Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK • Hacker News Board

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#51

Post by maccard » Thu, May 04, 2017, 7:46 PM UTC

kodithrow wrote: post #35

maccard wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious why you pay for it? If you're openly admitting to pirating it, why not just pirate it for free? it's not like the licence owners are getting any of your $13/month.

I'm paying for better quality streams, not because I think the license holders get a cut of the profits. If there was a similar legal IPTV service that got the license holders paid, I would choose that (even at a higher price point). My current alternative is Comcast which I have had nightmarish experiences with. It looks like this is an industry that is finally maturing (with Sling TV and others) so it might be diff…

Fair enough. I don't agree but I understand your view. Thanks for responding.

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#52

Post by maccard » Thu, May 04, 2017, 7:48 PM UTC

bumblebeard wrote: post #26

phkahler wrote: post #18

>> Pubs are a favoured target of FACT. Subscriptions allowing them to screen live sports are expensive, making Kodi boxes attractive. Is this the situation in the US too? I wonder why pubs have shitty cableTV with downgraded picture when they could just get an antenna and have awesome HD. Is it not OK to publicly show that which is broadcast? That seems absurd.

It looks pretty cheap in the US actually, not much more than home cable. For example, here's what Comcast offers bars and restaurants: https://business.comcast.com/tv/restaurants

It looks like they're charging 190 dollars a month for the full sports package. That seems insanely expensive. I don't know how it compares to the UK but with sky you can get their max tier bundle for ~90 pounds a month, and that gives you al their sports and movies channels. (Not that I think it's good value, but certainly better than 190 dollars plus tax!)

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#53

Post by maccard » Thu, May 04, 2017, 7:56 PM UTC

jasonkostempski wrote: post #40

retrac98 wrote: post #7

Give consumers a legal service that's better than the illegal alternative.

They can't. They've already proven they can't do good UX even under a paid service so the only thing left to compete on is price and reliability and then they're competing against free and voluntarily hosted distributed redundancy. There's no value that can be added to that (other than removing the risk of criminal punishment).

Sure they can. They can provide an ad-free (well let's say ad-lite), HD, low latency stream for an affordable price, without awful hidden charges or long contracts.

It's been a long time since I tried the illegal streaming websites, but when I did, they were awful experiences; low quality streams with heavy buffering, multiple timeouts, full screen pop up ads. Some of them required a captcha before trying each stream, and if it didn't work, tough luck.

Compared to Netflix, where (assuming they have the content) you get a HD stream, no interruptions, minimal ads, at a reasonable price point.

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#54

Post by kybernetikos » Fri, May 05, 2017, 6:56 AM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #19

kybernetikos wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'll be seeding a file to others who might have legal alternatives It doesn't seem fair to me to make the seeder responsible for the illegal usage of the leacher. If it's legal for some people to connect to a torrent, then any crime committed by someone who connects and downloads something they are not allowed to download should be on them, not on the seeder. The alternative is to insist that the seeder is responsi…

The seeder is the one distributing the content, thereby violating the copyright. Viewing is not illegal, making the copy is.

The seeder should not be thought of as making a copy in my view, it's the downloader who makes the copy.

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#55

Post by madaxe_again » Fri, May 05, 2017, 9:17 AM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #49

madaxe_again wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that that does anything other than tell them you exist. I'm working on renovating a property currently, have been for a year and a bit. It's uninhabited. There's no TV, no internet connection; just drills and saws. There isn't even running water. I notified them that the property was unoccupied in response to their first letter, 18 months ago. They said that they didn't believe me, and an enforcement officer woul…

Was the house expensive? The last time I lived in the UK without a TV, it was in a fancy part of London. We replied to the first letter, and never again heard anything from TV Licensing.

No, it's a tiny cottage up a mountain in north wales. The previous shenanigans were in Fulham, however.

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#56

Post by madaxe_again » Fri, May 05, 2017, 9:17 AM UTC

teh_klev wrote: post #50

madaxe_again wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that that does anything other than tell them you exist. I'm working on renovating a property currently, have been for a year and a bit. It's uninhabited. There's no TV, no internet connection; just drills and saws. There isn't even running water. I notified them that the property was unoccupied in response to their first letter, 18 months ago. They said that they didn't believe me, and an enforcement officer woul…

I haven't had a license since 2006 when I binned my Sky box. I don't watch any live telly and when the new rules about needing a license for BBC iPlayer came into force I just stopped using it (I only ever watched top gear and a bit of Masterchef, so no great loss). So anyway, I kept getting letters from TV licensing. I called them up and told them to remove me from their database which they did. One year later the l…

I'd assumed it was capita, who seem to run the entire uk at this point - the state exists for their profit.

Re: Kodi: Open source TV app inspires full-blown copyright panic in the UK

#57

Post by skdotdan » Fri, May 05, 2017, 2:08 PM UTC

kodithrow wrote: post #9

skdotdan wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$13/month?

Kodi has an add-on system where 3rd party software can be loaded. Some of these add-ons are paid subscription services for live TV. They are substantially more reliable and have better quality than the free add-ons for live TV.

Thanks for your answer.