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Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

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Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#121

Post by zappb »

causi wrote: post #87
arcticbull wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It isn't harder to pay than to pirate. It's just getting more expensive. No, it's harder too. Shows I want to watch bounce between the various silos of un-indexed content, without notice, as licenses shift and expire. Each silo behind their own separate paywalls. New ones pop up and shut down. Their feature matrix changes. They introduce geo restrictions, device restrictions, they force you to sign in from your 'ho…

One of my most common google searches is "what service is ____ on" because I never know where the hell to find anything.

This is something that JustWatch is useful for.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#122

Post by RajT88 »

speedgoose wrote: post #76
RajT88 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 4k TV with Max. I am not sure I can clock the difference.

You may have a quite small TV, or seat quite far from it, or need to get your sight checked. Perhaps it’s time to wear glasses or changes your glasses. I used to not care about 4K but after I got my eyes sight fixed, 4K against fullHD is quite easy to distinguish. I’m not sure it’s worth the price bump though.

No, yes(ish) and maybe.

75" TV. Big living room, middle age.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#123

Post by throwaway5959 »

manuelmoreale wrote: post #117
throwaway5959 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only referring to the US here as I’m not sure of pricing in the hundreds of other countries out there.

You said that you struggle to see how these platforms don't provide massive value which is fair from your point of view but I personally struggle to see how any of the platforms provide 5€/month worth of value, let alone 10 or 20. I guess it's a matter of perspective and what do we find valuable in life. As for tipping, that's a can of worms I'm not going to open because as a european I find the whole concept insane.

You struggle to see how Netflix provides five Euros a month in value. I… ok.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#124

Post by true_religion »

Karsteski wrote: post #101
mdasen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that baffling. For a time, they were trying to grow their subscriber base and luring them in with low prices. Now that they have their subscriber base, they want to get back to the revenue they were getting before. Realistically, entertainment companies weren't going to accept lower revenue than they previously had for their product. As the industry transitions from physical media and cable TV to streaming,…

Netflix refuses to serve me HDR/4K content unless I jump through a series of hoops and use the correct browser, OS and whatever else I'd have needed to do. Now I just refuse to pay for it, especially given how easy it is for me to just pirate quality content. I have no problem paying Floatplane for LinusTechTips content, because they just provide the high quality content, where I can even just download the VODs easil…

What hoops?

Netflix 4k was intended for people using large expensive TV screens. All other uses are secondary to the designers of the system.

As for people using computers to watch 4k, Netflix supports the most popular configuration types. If you choose an unusual configuration then it’s simply not a supported thing.

It’s not like it’s bait and switch.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#125

Post by true_religion »

alexvoda wrote: post #106
mdasen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that baffling. For a time, they were trying to grow their subscriber base and luring them in with low prices. Now that they have their subscriber base, they want to get back to the revenue they were getting before. Realistically, entertainment companies weren't going to accept lower revenue than they previously had for their product. As the industry transitions from physical media and cable TV to streaming,…

Today it absolutely is harder to pay than to pirate. It was easy when everything noteworthy was on Netflix. You payed for Netflix and got easy access directly on your TV to most trending content. This was more convenient than piracy. Now the landscape is balkanaized and no one subscribes to all streaming platforms. You can never predict if something of interest will be present on the platform you subscribe to. Do you…

This is not really true. In the past, old stuff which already went into syndication was on Netflix. New stuff was on TV and only TV.

TV shows produced by HBO never made it to Netflix. Disney kept all their most popular movies to themselves. Blockbuster releases were only available on DVD.

Now all these things are available on streaming but just on different platforms.

We have the paradox of choice here, where more choices feel like a worse deal. In the past there was only Netflix, so you would choose streaming and voluntarily give up all the other content not on streaming.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#126

Post by Karsteski »

true_religion wrote: post #124
Karsteski wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix refuses to serve me HDR/4K content unless I jump through a series of hoops and use the correct browser, OS and whatever else I'd have needed to do. Now I just refuse to pay for it, especially given how easy it is for me to just pirate quality content. I have no problem paying Floatplane for LinusTechTips content, because they just provide the high quality content, where I can even just download the VODs easil…

What hoops? Netflix 4k was intended for people using large expensive TV screens. All other uses are secondary to the designers of the system. As for people using computers to watch 4k, Netflix supports the most popular configuration types. If you choose an unusual configuration then it’s simply not a supported thing. It’s not like it’s bait and switch.

IIRC I needed to use Microsoft Edge, and some codec from the Windows Store. Then I HAD to use HDMI (all my monitors are display port). There was something else too probably

Point is, if I can't just use my Firefox browser on Linux to get high quality content for money that I will happily pay, I'll just go get it for free.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#127

Post by manuelmoreale »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #123
manuelmoreale wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said that you struggle to see how these platforms don't provide massive value which is fair from your point of view but I personally struggle to see how any of the platforms provide 5€/month worth of value, let alone 10 or 20. I guess it's a matter of perspective and what do we find valuable in life. As for tipping, that's a can of worms I'm not going to open because as a european I find the whole concept insane.

You struggle to see how Netflix provides five Euros a month in value. I… ok.

Yes. There’s Netflix set up on the tv at my home. I don’t pay for it and I watched That’s definitely not worth 5€/month for me.

Not saying it’s not worth it for everyone, just saying the value streaming services provide is not all that absolute.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#128

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #102
at_a_remove wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only recently got into this pirating thing. I was completely willing to have a Netflix subscription, and Amazon Prime, and HBO/Max. Now I feel like I am being milked. So screw it, I literally spent money on some stream pirating software, going hog wild. I have JustWatch and spreadsheets. My targets are listed and I knock them down. Sure, I'll do your service for a whole month, during which I will slurp down the TV…

That sounds more expensive than just paying money for content.

[deleted]

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#129

Post by boppo1 »

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #96
boppo1 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a 30" sony wega from 2001. I didn't care about 4k. It finally died and now I have a 65" sony Xsomething. Now I care about 4k. On a good TV, 4k really is impressive.

From what source? Nothing streaming at typical cable bitrates is worthy of being called "UHD," let alone "4K."

The on-device TV demos and Sony's 'core' 4k streaming service

>Nothing streaming at typical cable bitrates is worthy of being called "UHD," let alone "4K."

I agree! However, by that same token, 1080p streams aren't really 1080p. A not-actually-4k stream still looks dramatically better than a not-actually-1080p stream.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#130

Post by ShadowBanThis01 »

boppo1 wrote: post #129
ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what source? Nothing streaming at typical cable bitrates is worthy of being called "UHD," let alone "4K."

The on-device TV demos and Sony's 'core' 4k streaming service >Nothing streaming at typical cable bitrates is worthy of being called "UHD," let alone "4K." I agree! However, by that same token, 1080p streams aren't really 1080p. A not-actually-4k stream still looks dramatically better than a not-actually-1080p stream.

At the same bitrate?
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