Shrinkflation, hitting online world too.
That's why I pirate. Jellyfin FTW.
I was a long time pirate back in the day, and thinking of sailing once again. However all my old booty spots are gone. What is Jellyfin?
Plex and Jellyfin are two ways to host your own content. Basically, instead of streaming from a Netflix server, you’re streaming from your own server.
Plex was the original, and Jellyfin is the FOSS alternative. In short, you run the program on a computer somewhere, and tell that program where all of your media is stored. It’ll scan your media depending on the library type (movies, TV shows, music, etc,) automatically pair it with the appropriate metadata, and make it available for streaming via the computer.
You can combine this with the *arr suite (Radarr, Sonarr, etc) to have your torrent client automatically download new content as it comes out. Basically, the appropriate *arr program listens for when new content gets released, then automatically tells your torrent client to search for that content (based on specific rules like language, bitrate, capture method, etc) and download it automatically. This pairs nicely with Plex/Jellyfin because you can use automatic torrent management to drop the files directly into the right folders for your server to scan and make available.
It does have a few drawbacks. One of the most annoying is port forwarding. Lots of VPNs have stopped offering port forwarding, because some creeps figured out how to use it to share/trade CSAM anonymously. But Plex and Jellyfin require an open port in order to be made available outside of your network, and you don’t want to run the server+torrents without a VPN. Some VPNs allow port forwarding, but randomly assign the port every time you connect. So it may work fine for a while, but will require occasional attention when that port changes.
There’s also the issue with needing a computer that’s turned on all the time. Some people (like myself) just run it on their home desktop. But that means I needed to set up Wake On LAN to be able to boot my computer up remotely, or just be okay with letting it idle all the time and never sleep. Personally, I chose to enable WOL, so I just remote into my network and send a magic packet before trying to stream. But that’s an extra step some people won’t want to do every time. If you have an old computer sitting around gathering dust, it can be a great weekend project.
Tbh, all you need nowadays for most stuff is a VPN , Qbittorrent and 1337x.to
Download speeds are such that a 1.5gb film takes about a minute to download (in Europe, not sure about third world countries lol)
If you need something more obscure, look up how to add the search engine to Qbittorrent
Nevermind that shit, Stremio + Torrentio + Real-Debrid. I'm fucking done with these greedy-ass companies. I was paying Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple, Paramount , MLB.tv and HBO, and pretty content to do so, and they all continually removed content and adjusted their pricing to reduce what I was getting for my money. They finally pushed me beyond my tolerance limit a few months ago and I've been back to sailing the high seas for the first time in 20 years.
I have more content now, all at acceptable quality options, all with good subtitles instead of the mess HBO was, and all on the same platform instead of having to jump between 7 different apps. I'm done with them and I'll stay done with them until they pull their heads out of their asses.
Edit: if you get a cheap computer, a Chromecast, a FireTV, or what I have - an Nvidia Shield TV, then you get even get a nifty remote controller and a good standard browsing platform for everything.
I'm like you, hadn't pirated outside of games since early 2000s and just started again. Wait until you see the shit we have now, it's mind-blowing how far it's come.
And with Jellyfin if you have the upload speeds you can even host for family etc, so anyone sharing your Netflix now can just login to your Jellyfin server, for them it will be a comparable experience.
There's now a whole ecosystem of applications to streamline the download of series (sonarr) and movies (radarr) using torrents or Usenet (prowlarr). Pair those with a good player like Jellyfin or Plex and you have a nice media center that for sure won't stop working everytime your family tries to watch a movie...
Check out Stremio, if you are used to streaming services it is the best equivalent.
!c/opensignups @c/opensignups @[email protected] [email protected]
I think one of those should work… Sign up for a private tracker or two
I like Plex and Real Debrid too.
I've tested jellyfin this week on my dedicated server. It's cool but most of my files need transcoding to be played on the browser, which my weak server CPU cannot handle. The best option I found to stream any file format without eating up all server resources on this machine is to set up a simple nginx server with autoindex streaming the files to VLC. I use the "Open with VLC" browser extension to quickly open the links. Playback performance is quite good (scrubbing is fast) and everything plays well.
Cool
On it’s like Plex.
Piracy always rises up from service issues. This is a service issue
Piracy is a service issue. - GabeN
- Einstein
and then all corporations go suprise pikachu face when piracy is on the rise :O
"Piracy is growing back!? How?? We had prattically killed it with our optimal services haven't we??"
like retail suddenly writing off large chunks to 'theft' coinciding with move to self checkout. surprise
HBO MIN
HBO MID at most
HBO AVG
I came back in here just to up vote this. Perfect!
I’m old enough to remember when HBO’s entire point was you paid for cable so you wouldn’t have ads. That was their business model.
Then sometime in the late 80s or early 90s (I dunno, that decade’s kind of a blur) they started sneaking ads in between shows, but not in the middle of shows. But you were paying a higher price, with a few ads. Then they started showing ads to everyone, and still making you pay. I’m still salty about that.
This was always going to happen. They’ll compound paying PLUS ads, and you’ll like it, because what choice do you have if all services are doing it?
Fuck them all . 🏴☠️
e: massively borked that first sentence
what choice do you have if all services are doing it?
in Australia that was the whole selling point of foxtel when it launched. these days it has more ads than free to air TV and still costs like $60 a month for the basic package. most people only use it for sport
Great example , thanks! Yeah, same thing.
Paying customers attention is so fucking valuable. People pay for something, maybe if we add ads they will pay for more things!
And most people are surprisingly not bothered by ads. So... Just criminalise the people that are, and there you go, infinite money making machine.
Most cable TV channels still had ads, the revenue generated from subscribers would never have been enough to cover otherwise.
Edit: thanks for the downvotes, I'm right, they're wrong, deal with it: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/7wxRbKq9Dj
In the early days they didn’t; that was the whole point of them. You paid a subscription specifically not to have ads like free broadcast television did.
It only lasted like a decade, but it was their whole selling point.
e: keep in mind, too, that broadcast tv at the time was where all the good content was. HBO only showed movies that had already been in theatres (thus the name Home Box Office) and Showtime’s hook was soft-core porn. (‘Do your parents have Showtime?’ was sleepover code for ‘can we watch kinda-porn after the ‘rents have gone to sleep?’) There wasn’t the dearth of original shows/movies we have now. They weren’t studios back then.
e2: sorry for multiple edits, but also bear in mind that when HBO first came out, people were watching their content on televisions like this, which was so inferior to movie theatres that ‘it’s in your home advertising free!’ was basically their whole selling point at first.
Thank you for being a loyal subscriber. Please hold still while we fuck you
"Thanks for the money, fuck you"
They must think so little of me, as if I'm grateful for this?
This is it isn’t it? I’d complain and cancel but they don’t care about how I feel.
maybe or maybe not. but they do care where you spend your money
So right after I signed up at the beginning of this year, they switched from HBOMax to "Max." I paid for a year in advance, and of course when I signed up there was nothing about them switching to a new brand. All of a sudden it was full of trash reality shows and ID Discovery true crime. I have no idea what possessed them to do that.
Then once it switched over I stopped being able to stream any new HBO shows on mobile and customer service won't refund me any amount. Not that I can even communicate with them effectively. It's all "chat" with AI or people who have no idea what I'm saying. Half the shows still won't play on mobile for me.
TL;DR I paid for a year of HBO. They changed their selection a few months in. I lost mobile access to a bunch of their shows. And now I'm losing even more features before the year is up. That's quite literally not what I paid for.
How exactly is any of that legal? Genuine question. What about the Federal Trade Commission? Isn't there fucking anybody regulating these corporations in the US?
Ask them for a refund, in writing, document everything, and if they refuse, take it to your state's AG office. Obviously I can't speak for every state, but mine has slapped around whirlpool when they refused to fix a defective fridge, dell when they refused to replace a monitor with dead pixels, etc. I've never had a bad experience. It's amazing how a letter from your local AG's office will suddenly make companies be less shitty to you.
How exactly is any of that legal? Genuine question. What about the Federal Trade Commission? Isn’t there fucking anybody regulating these corporations in the US?
There are government websites you can report this to, though I do not know what effect that will have.
IANAL, but my understanding is that if you paid for a year for a certain set of services they have to give you those services for the whole year, or refund you your money.
If you paid for a service you were not rendered, presumably with a credit card, and attempted remediation with the company, hopefully in writing or recorded in some form, you can do a charge back with your credit card.
I had purchased a year in advance last fall and when it switched over, it only didn't play on m9bile for me for a week, then I was able to stream on mobile regularly. However, with their changes, I chose not to renew my subscription. Their quality is degrading quite a bit, it was no longer worth it.
The only way this becomes less likely in the future is if you sue them. Given you’re locked into a year contract, a lawsuit is the only kind of consequences they might face.
Thats the same time that they cancelled raised by wolves. Fuck discovery and fuck corporate mergers.
what they do is lure you in with unsustainable prices and once they got established slap you with real price. Because for the real price you wouldn't find it worthy in the first place. But now that you enjoy it it's more likely you'll pay more than what you might initially do
Man, they really are like drug dealers...
Don’t worry, they’ll raise those prices very soon.
Time to start sailing the high seas!
Hehe, "start"
Ja I got the email today, and I’m like, what new features? This is anti new features.
I have never seen a company actively promoting that they have less to offer. Jesus Christ will capitalism please just come to a crashing halt already
"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
"Thank you for being a loyal Max customer"
"Now roll over like a good customer..."
Meanwhile the trusty pitate has none of these problems lol
The number of apps I just stopped using because of this shit is ridiculous. I feel most bad for older customers who probably don't realize they're losing features and paying more for their subscriptions. They probably don't know how to properly sail the high seas either so they don't have a choice when wanting to watch their favorite shows. Oh well fuck it, Max can keep this up until they want to join Netflix up on the dusty shelf of bullshit streaming services that can suck my dick.
Now that I'm canceling Max, I'm basically just left with Crunchyroll and Shudder as streaming services. They've all become so shit, I couldn't stomach giving them any more money.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum…
16 users on a dead man's torrent
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum…
So singing and all is fine, but what we really need at this point is actual instructions on how to.
Back in the day it was all done via USENET, is it still like that today?
Yes, and no. Highly recommend [email protected]
Shrinkflation isn't just for meatspace products.
Heh, meatspace
Yo ho ho and a bottle of fuck corporations
Digital shrinkflation.
Love that it says “Thanks for beings a loyal Max Subscriber” then goes on to imply but fuck you and your loyalty.
No no, not fuck your loyalty. You will remain loyal, but fuck you.
Got this too, I am pissed, though it won't really effect me. May look into sailing the seas again.
Yarr? Yarr. Yarrr!!
When contracts don't include prices
Thank you for being a loyal Max subscriber
Like this is a gift from them?
As a Max, I do not endorse this. Also, yarr.
I love the wording of "some features will change" and even "new features" when the only change is that features will be removed.
Stop giving them money then?
AT&T includes the subscription with their cellular package, so they claim its "free". I'm also not the head of the account. But I agree.
I'd give them a call: "i don't mind these changes for 65% of the previous fee, unless you want me to cancel right here right now".
See if they are willing to compensate, if not just cancel and yarr matey.
It's just entertainment in the end, nothing we can't live without or have loads of replacements available.
You clearly haven't met my parents, if they couldn't get youtube or fox news they would go comatose on the spot
They sound really dramatic and difficult to deal with (an assumption based on what i usually hear about people that are similar in preferences etc).
If this is right, take care.
Time to make your own discount
Holy shit, shrinkflation on a streaming service
Urge to kill rising...
makes you wonder, how often are 3 screens watching at the same time? it seriously has to a fuck all, why bother even restricting it
They're just trying to save you money!! Encouraging you to quit their fuckin scam and sail the seas
Getting rid of 4k streaming was a deal breaker for me. Literally watched one movie we'd been putting off last night just so I could cancel today.
It blows my mind that people actually pay for these services other than the release groups that rip them for me.
I dont get how that blows your mind. Families typically dont have the time to jump through loops so they pretty much have to pay for some kind of streaming service. I use to sail the seas all the time but between work, family, and trying to find time to myself there's no time.
I still can't believe these release groups do their services for free. Godbless.
Do you send the actors and production staff a few cents each for every rip? I understand big studios evil, etc, etc, but piracy is not without cost.
Don't they currently get $0 for streaming
I can only speak for myself, but I started buying blu-rays a lot more once I dropped streaming services in favor of piracy. I'll happily throw some cash toward the creators of things I like, and that's a more direct way to do so.
When it comes to indie stuff or blockbusters that were huge risks for the studios like Dune, you should pay for it if you have the ability. Pirating doesn't directly hurt most of the people who worked on the film, as they usually get payment upfront. It does hurt them in the future, as studios won't finance similar future projects or projects with those creators. This is why you should pay for risky movies that are of higher quality.
If Dune didn't make the money it did, the franchise would have ended there. I was surprised it did as well as it did, as while I never doubted that it would be a good movie considering the people that made it, I was convinced it wasn't something most people would appreciate. The director's last film, Blade Runner 2049, was better than the first movie, but not enough people saw it in theaters. I was blindsided by Dune even getting made, let alone being a financial success.
Bottom line, pay for movies you want people to make more of if possible. Pirate shit you don't care about. If you can't pay for media because of financial hardship, pirate away. Investors have made streaming services suck for consumers while squeezing workers into having little disposable income or time. They deserve piracy, as it's the harvest they have sown. Property is a social contract, and by not letting workers see the benefits of ownership, they have every right to not respect it.
Yes
Have you heard of pirate bay?
Max would be in my cancellation list if it wasn't because I get it for free because my cable provider from 2013 is too incompetent to update their database with the fact that I haven't owned that condo since 2015. Netflix is hanging on by a thread.
I currently pay for Paramount+ (great value) and Dropout (support indie creators). Prime doesn't count because I pay for it for the shipping, but once they start with ads, I'll stop watching it.
We're back to that place where the hassle of piracy is worth it again. The problem for studios is that technology has come a long way since the last time people had to think about "cord cutting" through piracy, and it's just too easy to do it now. The second golden age of television is coming to an end.
I wouldn't call paramount+ a great value considering the application is such a complete piece of garbage regardless of platform. You couldn't even pay me to use it.
Netflix lost me when they stopped letting you share your login. The only reason we were still subscribed was because my son and my mom used our account. Neither of them will subscribe on their own, so they didn't gain two new customers, they lost a customer of 15 years. I made sure to tell them exactly why I was cancelling and included the fact that they're greedy and shortsighted. Actually everyone lost me when that happened. That was the straw that pushed my ship back out to sea.
You can get Paramount+ free if you don't mind putting in a promo code and cancelling once a month. There are usually several out at a time to promote their shows. Haven't ever paid for it, but had it since before it was Paramount. Codes almost all work with the showtime bundle, too. You just reactivate your same account with the promo code.
Don’t worry, we’ll shovel more garbage reality shows into your app and wreck the ux even harder. Here’s 40 seasons of people having diarrhea on airplanes. Expect price increases in 6 months.
40 seasons of people having diarrhea on airplanes
What's the name of this show?
When C. Diff Strikes: Mile High Edition
you made me laugh!
Good question for the brilliant minds at askouija
A Series of Unfortunate Events on Delta and EasyJet
Correction: the writers planned out 40 seasons but it was cancelled on a particularly shitty cliffhanger after season two.
The show really jumped the shart.
Netflix did the same, but prices went up 1-2 times a year regardless. I'm no longer paying for Netflix. 🤗
Same. After almost a decade, we finally cancelled this year.
I cancelled back on the first price hike they did. Just wasn't enough for the handful of times I used it per year. They had me at the point where I kinda didn't care I was paying, but the price hike gave me a wake up call. Since then they've continued to up the prices and I've continued to not give a shit. Netflix originally won me back from bothering to pirate stuff cause it was so good and easy, now the opposite is true in the streaming space.
They realized that Netflix is heading six feet under , Amazon sucks so they can go back to making profit.
So what are people doing to get access to private trackers? Getting sick of this, cancelled all my streaming services that kept raising prices and set up Jellyfin on my old laptop.
Torrentleech has open sign-ups a few times a year. Usually near big American holidays
Visit the open trackers website a couple times a week and you'll catch some good opportunities to join some decent sites. Not the hard to get into ones but still some decent ones.
🏴☠️
Does this count as shrinkflation...?
Absolutely. My value to price ratio has dropped significantly.
the enshittification continues. how do you continue to grow when everyone is either already a customer or would never become one under any circumstances? you make the product worse and more expensive.
My prediction is that people will get fed up with this and just stop subscribing to these services. Eventually they companies will give up on the gouging and all their content will reappear on Netflix, and we'll all end up back in 2013.
Just canceled my service. I wasn’t watching too much on there already and this was ridiculous. They were already one of the priciest options and now I can either lose the 4k I was paying for, or bump up to $20/month? No thank you.
A lot of people don't even realize they aren't watching it in 4k. At least, browsers don't stream it in 4k. You have to install the app on your system for that, either on your TV app store or Windows Store (if on Windows). If you're on Linux, I have no idea. So many people watching in browsers not realizing they're paying for 4k that they never use.
For sure yeah, so it may be a whatever for a lot of folks anyway. Just irked me.
Last time I checked/had a streaming subscription, you didn't get 4k on linux.
I canceled when they raised the price. I am DONE with all the price increases the past year.
the 'download' offering is funny because you know it's not a real download you can have faith in, it's some fake bullshit where they're allowed to let you hit a button
Cancelled my subscription yesterday because of this.
When is Doctor Who leaving Max for Disney?
Set your vpn to uk and go on bbc iplayer. It has every episode as far back as the reboot with Christopher Ecclestone
Two devices is lunacy.
Don't trust DRM
It's so shady that even Google is backing down from bringing it to Chrome.
I canceled hbo max because the price is ridiculous
Is the selection even that good on HBO max? I know it probably has all the HBO shows but what I it like movie wise (for context in my country there is no HBO)
Oh BTW op just to let you know I removed your post about this on lemmy shit posting because it wasn't relevant (it's a shitposting community). Just to let you know.
I honestly think it's better than Netflix (most streaming services are) and Hulu and definitely better than Prime.
It's just that once they switched to Max they started focusing on reality shows and true crime and other such garbage.
I like the HBO shows, there's a big chunk of classic movies (TCM) and then all the DC cartoons which I've been making my way through with my kiddos. It's a decent selection of stuff. There's also all the discovery crap. My wife is addicted to the 90 Day Fianceeverse
Call your bank and ask about a charge back.
RRRRRRR ME MATEY. SEEMS TO ME YOU NEED TO BE SAILING THE SEAS. SHALL I RECOMMEND A SEA SHANTY FOR US TO SING?
I got the email yesterday and went ahead and canceled. All the months of zero content during the writer's strike made it pretty easy to do away with a lot of these streaming services. Gotta vote with that wallet!
Don't worry they'll introduce a plan for you!
I asked customer support what they will do about this, and they helpfully told me I could upgrade my plan by paying more money!
So they created a new tier and downgraded this tier? This is some buttfuckery if I’ve ever seen it. So those that had it as part of their cell plan now have to pay extra if they want 4K? I wonder if there’s any discourse with cell providers since now they’ve been downgraded, I feel that they have some responsibility to reduce their prices as well if you’re not getting the value you were promised when signing up. But I’m pretty sure cell providers will say shut up and take it you slut and double down. Out of curiosity what’s the price differences now?
Lpt: of you have At&t service you get free HBO max... Atleast you used to and mine still works so I assume that's still a thing.
That's why I got this email and created this thread in the first place
Eastbound and down is the only reason I ever open the app
Thanks for sharing. I found I got the same email so I canceled immediately. Guess I'll just watch those shows else where for free 🦜🏴☠️
OP, you know what you can remove, right?
I'm not the owner of the account. But I can raise awareness to others about this, including the account owner.
Just use streamio with torrentio add-on or real-debrid. Screw these streaming services.
Phew so glad I canceled when they changed to Max. That was a sign. Plus, all the other bad news that came with it.
Yarr harr fiddle de-dee…
I think the majority are probably like phewww the price didn’t go up 😮💨
This is what happens when normies start to enjoy the e-fruit
btw i don't get the "download up to 30" limitation.
it's not like they're paying for your own disk space?It's so you don't buy a month of service, then spend that month ripping everything they've got to your own storage and cancel.
The downloads aren't unencrypted, you can't play them with any media player. Only their app can decrypt and play it. Has nothing to do with ripping them all in the month, you can do that without downloading them at all and just stream them to rip them.
The point of limiting it to 30 is to prevent someone from downloading them all to their device and then disconnecting the device from the internet permanently so you can have them forever. You'd have to do some date manipulation too in the operating system to keep the app from knowing your subscription actually expired.
I get HBO Max through my wireless carrier, but there's no way in hell I'd pay for it on its own. The Max app is just straight, unadulterated hot garbage.
Me too. But this made me lose any support for them.
Know what would solve this problem once and for all? If people collectively decided to boycott "popular culture" and entertain themselves without bowing to the copyright industry
Don't worry, the inevitable price increase isn't until next week.
will you pay them the same amount for less service?
Yar har, fiddle de dee
I gave up on this a few months back as I found better alternatives. To be honest, it was a bit expensive and I was looking for ways to save money each month. There are better alternatives out there which you can definitely consider and save money on it.
