PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform • Hacker News Board

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#331

Post by WarmWash » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:22 PM UTC

ndriscoll wrote: post #319

WarmWash wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software has such a vibrant open source scene because software has probably the biggest impact-per-unit-time out of anything ever created and it has close to zero development cost and distribution cost. It's basically, skill+laptop+time. That's all you need to get a product in the hands of millions. There is a reason why there is mountains of free software and comparative dust mounds of free media, free hardware, fre…

LLM progress in the last year notwithstanding, software is not cheap to develop. I wouldn't be surprised if e.g. this project had multiple millions of dollars of labor embedded in it. Software, like media, is simply free to replicate, and there's a much stronger culture of "I made this for me, and it costs me nothing to give it to you too, so you can have it too." There is a lot of free media out there though: music,…

Software is the cheapest of all engineering disciplines by far. Literally the only cost is time and a $20 computer.

Compare to open source hardware, where you need a lab with thousands of dollars in equipment, need to consume supplies to build stuff and need to pay manufacturers for prototyping.

Software benefits enormously from having zero dependance on the physical world. Its about as resource intensive as building houses in Minecraft.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#332

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:24 PM UTC

mvdtnz wrote: post #68

djaro wrote: post #41

As a professional YouTuber, the main issue I instantly see with this is the lack of monetization. I think people who don't make videos for a living severely underestimate how expensive it is to produce high-quality videos people want to watch. This isn't like writing a tweet or even posting a picture on Instagram. Even a decent 20-minute video can easily take 40 man-hours of high-skilled labor. I have a pretty small…

Virtually all of the content I watch on youtube does not fall into this category. The content I watch is a mixture of raw footage, a guy speaking to a camera with minimal editing for 10 minutes (think Rick Beato, for those who know him), edited down footage of people working (pool cleaning guys, chefs, etc) or people playing music. Frankly I wouldn't care at all if all of your over-produced thumbnail-bait disappeared…

[deleted]

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#333

Post by ShinyLeftPad » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:27 PM UTC

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #237

ShinyLeftPad wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people are expected to spend their time, effort and money to provide content for you for free, of course. Seems like the only explanation.

> Seems like the only explanation. Youtube itself is responsible for an entire generation expecting the videos to be free. The monetisation and injection of advertising into roughly-everything is only a relatively recent development. Free-until-monopoly.

> Youtube itself is responsible for an entire generation expecting the videos to be free.

True, it did create this weird world. But then think about all of the amazing high production value work we enjoy because someone once did it for fun, got paid and then decided to keep doing it and make a nice living off it while you still don't pay them a cent. Sadly it's probably impossible for YT to have that original atmosphere.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#334

Post by butz » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

aembleton wrote: post #200

butz wrote: post #102

Personally, I find the lack of videos to watch on PeerTube a huge plus. I tremendously reduced my weekly video watching time and I don't feel like missing out on something important. My favorite instance is makertube.net, but I visit few others too.

Thank you, I'd not come across makertube.net. Is there some website that collects all of these instances together? I thought peertube.tv would do that, but there are loads more content on makertube.net so clearly not.

I think https://peerseek.video is sort of aggregator website, not sure how much instances it covers, though.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#335

Post by TFNA » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:02 PM UTC

NobodyNada wrote: post #224

djaro wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just a great example of people who aren't in content creation fundamentally not understanding the ecosystem. This isn't about "over-produced thumbnail-bait". This is about all high-quality media. You mention Rick Beato. Do you really think Rick Beato sits down behind his laptop to edit his own videos? He has nearly 6 million subscribers and produces around 10 long-form videos per month. He has at the very lea…

> "The Real Reason Music is Getting Worse" As a musician myself, and as someone who enjoys watching music and music theory content on YouTube, I can't stand watching Rick Beato because of stuff like this. There certainly are valid criticisms to be made against the music industry, but those videos are like 90% ridiculous cherry-picked comparisons and vague, superficial justifications. It's low-quality nostalgia-driven…

Beato doesn't do much hour-long unscripted talking to the camera. Those videos are typically only about 10 minutes long.

In any event, Rick Beato seems like a normal human being, albeit a somewhat goofy dad-rock oldie. 12Tone comes across as an aspie weirdo. I'd rather have more of the former.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#336

Post by touristtam » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:08 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #113

djaro wrote: post #41

As a professional YouTuber, the main issue I instantly see with this is the lack of monetization. I think people who don't make videos for a living severely underestimate how expensive it is to produce high-quality videos people want to watch. This isn't like writing a tweet or even posting a picture on Instagram. Even a decent 20-minute video can easily take 40 man-hours of high-skilled labor. I have a pretty small…

This is exactly why TikTok won. It is so much cheaper to iterate ideas on 10” videos. You make non interesting 20’ YT video? Well too bad your 80 labor hours & equipment time are lost.

As a side note 10-12 min is the ideal length for a non full feature documentary. I am growing tired of those 20+ minutes repeating and stretching the same topic without going into more depth.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#337

Post by ndriscoll » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:08 PM UTC

ShinyLeftPad wrote: post #330

ndriscoll wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue he has is he wants to find/communicate with hobbyists, and instead runs into people trying to turn it into a profession. It becomes difficult to find like-minded people when every topic is infected by grifters. Injecting money into a leisure activity will inevitably ruin it and the people participating. The reason why is on full display here: this entire thread has been derailed by people asking how you're…

> The issue he has is he wants to find/communicate with hobbyists, and instead runs into people trying to turn it into a profession. To me that is in line with my original quote. He actively seeks work people put in while haivng an issue with them getting compensated for it. Whether YT has monetization or not people's incentives are the same. Imagine that YT has no ads, people would put stuff behind paywalls or upsel…

My assertion is that he's not actively seeking work people put in; he's actively seeking people. The sociopathic thing is exactly reducing people, interests, and interactions into something transactional like this. He's looking for people who don't think that way. So putting things behind paywalls is fine; it makes those people disappear. Upselling remains annoying. It recasts every interaction into a sales pitch.

What that guy is telling OP is that he's not creating for him. OP came into a thread about a platform for freely sharing video, not for getting a job in the entertainment industry. There's already at least 3 major platforms for that, and the monetization is what that user said he doesn't like about youtube [in contrast to this]. It's like commenting in a thread about a package repo complaining that the problem with FOSS communities is lack of monetization. If you want a job in the field, go somewhere where people are looking for help and will pay you to do things for them. Not places where people are having fun so you can try to upsell.

And yes there should be a line between work and hobby. Hobbies are things you do for you. Work is something someone else wants and pays you to do. You are doing it for them. e.g. with making software, work should not be fun. It should be boring. Making it "fun" is just a pain for your colleagues. Conversely, leisure should be fun. Making it into a money-making endeavor makes it unenjoyable for everyone else. There is supposed to be a line.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#338

Post by touristtam » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

djaro wrote: post #41

As a professional YouTuber, the main issue I instantly see with this is the lack of monetization. I think people who don't make videos for a living severely underestimate how expensive it is to produce high-quality videos people want to watch. This isn't like writing a tweet or even posting a picture on Instagram. Even a decent 20-minute video can easily take 40 man-hours of high-skilled labor. I have a pretty small…

> This isn't like writing a tweet or even posting a picture on Instagram

Low key shitting on other content creators? Some of IG content creator easily match professionalism you are describing. I know you are probably partially venting your frustration, but that doesn't paint you in a nice light.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#339

Post by ndriscoll » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:20 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #331

ndriscoll wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LLM progress in the last year notwithstanding, software is not cheap to develop. I wouldn't be surprised if e.g. this project had multiple millions of dollars of labor embedded in it. Software, like media, is simply free to replicate, and there's a much stronger culture of "I made this for me, and it costs me nothing to give it to you too, so you can have it too." There is a lot of free media out there though: music,…

Software is the cheapest of all engineering disciplines by far. Literally the only cost is time and a $20 computer. Compare to open source hardware, where you need a lab with thousands of dollars in equipment, need to consume supplies to build stuff and need to pay manufacturers for prototyping. Software benefits enormously from having zero dependance on the physical world. Its about as resource intensive as building…

Just like doctors' and lawyers' consultations are cheap? That time is extremely expensive if it's something you are buying. Companies spend over $200/hour for the time of a competent engineer. Like I said, I wouldn't doubt this project here "costing" 7-figures despite being free. Things like Blender or KDE are probably 8 figures.

Re: PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform

#340

Post by ShinyLeftPad » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 3:41 PM UTC

ndriscoll wrote: post #337

ShinyLeftPad wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The issue he has is he wants to find/communicate with hobbyists, and instead runs into people trying to turn it into a profession. To me that is in line with my original quote. He actively seeks work people put in while haivng an issue with them getting compensated for it. Whether YT has monetization or not people's incentives are the same. Imagine that YT has no ads, people would put stuff behind paywalls or upsel…

My assertion is that he's not actively seeking work people put in; he's actively seeking people . The sociopathic thing is exactly reducing people, interests, and interactions into something transactional like this. He's looking for people who don't think that way . So putting things behind paywalls is fine; it makes those people disappear. Upselling remains annoying. It recasts every interaction into a sales pitch.…

> The sociopathic thing is exactly reducing people, interests, and interactions into something transactional like this

Saying that people need to have money to survive and that it's great to be getting paid for doing something they love (while making stuff that's free for you to watch) is sociopathic and reducing them?

> OP came into a thread about a platform for freely sharing video, not for getting a job in the entertainment industry

Yes. But it's pretty silly to not think it will be compared to youtube. It's even called PeerTube, pretty obviously. youtube became so popular to inspire peertube in the first place thanks to its monetization. So it's a very obvious thing to bring up.

> And yes there should be a line between work and hobby. Hobbies are things you do for you. Work is something someone else wants and pays you to do

You keep that masochistic distinction if you want but please don't impose it on others