4 ms·

Now, it doesn't just work. You need to download the thing, find the right format, get it to the TV in one way or another, hope that the subs are good. Compared

by bojan 3y ago

Now, it doesn't just work. You need to download the thing, find the right format, get it to the TV in one way or another, hope that the subs are good. Compared to that, it's the streaming that just works. Except when it doesn't.

beart 3y ago
Software has completely automated all of these steps. The only barrier is the initial set up, which a non-technical person can figure out over a weekend.
- h4x0rr 3y ago
  It seems to be quite a bit harder for dubbed stuff in non-english languages though
- xattt 3y ago
  Don’t say the quiet part loud. There will be enterprising individuals that will take the piss out of our convenience by commercializing it.
  - trealira 3y ago
    How could they commercialize it in ways they already haven't? There already exist good, free torrenting clients, and piracy is illegal. The most they could do is set up a subscription service for exclusive torrents which always have seeders, but that's already being done AFAIK, and it's illegal, so they can't really run ads on TV about it.
  - bawolff 3y ago
    Haven't they already? There are people who sell modded versions of kodi with everything setup.
- kelnos 3y ago
  I think you overestimate the capabilities of your average non-technical person.
skeaker 3y ago
Right, streaming can win on convenience but loses so hard on content that it has begun to cancel out any reason to use it. Netflix really was great back when it was just getting really popular and had both consistent content and a just-works video player, but to stay popular it needed to keep both, and it hasn't. Piracy can do the other things you mentioned automatically by the way, but I agree that it's less "just-works" for the average person given the setup involved.
- masklinn 3y ago
  > streaming can win on convenience It could, but it does not. When you have to hunt for the content you want across a dozen different services you need to be subscribed to and / or that many apps, it’s not convenient. Even being super basic and not at all in the scene, odds are the first or second piracy site you check has it, it won’t try to upsell you or give you some other content, and if it had the content at one point chances are it still does.
everyone 3y ago
For me one of the biggest draws of file-sharing is that I find it so easy. The streaming service way would involve finding where the show is, accounts, credentials, godawful UI, ads, spam, potential malware,+ many other constantly changing and evolving inconveniences. File-sharing way is just so fast and easy to comprehend for me, search for the show on one site, pick the quality I want, download the files and then do whatever I want with them. Also it hasnt changed in decades.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lm28469 3y ago
There are a lot of websites for illegal streaming, it's plug and play, even easier to use than Netflix, and their catalog is very often up to date with what you can find on torrent trackers
thiht 3y ago
But all of this actually just works. Right format is never an issue. To get it to the TV, I just use Plex. There’s even a smart TV app. I can also watch it on my smartphone. And download it if I know I won’t have network. Subtitles are often embedded directly in most downloads, and if not Plex always manages to find the correct ones from OpenSubtitles. These are non issues, most of the times.
- al_borland 3y ago
  I’ve been running Plex since probably 2010, maybe earlier. It just works… once you set it up… and until something needs to change. The concept of running a server is lost on most people. I’ve set it up for some others, and they don’t get it. They just plug a laptop into their TV or use AirPlay instead, because the idea of a server and client (in whatever terminology one wants to use) doesn’t really click. Most people aren’t a custom leaving their computer on all the time in the name of having a server running either. There is also a matter of getting the content. If they are going to rip DVDs, now they have to use something like Handbrake. But that’s not all, they also need to spend time learning how Plex reads folder and file names to scan the media to lookup metadata. Doing that manually sucks, so then that might lead them to have to search for something like Filebot, where they need to use Filebot’s naming syntax to align its actions with what Plex wants. Then if they get a new computer, there is the issue of migration to the new system. I eventually got a NAS, which meant moving to Docker, which would be a whole new can of worms for them. And all this just assumes it’s all on the local network. Plex might do some router magic today, I can’t remember, but for a long time I remember setting up port forwarding so I could get at my library from my phone. I don’t think anything of most of this, and I assume you don’t either, but it’s a lot for someone who doesn’t have any kind of background in this stuff or interest in heading down a rabbit hole with it. I’d also argue that as Plex became more platform agnostic with its web UI, it became harder for the average user to understand. The first versions, based on XBMC, were just apps. Stick out media in there and it plays it. Then they made PMS with the client/server architecture, but the server still had a really nice GUI on the Mac where things made sense. Now the server launches the browser when opened, so people kind of need to understand the idea that this server is hosting a website to manage the media, which is another layer for someone to get lost in. And now, I go to plex.tv, login there, and it loads the server running off my NAS, which will be even more confusing for people, especially if/when something goes wrong or isn’t working. They also need to keep up with the changes, not of just the UI they use, but the architecture of the backend, to some degree. It’s changed a lot over the years I’ve been using it. As for subtitles. I typically trash them and don’t care, as 99.9% of the time I don’t want subtitles. But the 1 time I tried to download the subtitles and use them, it didn’t work and I gave up. I watched on a streaming service instead.
bawolff 3y ago
You're being downvoted but i think you have a point for non techies who want to watch things on their tv. Like i don't think my parents would be able to figure out how to pirate by themselves. But the world is changing. Plenty of people watch primarily on their laptop or phone
jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
I believe you are unfamiliar with the current state of piracy. I'm not going to name the site, because I don't want to run afoul of any rules here... But this site is an even more streamlined experience than the legit sites. It has a searchable catalog that's just as high quality UX as netflix, and you just start watching instantly. It literally just works. That's the norm in the piracy world today, but some people are extra about things and set up automation to auto download local copies of things on a media server. There's a bit of initial setup overhead for this, but once it's done it's as convenient as it gets. You can subscribe to shows and they just show up on your media server as episodes are released.

by bojan 3y ago

beart 3y ago

Software has completely automated all of these steps. The only barrier is the initial set up, which a non-technical person can figure out over a weekend.

h4x0rr 3y ago
It seems to be quite a bit harder for dubbed stuff in non-english languages though
xattt 3y ago
Don’t say the quiet part loud. There will be enterprising individuals that will take the piss out of our convenience by commercializing it.
- trealira 3y ago
  How could they commercialize it in ways they already haven't? There already exist good, free torrenting clients, and piracy is illegal. The most they could do is set up a subscription service for exclusive torrents which always have seeders, but that's already being done AFAIK, and it's illegal, so they can't really run ads on TV about it.
- bawolff 3y ago
  Haven't they already? There are people who sell modded versions of kodi with everything setup.
kelnos 3y ago
I think you overestimate the capabilities of your average non-technical person.

skeaker 3y ago

Right, streaming can win on convenience but loses so hard on content that it has begun to cancel out any reason to use it. Netflix really was great back when it was just getting really popular and had both consistent content and a just-works video player, but to stay popular it needed to keep both, and it hasn't. Piracy can do the other things you mentioned automatically by the way, but I agree that it's less "just-works" for the average person given the setup involved.

masklinn 3y ago
> streaming can win on convenience It could, but it does not. When you have to hunt for the content you want across a dozen different services you need to be subscribed to and / or that many apps, it’s not convenient. Even being super basic and not at all in the scene, odds are the first or second piracy site you check has it, it won’t try to upsell you or give you some other content, and if it had the content at one point chances are it still does.

everyone 3y ago

For me one of the biggest draws of file-sharing is that I find it so easy. The streaming service way would involve finding where the show is, accounts, credentials, godawful UI, ads, spam, potential malware,+ many other constantly changing and evolving inconveniences. File-sharing way is just so fast and easy to comprehend for me, search for the show on one site, pick the quality I want, download the files and then do whatever I want with them. Also it hasnt changed in decades.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

lm28469 3y ago

There are a lot of websites for illegal streaming, it's plug and play, even easier to use than Netflix, and their catalog is very often up to date with what you can find on torrent trackers

thiht 3y ago

But all of this actually just works. Right format is never an issue. To get it to the TV, I just use Plex. There’s even a smart TV app. I can also watch it on my smartphone. And download it if I know I won’t have network. Subtitles are often embedded directly in most downloads, and if not Plex always manages to find the correct ones from OpenSubtitles. These are non issues, most of the times.

al_borland 3y ago
I’ve been running Plex since probably 2010, maybe earlier. It just works… once you set it up… and until something needs to change. The concept of running a server is lost on most people. I’ve set it up for some others, and they don’t get it. They just plug a laptop into their TV or use AirPlay instead, because the idea of a server and client (in whatever terminology one wants to use) doesn’t really click. Most people aren’t a custom leaving their computer on all the time in the name of having a server running either. There is also a matter of getting the content. If they are going to rip DVDs, now they have to use something like Handbrake. But that’s not all, they also need to spend time learning how Plex reads folder and file names to scan the media to lookup metadata. Doing that manually sucks, so then that might lead them to have to search for something like Filebot, where they need to use Filebot’s naming syntax to align its actions with what Plex wants. Then if they get a new computer, there is the issue of migration to the new system. I eventually got a NAS, which meant moving to Docker, which would be a whole new can of worms for them. And all this just assumes it’s all on the local network. Plex might do some router magic today, I can’t remember, but for a long time I remember setting up port forwarding so I could get at my library from my phone. I don’t think anything of most of this, and I assume you don’t either, but it’s a lot for someone who doesn’t have any kind of background in this stuff or interest in heading down a rabbit hole with it. I’d also argue that as Plex became more platform agnostic with its web UI, it became harder for the average user to understand. The first versions, based on XBMC, were just apps. Stick out media in there and it plays it. Then they made PMS with the client/server architecture, but the server still had a really nice GUI on the Mac where things made sense. Now the server launches the browser when opened, so people kind of need to understand the idea that this server is hosting a website to manage the media, which is another layer for someone to get lost in. And now, I go to plex.tv, login there, and it loads the server running off my NAS, which will be even more confusing for people, especially if/when something goes wrong or isn’t working. They also need to keep up with the changes, not of just the UI they use, but the architecture of the backend, to some degree. It’s changed a lot over the years I’ve been using it. As for subtitles. I typically trash them and don’t care, as 99.9% of the time I don’t want subtitles. But the 1 time I tried to download the subtitles and use them, it didn’t work and I gave up. I watched on a streaming service instead.

bawolff 3y ago

You're being downvoted but i think you have a point for non techies who want to watch things on their tv. Like i don't think my parents would be able to figure out how to pirate by themselves. But the world is changing. Plenty of people watch primarily on their laptop or phone

jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago

I believe you are unfamiliar with the current state of piracy. I'm not going to name the site, because I don't want to run afoul of any rules here... But this site is an even more streamlined experience than the legit sites. It has a searchable catalog that's just as high quality UX as netflix, and you just start watching instantly. It literally just works. That's the norm in the piracy world today, but some people are extra about things and set up automation to auto download local copies of things on a media server. There's a bit of initial setup overhead for this, but once it's done it's as convenient as it gets. You can subscribe to shows and they just show up on your media server as episodes are released.