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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

#761

Post by simianparrot »

padjo wrote: post #716
simianparrot wrote: post #594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody I ever talk to cancel Netflix because it’s too expensive. They cancel it because it runs out of content they care about. Including me. I’m not keeping a sub for that one week a year I find something I enjoy. It’s absolutely a service problem.

What you described is the same as cancelling because it’s too expensive, you’re just describing the value side of the equation.

Yeah, it's too expensive because the _service_ is too poor. If the service was good, it would be a fair price.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#762

Post by throwaway290 »

BriggyDwiggs42 wrote: post #569
throwaway290 wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Look, doing something illegal offers a lot of benefits for me! I must be a genius"

You’re not considering that many of these points are in no way illegal to provide as a streaming service.

I didn't say it. but the comment we are replying to says "piracy offers:", so direct your complaint to that guy.

I agree with you. How about launch a better service instead of pointing out how breaking the law is beneficial to the breaker. Duh it always is, I wonder why??

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#763

Post by hk1337 »

Olreich wrote: post #390
hk1337 wrote: post #127

As with most things, I think we leaned in too hard to streaming services. Part of the appeal of streaming services back then was being able to cherry pick what you wanted so you only paid for what you actually wanted to watched. Because of how fragmented all the shows are, people sign up for multiple streaming services just to watch the shows the want to watch, and then wish for everything to be bundled together...ag…

The appeal back then was being able to get all the shows you wanted on a single platform. Netflix had all of Disney, WB, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. at one point, including strong original content. Going all in on $10/month for all the TV I wanted to watch was a good deal. Paying $15/month times 5 for a worse experience... not so much.

I don't remember any cable tv packages that were $10/month except for maybe getting the local tv channels because you couldn't get good reception with an antennae.

Cable TV packages were $20-$30/month (base packages) for 200 channels, of which 10 of them you really cared about, then you had to add on another $10-$40 depending on what it was to get what you wanted. So, to finally get the 10-15 channels you actually care about you had to pay $50-$75/month for 900 channels.

Like, if all you wanted was Disney, you couldn't just get Disney channel(s), you had to pay for 250+ other channels too. Now you can just sign up for Disney+ streaming.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#764

Post by sumtechguy »

benjiro wrote: post #680
godelski wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> With $1k you can build a pretty good system 1. The hardware you buy for these activities, has still residual value after 1, 2, 3 year. Unlike the streaming service you pay for. 2. Its cheap to upgrade / expand over time (if its not a all in one solution) 3. It opens a door to not just store movies/music/images, but as emulator, streaming service, or game streaming to one or multiple. 4. The content will not arbitra…

> The hardware you buy for these activities, has still residual value after 1, 2, 3 year. Unlike the streaming service you pay for.

With mine I am cracking on 14 years with some of it. It still 'just works'. I ripped all of my stuff so I can manage it as I have too much of it. The home streaming has been quite nice. I would upgrade just for '4k'. Not sure if I want it or not. One major roadblock has been finding a decent wake from power off not just s3 and works with an IR remote. 14 years ago media center was a thing so most manufactures put CIR into everything. Then suddenly they didnt. If I could get past that one roadblock I would update it all.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#765

Post by Matticus_Rex »

dddgghhbbfblk wrote: post #751
Matticus_Rex wrote: post #745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the name of the Star Wars project? You know, so I can avoid those darn pirates more effectively.

The one they were talking about (based on scans of original film prints) is called 4K77/4K80/4K83 for the three films. I believe the first project of this type for Star Wars was Harmy's Despecialized Edition but I think these days most people prefer the 4K77 versions, although it varies by film and by person.

Thanks!

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#766

Post by psadauskas »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #631
godelski wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is a case study in why competitive markets are important in general. Copyright is a government-granted monopoly but the monopoly is hard to enforce. It works because most people actually want to support the creators, not because DRM is effective or anything like that. So you have the uncommon situation in which a monopoly (the copyright holder) is operating in parallel to a competitive black market for content d…

I really want to support the creators! But by paying for movie tickets or streaming services, very little of the money I pay goes to the creators. It mostly goes to the executives and financiers, or the megastar actors that I don't really care about.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#767

Post by bee_rider »

gsinclair wrote: post #732
bee_rider wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the more nuances understanding of the conversation. Using a word associated with violence and theft to describe something like copyright infringement is just over-the-top and ridiculous.

Sometimes words have multiple meanings, and that’s ok.

As a participant in English, I’m pushing back against a pair of definitions that, I think, conflate two very different concepts in a way that is damaging to the conversation.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#768

Post by oriel »

hbn wrote: post #177
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…

Don't forget censorship-free I swore off streaming services when they started pulling episodes of comedy shows and editing out scenes because they were worried someone might be offended

For me, it was when a movie wasn't the way I remembered it. Then I found a pirated copy.

Turned out the 'official' release was heavily edited, with tone, characters, and even some plot had been completely reshaped. I've found this to be increasingly prevalent, and not just in a "made for TV" or "adapted for Flying" type modifications.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#769

Post by 3036e4 »

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…

GOG used to have a small selection of DRM-free movies that you could buy to download and that would then make all those things possible to do in a way that would be legal or at least able to do locally in a way that would have a zero risk of being discovered even if it violated some EULA. Announcement from 2014:

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/introducing_gogcom_drmfree...

Sadly http://www.gog.com/movies now redirects to http://www.gog.com/games and the movies link that used to be on the front page is gone. Based on a comment in that announcement thread it looks like the movies were silently removed already back in 2023. I only noticed it now. They never seemed to really add any new movies and the existing ones were mostly game-related documentaries.

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