Pirate Everything at This Point
Way ahead of you.
I pay for an emby share personally.
Plex/emby/jellyfin, there are a ton of paid shares out there that are cheap.
Aliexpress summer sale started. Getting a 150 eur ryzen mini pc and slapping some hdds onto it for a cheap media server/nas with 4 digit nas specs.
This seems like it could be a fun project. Mind making a post about the build sometime?
So far it's; genmachine 5500u pc barebones, will get random ram and steam decks 256gb ssd, fedora server and some rabdom twin drive hdd enclosure with used 4tb disks to start with. 8gb of ram should be plenty as going 16gb ddr4 to 32gb ddr5 made no difference at all on my main gaming/dev/3d rig.
Total cost: 158 for mini pc, twin drive enclosure 60, 4tb drives: 50 eur each, ram 15 eur or around entry level twin drive nas price.
Id if there's any build thread to post about "i shoved an external drive up the ass of a chinese mini pc and labelled it homelab"
That's pretty much the self-made home media system I've upgraded to some months ago, only mine has an N100 CPU (which is nicer from a power consumption point of view for an always on system since its TDP is 15W).
It's wired to my TV, running Kodi on the foreground, runs qBittrorrent on the background over an always on VPN and serves as my home NAS.
From Aliexpress I got a wireless remote that let's me control Kodi as if it was a TV box, so from my sofa I handle it as a TV box whilst from my PC I can ssh to it and to any computer kind of management.
Probably one of my best purchases ever.
I pay for an emby share personally.
I read this as "enby share" and thought, "Is that like a queer polyamorous social group? If so, I want in."
(BTW I use emby share to pirate too, so no need to explain. My brain just expects the word "enby" first.)
Question, what even is a "Generative AI ad"?
Is the lead actress of the horror movie I'm watching look into the camera and tell me about the new coca-cola while she waits for the monster to come get her?
Stremio is everything I could ever want and more.
Yep, link it with real debrid As you are, sailing the seas in style.. Great UI. Evan has a calendar to keep track of your series.
I love Stremio it is so simple to use and relatively easy to set up, I like the set it and forget it format it has (and your settings and setup are synced across all the devices you like).
With that said, geek me can't leave aside Kodi for good, I have a Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 and that is where I use it, even when the setup I've for it is somewhat heavy (it makes my Shield struggle sometimes) I love thinkering with it, because... there is fun thinkering right?
My gf does Stremio almost always though.
It's the way of all subscription based entertainment. To increase profit eventually the choice comes down higher subscription fees or introduce ads.
And once ads are there, it's a one-way street. Until adpocalypse.
If it's in your systems in an open format it's yours, if it's outside your systems or wrapped in some kind of locked format that forces you to go through somebody else's software it's de facto theirs.
Due to my own experience in software development with 3rd party solutions from way back, I never adhered to Streaming solutions (even though I was tempted) and always stuck to getting my entertainment in a media format I controlled (legitimately for a long as I could, not so much once even physical media started having DRM) because I was aware that it's risky to outsource so much control over one aspect of what you do (in this case entertainment) to an entity which, frankly, sees you as nothing else that microscopic fraction of their bottomline.
(The funny bit is that if Netflix would sell me their Series in an open file format that I could download and at a reasonable price, I would have sent lots of money their way, same as I spent lots of money on DVDs and even VHS tapes back in the day. In fact all throughout that period I was doing something like that for games: as soon as I discovered GOG with their DRM-free downloadable installers, I started acquiring all my games by buying them from GOG)
In the fullness of time, my caution seems to have been proven right.
I totally get the anger with Netflix. I fucking hate them as a filmmaker. But I really don't think a long term solution is pirating content.
BUY CONTENT YOU LIKE
Is it more expensive? Of course it is, that's part of an equitable society. Also it means you end up with content you really like and not a bunch of junk.
I was. Until they made that so difficult and time consuming that the barrier to entry was too high. Not because of the price. But because of availability. When Google play music was a thing? I bought music. When streaming took over I moved to Bandcamp. But Bandcamp doesn't have everything. There's no music stores anymore where I can just go and buy music. It's all Amazon and similar.
I'd love to own the ghibli collection. But to get it I have to buy the DVD's (and have a DVD player to play them on), or I have to pirate them. No digital store front seems to have the whole collection. This happens all the time with media that I'm willing to pay for.
Buy the dvds and rip them...
Yeah, just buy yourself a dvd/blu-ray player just to rip it, wait for the disk to arrive, connect it to your computer and set aside the time to rip it (if you even know how).
Such a reasonable alternative to setting up radarr one time and watching the movie immediately. Can't have a digital storefront where I get to own my digital copy.
That is extremely inconvenient and jist feels wrong. There's no reason a digital file has to be tied to an inconvenient, small-volume media.
Man. Google play music. Fucking miss that service.
Found so much good music... Still hurts me it died.
Along with bandcamp, there's Qobuz, 7digital, and HDTracks that I can recommend for digital music downloads. Those other three often have what bandcamp does not, much more common songs. Many in 24-bit.
I'll buy music directly from artists on bandcamp and such, especially since they offer unlimited DRM-free FLAC downloads, but any other media at this point is just absurdly inconvenient. Everything's just tied to dogshit streaming platforms.
If there were a DRM-free option to buy and download movies or shows for life, I'd definitely be buying what I can here and there. But everything is so locked down or encumbered with other bullshit that it's not a viable option.
Which works for some content, but a lot of childrens content is only available through subscriptions to Netflix/Disney+/Max.
If there was a Bandcamp for film and TV, then I would buy stuff there. DRM free.
But until then...
To some extent you're right. There'd be less content if nobody paid. But imagine current society without treats. I don't know if capitalism without "panem et circenses" would start to crumble real fast.
If the argument is talk with money then giving them 0 and taking from them is the strongest argument you can have morally speaking. Piracy is more convient regardless.
Nah fuck that. Ignore this guy, everyone pirate everything until they fix it again.
People don’t pirate music, guess why?
I buy vinyl and buy flac music from artists I like.
But if your digital content isnt available in my region imma pirate it and assume the racist fucks have enough money.
Vote with your wallet? This has never ended Google, Apple or Microsoft. These capitalist fantasies never work in the real world 🤣🤣
Pirracy is a service issue. People gladly pay when it's not a shitty experience.
Well, it's not that difficult to cancel a subscription...
Don't give them any ideas
Already doing it
Way ahead of you, Mr. Rossmann.
Soon they'll just tap into your partner and make them speak ads throughout the day.
You know, you and Black Mirror are laughing, But my wife sends me links to products off TikTok all the fucking time and I'm not even on TikTok.
I will personally rally an economic war against ALL for-profits!
Previously, on Best of Netflix: price increases, flip-flopping on their account sharing stance (currently on "don't do that"), removing shows without warning, iffy show recommendations by their algorithm, inability to watch shows offline etc.
So, if you're not already pirating at this point I have to ask: what are you waiting for? Seriously, why are you giving these companies money?
Advertising isn't the problem. And before I get my balls cut off, I'll back away slowly while explaining myself....
We've always paid for ads. Back in the old days you paid for a cable subscription and got to watch ads every 15 minutes. That's not a new phenomenon. Hell, television was designed around the advertising break. The entire one hour series 5 part script model was created with the "cut to ad break" in mind. You think about your CSI:Miami "sunglasses of justice" stinger, or your fourth ad-break plot-twist as the Romulan war bird uncloaks and the music dun-dun-duns into a commercial for cheese-its...
That's not a problem in and of itself. In fact I kind of miss it when shows were written that way. Heck, Tubi and Pluto TV do it and no one complains about that. And if Netflix wants to add those back into their free tier, more power to 'em.
But advertising is not about getting served a few commercials every fifteen minutes anymore. It's literally in front of the content, within the content, etc... It's not about "hey look, it's an ad break, let's go refill our 7-up and take a piss", it's inlaid with the content, as well as taking up as much, if not MORE time than the actual content itself. and THAT'S part one of the problem.
Part two is the fact that if you're going to make more money by making me pay for your service AND watch advertisements, you better damn well be giving at least some of that new money to other creatives that are MAKING those advertisements. Make a commercial with actors and actresses; pay them. Hire a writer to create ad-copy, just like we used to do. But if you're going to charge me AND make me watch lazy shit you made with A.I. slop, than THAT is where I'll happily take my ship and head onto the high seas.
I'd be perfectly happy to sit through two or three traditional advertisements every fifteen minutes just like we did in the old days. But what I WON'T stand for is watching five minutes of lazy A.I. ads after every five minutes of actual content and be expected to PAY for the service on top of that.
Just because something always used to be some way doesn't mean it's automatically acceptable.
TV might have been designed for the ad break but what if it wasn't? You give Star Trek as an example, and here in the UK growing up I watched TNG episodes on BBC2, which is a tax-funded station without adverts. Did the lack of adverts make my childhood TNG experience worse? Personally I'd say it made it better.
Even in the cable TV age, to have adverts in something you are paying for is still horrible, and to me it's unacceptable.
I will do everything in my power to not expose my brain to a barrage of advertising, and that includes not using any service where I have to subject myself to it.
Totally agree.
Broadcast TV shows where designed with advertising in mind because it was the only way to monetize it at the time (except for tax-funded of course).
When cable TV started, one of their selling points was that it didn't have ads, at least on the "cable-native" channels.
But after a while, they started putting ads everywhere, and that of course lead to the shitty experience that made a lot of people "cut the wire" when streaming services started.
I'm wondering what's the next thing that will replace streaming, and eventually repeat the cycle.
Also, I don't know how it was in other countries, but I remember that pay-tv services in Italy didn't have ads during programs and films, but only between the programs. It was a way better experience.
This person seems to think that CSI Miami pioneered the format. So of course it easy to find examples of them being wrong. CSI Miami wasn’t even the first CSI. So I am sure they can’t remember that premium cable channels that don’t have commercials exist. Let alone that public broadcasting doesn’t have commercials.
What old age are you talking about? Television was not invented in the 2000’s.
And if you don’t like ads, then that is the problem.
Regardless, Netflix has historically been delivered without ads which many seem to like. You do you, take a break and watch some ads every 20 minutes, but I won’t, and will especially not pay to do it.
There are no ads on the CD I bought from the merch table at a concert last week.
Back in the old days you paid for a cable subscription and got to watch ads every 15 minutes
Oh, hell no. We had HBO my entire teen years, and that was the huge difference between cable and broadcast - there were no commercials on HBO.
I never had cable as an adult; I didn't like being beholden to someone else's tastes and show times, so we just rented videos: Blockbuster, or more often the locally owned rental place - they had weirder stuff.
When Cable became "infinite channels," they did start showing ads, but that wasn't paying for content: that was paying for delivery. It was supersized broadcast TV. To emphasize this, packages cost extra, and those special, extra channels (HBO, etc) didn't have commercials. The basic package was just extra broadcast TV.
Netflix is more analogous to HBO than cable. Supporting this is their original operating model: a subscription fee that got you DVDs mailed to your house. Just like a subscription fee to Blockbuster that got you a certain number of rentals per month.
Don't try to normalize it by claiming "it's always been this way," because it hasn't.
television was designed around the advertising break
Television was free. Netflix was originally movies. Movies don't have ads (not specific, non-story related ones, anyway; they've always had product placement). It's been only relatively recently that Netflix has gotten into the episodic game, which is even less justification for ad breaks, because episodes are shorter than movies. Which have no ads.
You're entitled to pay for what you like and be happy with it, buy fuck if I'm going to pay someone to watch their ads. If I was a TV watcher, I'd pay for choice - a thousand channels, with ad-ridden content. I draw the line at going to a movie theater, paying for a ticket, and then having the movie interrupted with ads, which is what this is equivalent to. You can always skip the ones up front with timing, and fuck those ads too.
Piracy isn't the only alternative to streaming! Please consider putting a side a certain amount of money each month to buy physical disks, making films isn't free and buying disks is the best way to suport them. Then you can pirate the rest.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
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