Comment by criley2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by criley2 | Hacker News Reader

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"I am convinced that the Popcorn Time-killer is going to be a Netflix without borders. They should remove national restrictions for films,..."

Haha you can tell when opinions are offered about services that the speaker doesn't use.

Netflix is laggy on movies (in terms of how long before Netflix gets access after initial release) and extremely hit or miss on selection. They're canning Stars and picking up Disney, which still gives them a very low total % of movies, and still prevents them from accessing the movies early.

Popcorn Time lets you watch rips and cams long before a legal Netflix has access.

People aren't using Popcorn Time to watch content available on US Netflix, they're using it to watch content that is locked behind contract and available in theatres or still in various exclusivity periods.

The same thing they use Bittorrent for. Go check the top downloads right now on a major tracker: None of the popular movies are available on ANY Netflix.

It's frankly delusional to think that Netflix's laggy, spotty access to last years movies will "kill" a service that illegally grants you access to movies earlier than Netflix will ever get.

>People aren't using Popcorn Time to watch content available on US Netflix

I use Popcorn Time even when content is on Netflix. It's a better experience. Subtitles will reliably work (with nice formatting). I can adjust volume levels for low-volume movies. I can shift the centre of the content up - really useful when using a large projector. (Popcorn Time allows alternative players like MPC-HC.)

And, oddly, the streaming often works better. Netflix might start quicker, but it takes a while to pop into HD with no way to force it. I'd rather just take a 5 minute break and wait for things to fully buffer and know I'll have a solid experience. Plus I can skip around without restarting the buffering.

And since Netflix nerfed their site and recommendation system (you can't mark a film "not interested" without performing about 5 clicks on 3 screens - and they still recommend shit) -- discovery is just about as good.

Re subtitles - do you have to rely on the ones that come with the stream, or can you use .srt files that you downloaded from somewhere?

I use MPC-HT to play. So I can press D to have it find a list of subtitles. Or Ctrl-L to load up an srt.

This. There is no contest. Right now there are only two options. An inconvenient pay to watch model with a horrible catalog, and a convenient free to watch model with an infinite catalog.

The simple logistics of how a video gets on Netflix vs gets on torrents should make the difference obvious. Netflix is one company negotiating and buying content. Torrents are uploaded by the people "when they feel like it".

I really wish there was something in between. What would it take for a Popcorn Time with a payment option? If payments were anonymous (difficult but what if) and movie studios began to see more money than they got from Netflix, I wonder if minds would begin to change. At the end of the day, all they want is to get paid, which is not an unfair proposition at all.

"This. There is no contest. Right now there are only two options."

Only two options for you. And for people tech-y enough to find and understand PopcornTime, or be introduced to it by someone that is. Do your parents or grandparents know how to download torrents? I agree that torrenting is a better solution. Netflix is legal, well-advertised, and comes with almost every media device these days. It appears to be the only option for a large number of people. That illusion is the reason it's at a $40B market cap.

Well, Popcorn Time proves the value of an interface if anything, and has definitely made the second option more accessible (threatening those serving the first). No learning curve. No new words to learn. Better interface. Better selection. Run for and by the community. Free, but with many who would pay. There really is only one thing wrong with it.

Honestly, I've looked at the interface and hate it. This mantra of "developers know best" in OSS is killing software. Consult a junior UX designer and you'll end up with something much much better.

After reading this in the paper edition, and cloning the repos from popcorntime.io, I actually found the UI rather pleasant. Certainly easier to find something than on Netflix -- and the recommendations seemed more relevant (even without any "profile").

Anyway, I wasn't aware that the underlying streaming torrent thing was a stand-alone project -- so if you have a source of torrent/magnet-links (say a folder, rss...) you can actually stream straight to vlc/mplayer quite easily.

https://github.com/mafintosh/torrent-stream

I believe the old excuse is OSS never has the money to hire someone. But considering Netflix is paying oodles to a senior UX designer and has ended up with what many hate (and for good reason), maybe UX really is just a harder problem than it is made out to be? Seeing how Firefox keeps leaning closer and closer to Chrome and how Windows managed to butcher usability with a hybrid interface, money does not appear to solve this problem.

At least with OSS we are free to alter the program to our liking. Not that we always could or should, but with Netflix not even that option exists, and Netflix is the paid option.

Netflix's USP isn't access to movies anymore. It's access to exclusive-to-Netflix content like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, etc.

The fact that you get some movies along with that original content is just a legacy of their old strategy, which means that (1) their movie library is never going to get much better than it is now, and (2) things like feature film release windows are now more or less irrelevant to Netflix's market appeal, since they have full control over when their original content rolls out.

That's sort of how I look at it. To me, Netflix (streaming) isn't a replacement for Blockbuster or PPV/VOD like their DVD-by-mail service. It's a cheap replacement for basic cable.

For under $10/mo I get the mostly the same thing as I get from all those USA/TBS/TNT sorts of channels: something to skim through and usually find something to watch with the occasional original show that I specifically seek out. With basic cable, I also can't count on a large selection of recent release movies or being able to find a specific movie/show to watch at any given time. The main difference is that basic cable costs more than the $8 or $9 per month that I pay for Netflix streaming.

"The fact that you get some movies along with that original content is just a legacy of their old strategy, which means that (1) their movie library is never going to get much better than it is now, and (2) things like feature film release windows are now more or less irrelevant to Netflix's market appeal, since they have full control over when their original content rolls out."

I like how aggressive you are with their strategy but frankly the fact that the multibillion multiyear disney deal hasn't even begun yet really pushes against your narrative.

If you were right, the Disney deal would have never gone down.

There's not enough original/exclusive content yet though. If their library were to disappear tomorrow, so would huge swaths of their subscribers. The library provides enough necessary value to warrant the membership, until more exclusive/original content becomes available.

I also wouldn't count the "old strategy" dead just yet. As torrenting becomes more popular, you may see Netflix get earlier deals and releases from those that would rather some money than no money.

The quote from Abad is speaking about a product that doesn't exist yet. A Netflix-like experience without massive holes in content. That may or may not be Netflix, if it ever comes to be realized.

You're attacking Netflix as-is, and saying that this couldn't occur. Yes, Netflix is laggy. Personally, I find the interface awful, browsing and navigating to be horrendous.

The question is: could a well-designed Netflix-LIKE product exist, with enough content available that a large number of people will use it instead of torrents? Would simultaneous theatre/online releases be enough?

In my personal use situation, if I want to see a movie from this year I go see it in a movie theater. If I'm just looking for something to watch, I pull up Netflix. Typically I can find something interesting and decent. I don't need popcorn time, because it isn't worth the effort/risk/moral grey area when I have legal paid options. As long as there are no commercials in my Netflix, I'm happy.

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