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No, just pirate. I can kind of understand why people started giving Netflix money for the convenience, despite that supporting an industry desperately trying to

No, just pirate. I can kind of understand why people started giving Netflix money for the convenience, despite that supporting an industry desperately trying to destroy the Internet. But now with a thousand and five different "services", continually squeezing users for more revenue, digital restrictions management that makes perfectly good hardware stop working, and ever more surveillance telemetry in the various apps and devices? Rent an off the shelf seedbox, or set up your own with a consumer VPN, and don't think twice. Consider it just another "service" and see if it wins out in your life. And if down the line you end up deciding it doesn't work well for you, you still get to keep access to everything you've obtained!

scarface_74 3y ago
So instead of just paying a few bucks a month I’m going to go through the trouble of trawling the internet to find a good torrent and then set up my own Plex server (been those done that) - alternative I can just open an app and not think about it.
- mindslight 3y ago
  Judging by the various threads on this topic, the current streaming reality isn't "a few bucks" and it actually involves quite a lot of cognitive overhead (exactly when you just want to be relaxing!). Neither do you have to go "trawling" for torrents - public trackers/catalogs easily get you the contemporary zeitgeist and its back catalog. But sure, keep on enjoying the simulated liberation of the corporate sandbox. My comment was meant for those on the fence.
- AussieWog93 3y ago
  It's funny you mention that. Convenience is exactly why I switched to piracy earlier this year. To watch content legally, I first have to work out who owns the rights in Australia (it can be different to the US, and often changes - e.g. last time I watched The Terminator it was on Netflix but now it's on Amazon Prime), see if I have that app (I'm not signing up to an app to watch one film, even if it were free it's not worth the bullshit), and if not pick a different film and start the whole process again. It's worse for TV shows, where season 1 could be exclusive to Netflix but seasons 2-7 are only on Stan. To pirate content, I open the Elementum tab in Kodi, type in what I want to watch, and 20 seconds later it's directly streaming from the bittorrent network in fantastic HD quality. Elementum is a plugin for Kodi, works great.
- snvzz 3y ago
  These days you get a much worse service if you pay[0]. Can't make that shit up. 0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GZUCwVRLs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GZUCwVRLs
- Tajnymag 3y ago
  This is, unfortunately, a point very much tied to the region you live in. In my region, even if I pay the same price as the users from US, not only do I pay much more in terms of percentage of my income, but I also get just a fraction of the content available. Imagine, I'd want to watch some Doctor Who for example, there's exactly zero streaming services offering the show in my country.
- adamomada 3y ago
  For a while now there are services out there (usually on discord) who will rent you a plex container hooked up to a ridiculous size media library (I’ve seen multiple in the 1.5 PB+ range) with basically everything from every streaming service , Bluray, or DVD in the original bit for bit download, just sans-DRM This is probably going to catch on more and more - it’s not free, you have to pay, but! - it’s $10 a month for everything like Spotify
- BlueTemplar 3y ago
  Popcorn Time is "just an app" too.
- bobsmooth 3y ago
  I've never understood this idea of good torrents being hard to find. TPB has been around for a long time.
uoaei 3y ago
To me the biggest frustration is that they can and will pull content with no warning or notification. So you are always gambling whether or not the thing you want to watch will appear, even if you've watched it dozens of times already. Personal digital collections do not have this problem.

scarface_74 3y ago

So instead of just paying a few bucks a month I’m going to go through the trouble of trawling the internet to find a good torrent and then set up my own Plex server (been those done that) - alternative I can just open an app and not think about it.

mindslight 3y ago
Judging by the various threads on this topic, the current streaming reality isn't "a few bucks" and it actually involves quite a lot of cognitive overhead (exactly when you just want to be relaxing!). Neither do you have to go "trawling" for torrents - public trackers/catalogs easily get you the contemporary zeitgeist and its back catalog. But sure, keep on enjoying the simulated liberation of the corporate sandbox. My comment was meant for those on the fence.
AussieWog93 3y ago
It's funny you mention that. Convenience is exactly why I switched to piracy earlier this year. To watch content legally, I first have to work out who owns the rights in Australia (it can be different to the US, and often changes - e.g. last time I watched The Terminator it was on Netflix but now it's on Amazon Prime), see if I have that app (I'm not signing up to an app to watch one film, even if it were free it's not worth the bullshit), and if not pick a different film and start the whole process again. It's worse for TV shows, where season 1 could be exclusive to Netflix but seasons 2-7 are only on Stan. To pirate content, I open the Elementum tab in Kodi, type in what I want to watch, and 20 seconds later it's directly streaming from the bittorrent network in fantastic HD quality. Elementum is a plugin for Kodi, works great.
snvzz 3y ago
These days you get a much worse service if you pay[0]. Can't make that shit up. 0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GZUCwVRLs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GZUCwVRLs
Tajnymag 3y ago
This is, unfortunately, a point very much tied to the region you live in. In my region, even if I pay the same price as the users from US, not only do I pay much more in terms of percentage of my income, but I also get just a fraction of the content available. Imagine, I'd want to watch some Doctor Who for example, there's exactly zero streaming services offering the show in my country.
adamomada 3y ago
For a while now there are services out there (usually on discord) who will rent you a plex container hooked up to a ridiculous size media library (I’ve seen multiple in the 1.5 PB+ range) with basically everything from every streaming service , Bluray, or DVD in the original bit for bit download, just sans-DRM This is probably going to catch on more and more - it’s not free, you have to pay, but! - it’s $10 a month for everything like Spotify
BlueTemplar 3y ago
Popcorn Time is "just an app" too.
bobsmooth 3y ago
I've never understood this idea of good torrents being hard to find. TPB has been around for a long time.

uoaei 3y ago

To me the biggest frustration is that they can and will pull content with no warning or notification. So you are always gambling whether or not the thing you want to watch will appear, even if you've watched it dozens of times already. Personal digital collections do not have this problem.