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Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

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Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#101

Post by oceanplexian »

bedast wrote: post #79

I think there should be a distinction between data hoarding and piracy. One can consume pirated content without keeping it around, effectively looking a bit like just paying for a streaming service, since that's effectively what you get. One could also buy blurays and rip them, keeping the result around, and having the same cost to "hoard" that content on top of paying for the content itself. For a while, I was in th…

It's not only onerous, but streaming services just suck. It's all hot garbage in AV1 or VP9 at a 10Mbps bitrate, which looks like crap. I know because I worked in this industry, how management would literally wet themselves over a slightly more efficient codec, so that they could dial down bitrates further while distracting people from terrible video compression artifacts. They also have problems keeping their services up, and few actually understand how to deliver video with adequate QoS (Netflix sort of gets it, but the rest just bolt on a generic CDN with terrible results). The average consumer doesn't notice because, well, they're blind and have crap AV equipment.

Anyway, if there was such thing as a "streaming service" that could stream high bitrate content, reliably, like uncompressed digital cinema or, at the very least, an Bluray that hasn't been transcoded, I would throw money at them hand over fist. But that is not the case, so I have to rely on alternatives.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#102

Post by eatbitseveryday »

Hamuko wrote: post #30
hotpotamus wrote: post #25

Welcome to Hacker News where everyone makes $500k/year and nobody pays for content. Or at least it feels that way sometimes. I don't make that much money but I also don't pay for content.

Sometimes you can't even buy (or rent) the content because of georestrictions. At least I often encounter TV shows and movies that are available in some US streaming service, but are not available in our version of the same service, or the entire service is not available.

You can purchase abroad and ship to your country. Amazon for example has country local stuff. Use the .xy for whichever country you want to search in (.com for US, .de for Germany, etc) and see if they have what you want.

They may also ship to you internationally.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#103

Post by philistine »

What you’re describing is data hoarding. I pirate a ton too, but you know what I do with a movie or TV show after I’ve watched it?

I delete it. Poof, gone. But it’s still in the most important dataset I have. My memory. To help with the metadata of my own memory, I write down a list of the films I’ve seen. I only keep the movies I really love and want to rewatch (Robocop). That TV show I just finished that was great but I won’t rewatch. Boom, gonzo.

Your piracy is an excuse for data hoarding, which is a problem.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#104

Post by pirate-Loo6uoDu »

lostmsu wrote: post #47
snmx999 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we assume the computer consumes 200 Watt in average, the electricity price would be something like 0,32 USD per kWh. So probably Germany, Denmark or Belgium.

That's a very pessimistic estimate for idling PC-based storage box. The story looks faked all over the place. 30 TB? I have as much, and the storage price was maybe $600 last year.

Hard drive prices fluctuate a lot. I put this together in early 2018.

In early 2018 an 8TB seagate drive cost ~$200 according to https://jcmit.net/diskprice.htm .

I'm also counting usable storage, not snapraid or anything like that. The reality is it's 39.12 TiB not counting SSD cache.

> The story looks faked all over the place.

I also bought a pretty nice case that can store 10+ hard drives, and a PCIe sata adapter. I probably could have done it for cheaper, but that's not really a reason to call me a liar is it? Why would anyone fake this?

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#105

Post by tashbarg »

zagrebian wrote: post #92
trh0awayman wrote: post #88

At least where I live in Europe, it's almost impossible to not pirate. The government has strict controls on media and so it's impossible to even get access to most movies. Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming sites have been completely neutered. HBO Go, Criterion, etc. are completely inaccessible. In the US, it's a different story. Everything outside of Karagarga is available to be streamed, or at least purchas…

I watched a lot of X-files on German free TV in the ’90s, and I only found out later that it was edited to remove the most graphic scenes. Imagine paying for streaming and not even getting the full content.

Most if not all of the editing in German free TV is done by the station to fit the show to the schedule (ad breaks, fixed time budget, afternoon slot requiring removal of graphic scenes, etc.)

Streaming should not have these problems.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#106

Post by pirate-Loo6uoDu »

83 wrote: post #85
lostmsu wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very pessimistic estimate for idling PC-based storage box. The story looks faked all over the place. 30 TB? I have as much, and the storage price was maybe $600 last year.

The way I read it he is including the computer in that $1200 cost. Seems realistic, that's about what my computer (surplus Supermicro server) with a similar amount of storage came out to.

I got a pretty nice case too. The computer was my old desktop when I upgraded, so I'm only sort of counting it. It wasn't a budget build.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#107

Post by piceas »

phren0logy wrote: post #68
silicon2401 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying for things you don't have to pay for is a quick way to lose money, no matter how much you make.

But that excuse justifies much more than digital piracy. You don't "have to pay for" a car if you can steal one.

We need a public library for cars!

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#108

Post by irrational »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #9

Piracy and data-hoarding are two different hobbies. One cost next to nothing, the cost of the other one you are quite familiar with.. Jokes aside, would you consider deleting your entire collection and then also cancel subscriptions and possibly give away or sell any tech equipment you do not use for work? And then find something else to do with the newly-freed time? Can you do it for 6 or 12 months? If not, why not?…

Hoarding does seem to be the issue. We aren’t on dial up connections anymore. I can grab a movie torrent and it will download within a minute or so.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#109

Post by 1970-01-01 »

Torrents continue to thanklessly fill the gaps these services leave behind. Historic news and sports broadcasts are good examples. Regular season games are simply scrubbed after a few months, and the evening news archives stop after a few weeks. If I want to see an event unfold as it did, I need to download and serve myself before it's gone.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#110

Post by s5300 »

gonzo41 wrote: post #75
dhosek wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember getting together with a high school friend in the 90s and him talking about a similar setup (modulo 90s technology including dial-up internet access) for downloading pirated software. He never actually used the software, he just collected it. The plus side of digital hoarding is that the hoarder is less likely to die alone after being trapped by a falling pile of stuff.

I bet in we'll see a hoarder who dies alone under a pile of high density 8TB sandisk magnetic tapes. Full of something important like pirated twitch streams.

The multimillionaire, locally known for his completely isolated & reclusive lifestyle, was found to have been financially destitute after his untimely passing from a freak accident.

Crushed to death under a stack of computer equipment, they leave behind only 1 Petabyte worth of Seagate 8TB hard disks. Upon investigating, it was found that each drive was completely filled with “boutique furry porn.”

Those who knew the deceased in passing say they cannot imagine where his millions had gone.

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