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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by bluemoon@piefed.social to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

I'm one of those hipsters who doesn't use streaming services.

I did, a while ago, but I quit using them because the experience is kind of awful, and I'm happier now for it. I collect physical media and watch it using Jellyfin on my Linux-based home theater PC, and I'm completely satisfied with how it works.

I'm making this video because I am really troubled by algorithmic helplessness, and I feel like corporate-centralized streaming media makes that worse. Maybe this video will encourage someone else to cut the cord and rediscover an appreciation for owning your media and being choosy about what to "watch next". Or maybe I'm just wasting time. Who knows? I suppose, you know, you're reading this description, right?

If you read the description, say "algorithmic helplessness sucks" in the comments. That'll make me feel better.

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[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 4 points 15 hours ago

Netlix does livestreams for camgirls now?

[-] paper_moon@lemmy.world 86 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The thing I hated about Netflix was the stress of knowing i was being watched with my viewing habits and that affected how they decided to cancel or continue shows.

Imagine being a customer at a restaurant and the chef is in the back watching you eat, saying things like:

"well, if he doesn't eat the whole thing in less than 10 minutes that means he probably hated it and won't continue to buy more burgers, so we should just remove it from the menu now and never serve that burger again."

Who the fuck wants to 'relax' and watch stuff when i know if I start watching something and stop after episode 1 because I liked it, realize my partner might also like it, and I wait 3 months to watch it together (not within their 30 day or whatever window), knowing that might contribute to Netflix canceling a show that I fucking liked in the first place!

SO RELAXING GUYS!

So no, I don't stream stuff anymore. I'm sick of paying for content that constantly gets canceled, and also experiencing stress while doing so.

[-] Meron35@lemmy.world 13 points 16 hours ago

Side note, the restaurant analogy is exactly why I hate the seemingly American style of service where the waiter asks how the food is halfway through.

I guess that's a good analogy for how creepy surveillance capitalism is, it's like a waiter judging and recording your every move and reaction throughout the entire meal.

[-] village604@adultswim.fan 2 points 6 hours ago

I'm not sure where you're eating, but wait staff ask that so they can correct any issues before it impacts their tip, not because they're keeping tabs on you.

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

American style of service where the waiter asks how the food is halfway through

So that's what's going on! I was wondering why people are doing that everywhere I eat out all of a sudden. Bloody annoying. Me with a mouth full of food having to force out a "yhh shh rlly gwwd tnnk yww".

Gtfoutahurr

[-] IronBird@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

just one of the many negatives of tip culture

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

I'm not tipping. I refuse to adopt that culture as well. I'll literally die on that hill. Workers deserve a wage, not to depend on people's good graces like beggars wiping car windows.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago

I just give them a thumbs up.

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

That wouldn't work equally well as a joke online though 😆

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[-] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

I'm all for this, but acquiring the media outside of streaming services in the first place is difficult, likely by design. There's no GOG for movies and TV; there's not even a Steam. My wife is basically permanently subscribed to Peacock because she loves Law and Order: SVU, to the point that she basically has the whole series on loop while she knits. I started looking this time last year into how to self-host all that, but I didn't even get to the point of finding out what Jellyfin is before I realized that it was impossible to legally acquire all the seasons on Blu Ray or even DVD. They want me to either subscribe to Peacock or buy a "digital copy", which is just rental streaming by another name. I'm not a skilled enough pirate to know that my ISP isn't going to mind my activity, and being a skilled pirate isn't even something I'm interested in being. Plus, my past experiences with piracy is that beggars can't be choosers, and the bit rate could be awful, or it would have huge watermarks from whatever Canadian channel the pirate recorded from, and that's not a great experience when it's supposed to be a gift anyway.

Unlike the video author, I'm not even bothered by algorithmic recommendations for media. I actually like it. The main reason I want to self host my media is because I don't watch so much of it that a subscription price makes sense very often. If my wife and I are just watching the same couple of things over and over again, why do I need a buffet of content I'm not going to watch at monthly subscription prices?

[-] TurdBurgler@sh.itjust.works 6 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

This is why the seedbox SaaS market exists. Providing turn key hosted solutions, the only heavy lifting is the configuration which takes some reading to understand.

Check out the Servarr Wiki, Ombi, Syncthing as a starting point for media discovery and curration tooling.

[-] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 5 points 18 hours ago

Steam attempted to distribute movies between 2014 and 2019.
GOG gave up at the beginning of 2025.

[-] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

Yeah, I'm aware. This is a problem that the movie and TV industry don't appear to be interested in solving. And they seemingly operate as a massive cartel, so one studio isn't about to break out on its own and innovate with a DRM free movie store.

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This video was what convinced me to start up a Jellyfin server last month. It's fantastic. The peace of mind knowing that I have all my media stored locally, forever, is so satisfying.

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this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
323 points (100.0% liked)

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