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

Popcorn Time in Your Browser

popcorninyourbrowser.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 262 posts

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#181

Post by diyorgasms »

LLWM wrote: post #124
diyorgasms wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see anything unreasonable about asking the studios to provide their product in a particular format. What if you wanted to purchase a movie, and the studios only offered it on Betamax? Relying on Flash or Silverlight is similar. I use Linux, and Flash is officially unsupported on Linux. Silverlight has never been officially supported on Linux. If these are the options, then I cannot watch the movie out of the…

It's also totally reasonable for them to not provide their product in a form that only a tiny percentage of people actually need. Might as well complain that they no longer sell VHS tapes because "all I have is a VCR and I just want content in a form I can watch". At some point you have to recognize that you need to meet them halfway. I mean heck, you even recognize that Flash isn't supported on Linux. How hard is it…

My point is that they should at least try to compete with piracy as far as user experience goes. I can download a movie and play it on Linux. But apparently providing a legitimate means for me to do so isn't worth their time.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#182

Post by rhino369 »

ThomPete wrote: post #23
Ollinson wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with streaming film services is distribution rights not software. Even netflix, the poster child of film streaming, struggles with this same problem.

But that is only a problem that the movie industry itself keeps alive because it refuses to move past the idea of creating false scarcity.

The bits aren't scarce but the idea and content is.

The idea of intellectual property is no more artificial than real estate property or personal property. In my opinion it is even more defensible than real estate. The IP was created out of nothing by the creator. Land? The universe created it and someone just took it by force.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#183

Post by xasos »

DigitalSea wrote: post #7

You know the traditional business model of Hollywood is well and truly broken when an open source application like Popcorn Time comes along and does everything right. What Popcorn Time has done by making accessing content on demand easier than ever before is nothing short of impressive. They're the Netflix of piracy and I think Hollywood can learn a lot from Popcorn Time (but as history has proven, they won't).

> Hollywood can learn a lot from Popcorn Time (but as history has proven, they won't).

This happened to the music industry with Napster, but they learned a little too late. Now Spotify is the dominant force in the music streaming business.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#184

Post by ThomPete »

rhino369 wrote: post #182
ThomPete wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that is only a problem that the movie industry itself keeps alive because it refuses to move past the idea of creating false scarcity.

The bits aren't scarce but the idea and content is. The idea of intellectual property is no more artificial than real estate property or personal property. In my opinion it is even more defensible than real estate. The IP was created out of nothing by the creator. Land? The universe created it and someone just took it by force.

We aren't lacking ideas neither content, quite the contrary. And they aren't created out of nothing but that's a whole other discussion I am glad to have in another thread.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#185

Post by bdcravens »

jmcmichael wrote: post #169
martypitt wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I should've been clear: > No one is obliged to give me money -- unless they consume the content I created. Then, it's my call, whatever business model I pick. Buskers are giving their content away for free. You don't have the right to attend their concert, just because you don't like the website they're selling their tickets on.

> ...whatever business model I pick. Would it be a good thing for society to allow you to pick a business model where you blare your music from loud speakers and then pay large burley men 50 cents to collect 1 dollar from anyone within earshot, on the premise that they heard your music so thus owe you?

I've never accidentally watched Game of Thrones, or unintentionally been within earshot of it - I had to explicitly choose to include that programming.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#186

Post by path411 »

untog wrote: post #138
dmarg wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>No one is obliged to give you money. Finding a business model that works is your problem, not your customers. This struck a chord with me and is exactly the reason why Hollywood and the Music Industry are flailing. They are trying to continue their business model that worked for so long into this new day and age. Adapt or die essentially.

But what is that new model, exactly? If "paying money in return for receiving goods" doesn't work, how will they make these multi-million dollar cultural phenomenons? I agree that the current system is broken, but saying you'll pirate until the studios work out it feels like an irresponsible point of view, to me.

"Paying money in return for receiving goods" still works fine. Most people are willing to pay if given reasonable terms and ease of access. Steam is a pretty big flagship of how to make a business that competes with pirating.

Media companies are stuck in the dark ages where instead of trying to increase value of their product/service, they instead double down on increasing revenue per viewer with horrible anti-customer policies like 10-minute unskippable ads on a DVD you bought.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#187

Post by matt-attack »

martypitt wrote: post #161
astalwick wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider piracy to be a form of protest. I'm happy to pay, as long as the terms are reasonable. (I have a Rdio account that's been active for years now - I can't remember the last time I pirated music... I can't remember the last time I pirated software, either). However, in Canada, the only way to watch (for example) Game of Thrones is to a) get a massive cable subscription which includes 1000 channels you don't w…

Is it a surprise? No. What you've described is downright annoying. It seems nonsensical to me that hollywood makes it so difficult for me to give them money to watch Game of Thrones. But, Piracy isn't a form of protest, any more than stealing a car is -- regardless of how reasonable you consider the price.

> any more than stealing a car is

It's the biggest logical fallacy to compare stealing digital content to stealing a car. It's a shame the word "steal" is used in both cases. The original owner of a stolen car no longer has his car after it's stolen. That is not true of digital piracy.

Can we instead compare it to illegally duplicating your car?

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#188

Post by path411 »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #8
VeejayRampay wrote: post #3

Popcorn Time has succeeded in streamlining the delivery of content, providing a smooth and fast experience for sorting through a list of movie and start watching instantly. I really wonder why the movie studios cannot take a cue from this and build something that people actually want to use.

I never used either, so I'm genuinely curious: what does Netflix lack, from that list?

You have to wait 3 months after a movie has been released to DVD for it to even have a chance of being on Netflix to "help encourage" DVD sales.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#189

Post by fysac »

wengzilla wrote: post #149

is this traceable to an individual computer? for instance, if i am using this on a college campus that traditionally bans the use of torrents, am i likely to get caught?

While it may be traceable, I don't think you'll get in trouble because Coinado is the service doing the actual torrenting.

Re: Popcorn Time in Your Browser

#190

Post by path411 »

wengzilla wrote: post #149

is this traceable to an individual computer? for instance, if i am using this on a college campus that traditionally bans the use of torrents, am i likely to get caught?

I don't think the college would be able to detect it as normal torrent traffic, but it would be pretty trivial to catch you using this specific site/service once your campus hears about it.
Post reply on HN