However, for movies and TV shows I need to pay for like 5 services to get all the movies and TV shows that I need. No way I am paying all those. SO I will keep pirating Movies and TV shows
https://www.eurogamer.net/newell-stop-piracy-by-offering-sup....
And in the context of video streaming, the service gap keeps widening.
Music exists in an alternate universe of IP where no creator or rightsholder truly has exclusive control over anything except commercial distribution of physical media. It's crazy but that's how we got to a place where any streaming or subscription service we choose likely has all the music we want to listen to and piracy stopped being a rational decision.
Movies and television don't have that. Netflix thrived for a while as the streaming platform of choice for content owners, but their catalog was never anywhere close to exhaustive. Then there was Hulu for the content owners who didn't want Netflix ruling distribution. And Prime for who-knows-why. And now everyone with exclusive rights to content wants to put anything of value on their own exclusive platform. Combine all their fees and cutting the cord legally approaches the price of a moderate CATV package and if you want any of the CATV things that aren't available with on-demand streaming platforms, such as cable news networks, that's another much pricier subscription from Sling or AT&T.
Meanwhile, piracy keeps getting easier and better. Anything running an Intel CPU from the past 5-6 years with an integrated GPU will make a perfectly adequate Plex server that can transcode 4K content. In appliance form from Synology that starts around $300, or DIY for half that with used PC from eBay. The software stack to completely automate piracy is a handful of Docker containers that any modern NAS or appliance-style Linux distro makes simple enough for a non-geek to muddle through installing and configuring, and some expressly target that purpose. A paid USENET service and indexer cost about the same as a single streaming subscription. Content selection isn't limited to what content owners have chosen to make available for streaming, content never disappears so long as you're willing to store it, and everything is consolidated to a single "streaming service" that supports pretty much any platform that can access Netflix.
And, as it has been for years, people who don't want to put in that effort can probably find a friend who's willing to share.
Even figuring out where Plex wants the video files to be is going to be a lot for some people, much less figuring out how to get the torrent files into that location. That's assuming they've already figured out how to get the drives in, plug it in correctly, partition the system, figure out what software they need, and installed it.
The non-IT people I've talked IT with would struggle with that. E.g. a common misconception is that Explorer is the only way to see or interact with files. They're going to be confused as soon as they have to use something other than Explorer. I don't even know if NFS would help, or if it would be more confusing that a file exists both "in Explorer" and "in the browser".
I think that's why Popcorn Time drew so much heat. It was easy enough that your grandma could use it, which was a problem for IP owners. Usenet doesn't form an existential threat, and the users are motivated enough to find other ways if they need. My grandma is sure as hell not going to be setting up a Plex server running rtorrent with auto-downloaders and auto-sorters to make sure that she gets the latest episodes of her soaps.
These services are also very georestricted, even if you might want to pay, it might not be possible. What's worse is that streaming or lending services rarely adjust prices to match purchasing power.
If you're in the wrong country you'll practically pay three or ten times as much and get one tenth the content.
It's honestly insulting that this is what I get as a paying customer while copyright infringement offers me immaculate encodes sourced from blu-rays at zero cost.
You must have a very specific blessed hardware to actually get what you're paying for. Then you have to hope that the provider isn't automatically picking lower quality for your "viewing experience". The native Netflix Windows app allows you to watch 4K HDR video with Atmos, that's about it with a PC. The app hasn't been updated for four years, can't do optical surround audio and hardware decoding is broken with older Nvidia graphics cards. What a wondrous experience.
Pirates on the other hand can just wait for the content to download and watch it offline, with whatever OS, whenever, with any HDMI cable or screen. Disclaimer, Dolby Vision is still more nuanced because how closed it is, but it's still less restrictive.
Yeah. Running Linux in order to enjoy your computing freedom? They can't own our computer and prevent us from copying so they simply refuse to do business with people like us. Guess copyright infringement is our only option.
> Then you have to hope that the provider isn't automatically picking lower quality for your "viewing experience".
Even on my 100+ megabits/second link they do this. Would it kill them to allow me to download the whole thing ahead of time so I can watch offline and in high quality? Download the next episode while I'm watching the current one?
Connection goes down? The content just stops playing. Reminds me of satellite TV and the loss of service due to weather. "Pirates" just don't have any of these problems.
> The native Netflix Windows app allows you to watch 4K HDR video with Atmos, that's about it with a PC. The app hasn't been updated for four years, can't do optical surround audio and hardware decoding is broken with older Nvidia graphics cards. What a wondrous experience.
God I hate the streaming platform software so much. I can't even begin to describe how much it sucks. Something simple like seeking or even rewinding 5-10 seconds is such a aggravating experience, it's actually trained me not to even attempt it anymore. On mpv I can just use arrow keys and it does what I asked it to do instantly. We had better software than this in the 90s.
> Pirates on the other hand can just wait for the content to download and watch it offline, with whatever OS, whenever, with any HDMI cable or screen.
Yeah. That's what we get for trying to support creators: companies that give less of a shit about quality than literal enthusiasts sharing files online for the love of it. One would think these corporations worth zillions of dollars would be able to beat these amateurs when it comes to offering superior service. Nope.
Copyright laws give commercial interests too much power against media consumers.
I guess the only way to win is not too play ...
But for TV/Movies the convenience is becoming more and more crap with the fragmentation in all these services. Besides the price you also have to deal with multiple viewing apps, multiple contracts with different T&C's etc.
If the industry really wanted they could bring piracy to a halt today by offering everything for a reasonable price just like with music.
There are many ways to fight this. One regulation and fiscalization, sure. Companies spend their private money in lobbying and governments spend public money in writing and enforcing the laws.
Another way is to turn it into a business opportunity. Steam and Spotify put a great dent in piracy, as they offer convenient services. Netflix did it briefly, but after the multiplication of streaming services and exclusives, movie and TV piracy went up again.
I'm all for the second approach - innovation and improvement of services for the consumer instead of anti-consumer regulation paid by public money.
You're not entitled to a business model. Don't act like your'e forced to live off coyright fees, if you don't want people to pirate your content - don't release it in the first place! It is that simple.