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Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

torrentfreak.com

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Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#291
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to try to go 100% online rental (primarily amazon rentals if I didn't want hassle). I figured it was hard to argue a 3.99 rental was any worse than blockbuster. So on vacation I tried to airplay mission impossible from amazon rental to the TV, and the screen just went black for copy-protection. So I refunded my rental and torrented it instead. I don't usually torrent, but sometimes the ecosystems put it square…

Try disabling hardware acceleration in your browser. It'll probably fix the black screen issue. The situation is still ridiculous though. Streaming is no longer easier than piracy.

No its a DRM issue, its why I run a hidden 25 foot HDMI from my computer to my TV as some broadcasts require the security inside the HDMI cable itself. (I could be wrong on this one but Widevine DRM handles this process I think)

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#292

Streaming became popular because it was easier than piracy and better than TV (watch anywhere, on demand, pickup where you left off etc). Streaming is no longer easier than piracy, why pay for 8 different services and have to waste your time figuring out whats on what when you can just have one service for free, even if its illegal, and have it all under one roof. The services have taken the piss and now they'll get…

I like watching movies/series from 2000-2010s. Trying to access that content through streaming is like a whack-a-mole game. Some content is available to some streaming services, in some countries, for a small amount of time. Give me a break.

Piracy all the way.

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're back at the start again though - if I wasn't going to buy it, then the vendor hasn't lost anything if I steal it. All that happens is I gain a free experience I would otherwise not have had.

Except because you now actually went out, downloaded/took it, and experienced it, it implies there was a non 0 interest in the work, therefore there is lost possible revenue since you might have eventually went and bought the work.

It's also possible I might not have bought the work. There's no sale until money changes hands.

If you run a store, and a customer shows interest in a product and physically touches it is he/she stealing if she chooses not to buy it? Let's say it's perfume, and the customer samples some of the perfume, then decides not to buy it. The customer has experienced it; if the customer doesn't buy the perfume, is that stealing?

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#294
I wonder if torrent sites are a better 1 stop shop place where you can find everything?

I also personally believe as tech makes it easier for indy type groups & average individuals to make longer form content, Netflix may just become irrelevant to companies like YouTube who have better distribution channels.

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#295
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i read on twitter a while back about some tv writer who was really happy because they managed to find someone who sent them pirated dvds of their work. apparently when disney+ removed the show from their catalog, it was otherwise lost to the world. that is definitely not the promise of streaming services that i remember from when they was first starting to gain popularity.

Pirates are better archivists than any media company. The effort put in to meticulous curation of content libraries on private trackers is really incredible.

Look at the payoffs. The company's payoffs are those primarily of its C suite: bonuses paid based on short term results.

The unsanctioned archivists have the payoff of the enjoyment they get from preserving and sharing media they love, which has no built in time limit like the former.

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have $1000. Currently, I am not giving it to you, and am therefore actively depriving you of this money. Is this stealing?

You're using a false analogy. You're trying to make a parallel between not paying for an item/produced good and simply not giving someone money in an attempt to downplay not paying for created material.

Both of these have a common element:

A: "Not giving someone money for an item/produced good"

B: "Not giving someone money"

B can apply to a near infinite number of cases. A is one case that is "within" B. So... the root meaning is the same. If you call A stealing, you have to call B stealing, but that's ridiculous because, for example, each day, I literally don't give money to the entire world. According to your logic I would owe the whole world population the value of every item/produced good.

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#297

Streaming became popular because it was easier than piracy and better than TV (watch anywhere, on demand, pickup where you left off etc). Streaming is no longer easier than piracy, why pay for 8 different services and have to waste your time figuring out whats on what when you can just have one service for free, even if its illegal, and have it all under one roof. The services have taken the piss and now they'll get…

Exactly this. I recently wanted to gift my sick mother something to let her watch the shows she likes while she gets better. I check all the major streaming sites, genuinely wanting to buy a subscription because it would be way easier. I considered buying her subscriptions to all the major companies but decided the hassle of managing the logins would be too difficult for her. So in the end I reluctantly ended up torrenting everything onto a single usb stick for her. There is currently genuinely no other way to watch all the things you want in one place other than this. Netflix has accelerated the problem by making their catalogue nothing but shitty self made shows, every year it just gets worse.

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#298
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The killer feature of piracy is thar it just works, not that it is free Especially as piracy has its own costs: VPN (French authorities do detect bittorrent), storage, some Jellyfin or Kodi host, some time to manage the whole *arr setup. The moment legal access to a whole world's worth of movies becomes cheaper and easier than that, piracy becomes unattractive. That was the way Netflix was perceived in its golden a…

There are websites you can go to and stream any tv show or movie for free in a couple of clicks. It's impossible to get cheaper and easier (ip law) than that.

Don't those have their own problems, though? Like their domain gets blocked, so you have to find it again. They video quality is just kinda ok, and if you want a copy to stream to your TV, it's either not possible, or won't look very good. Years ago my partner used to use some of these sites to watch some foreign-language shows that are just not possible to get in the US at all, and it just always seemed so sketchy and unreliable.

How do these sites fund themselves, anyway? Ads, I guess? Tho not sure what ad networks will show ads on sites that are 100% copyright infringement.

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#299

Streaming became popular because it was easier than piracy and better than TV (watch anywhere, on demand, pickup where you left off etc). Streaming is no longer easier than piracy, why pay for 8 different services and have to waste your time figuring out whats on what when you can just have one service for free, even if its illegal, and have it all under one roof. The services have taken the piss and now they'll get…

I was paying for Netflix 10 years ago in France for a short while, wanted some English subtitles for my wife for some US shows but there were only subtitles in French so had to download the same show elsewhere if you know what I'm saying... with English subtitles readily available. I also remember watching some shows like the first two seasons but then only to find out the third season was licensed by another streami…

I was living in the only english-speaking country in South America. Netflix wouldn't give me French subtitles or secondary audio because apparently south america=spanish for their divisions. I don't see how subtitles would fall under the broader licensing agreements. The subs/langs were available for the same titles in Canada.

(More absurd because France is a part of South America via French Guiana).

Re: Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

#300

Streaming became popular because it was easier than piracy and better than TV (watch anywhere, on demand, pickup where you left off etc). Streaming is no longer easier than piracy, why pay for 8 different services and have to waste your time figuring out whats on what when you can just have one service for free, even if its illegal, and have it all under one roof. The services have taken the piss and now they'll get…

I think the cable TV model was a mature business model for extracting the most amount of value possible from paying viewers before they choose to leave. Every streaming service will converge to what cable TV is like: paid channels, maximum amount of ads, additional premium content, attempts at lock-in, exclusive licensing of content, etc. Not adopting the cable business model is leaving billions of dollars on the tab…

I liked cable, except for the price. Cut it by a factor of 3 and I'd probably subscribe again.

For movies pretty much everything I wanted to watch would eventually show up. Typically a movie would first be in theaters, then become available for purchase on disc or digital, rental, and be included in one paid streaming service. Sometime later, maybe two years after it was in theaters, it should show up on some non-premium cable channel.

The only time I couldn't wait for things to show up on non-premium cable was when "Avengers: Endgame" was coming soon. I knew that one would be hard to avoid major spoilers for once it was released in theaters so decided seeing it in theaters was a must. That meant I had to get get a month of Netflix, which had the Marvel movies then, to get caught up enough for "Endgame".

I also liked cable for rewatching TV series. I'm not sure why, but when some channel is showing "The Simpsons" or "South Park" reruns on a regular schedule I like watching much more than I do when I watch an episode on an on-demand streaming service (or on DVD).

I think it has something to do with the latter being more deliberate. I picked that episode, which somehow makes it so I feel like I need to take it more seriously. When it is just "This channel shows a couple episodes every night" then it seems a lot more casual, like listening to music on the radio. It is easier to just sit back and relax and watch.

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