Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Netflix: Piracy is difficult to compete against and growing rapidly

torrentfreak.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

841–850 of 940 posts

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

#841

Post by effingwewt »

JodieBenitez wrote: post #582
ausbah wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"woke" censorship and revisionism you being the only comment in the whole thread giving this as a reason makes me think this might not really be a reason

Call it what you want, but I'm not gonna pay for content that is revised/censored to fit whatever current trend. I'm old enough that I've seen Darryl Hannah's butt on the silver screen as a youngster from the movie Splash and I won't pay to be lectured either. I wish media corps would consider their content like art works as much as entertainment and distribute them as is, not butchered. That includes "enhancements"…

I lost it when they removed the DnD episode of 'Community'. Then Boondocks. It is woke BS and I'm tired of the revisionist BS too

It's far worse in anime/video games. A lot of localizer stories running rampant over it- understandably the original authors weren't happy about Western pandering and DEI/political views were being shunted into their stories.

There's a reason the fansub community abhors anything from funimation et al.

Canceled all subscriptions now, and I'm much happier.

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

#842

Post by King1st »

mkl wrote: post #608
quenix wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I thought K stood for thousand (as in 4K=4,000)! Nice piece of trivia if true.

Yes, k stands for thousand. Historically, 4k meant 4096 pixels wide in the context of digitised film or digital visual effects, and 2k meant 2048 pixels wide. TVs ended up 1920 pixels wide, which is "close enough" to use the same term, 2k. I think "4k" is used for marketing TVs as it's easier to remember and say than "2160p", so now we mix the terminology.

Its a loophole. UHD4k is what tv advertiser used to dilute meaning and not get sued. I believe the definition has been diluted to the point 4k is expected to be UHD.

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

#843

Post by init2null »

mgoetzke wrote: post #539
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…

Apple Music and Youtube Music both suffer from the issue of vanishing content. I have playlist where a growing percentage of songs are grayed out, not available, while they do exist in the store, just as part of a different album now. Very frustrating. Does Spotify do that ?

I've had it happen on both Apple Music and Spotify. Given my 40h+ master playlist, I tend to notice it. I always have a few gray holes.

As for replacements, my understanding is that they are often due to the better royalties on original artist re-recordings. I always try to switch back to the originals, and AM, my current service, only sometimes still them. Frustrating to build a collection on shifting sand.

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

#844

Post by cdeutsch »

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…

I haven't pirated content in a decade but I'd estimate I'm a year or two away from going back for the reasons you stated. So sick of the rate hikes and fragmentation. Once ads become common place I'm out.

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

#845

Post by ctr »

lawgimenez wrote: post #737
machomaster wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of Spotify's biggest problems is their terrible UI, lacking even the basic functionality. I don't understand how they haven't been able do the bare minimum for 15 years now.

My most hated Spotify feature is the address confirmation of all your family members (family plan). I entered our new home address and it wasn’t even there. My parents are on the other side of the world, Spotify should understand that families are not residing always in the same area.

The plan is explicitly described as "Premium accounts for family members under one roof" on their website. https://www.spotify.com/us/family/

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

#846

Post by josephg »

mi_z wrote: post #693
maccard wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being honest as long as something like this is available I don't really see what a site like netflix could offer that would convince me to pay Most people are honest, and will do the the legal thing when faced with two equal options. If the choice is between that UI but it's illegal, and a reskin of that UI but it's £30/mo, I'd pay. But it's not, as the other comments here said. It's a choice between that for free…

You wanting everything for £30 is just not a sustainable cost though. They would lose money like that.

Why? If I watch 2 shows from Netflix, it costs $10. If I watch 2 shows from Disney, it costs $10. If I watch a show from Disney and a show from Netflix, why should that cost $20? And if I pay $10 for that, why would that be uneconomical?

The way licensing and streaming costs work is super arbitrary and wacky. There’s nothing fixed and eternal about it. If the fee structure isn’t working (and it’s not) then it should be changed.

The movie industry can get a reasonable amount of my money or none of my money. Their choice.

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

#847

Post by cgearhart »

ajoseps wrote: post #343
cgearhart wrote: post #319

The content diaspora to other services has made Netflix tremendously less appealing; just par for the course as Netflix tries their hardest to lose me as a customer. I just had a support chat with them Friday because my kid has been in the hospital for several weeks after being hit by a car. Since they haven’t been home, Netflix has decided they’re no longer part of the household and we have to manually reauthenticat…

that’s an awful situation. i hope your kid recovers soon

Thank you. It’s been tough, but I remain optimistic. They’ve already progressed far beyond worst case expectations and continue to impress me every day.

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

#848

Post by josephg »

bayindirh wrote: post #485
josephg wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also kind of meaningless at regular tv viewing distances. I have a 4k tv but from my couch there’s no way I can tell 4k apart from 1080. And honestly, 480 movies (dvd resolution) still look fine to me too. They have a certain aesthetic softness to them that I quite enjoy. 30 seconds into a 480 film I stop noticing the resolution at all.

That's probably because your TV is seamlessly upscaling every signal it can receive to 4K. Newer TVs are very good at that.

That’s sweet of you to say, but it’s because I’m pushing 40 and my eyesight isn’t what it once was.

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

#849

Post by kevincox »

Levitating wrote: post #742
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…

Netflix doesn't allow 1080p streaming to Linux users. The DRM also doesn't allow you to take any screen captures while Netflix is visible. You can't download any content and even on Windows you'd have to watch it within 48 hours. All these antipiracy measures only invite us to pirate. Pirating allows us to choose a media player of our children, possibly with 4K upscaling, better compression standards and the ability…

> The DRM also doesn't allow you to take any screen captures while Netflix is visible.

I remember when I first hit this and was shocked. I was going to send a funny still to my friend and tell them that they should watch the show. But Netflix apparently doesn't want free advertising.

DRM really does seem to harm the customers and the content owners far more than any pirate.

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

#850

Post by kevincox »

underyx wrote: post #236
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…

While I directionally agree, I don't know how to reconcile this with antitrust. I wouldn't want Netflix to be the one company with all the content, with no competition. I guess what would be better is if all content was available on all the streaming providers, and then they'd compete on platform quality and price.

Maybe we could ban exclusive licensing. Why should Netflix be able to pay $$$ for a show and block other services from buying access? Instead pass a law that if Netflix buys for X then any other service can also license for X.

There will definitely be some difficulties (Netflix estimated 4M views but you are expected to bring in 6M views so clearly you need to pay $$$$$, or you are only going to bring in 2M views but you still need to pay $$$) but I think they can be overcome.

Post reply on HN