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Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

theguardian.com

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Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#401

Post by Dylan16807 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #354
mxfh wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Storage isn't free. running a 50 Watt anything 24/7 costs like 10 Dollars a month in Europe already if you don't want to be an anti-social leacher or want the convenience of an netflix-like media server.

Your comment is a bizarre tangle of different concerns, of which none make even a tiny amount of sense. - If you download without uploading much, what does that have to do with the costs of piracy? - If you upload as well as download, how will that increase the amount you pay for 50 watts of electricity? - In what possible sense is storage not free? You already have the storage. Putting things on it is free, unless y…

They're saying if you keep things on to seed it'll use more electricity.

But yes you can fit a torrenting machine into 25 watts. Or fit a reasonable amount of uploading into the time your computer is already on.

And yes storage is somewhere between free and $30.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#403

Post by umbra07 »

Affric wrote: post #350
chongli wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2. Highest resolution/bitrate/quality that was available at the time of the work's original release. Arguably higher. For example, fans of Star Wars have scanned the original 1977 theatrical release with very high quality film scanners and created a 4K release complete with film grain and the original scenes intact which is not available through approved channels.

It’s great but do you know of any others?

Harmy's Despecialized Edition(s).

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#404

Post by const_cast »

probotect0r wrote: post #400
kaliqt wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only consequences, physically speaking the two are not the same at all. Copying of anything digital is not actual theft, nor will it ever be.

Of course it's theft. The owner of that content didn't intend to give it to you for free, they expected to get paid for their work.

I could copy A New Hope once for every atom in the universe, and no money is lost and the original continues to exist.

Theft is moving stuff. You can't move software or digital assets, you can only copy them.

If I committed a burglary and instead of taking your TV I go to Walmart and buy a copy, then that's not burglary. You certainly wouldn't report me to the police.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#405

Post by sowbug »

dylan604 wrote: post #328
getcrunk wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might fall under 3/4 but to me the biggest issue is being able to watch without having to turn my vpn off! I had already accepted the rest

Why would you need a connection at all to play local content that would need a VPN? Are you using one of those players that "streams" the torrent? That always seemed like a novel idea once bandwidth was available for that, and I guess plenty of seeders. It could also be the stereotype I've built in my head that the people that torrent lean towards hoarders adding to their local inventory.

I think the point was that streaming services freak out if you connect from a disapproved IP address.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#406

Post by imoverclocked »

godelski wrote: post #366
ryandrake wrote: post #153

Piracy offers: 1. Unrestricted access to an absolutely huge library of movies, music and TV shows, nearly unlimited. Certainly not limited by opaque "licensing deals" between various companies. 2. Highest resolution/bitrate/quality that was available at the time of the work's original release. 3. No arbitrary device/OS limitations. 4. Can watch/listen/download from any location on earth with sufficient bandwidth. I d…

Piracy also offers: 0. Ability to watch offline! 1. Ability to fix subtitle issues with minimal tweeks like change size or moving location. 1.2 Ability to get subtitles if they aren't offered (or offered in your language) 2. Ability to normalize audio. 3. Ability to buffer videos when on a poor connection. 4. Ability to create collections, organize, and track your movie as you wish 5. Arbitrary number of user account…

Until recently, 3. (poor connection) has been a huge issue for me and streaming services. When there is a download/watch later, I sigh with relief.

7. is only sort-of an issue, IMHO. Anything that is pirated is usually fairly benign content and I don't care if someone knows how many times I've watched Idiocracy. I just wish I could know how many times I've watched it too.

I would add: Piracy offers the ability to remember content that isn't popular enough to remain in streaming services. I just searched "Big Trouble in Little China" and Google Play wants me to pay $3.79 to rent it or the full original price to purchase it. Tell me, does the original cast get any of that or is it just adding pocket change to Google's coffers?

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#407

Post by const_cast »

sosborn wrote: post #258
sunrunner wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pay per minute system And/or pay-per-episode, pay-per-season or pay-per-show. So I don't have to start thinking ahead too much about the _length_ of something and can just enjoy the thing itself based on some pre-determined price.

Isn't this just renting, which is already offered by Amazon, Apple, Google ...

Sort of, but:

- the price to rent is comically overpriced, to the point it makes no sense to rent, especially at HD or UHD.

- you still require an online connection.

- the quality is shit unless your playing it on the holy Privacy Violator 9000.

- they give you an absurdly small amount of time to view the movie or show. 2 days? Really? Family video did a week!

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#408

Post by lyu07282 »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #332
chongli wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2. Highest resolution/bitrate/quality that was available at the time of the work's original release. Arguably higher. For example, fans of Star Wars have scanned the original 1977 theatrical release with very high quality film scanners and created a 4K release complete with film grain and the original scenes intact which is not available through approved channels.

There’s also a number of movies where the best quality publicly available is a pirated rip of an HDTV broadcast from a Malaysian TV network or something similarly odd because the rights holders never released a BD and the official DVD release was a transfer from a crappy VHS or similar. In cases of TV shows, fans have gone to the lengths of producing the best quality release possible by patching together video, audio…

The criterion collection being the one noteable exception, and they have their own standalone streaming service that is pretty good:

https://www.criterionchannel.com/browse

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#409

Post by unsignedint »

marak830 wrote: post #221
ryandrake wrote: post #153

Piracy offers: 1. Unrestricted access to an absolutely huge library of movies, music and TV shows, nearly unlimited. Certainly not limited by opaque "licensing deals" between various companies. 2. Highest resolution/bitrate/quality that was available at the time of the work's original release. 3. No arbitrary device/OS limitations. 4. Can watch/listen/download from any location on earth with sufficient bandwidth. I d…

Subtitles is a big one for me. I can stream something in Japan, that I have seen other places has english subs, but due to licensing I cannot see them. I know I could vpn around this, but why should I pay even more just for subtitles? In the end I'm paying for Netflix, Disney and Amazon. My son uses those as he is bilingual, I just pirate what I want to watch personally.

It’s frustrating when languages are locked behind regional restrictions or selective availability, and it borders on being an accessibility issue. That said, things have improved compared to the past, at least when it comes to consuming foreign media from outside its home country. In my case, that means accessing Japanese content while outside Japan.

In most cases, I suspect the limitation isn’t the fault of the streaming services but rather the content owners. On Netflix, for example, expecting English subtitles for anime in Japan is about as hopeless as expecting Japanese subtitles for U.S.-made films while in the United States.

To Netflix’s credit, their original shows are often subtitled and dubbed in a wide range of languages, which has significantly increased the availability of non-English content worldwide.

The same trend can be seen with music, at least for Japanese music. Until around ten years ago, almost nothing was available abroad. While some regional restrictions remain on certain tracks, the vast majority are now accessible outside Japan.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#410

Post by niccl »

wingworks wrote: post #279
piffey wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scarecrow Video does this in Seattle. Their library is amazing. https://scarecrowvideo.org/rent-by-mail

We have these guys in NZ, they're amazing. + overnight delivery. https://www.aliceinvideoland.co.nz/

and the wonderful https://arovideo.co.nz
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