6 ms·

I have a process when I want to watch something: Is it on Netflix? Cool. Watch it. Is it on Amazon Prime? Cool. Watch it. Is it on Amazon Instant Video for r

I have a process when I want to watch something: Is it on Netflix? Cool. Watch it. Is it on Amazon Prime? Cool. Watch it. Is it on Amazon Instant Video for rent or purchase? Cool. Buy it and watch it. Is it available anywhere online for purchase? Cool. Buy it and watch it. Not available for purchase online? Pirate Bay.

smtddr 13y ago
My process is sorta similar: 1. Netflix? 2. Hulu? 3. Amz-Inst 4. Shady streaming site. And since the vast majority of what I watch is anime these days that hasn't been officially brought to USA yet, I pretty much go straight to #4, animehere.com or animecenter.tv or similar. I even have scripts that scrapes the page for the direct video-file URL and fetches it. I run it every Saturday night to get the newest Attack on Titan & Hunter-x-Hunter-2011. Here[1] is a bash script I put together to download all of the One Piece video files from watchop.com . Of course, now that I've posted the script it'll probably stop working in the not-too-distant future. 1. http://pastie.org/pastes/8353546/text http://pastie.org/pastes/8353546/text
- SwellJoe 13y ago
  I gave up on Hulu. It's too misleading. I kept going to shows or movies and finding only trailers and clips. Why would I want either of those things? I don't go looking for ads. I just don't...I have less than zero interest in seeing ads, even for shows or movies I wanted to watch. I used to love Hulu. It works on Linux (which is a big thing for me, especially during the day when I'm working and watching TV), and it used to be a place where I could watch current season shows. Now, it's just too much hassle to find any actual programming.
  - Karunamon 13y ago
    Same here, for the same reason. One of the reasons I stopped paying for cable TV was the utter overabundance of ads. Hulu wants me to give them money so they can make me watch ads? Yeah, no. One more benefit the torrent sites have over the legit item, apparently.
- tareqak 13y ago
  http://www.crunchyroll.com/ http://www.crunchyroll.com/ has a lot of anime, and offers the latest subbed episodes an hour after broadcast in Japan. The latest episodes are offered only if you are a monthly subscriber. They have Android and iOS apps, as well as an AppleTV client.
baddox 13y ago
Unfortunately, that means that piracy is still by far the easiest way to get content, for arbitrary content.
- davidjohnstone 13y ago
  A couple of months ago I put together some lists[1] of movie availability on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu plus, based on the IMDB top 250, 2010 Oscar nominees, Sight & Sound 2012 top 250 poll, and the 250 biggest box office money makers from 2000 to 2012. I was surprised at how poor the selections they offer turned out to be — it depends on the list, but none of them had more than a quarter of the movies available. 1. http://davidjohnstone.net/blog/2013/07/netflix-amazon-and-hulu-compared-for-streaming-movies http://davidjohnstone.net/blog/2013/07/netflix-amazon-and-hu...
- SwellJoe 13y ago
  It's pretty rare for me, but I don't watch a lot of TV. And, I very rarely think, "I want to watch X". I often browse Netflix (or Amazon Prime, when I'm working, since I work on Linux and Netflix doesn't support it), rather than go looking for something really specific.
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    Have you tried netflix-desktop for Linux? It works well enough for me, but I have a fast GPU and the audio still gets out of sync sometimes (I blame PulseAudio ;-P).
aylons 13y ago
International copyright agreements make things easier in Brazil: we have only a subset of the first step and then the last one.
- lstamour 13y ago
  For country switching netflix, unblock-us.com is awesome. That said, I'm from Canada, YMMV.
mbillie1 13y ago
This is spot on. If you make it easy to legitimately acquire, I will legitimately acquire it. I don't "watch TV" in the sense that I allocate time for TV-viewing and then find the best thing available. If I want to watch something, I will find it in the most convenient way possible. If you have a pay service that is super convenient, guess what? It's an easy choice to pay $2.99 and watch it _now_ rather than to search torrent sites, wait some time to download it, hope that I got a legitimate copy, hope that I don't get harassed by my ISP, etc. If it takes an hour to download a movie, well... I'd give $3 for that hour, any day.
notatoad 13y ago
I can tell you aren't Canadian. The process here is "is it on Netflix? Oh, no of course not. Pirate bay.
- burke 13y ago
  Two things: 1) The Canadian library initially couldn't hold a candle to the USA library. I've found this hasn't been true for about a year -- most things I've wanted to watch recently have been on both. 2) VPN proxies are <=$5/mo, and easy enough for general consumers to set up with a bit of handholding.
  - stormbrew 13y ago
    Amazingly I've had to switch back to Canadian netflix several times to watch something I wanted to watch in the last few weeks. It blows my mind every time.
- lstamour 13y ago
  unblock-us.com -- all I gotta say. Well, and moreflicks.com if you want to see how catalogue selection varies by country. (Its search isn't the greatest, but they have the most netflix countries, I've found.)
xenophanes 13y ago
All the sources except piracy, for movies and TV (and books too), are missing features you can use with other software if you have DRM free media. For example, I have amazon video already paid for and never ever use it because of this -- missing features that VLC has. IMO they should try achieving feature parity -- or better, actually innovate -- to cut down piracy further. (Yes the paid stuff is arguably ahead on certain features like convenience. But not others.)
- JoshTriplett 13y ago
  Can't argue with that. When I watch most video, including YouTube (downloaded with youtube-dl), many streaming or download sites, or MythTV recordings, I tend to speed it up to 130-160% of normal; Netflix is the one and only source of video I can't do that with.
bambax 13y ago
I have the same process... but stop at Netflix; all the other (legal) solutions are either too complex or too expensive (not to mention, I'm not in the US, so subscribing to US-based Amazon Prime would be of little value).
rplnt 13y ago
> Is it available anywhere online for purchase? Cool. Buy it and watch it. A week later. And I would have to get an archaic optical drive. It also creates useless waste and is usually way too expensive for an hour of entertainment. For me, none of the options before that is available so I can either don't watch it or pirate it with "I'll pay for it later" attitude. It worked well enough for games and software in general (pirated everything since maybe three or four years back).
- SwellJoe 13y ago
  "online" is the key word there. When I say, is it available online for purchase, I mean can I watch it online. I haven't ordered a DVD or CD in a decade or more.
bowlofpetunias 13y ago
Like most people outside of North America, I just skip these steps by default since the answer has been "no" for a decade, and in most cases still is. Also "purchase" should be "non-DRM or single-platform format crippled purchase". Oh, we now have Netflix in the Netherlands, since a few weeks. The actual selection is a joke. Yes, I understand it's the copyright mafia's doing, but don't ask me to pay the same price as Americans for a fraction of the product.
- thirdsun 13y ago
  As a german, I feel your pain... It is really an issue. These are my requirements: - DRM-free download for later use in XBMC (no iTunes, no streaming due to limited bandwidth) - 720p or better - original english audio track Of course this is nowhere to be found in Germany.
rodolphoarruda 13y ago
Will the title ever be available in my country through any service, media or format? No. Then, Pirate Bay. Will it come to theaters someday and coincide with my wife's good mood? Yes. Ok, it's worth the wait. For any other scenario, Netflix.
Tichy 13y ago
It would be so much easier if people could get the content in whatever way they see fit and pay the content creator directly.
MacsHeadroom 13y ago
As a GNU/Linux OS user I have a similar process: Is it on Netflix? Doesn't matter, can't use Netflix. Is it on Amazon Prime? Doesn't matter, can't use Amazon Prime. Is it on Amazon Instant Video for rent or purchase? Doesn't matter, can't use it. Do I actually want to own a copy permanently and is it available anywhere online for purchase for a reasonable price, in high quality, and DRM free? No? Pirate Bay.
- SwellJoe 13y ago
  "Is it on Amazon Prime? Doesn't matter, can't use Amazon Prime. Is it on Amazon Instant Video for rent or purchase? Doesn't matter, can't use it." Incorrect. I'm watching Amazon Prime right now on Linux. It's one of the reasons I use Amazon more than Netflix, even though I have both, and Netflix has a better selection.
  - MacsHeadroom 13y ago
    You must be using Adobe Flash or Chromium's built-in flash. You might as well just run windows if you're going to run closed source binaries with hardware access. I'm not so keen on giving Adobe root just so I can watch a movie using their buggy insecure antiquated software platform.

smtddr 13y ago

My process is sorta similar: 1. Netflix? 2. Hulu? 3. Amz-Inst 4. Shady streaming site. And since the vast majority of what I watch is anime these days that hasn't been officially brought to USA yet, I pretty much go straight to #4, animehere.com or animecenter.tv or similar. I even have scripts that scrapes the page for the direct video-file URL and fetches it. I run it every Saturday night to get the newest Attack on Titan & Hunter-x-Hunter-2011. Here[1] is a bash script I put together to download all of the One Piece video files from watchop.com . Of course, now that I've posted the script it'll probably stop working in the not-too-distant future. 1. http://pastie.org/pastes/8353546/text http://pastie.org/pastes/8353546/text

SwellJoe 13y ago
I gave up on Hulu. It's too misleading. I kept going to shows or movies and finding only trailers and clips. Why would I want either of those things? I don't go looking for ads. I just don't...I have less than zero interest in seeing ads, even for shows or movies I wanted to watch. I used to love Hulu. It works on Linux (which is a big thing for me, especially during the day when I'm working and watching TV), and it used to be a place where I could watch current season shows. Now, it's just too much hassle to find any actual programming.
- Karunamon 13y ago
  Same here, for the same reason. One of the reasons I stopped paying for cable TV was the utter overabundance of ads. Hulu wants me to give them money so they can make me watch ads? Yeah, no. One more benefit the torrent sites have over the legit item, apparently.
tareqak 13y ago
http://www.crunchyroll.com/ http://www.crunchyroll.com/ has a lot of anime, and offers the latest subbed episodes an hour after broadcast in Japan. The latest episodes are offered only if you are a monthly subscriber. They have Android and iOS apps, as well as an AppleTV client.

baddox 13y ago

Unfortunately, that means that piracy is still by far the easiest way to get content, for arbitrary content.

davidjohnstone 13y ago
A couple of months ago I put together some lists[1] of movie availability on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu plus, based on the IMDB top 250, 2010 Oscar nominees, Sight & Sound 2012 top 250 poll, and the 250 biggest box office money makers from 2000 to 2012. I was surprised at how poor the selections they offer turned out to be — it depends on the list, but none of them had more than a quarter of the movies available. 1. http://davidjohnstone.net/blog/2013/07/netflix-amazon-and-hulu-compared-for-streaming-movies http://davidjohnstone.net/blog/2013/07/netflix-amazon-and-hu...
SwellJoe 13y ago
It's pretty rare for me, but I don't watch a lot of TV. And, I very rarely think, "I want to watch X". I often browse Netflix (or Amazon Prime, when I'm working, since I work on Linux and Netflix doesn't support it), rather than go looking for something really specific.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  Have you tried netflix-desktop for Linux? It works well enough for me, but I have a fast GPU and the audio still gets out of sync sometimes (I blame PulseAudio ;-P).

aylons 13y ago

International copyright agreements make things easier in Brazil: we have only a subset of the first step and then the last one.

lstamour 13y ago
For country switching netflix, unblock-us.com is awesome. That said, I'm from Canada, YMMV.

mbillie1 13y ago

This is spot on. If you make it easy to legitimately acquire, I will legitimately acquire it. I don't "watch TV" in the sense that I allocate time for TV-viewing and then find the best thing available. If I want to watch something, I will find it in the most convenient way possible. If you have a pay service that is super convenient, guess what? It's an easy choice to pay $2.99 and watch it _now_ rather than to search torrent sites, wait some time to download it, hope that I got a legitimate copy, hope that I don't get harassed by my ISP, etc. If it takes an hour to download a movie, well... I'd give $3 for that hour, any day.

notatoad 13y ago

I can tell you aren't Canadian. The process here is "is it on Netflix? Oh, no of course not. Pirate bay.

burke 13y ago
Two things: 1) The Canadian library initially couldn't hold a candle to the USA library. I've found this hasn't been true for about a year -- most things I've wanted to watch recently have been on both. 2) VPN proxies are <=$5/mo, and easy enough for general consumers to set up with a bit of handholding.
- stormbrew 13y ago
  Amazingly I've had to switch back to Canadian netflix several times to watch something I wanted to watch in the last few weeks. It blows my mind every time.
lstamour 13y ago
unblock-us.com -- all I gotta say. Well, and moreflicks.com if you want to see how catalogue selection varies by country. (Its search isn't the greatest, but they have the most netflix countries, I've found.)

xenophanes 13y ago

All the sources except piracy, for movies and TV (and books too), are missing features you can use with other software if you have DRM free media. For example, I have amazon video already paid for and never ever use it because of this -- missing features that VLC has. IMO they should try achieving feature parity -- or better, actually innovate -- to cut down piracy further. (Yes the paid stuff is arguably ahead on certain features like convenience. But not others.)

JoshTriplett 13y ago
Can't argue with that. When I watch most video, including YouTube (downloaded with youtube-dl), many streaming or download sites, or MythTV recordings, I tend to speed it up to 130-160% of normal; Netflix is the one and only source of video I can't do that with.

bambax 13y ago

I have the same process... but stop at Netflix; all the other (legal) solutions are either too complex or too expensive (not to mention, I'm not in the US, so subscribing to US-based Amazon Prime would be of little value).

rplnt 13y ago

> Is it available anywhere online for purchase? Cool. Buy it and watch it. A week later. And I would have to get an archaic optical drive. It also creates useless waste and is usually way too expensive for an hour of entertainment. For me, none of the options before that is available so I can either don't watch it or pirate it with "I'll pay for it later" attitude. It worked well enough for games and software in general (pirated everything since maybe three or four years back).

SwellJoe 13y ago
"online" is the key word there. When I say, is it available online for purchase, I mean can I watch it online. I haven't ordered a DVD or CD in a decade or more.

bowlofpetunias 13y ago

Like most people outside of North America, I just skip these steps by default since the answer has been "no" for a decade, and in most cases still is. Also "purchase" should be "non-DRM or single-platform format crippled purchase". Oh, we now have Netflix in the Netherlands, since a few weeks. The actual selection is a joke. Yes, I understand it's the copyright mafia's doing, but don't ask me to pay the same price as Americans for a fraction of the product.

thirdsun 13y ago
As a german, I feel your pain... It is really an issue. These are my requirements: - DRM-free download for later use in XBMC (no iTunes, no streaming due to limited bandwidth) - 720p or better - original english audio track Of course this is nowhere to be found in Germany.

rodolphoarruda 13y ago

Will the title ever be available in my country through any service, media or format? No. Then, Pirate Bay. Will it come to theaters someday and coincide with my wife's good mood? Yes. Ok, it's worth the wait. For any other scenario, Netflix.

Tichy 13y ago

It would be so much easier if people could get the content in whatever way they see fit and pay the content creator directly.

MacsHeadroom 13y ago

As a GNU/Linux OS user I have a similar process: Is it on Netflix? Doesn't matter, can't use Netflix. Is it on Amazon Prime? Doesn't matter, can't use Amazon Prime. Is it on Amazon Instant Video for rent or purchase? Doesn't matter, can't use it. Do I actually want to own a copy permanently and is it available anywhere online for purchase for a reasonable price, in high quality, and DRM free? No? Pirate Bay.

SwellJoe 13y ago
"Is it on Amazon Prime? Doesn't matter, can't use Amazon Prime. Is it on Amazon Instant Video for rent or purchase? Doesn't matter, can't use it." Incorrect. I'm watching Amazon Prime right now on Linux. It's one of the reasons I use Amazon more than Netflix, even though I have both, and Netflix has a better selection.
- MacsHeadroom 13y ago
  You must be using Adobe Flash or Chromium's built-in flash. You might as well just run windows if you're going to run closed source binaries with hardware access. I'm not so keen on giving Adobe root just so I can watch a movie using their buggy insecure antiquated software platform.