4y ago

This comment thread is a great resource for movie pirating sites.