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The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

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Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#201

Post by robonerd »

jimmar wrote: post #102

Lots of people are complaining about terrible content on Netflix. Years ago, Netflix was praised for its "long tail"--basically it could have content that appealed to people with diverse interests. But it seems like people now see the long tail as useless junk and would prefer a shorter tail with more concentrated quality.

Netflix had a long tail, when it was a DVD rental service. Netflix streaming has never had a long tail and definitely don't now. They presently have less than 4000 movies, including all their 'originals' (which should probably be called 'derivatives'.) This is scarcely a long tail as far as I'm concerned. I cancelled my account years ago because there was nothing I wanted to watch. I realized I spent two or three times as much time browsing the catalogue as actually watching something, and half the time I was settling for something I'd already seen. Nothing I've seen or heard even remotely tempts me to come back.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#202

Post by unboxingelf »

colechristensen wrote: post #157
unboxingelf wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having not touched this since early days of TPB, is there a decent overview to approaches in 2022 you could point me to? E.g. has torrenting moved to the cloud or are most running vpns? Asking for a friend.

The search term you're looking for is "seedbox".

I have heard this term and briefly looked into it. My takeaway was it’s a vps with prebaked software/config offered by shady looking providers. Is that roughly correct or did I get lost in adwords?

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#203

Post by rsync »

CabSauce wrote: post #160
cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

Sure. It's also stealing. And doesn't provide any money for future shows that you might enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I've done it for some things that I wanted to watch, but wasn't willing to pay for. But let's not pretend that everyone torrenting is a reasonable solution.

It’s been a while but my practice used to be:

pay full price for the online offering (conducting the transaction in a browser) and then just download the content from BitTorrent.

I would happily defend that practice in front of a jury of my peers.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#204

Post by cercatrova »

Supermancho wrote: post #140
unboxingelf wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having not touched this since early days of TPB, is there a decent overview to approaches in 2022 you could point me to? E.g. has torrenting moved to the cloud or are most running vpns? Asking for a friend.

rarbg.to is the popular index site. Bittorrent, the purple client. My smart TVs can access my PC's dedicated media directory - which took a bit of fiddling to get right. The big drawback is a lack of subtitles, unless they are baked in to the rip. I still have Netflix and Prime Video (because of AMZ Prime). I have thought about dropping Netflix more than a few times after the price hike.

I wouldn't recommend BitTorrent/μTorrent, they're now run by a Chinese cryptocurrency company and have ads.

qBittorrent is an open source alternative that also has my favorite feature, downloading a file in sequential order so as to stream it immediately rather than waiting until it all finishes downloading.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#205

Post by thematrixturtle »

cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

All this. Plus, if you live in a country that's not the US, half the streaming services aren't available, and on the ones that are, half the content is missing because it's 2022 and geographic region licensing is still a thing.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#206

Post by jksmith »

cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

Maybe, but I'd pay for better content and UX. Many movies above that royalty threshold just aren't available. Also Netflix must die because they canceled Cowboy Bebop.

About time anyway. Always next version of the business they put out of business. That's the way it works, especially with the deflation threat of technology. If you're a tech business and you can't maintain a margin so you have to raise rates, then something is up, broke, stockholder greed, personal greed, etc.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#207

Post by Joeri »

halfnormalform wrote: post #168
CabSauce wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. It's also stealing. And doesn't provide any money for future shows that you might enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I've done it for some things that I wanted to watch, but wasn't willing to pay for. But let's not pretend that everyone torrenting is a reasonable solution.

Quoted post unavailable.

Steal verb

1: to take the property of another wrongfully and especially as a habitual or regular practice

Yes, piracy is stealing according to the dictionary, especially if done habitually. That the owner is left with a copy of the work is immaterial to the act of theft.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#208

Post by MivLives »

sudden_dystopia wrote: post #22

Interesting analysis. I find it interesting that so many people spend so much time watching tv in the first place. Growing up, I was one of those people but about a decade ago I lost interest in pretty much anything on television. There are certain shows that I will watch on occasion that get me hooked, but I usually struggle to find anything that is actually worth my time and end up just turning the tv off after sur…

During quarantine I switched to mostly movies. They require more singular focus (it's harder to watch a movie while doing other things), don't really have the binging problem (2 hour and done instead of just continually extensions of 45 minutes), and are generally higher quality. I've seen some very good (Memories, Son of the White Mare), some very bad (I went through a Bakshi phase), and overall decided I prefer this to watching yet another sitcom or graphic novel adaptation on tv.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#209

Post by marcosdumay »

glenjamin wrote: post #25
jsemrau wrote: post #17

Netflix is now a mature business that stopped growing. https://app.finclout.io/t/NBbmd0A

The graph in your link appears to show an operating profit of over $6 billion. What has gone wrong with our world that making a 6 billion dollar a year profit is considered a problem?

Stocks got valuations into the hundreds and lower thousands times revenue. This is only sane if there is space for the business to grow a hundred times, what for those large companies is obviously not true.

Now that the US money hose decreased it's flow a little bit, the insanity of those valuations is hurting.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#210

Post by CabSauce »

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #185
CabSauce wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. It's also stealing. And doesn't provide any money for future shows that you might enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I've done it for some things that I wanted to watch, but wasn't willing to pay for. But let's not pretend that everyone torrenting is a reasonable solution.

The purpose is to be a signal to the distributor: "fix your payment model or we're not paying". I pirated for a long time. When Netflix became a thing, I stopped pirating (since it was easier). Now I pirate again. If a new company came along with a good model, or the industry as a whole decided this streaming debacle is stupid, I would definitely stop pirating and give my money to someone. Until then, why would I pay…

Wouldn't the appropriate choice be to not pay for the service AND not pirate? That seems like the best way to send the message. Pirating gives the impression that you want to view their content but not pay for it. So they should invest in locking down their content, not improve their experience.
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