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The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

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Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever chief executive that decided to create their own streaming platform for a price that's too high is stealing your money. They are the ones that made it more convenient to pirate.

Ah, now that is a point. I don't expect consumers to take on my personal union politics. That is the duty of the workforce and their union.. Which is more powerful if consumers don't steal money out of their pocket. Pay for cool things and you'll get more cool things.

How you worded that sounds reminiscent of mafia "protection". I assume that wasn't your intention, but that's how it read for me.

It seems to me like piracy of shows is tangential to whatever the root of the issue is. Folk are becoming disenchanted with streaming services. Whether they pirate or just stop watching instead, the services have clearly changed in ways that make them less valuable to consumers. Unless somebody figures that out, it's not going to improve. I doubt DRM is the answer, although a combination of higher prices and consolidated content might be. Folk would pay more for Netflix if it was still a "monopoly" with all the popular shows.

I think accusing folk of stealing money out of your pocket for downloading a video is quite hyperbolic and isn't winning you any arguments. You're trying to make it a moral issue, but it isn't really a moral issue, and nobody outside of the industry cares. You could claim that it's disrespectful to you as a participating member of society, and it probably is, but yelling at people to respect you more doesn't work, and has the opposite effect.

I think your point, though, is that it's a tragedy of the commons situation. The industry works as a whole because people are willing to pay a premium in exchange for entertainment. If people don't pay, then there's no incentive to produce. If folk value new entertainment, they need to support the industry that produces it.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using a pirate streaming service such as stremio is literally no more difficult than netflix. I think you underestimate how many people pirated things before netflix existed.

Wow, there's a "stremio" button on my TV's remote control? I can't find it. I have a feeling that the definitions of "difficult" and "literally" are unknown to you.

Yes - people don't get that most folks want to watch on the TV without involving any browser.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only use Netflix and Prime, and both feel really stale to me. It's all "content" - good to very good production values designed to fill a gap and appeal to a demographic. But very repetitive and production line, with no passion projects, nothing too arty or quirky, nothing outside of the box, no surprises. Some of it is quite watchable, but none of it is exciting or fresh. It's all some combination of stock soapy c…

I feel what you say too, that all the content feels samey. But I'll offer a suggestion that works for me: try some animation. That's where you get the passion projects that can feel different . Animated characters and settings can be far more expressive and varied and fresh, compared to the stock sameyness you get from live action. The new She-Ra on Netflix was the best thing I've watched in quite some time. It's not…

I have a similar experience with respect to watching foreign produced content. It's interesting because they present different approaches to the shows and even if they're using entertainment tropes they can be different enough because they're tropes of that nation.

But once I watched a few, Netflix filled my entire recommendation catalog with almost all e.g. Turkish and Korean shows. Pretty annoying as it's like ordering an ice cream dessert, then the only thing the menu ever shows is all ice cream desserts. It makes me think part of people feeling it's all the same is that the recommendation optimization is overbearing in shoveling too much of more of the same recent history vs presenting a mix of recommendation and discovery.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to phrase this nicely, but this is precisely the type of Hacker News nerd-blindness that I find amazing. It's "easier"? Is it? For young children who want to watch their kids shows and don't know what 4k means? For grandparents who want to see some k-dramas and have no clue about DRM or geo-locked? Sure, Netflix has issues and it's made some bad decisions, but let's not delude ourselves here. The gro…

Agreed. While the *arrs are "easy" to set up once you have good knowledge of Kubernetes or at least Docker Compose, that's not exactly common. If you're using the native Windows clients, there's a pretty good chance you don't have a NAS set up (or at least not well), which means there's a decent chance you'll eventually have a hardware failure, and then be surprised when your media is suddenly gone. ZFS pools with fu…

You can run a media service for example jellyfin on the same PC as the client.

Installers are a thing on windows, on Ubuntu you can install software with apt. It wasn't packaged for my distro so I downloaded an archive unzipped and dropped it in /opt

Not sure why anyone would absolutely need to understand Kuberetes or even docker.

Plugging a PC up to a display has been a better TV for a while now.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#495
post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

I have been a Netflix customer for 5+ years, and I've switched services to Disney+ for two reasons:

- Netflix with 4K and 4 streaming devices costs 17.99€ here ($19.50), while Disney+ only costs €8.99 with the same features.

- Netflix made and continues to make good content, but since major producers have been removing their content from Netflix and into their own services, Netflix here almost survives on old local shows and new in-house content. Feels like there's almost nothing new to watch. I have rewatched Gilmore Girls 4 times. Disney+ gets you Marvel, Disney, Pixar, FOX, NatGeo, StarWars, Star (lots of ABC content)

-Netflix decided to crackdown on password-sharing: my brother moved away some months ago and has been using our Netflix account, and we don't want him to pay Netflix for himself.

-There have been some rumors of ads on the platform to boost revenue. Hell to the no.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#496

> Instead of producing two mediocre shows and an algorithmically designed movie every single week Thank you. The only reason I break my Netflix embargo (and log into my profile on a friends account) is so I know what some viral meme is about. Nobody[1] talks about or remembers shows from there two weeks later. [1] this is hyperbole validated by 200,000 - 2,000,000 others seeing the light

Algorithmically designed movies are pretty good though.

Every Pixar movie is exactly the same, and they're all great. It's a good formula. My problem with movies is that they're built for two many audiences. Pick China xor America, and the will be more enjoyable to watch

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to phrase this nicely, but this is precisely the type of Hacker News nerd-blindness that I find amazing. It's "easier"? Is it? For young children who want to watch their kids shows and don't know what 4k means? For grandparents who want to see some k-dramas and have no clue about DRM or geo-locked? Sure, Netflix has issues and it's made some bad decisions, but let's not delude ourselves here. The gro…

Or you could just open Tor browser, search the pirate bay and download stuff with a bittorrent client. That's easy.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm.

Most of my friends have no idea what Tor is. Many don't know the Pirate Bay, and most of those who know bittorrent haven't configured it to get past their firewall.

But you know what they do know? Turning the TV on, going to Roku, searching for a movie/show, and watching it in whatever app Roku suggests.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#498

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

You're stealing income, specifically from me and all of my coworkers. Perhaps you think that you're only stealing from Producers and A list actors, but there are entire departments that receive residuals on a production. - On screen performers, stunt performers like myself and actors who grind out a comfortable living. Those residuals also go to qualifying for health insurance through earnings. You are directly steal…

How much money do you make per movie ? Honest question

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#499
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't watch stuff unless it has ended and is reccomended by someone who watches shows I generally enjoy. Here's my pitch for the golden age of TV, though most of these are from a few years back. Most on HBO. The Wire The Sopranos Generation Kill The Deuce Treme Show me a Hero Luck The Expanse Sillicon Valley (not actually that funny but like a documentary of our field) Mad Men

I'd add Arcane on Netflix, which is also on the top 20 shows of all time on IMBD.

I think Arcane is probably the worst scripted show I've ever watched. It makes me immediately skeptical of ratings. My only hypothesis is that everyone enjoying it has never read a book.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#500
post #60

The thing I find interesting with Netflix is how much they spend on content and what a terrible rate of return it has. Look at Apple TV+, they're absolutely TINY compared to Netflix in both library size and money spent on new production, but they have arguably more hits than Netflix. Like, since when has any drama on Netflix been as buzzy or as good as Severance on Apple TV+? When was the last time they had a comedy…

I think they've over-interpreted their viewing data. Seems like they concluded that viewers spend most of their time watching garbage filler, which is probably true. But they shouldn't presume that each viewing hour is equal to the next.

I'll watch some garbage on streaming. But I'll make subscription choices based on flagship shows since everyone has garbage filler content.

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