Submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world [bot] to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/streaming-services-netflix-max-cost/675264/
Streaming Has Reached Its Sad, Predictable Fate | What should I watch? is now a much easier question than How do I watch it?::<em>What should I watch? </em>is now a much easier question than <em>How do I watch it?</em>
I’m back to sailing the high seas and dumping my loot into Plex.
Same here on Jellyfin.
I was always 100% on board with paying 50-100 bucks a month for being able to watch anything I wanted, whenever I wanted, in perpetuity — for the rest of my life.
Instead, capitalism chose to fracture all content behind multiple paywalls that don’t even host the content I want to watch, or censor/change it so that I can never watch the OG versions I want to watch, so I’ve instead been spending 50-100 bucks a month on computing hardware to download it and host it myself for over a decade.
I’ll continue to fucking do it too, because these soulless sociopath leeches don’t deserve a cent from me. They don’t even fucking pay their content creators or staff a decent wage, and will spend 10x more just to screw their workers. At this point I’d prefer them to fail and collapse, so I’ll continue not giving them money — I’m doing my part!
Use your local library! Thousands of Blu-ray/DVD titles for free you can check out and rip freely. And then you don’t have to worry about any nasty letters from your ISP.
I honestly didn’t even include a DVD/BluRay drive in my PC build, so can’t really use those. And I tunnel all that traffic through Proton VPN, so ISP isn’t an issue.
Most libraries always give you access to Kanopy to steam movies/documentaries. Just need your library card and the app.
Indeed however that would necessitate having an optical drive
leave the house
nope.avi
My local library only has DVDs with kids movies, matey.
Yeah, this is much less chaotic. It’s not even about the cost so much as the convince now.
BTW I use the plex discovery search to find stuff across streaming services. This deserves a shoutout here. Could be better but I haven’t found a better solution. Google voice search on my nvidia shield used to be good at this but it’s really degraded lately.
Justwatch.com works well for finding the service hosting the show you want to watch.
It’s particularly bad at MAX right now. Several times I’ve been told a title was available and it wasn’t.
How do you use Plex? Can it work on a fire stick?
Yes. There is a legit plex app on fire stick and roku. It comes with free live TV and on Demand content, but you can also run your own server on your network with your own downloaded content. If you have an IPTV service you can stream that through plex as well.
Note that Jellyfin is a similar app/server that works the same way and is totally free. Plex is also free, but there are additional features behind the pay wall like GPU decoding, PVR service for IPTV, and others.
Plex - in the way users here are describing (important context since Plex’s management has recently shifted heavily to trying to be like Pluto.TV with less emphasis on its original purpose) works as an application that acts like a library for your own media collection.
There are 2 required parts to it :
Without your own server with content stored on it, or at least a friend’s server credentials you can connect to, you are limited to the “Pluto.TV” type ad-driven media collection.
So the answer is “yes it works on a fire stick,” but you will need #1 also for it to be the single source library for your content and not just another ad-riddled garbage service.
You need something to host it on like a PC or even a Shield plus storage space
Yes you can get plex on firestick
I see an irony in the fact that I can’t read this damn article without paying for yet another media / news subscription service. Stop linking to pay walls Lemmites!
If there just was a way to micro pay for a single article. But no, it always has to be subscription based.
Completely agree. Everyone despises crypto now, but it would be perfect for this.
They’d do it if it made them money. Spoiler Alert…
There’s no real financial model to support good journalism. People should be aware of the food sites out there so they can make a decision to subscribe.
You need a ladder 12ft.io
Reload the page with Javascript turned off.
The irony of a pay-walled article from one of the 50+ news websites requiring subscriptions complaining about fragmented streaming services is palpable.
Was there a single website where all news can post their article and be supported by a subscription model before this? If there isn’t, how is this comparison relevant?
Yes. It was called a newspaper…
NPR/PBS.
Post.news is exactly that
Yo ho fiddle de dee
Being a pirate is alright with me
YOU ARE A PIRATE
YARG!
Arrrr!
Scissor me timbers! 🏴☠️🦜🏴☠️
Piracy
/thread
The sad thing is that people would pay if it just wasn’t so frustrating. I remember coming home from a NYE 10yrs ago or so, and had made up my mind to watch the latest season of Vikings. I was ready to pay for it, and there literally was no legal way for me to get it. So I sailed the high seas.
Wait… You’re telling me people will pay for quality service and convenience? That’s crazy!
The streaming services have managed to completely forget their business model of being marginally more convenient than piracy.
As for me, though, I’ll start ripping my DVDs. I’ll sail the high seas when I have to, but I’d may as well get hard copies of my favourite films and TV shows.
Until Disney decides it better to quit the physical market (they did it already in one region)
Just sails the seven fucking seas
It is so more convienient. I had Disney+, Amazon and Netflix a year ago and it was to much to bother to open the apps and search if they have what i wanted to watch, only to find out it was on HBO or whatever.
Plus they keep making me verify my account and log back in. Such a hassel.
Too fragmented. I want my piracy all in one sea
The irony is this article requires a subscription to view it…
This was a Very inevitable situation due to the fragmentation of Programs that are scattered across multiple Networks.
If only there was a solution to this problem of greed….
Don’t support companies who would try to geoblock you if they could.
Also, using a VPN to circumvent rules is against the TOS on most services. Don’t support that with your wallet.
I blame Disney in particular. People are just so short-sighted.
Disney felt like a tipping point for me (and Netflix’s new role as a production company). It was only when that came about that people like Paramount started offering their own services (idk how true that is but it’s certainly how it felt).
I still pay for Disney+ right now, but a big part of the appeal of streaming for me was having lots of stuff in one place. Now it’s just cable/satellite all over again.
Piracy ftw
Warning. Do not look for Servarr apps or how to set them up on a home system of your choice like Unraid or it’s alternatives. Doing so may be a violation of local copyright law.
Yaaargh mateys, you do be asking the wrong questions.
I don’t even understand what they’re talking about. “Streaming?” Is that some sort of a water sport involving small rivers?
Ne’er should one relinquish control of thine own vessel. Back to the seas shall we voyage mateys!
Also, 12ft.io
Jellyfin is a great alternative system. You just have to get the shows and movies somewhere which also isn’t that hard cough cough
How does this compare to Plex?
The irony…
Is there any reason to not pirate the movies?
If you are ok with the hassle, the risk and possible consequences, they do whatever you want.
But this is not a fix to the issue broadly, and just boycotting stuff will most likely not work as well, to change the situation.
So the only effective way would be changes in law and government incentives. So propably start being politically active and push for these changes.
I’m with you my Plex Library is growing alot lately. I’m not paying for 10 different streaming services. I limit myself to one and anything else not on it is getting downloaded. At lot of the movies I have I have also paid to see in theaters. Some even more than once like across the spider verse and the barbie movie .
On a macro scale, they’ll stop making those movies if they aren’t financially viable. Cheap lowest common denominator shit will be all we get.
I mean the streaming services will keep increasing their prices and actors / staff will see less profit as a result of lack of active users…
My favorite part of every conversation about a new show someone tells me i “just have to see” is when they “oh yeah do you have xstreamingservice?” And i tell them i have me ways
“Oh you should definitely check out Mr. Inbetween”
“Is it on Netflix?”
“idk it’s on my plex”
I’m sorry, but I really don’t get it… the bigger question is and always has been where can I watch it.
It was a bit easier during the beginning of the streaming era, but never that easy, especially in Europe…
I need a stupid app (JustWatch) to tell me where I can watch a movie or show… so how is it easy to watch? It’s also not easy if I need 4+ streaming services…
That’s the point that’s being made.
The amount of media we have instant access too has reached a size I find rather intimidating than inviting. Consuming media turns more and more into a chore than fun. Them dividing the available media into more services is a plus for me if I am honest.
I have access to one streaming service and if they do not have anything I am interested in, I just walk away and read a book, play a game, turn on music or go outside or do my household chores.
The times I thought that there were things I “should” watch/read/play/listen to are long over. Not being driven by what is “the thing at the moment” makes life so much better.
Also not having much choice also makes life easier. There were times when I spent more time clicking around in the flood of what I could consume instead of chooseing and enjoying something. Now if i can’t decide in less than 5 Minutes I see it as a sign that I should od something else.
Then you should stop paying for whatever service you subscribe to but are not using. Sounds like you don’t need it.
If I have to google which streaming service a PBS show is on for my kid to watch. Something’s messed
Friendly reminder that PLEX is a great, free service, you just have to put in the effort to build up a media collection. High capacity HDDs are very cheap now, so storing a large media collection isn’t particularly expensive.
They also offer a lifetime “Plex pass” which adds some neat, but non-essential features, like auto-skipping intros and credits sequences for instance. It’s not necessary, but it’s a nice way to show support for what they do.
The basic problem with media is that copyright creates a monopoly for 100 years or so depending on various factors. This means that unless you’re into Arthur Conan Doyle or whatever, the media landscape is fundamentally monopolistic.
The prices keep going up and I have already set a max price in my mind for each subscription I’m on based on the content they provide over the year. I as a consumer don’t have infinite money.
Personally I’ve had enough with the constant fragmentation of every streaming IP into just an on demand cable TV package but even more expensive, so as soon as find the right “TV Guide but for on demand streaming programs” to replace the recommendation algorithms, I’m gonna cancel all my subscriptions and exclusively sail the digital seas.
I’ll pay for a few streaming services that can keep something I want to watch in stock year around. For the ones that can’t, their shows go onto a seedbox with plex and sonarr.
Well, how? I go to my mighty little website and they give it to me for free…
piracy is way more convinient, especially with apps like CloudStream.
Or transmission/qbittorrent + rss + jellyfin + findroid for a self hosted alternative.
I have just about the opposite problem, as someone who has been known to pirate in the past. I find there is so much content out there that it’s harder for me to decide what to watch over where to go to find it.
Most evenings, I find myself stuck in this phase, during which time I am likely to cycle through something resembling the five stages of grief. There’s Denial (I swear I had a Paramount+ account); Anger (I cannot believe I have to pay for Paramount+); Bargaining (I promise I will cancel my subscription after the one-week Paramount+ trial period ends); Depression (I cannot believe I didn’t remember to cancel Paramount+ after the trial period ended); and Acceptance (Let’s just head to Netflix and watch Suits).
Do people not realize you can cancel your subscription immediately after registering. The cancelation just stops the automatic monthly renewal. No one wants to deal with the hassle of pro rating and refunding partial used monthly subscriptions, so cancelling renewal is all it does.
I just need to find someone that has a plex server or something. I’d gladly pay someone monthly to have access than deal with this streaming nonesense.
FunderPants@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
The decline of legal streaming, through the dividing up of content onto multiple expensive streaming platforms, has pushed me away from legal options onto the black/grey market where I can get much more content for much less on a more convenient single platform.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They were never competing with cable but with piracy. Of all media sellers it seems Gabe Newell was unique in understanding that
psycho_driver@lemmy.world 1 year ago
By all accounts Gabe isn’t also a gargantuan piece of shit, which also sets him apart from the other media sellers.
qooqie@lemmy.world 1 year ago
What did Gabe do differently? I can’t recall any specifics
Marsupial@quokk.au 1 year ago
Spotify seems to have done well enough on that front as well.
prongs@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I think this is true for most people on Lemmy. But I do wonder what the average streaming users will do. What about “free” streaming platforms like Channel 4 in the UK? Content is king, and the path of least resistance will always trump.
proudblond@lemmy.world 1 year ago
In my household, where we pirate very very rarely if ever (the last time I’m aware of was 2010, though I’m not the software engineer in the relationship), we plan to: a) cycle between apps as needed; and b) frankly, watch less tv. We’re watching a couple of things on Netflix right now but once we’re done, that’s the next to go, much to my kids’ dismay. They’ll get over it.
phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Pluto TV is massively popular with my older relatives. Free, plays the shows they like, and they don’t care about the obnoxious ads. Luckily none of them have bought the fake gold coins, Trumpy Bears (don’t even look it up), or Shitty My Pillows yet.