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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

#701

Post by dns_snek »

epolanski wrote: post #682

I'm baffled at the amount of users arguing that piracy is easier than those streaming services. It feels like such a mental gimmick. 1) finding and downloading torrents requires know-how 2) finding and downloading subtitles that match the audio is often a chore and requires know-how, often time consuming 3) using a decent player on most devices and finding the files on the filesystem requires know-how, especially on…

You're behind the times. These days piracy is available through a Netflix-like interface, without any buffering, subtitles are automatically loaded in from all major websites like OpenSubtitles, and this experience is shared across all platforms (desktop, smart TVs, mobile).

It requires a bit of up-front setup (no more than 30 minutes if you're tech savvy and pick one of the less friendly options), but it really is easier than Netflix on a daily basis.

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

#702

Post by Nullabillity »

rand_flip_bit wrote: post #580
rekoil wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find that Spotifys offline content has worked reliably over the years. You just gotta remember that when you get a new device you have to go to library and click download and then leave Spotify open for a few hours. Spotify is also a great example of how to beat piracy. I haven't downloaded an mp3 file since I got a Spotify Premium account in 2007. OK that's probably a slight overstatement, but it's near…

I would look into Kaleidescape if you want blu-ray quality viewing in your home with the convenience of streaming (although you have to download ahead of time). Only downside is the price and need for their proprietary player + server.

$9k ($4k player + $5k server) for a basic system is not a very "only" downside, and it seems kind of pathetic if you can't even access it from a regular desktop.

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

#703

Post by wccrawford »

dathinab wrote: post #661
mgoetzke wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They cannot help themselves. Just like buying and watching a DVD/bluray was much worse than a pirated copy, as the DVD/bluray made you sit through an increasing amount of unskippable content. From "do not steal this" to "not for kids" or, worst of all, "did you see this other content?". Btw. Ads in front of streaming content I just selected, to tell me about other streaming content on the same service I did NOT selec…

Wait there was unskippable content on DVD/Bluray?? What nonsense is that. That makes no sense at all.

Even allowing for exaggeration, some DVDs had a horrifying amount of non-skippable content.

For example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/nx3o1/since_when_di...

But at the minimum, the piracy notices are 20 seconds long now. For an item you paid for instead of pirating.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/05/10/2238258/dvds-blu-ray...

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

#704

Post by epolanski »

dns_snek wrote: post #701
epolanski wrote: post #682

I'm baffled at the amount of users arguing that piracy is easier than those streaming services. It feels like such a mental gimmick. 1) finding and downloading torrents requires know-how 2) finding and downloading subtitles that match the audio is often a chore and requires know-how, often time consuming 3) using a decent player on most devices and finding the files on the filesystem requires know-how, especially on…

You're behind the times. These days piracy is available through a Netflix-like interface, without any buffering, subtitles are automatically loaded in from all major websites like OpenSubtitles, and this experience is shared across all platforms (desktop, smart TVs, mobile). It requires a bit of up-front setup (no more than 30 minutes if you're tech savvy and pick one of the less friendly options), but it really is e…

You see? Even though I'm more tech savvy than the general public I knew nothing about that. You're proving this still requires know how.

E.g. How do I set this up on my samsung smart tv?

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

#705

Post by rekoil »

quenix wrote: post #595
rekoil wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find that Spotifys offline content has worked reliably over the years. You just gotta remember that when you get a new device you have to go to library and click download and then leave Spotify open for a few hours. Spotify is also a great example of how to beat piracy. I haven't downloaded an mp3 file since I got a Spotify Premium account in 2007. OK that's probably a slight overstatement, but it's near…

Spotify has never automatically deleted offline content for me, but it does have extremely confusing UI which makes it very easy to wipe all downloads without confirmation. Basically, the download button is a single down-arrow at the top of your library. When you tap it—and download your music–the down-arrow turns solid green to indicate your music is available offline. It doesn't disappear. It turns green , Spotify'…

Yep, I know that, and you're right it's a very confusing UX that's easily invoked by accident.

There really should be at least a modal to confirm if the result will mean deleting more than say an album.

If you're offline or on roaming mobile data (not sure if they can reliably determine this though, at least not on iOS) when invoking it then they should make you answer a somewhat complex question to confirm that you indeed wanted to delete the songs.

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

#706

Post by christophilus »

izacus wrote: post #495
PlutoIsAPlanet wrote: post #9

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…

Yeah, also pirated content has: - 4K HDR video, not whatever the heck the buggy client delivers. - Atmos/TrueHD audio track that actually works, not whatever the broken app delivers (I'm looking at you Sky and rest of the ilk that still deliver HBO content with stereo). - Subtitles for ALL the languages, not just one or two. And those languages don't disappear when I go on a vacation, leaving me stuck with german aud…

Doesn’t have unskippable segments or content (like in dvds). Doesn’t suddenly start injecting ad breaks.

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

#707

Post by 698969 »

yukkuri wrote: post #285
bawolff wrote: post #10

> Piracy also threatens to damage our business, as its fundamental proposition to consumers is so compelling and difficult to compete against: virtually all content for free,” Netflix writes. People emphasize the "free" part, but it really is the "all content" part that makes piracy wins. Especially if you are not in the USA, often specific content isn't available at any price. Even if it is, its split across 5 billi…

Steam really did this for games for me and somehow hasn't stopped working for me yet. Maybe Netflix should ask themselves how Steam competes with bootlegs and what they might do like it.

Super difficult to pirate multiplayer games, keep up with DLCs/patches and to keep the competitive aspect of some games (leaderboards, steam achievements).

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

#708

Post by rekoil »

dsr_ wrote: post #691
lupusreal wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really makes you wonder what "designers" get paid for.

A product manager needed to change stuff to justify their job. A designer who isn't changing things that the product manager wants changed is replaced by one who does. Therefore, designers get paid for doing what product managers want. Sometimes the changes get A/B tested, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the A/B test is gamed, sometimes it gets gamed by accident, and sometimes the tests get ignored when they are clea…

Case in point, that time when Spotify removed all references to the word "queue", and replaced it with "up next" while also changing the behaviour of it. Ridiculous change which they eventually reverted thankfully.

Or that one time when they removed the "set as current playlist" feature, which they still haven't restored. That feature was the only way to change playlist without breaking in the middle of a song, besides literally waiting until a song is over and doing it then, wasting time.

I like Spotify, but they do some infuriating things sometimes.

Don't get me started on their beef with Apple which has resulted in my HomePods still not being able to take music requests via Siri almost 3 years after I got the first one.

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

#709

Post by dns_snek »

epolanski wrote: post #704
dns_snek wrote: post #701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're behind the times. These days piracy is available through a Netflix-like interface, without any buffering, subtitles are automatically loaded in from all major websites like OpenSubtitles, and this experience is shared across all platforms (desktop, smart TVs, mobile). It requires a bit of up-front setup (no more than 30 minutes if you're tech savvy and pick one of the less friendly options), but it really is e…

You see? Even though I'm more tech savvy than the general public I knew nothing about that. You're proving this still requires know how. E.g. How do I set this up on my samsung smart tv?

I don't think this is the right forum to discuss this in depth. Paid Plex sharing used to be great and required no setup at all, but they started cracking down on huge Plex servers.

Kodi doesn't offer the best UX in this space [1], but certain addons 4 kodi should at least set you on the right path. (:

I should mention that this isn't a free solution. It's inexpensive, but someone still needs to be paid to provide the bandwidth for a smooth experience, typically $5/mo or less.

[1] Out of the box, if you're willing to tinker with it you can completely overhaul its look & feel: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=367352

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

#710

Post by dathinab »

mi_z wrote: post #688
dathinab wrote: post #661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait there was unskippable content on DVD/Bluray?? What nonsense is that. That makes no sense at all.

The person is acting like it's several minutes. It's maybe 20 seconds at most. A studio logo or some piracy warning. You can buy Blu Ray players that let you skip it though. Much worse is minutes of ads throughout what you watch.

it's still not okay on a bluray

you bought the thing, you should be able to use it however you want

and putting ads into a bluray you already bought for a probably not so small price is ridiculous

And if you skip some epilepsy warning then that is your responsibility, same with when you pirated it and get caught.

Also why force me to see anti-piracy propaganda (and that's what it is, nothing else, sometime also legally misinforming) when I already DIDN'T pirate it or a logo I already know from the packaging of the bluray (because if I did pirate it I already would have skipped it).

it's just a ridiculous dictation of behavior in context of a bought physical product

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