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> There have been many times where I've found DRM encumbered products inferior: trying to stream anime on Crunchyroll during primetime only to experience slowdo

> There have been many times where I've found DRM encumbered products inferior: trying to stream anime on Crunchyroll during primetime only to experience slowdowns; trying to screenshot something for a wallpaper only to get it blacked out; trying to download offline shows with subtitles, only to find subtitles didn't get downloaded with the video. Compound that with The Streaming Wars, I can't help but feel like a lot of people will turn to piracy out of necessity. Piracy is not necessarily better. Languages are very few (english essentially), subtitles may not exist at all, quality is variable, and speed can be a problem as well, since it depends on how popular a movie is. Most importantly, malware push from pirate websites is a very serious problem. I warn non-power users not to download from pirate websites.

alexiaa 4y ago
It's common for them to not include more than original and/or English audio, but most competent groups will generally include all available subtitles at least.
kaba0 4y ago
Besides the websites displaying less than friendly ads, what malware can even be found in downloading a video format? Sure, it could be an executable renamed to some video format, or something like that, but without a serious vulnerability in your video player which was very cleverly hacked for very low reward, what can even happen?
- pizza234 4y ago
  In the video file itself none, but before being able to click to download whatever (either torrent download or streaming), there's lot of misdirection. From a certain tablet for example, I wasn't able to start a video playback _at all_ from a certain website, because ads kept popping up. In some cases, it's not obvious where to click even for experienced users.
  - kaba0 4y ago
    Sure, but nothing will “infect” your computer even if you click all the fake download/play buttons.
    - pizza234 4y ago
      Fake buttons definitely can initiate the download of an executable file pretending it's a movie; there's nothing unusual (tech-wise) with it. Once in while, I do experience them. There are countermeasures in place by some browsers/versions (that is, blocking of downloads with executable extensions), but non-savvy users can be tricked - the concept of file extension/type is not so clear to them, and it also assumes that the user is giving the right attention.

alexiaa 4y ago

It's common for them to not include more than original and/or English audio, but most competent groups will generally include all available subtitles at least.

kaba0 4y ago

Besides the websites displaying less than friendly ads, what malware can even be found in downloading a video format? Sure, it could be an executable renamed to some video format, or something like that, but without a serious vulnerability in your video player which was very cleverly hacked for very low reward, what can even happen?

pizza234 4y ago
In the video file itself none, but before being able to click to download whatever (either torrent download or streaming), there's lot of misdirection. From a certain tablet for example, I wasn't able to start a video playback _at all_ from a certain website, because ads kept popping up. In some cases, it's not obvious where to click even for experienced users.
- kaba0 4y ago
  Sure, but nothing will “infect” your computer even if you click all the fake download/play buttons.
  - pizza234 4y ago
    Fake buttons definitely can initiate the download of an executable file pretending it's a movie; there's nothing unusual (tech-wise) with it. Once in while, I do experience them. There are countermeasures in place by some browsers/versions (that is, blocking of downloads with executable extensions), but non-savvy users can be tricked - the concept of file extension/type is not so clear to them, and it also assumes that the user is giving the right attention.