TIL Netflix ad tier blocks some shows and movies unless you upgrade your plan

- The ads are really what get me. I’m fucking paying you and you still show me ads?!

It really was nice while streaming lasted. Shame these companies continually allow greed to drive me back into the arms of piracy.

The open, loving arms of the 7 seas.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ piracy is better anyway, I want full bitrate digital copies not compressed garbage.

Such a shame high bitrate full quality movies/TV shows will semi fade away as these asshole companies only stream their movies at 7 gigs an hour and never release physical media.
- 40GB Pirates of the Caribbean just hits differently. The black pearl coming out of an actual mist and not layers of gray that slowly recede because of compression is very awesome. FullHD with proper bitrate is enough for my 2m projector image, too.
If you stream torrented films from your computer to your TV you can get a much nicer bitrate
I remember when an older netflix ceo talked about never having ads on the platform, there was some high and mighty principle about it... But then money!
Never stopped pirating, feeling vindicated rn 💪🏴‍☠️

So far, BitTorrent hasn't blocked anything for me.

Did you guys know that your local public Library has DVDs?

They probably have a streaming service too.
- Mine does.
  
  You can digitally "lend" a movie for a week and stream it once during that time. It's free, but more cumbersome than the high seas.
- Audiobooks as well. My wife only ever listens to audiobooks she can stream from the library and she has yet to run out of things to listen to after years of doing so.
  
  Libraries are less likely to do movie streaming because the service costs them a lot more, but it's definitely worth checking.
- That's right! Some do have that service.
There's also tons of movies and TV shows on the Internet Archive because there's absolutely no content moderation there.

It will take you a lot of browsing because their search function sucks, but you will find a lot of things to watch.

Just do it soon because that's going to come back to bite them in the ass.
Dvd is SD. They may have BD's, though.
- Yeah they have both. Depends on what people donate.
Sadly, though, this may not be helpful for much longer.

Some films are beginning to completely forego physical release in favor of digital only, and we're veering back towards "You need a dedicated set-top box for movies" territory with computers and game consoles trying to do away with disc drives.
- Yeah I know. 😓
I just read LG has stopped manufacturing blueray players. Meaning, soon, the dvds/bluerays at your local library will be defunct :(
- There are many other vendors that still make players.

The answer is piracy.

Example

Devil's Advocate here, but I wonder if that could be a choice made by the creatives or the production company - like, "we hate advertising and don't want it shown during our show, so that's the kind of licence we will agree to".

I think a lot of people would applaud that sentiment of refusing to have ads in their show.

Unfortunately the result would be that for noble, purity of the art, reasons they end up accidentally screwing people in your situation.

No idea if that's plausible, but maybe?
- Yeah, I feel like there is a lot at play even in terms of how the content is paid for. Maybe netflix only gets the ad money and not the creatives, in which case they don’t want their content on the ad version. Either way, the customer suffers.
- As the article states, this applies to Netflix originals too so I don't know how true this is.
So not a real loss in this specific case.

Arrrrrrrr

DVDs, people! DVDs and Blu-Rays!

I want a digital format that i can store locally. I think i'm forced to buy blu-rays and a blu-ray drive.
- Buy the disc, then use Handbrake to digitize.
  
  E: autocorrect

I was able to watch all of those movies and shows on the Usenet tier of Netflix.

What's this skull and cross bones flag doing here???? Oh, right. It's mine. I fly it often....

Yar har fiddle de dee, a pirate life for me.

TIL theres a good place to get free goodies

[email protected] (inaccessible for lemmy.world users)

Sonofabitch it didn't used to be blocked for .world. I really need to switch, ugh.
- World admins seem shitty, they're also banned discussion of jury nullification.
- Yeah, .world is pretty shitty in terms of censorship. Wonder why many people stick with that instance.
Got any suggestions for another instance that doesn't block much? (Or isn't blocked much, I don't know what's happening.)
- I'm at lemmy.dbzer0.com - run by an anarchist but you don't have to be an anarchist to join, this instance is pro-piracy, and the instace where [email protected] is hosted. Only spam instances and lemmygrad is blocked, but hexbear isn't blocked
  
  sopuli.xyz - run by a Finnish person - blocks both lemmygrad and hexbear, and spam instances
  
  lemmy.ca - run by Canadians? (I think?) - also blocks both lemmygrad and hexbear, and spam instances
  
  sh.itjust.works - this one seems like the only one that has no application ~~the last time I checked~~ I just checked and theres no application - also blocks lemmygrad and hexbear, and spam instances
  
  lemmy.sdf.org - has zero blocks, so they federate with spam instances and possibly illegal content (CSAM) from other instances
  
  lemm.ee - federates with all except 3: (threads.net) (lemmy.burger.rodeo) (burggit.moe)
  
  Edit: I actually am worried about the instances that have low or zero blocks, there are CSAM everywhere, its kinda risky to federate with all.

I went back to sailing 6 months ago and dropped Netflix and Prime. I can get free shipping most anywhere now, but it's usually slow to get here. When I tried to watch a show on Prime and got ads as frequently as basic cable I was done.

My original reason to get Prime was that I was building a PC and the no-fuss returns policy seemed like good insurance against faulty parts. Some sellers blame problems on the customer or otherwise drag their feet on returns. TBH I hardly watch Prime anymore, but the ads really are annoying. It's like "Oh sorry, the pitted olives will have pits from now on."

Cancel your subscription now.

Download Stremio Install Torrentio plugin

Never see an ad again, every movie and show ever made

I may or may not have done this but even with a 1Gbps fiber connection sometimes it still buffers a lot. :(

It's a licensing issue. They don't have the rights to show every movie or show ad supported.

That somehow makes it less terrible?
- It's just facts. Explaining, not excusing, not defending. A statement of facts.
Do you have a source for that? Because some of them are Netflix originals.
- For one you can read the article. But it's a long standing thing. When you license a film or show for streaming, you don't inherently get the right to show ads during it. Some studios specifically exclude the right, some charge more, some don't care. The deals made for some of the Netflix originals don't even allow it, so they can't show their "own" shows with ads. The reality is often times streaming services aren't even making their original shows, they're just paying a bunch of money for exclusive distribution in one or more markets. So, older deals especially, Netflix didn't negotiate for ad rights because they weren't showing ads back then. Some production companies don't want ads running during their prestige show.
- Netflix originals.
  
  "Netflix Originals" are content that is produced, co-produced, or distributed exclusively by Netflix. Note that last type. Anything they have exclusive distribution rights for can be labeled an original, even things they didn't make.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_Netflix_exclusive_international_distribution_programming
It's greed issue.

Netflix Lite - gives you more time to enjoy the ads you love!

I've come to the conclusion that some people would be satisfied with an entertainment technology that does nothing but display ads. And it probably like 10% of the population.
- This has existed for decades in the form of a game show called "The Price is Right". It's obscene that they break away to commercials when the show itself is just an endless parade of consumer products presented by beautiful humans.
- Home Shopping Network (or whatever it's called now) has always been popular.

🏴‍☠️⛵🏴‍☠️

Yar-har fiddle-dee-dee!

While I don't think this is a news channel, I cannot condemn any rage against the machine.

I don't really know why I still have a netflix subscription

Inertia.
I dropped Netflix last year and haven't missed it at all. There's been maybe two shows/movies that I've had to torrent.

lol. "upgrade"

Is there a reason why people won't buy blu rays?

Waiting 20 minutes through unskippable trailers, 4-5 different 30s logos, a 2-3 minute menu intro then a menu that takes 2-3 seconds to respond per arrow press?
Because a single movie costs like 3 months of ad-tier Netflix.

They're not on ad-tier because they're flushed with cash...
- I would rather buy the movie and own it than pay netflix money.
- Brand new, maybe. But second hand markets exist for this reason.
- Because a single movie costs like 3 months of ad-tier Netflix.
  
  Have you looked at blu-ray prices lately? Shit is cheap af. I've been amassing a collection of Criterion Collection blu-rays, usually $30-50 each, on Amazon for ~$15 a piece, on sale consistently. Sometimes even cheaper (Blue is the Warmest Color Criterion Collection Blu-Ray was just on sale for $12.49 on Amazon). The sales seem to change regularly, so I just check every few weeks. And you get a ton of really cool extra shit on top of an amazing film transfer.
  
  And that's for Criterion Collection. Regular blu-rays are often $7-10
Players can be expensive, but the most significant reason is probably having to get up and switch discs to watch something else. The vast majority of consumers have no idea how to rip a disc, nor the know-how required to set up a media server.
- fair enough.
- I've got a PS5, otherwise I'd have no way to play my blu-rays and 4k blu-rays... Definitely getting my moneys worth from it.
You mean the technology Sony just discontinued?

Enshittification will continue until Chapter 7 bankruptcy improves.

🏴‍☠️

I watch them the other way. Even then there's barely anything to watch

K. Still won't get me to subscribe, but okay.

Anyone know of a way to buy movies that doesn't include a bluray?

A good % of blu-rays these days come with a code that you can use to get a digital copy. I have never actually used one, so I'm not sure how it works or what bitrate/filetype, etc.
~~buy~~ find
- I am trying to avoid doing that if i can.