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Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

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Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#131

Post by Cyph0n »

esond wrote: post #113

There's something to be said for the cord-cutting software ecosystem supporting more-than-casual piracy experiencing huge improvements. If you have the hardware, you can host your own media using Plex as a server, and Sonarr to manage your library and automate acquisition of new TV episodes. Plex is one of the best pieces of software I've ever used. It Just Works™. You need a decent internet pipeline to support remot…

> The primary drawbacks from their perspective are that they need to request shows and movies to be added

Have you heard of Ombi? I've never tried it, but sounds like it could help with this issue.

https://ombi.io/

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#133

Post by em-bee »

matwood wrote: post #101
roland35 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a good point, I have a harder time deciding if I want to spend $3-4 to rent a movie on Amazon than just pulling up Netflix and browsing around! Plus I don't feel like I wasted money if I don't enjoy a movie and stop watching (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs sorry!). On the other hand I don't mind buying music, since I basically know the entire song ahead of time, and I don't think I ever buy more than $10 worth…

> That is a good point, I have a harder time deciding if I want to spend $3-4 to rent a movie on Amazon than just pulling up Netflix and browsing around! I'm the opposite. It's easier to spend money on something I'll probably like vs. spending time on something that's likely mediocre. What normally happens is I browse around Netflix watching previews for an hour, get bored, and go do something else.

i solved this problem by setting a clear goal in what i am interested in. anything that doesn't fit my interest gets discarded easily. i will occasionally watch stuff that doesn't fit my definition, but i never need to search for something because i can always pick from my list. and if the list is empty i will spend an hour deliberately looking for things to add to that list.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#134

Post by Freak_NL »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #60

Ugh, I am so sick of the "if all of the content I ever want isn't available for less than a single $10 a month sub, I'll pirate it" nonsense. Netflix was never going to be the be-all, end-all of content and its time our generation grew up a little bit. For the amount of content you could get in a traditional cable package, you should expect to pay about as much as a traditional cable package.

Why?

A subscription to Netflix already grants me access to way more than I can reasonably watch. If my tastes were perfectly aligned with what Netflix offers (or Disney, or Amazon Prime, et cetera), I could live this exact scenario of everything I could want for less than $10 a month (and some people do).

But if my interests are even slightly more eclectic, I get to pay for each service separately, which is silly if we assume that the production costs are equal for the sake of argument. And even then I would miss out on lots of content because it is being kept in a vault until copyright expires, or because it is geoblocked because the content owner is fishing for exclusive deals, or some-such nonsense.

So economically, $10 a month seems perfectly feasible.

Also, keep in mind that the outrageous costs of the US traditional cable package are very US-specific. In many countries cable television never got that expensive and broad. For those consumers the notion of paying more than $30 a month just for television (no internet included) is absurd.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#135

Post by deathhand »

idlemind wrote: post #71
coldtea wrote: post #22

Why don't major services (Netflix, Disney, HULU, etc) come together to build a best of breed shared service, that operates vendor-neutrally, and each gets to keep all the profits from people watching their stuff? Each could still have its own promotions, bundles, etc (e.g. pay X more to watch new movies from Disney), but at least the base proposition can have a single subscription price and some pay as you consume mo…

I'm guessing they don't do this voluntarily because they've seen how the music industry had its revenues eroded by Spotify/iTunes (where mostly the user can pick one and get pretty much everything). They're probably ignoring the fact that music piracy is presumably lower than ever because of this.

Additionally there must be 'big fish' within their market. People who spend $1,000s on consuming viewing entertainment and would go whatever the 'preferred/legal' way to do it was.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#136

Post by Freak_NL »

probably_wrong wrote: post #128
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Piracy isn't a "market", it's theft. The free market isn't "balancing itself" when everyone's using an illegal hole in that market.

But it is an imbalance in the market, though. You just have to add the hidden costs of each alternative. Pirating has costs: financial, legal (chances of getting caught times expected fine), and personal (hassle of hunting down the right torrent). Netflix managed to strike a balance point: you had a higher monetary price, but the legal and personal costs were now gone from the equation. With all the new competitors,…

Quite. Legality is really not that relevant when you look at the problem from pure market theory.

The legality aspect does mean the piracy as a competitor has a weakness that can be exploited by other competitors — e.g., by lobbying for stricter laws or suing individuals, or by appealing to morality — but it is a competitor nonetheless, and acts as one.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#137

Post by cptskippy »

beardedwizard wrote: post #67
cptskippy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly Disney is a lifestyle choice for a lot of people and the passion they have for the brand can be downright cultish and creepy at times. Groups like hardcore Disney fans, R. Kelly fans, and Evangelical Christians all share a very similar devotion and loyalty to their idols.

Tell me more about how R. Kelly and Disney fans are similar. Share your point by point analysis and include examples. Maybe you would like to bring Taylor Swift into the discussion? Your comment is a poorly disguised insult.

It's unclear which you ascribe to but it's curious that you don't take offense to either being compared to Evangelicals.

In either case, they're both almost a Cult of personality. The fans are so adorant of their object that they often overlook glaringly evil deeds. At the same time, the level of manipulation exhibited and the devotion demanded by the personality is extreme to the point that outsiders see it as absurd.

Idk, maybe it's just me but I find fanaticism to be very off putting in general. When the idol asks fans to make sacrifices to stay it in their favor, that's when it crosses a line into creepy.

Disney walks a fine line where it expertly cultivates that culture while simultaneously pretending it doesn't exist and remaining open and accessible to everyone.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#138

Post by Spare_account »

lucasverra wrote: post #89
cptskippy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I look forward to Netflix et al removing the account deactivate button from our profile pages in favor of a phone number that calls into an IVR Labyrinth.

simpler method trick 1) Create virtual card 2) Switch payment method to new card 3) Delete virtual card 4) Cha ching !

If the contract states that you are responsible for payments until you cancel the contract, then the failed payments would (could?) simply result in your debt being sent to a collection agency. Defaulting on a payment isn't always a good way to end a contract.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#139

Post by 0-_-0 »

haywirez wrote: post #25

The only ethical pay-per-view system I can think of would be to stream directly from the production source (production house, artist), some sort of a paid RSS-like feed.

Alternatively, pay a fixed monthly fee which gets distributed among production sources depending on what you watched. Cut out the middleman of Netflix, Amazon etc.

Could work with the rest of the internet too. Instead of relying on advertisements for revenue, you would pay a monthly fee which would get distributed among the websites you used. Aaaand we reinvented the Brave browser model...

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#140

Post by Snoddas »

lucasverra wrote: post #89
cptskippy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I look forward to Netflix et al removing the account deactivate button from our profile pages in favor of a phone number that calls into an IVR Labyrinth.

simpler method trick 1) Create virtual card 2) Switch payment method to new card 3) Delete virtual card 4) Cha ching !

In Sweden at least "non payment" is not a valid way to cancel a service. You could end up with late fees and debt-collectors after you instead.
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