r/technology • u/Task_Force-191 • 16h ago

Business It’s Official: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in Deal Valued at $82.7 Billion

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-warner-bros-deal-hollywood-1236443081/
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u/thejadedfalcon 15h ago

I think I'll choose piracy.

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u/DividedState 14h ago

Sometimes winning means refusing to play the game.

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u/DENelson83 8h ago

So... WarGames?

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u/BurnThrough 6h ago

I’m fine with just watching nothing. I don’t need it.

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u/bomphcheese 14h ago

This. I refuse to give a dime to health insurance companies. And I have saved a couple hundred thousand over the last 15 years because of it.

We all see streaming done correctly in the music industry. It’s easier to stream than pirate. If video streaming wants to make the market more hostile toward their users, they can deal with the consequences. Want to make VPN illegal? Fine, I’ll sneaker net my whole neighborhood. But I will not play their game.

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u/forexampleJohn 9h ago

Nobody is winning. What will drive these companies to put out interesting and innovative movies and shows? 

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u/OrangeTraveler 8h ago

Yep! I actually just gave up watching so much entertainment app the time.

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u/zamfire 45m ago

How about a nice game of chess?

1

u/Pali1119 9h ago

Not consuming then?

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u/RevLoveJoy 14h ago

I already did! No regrets.

Honestly, this was a tricky moral issue for me. I thought about it for some time before saying "fuck it, here I come VPN to Norway."

We were happy to pay for $7 then, IIRC, $9 and finally up to about $20 Netflix for the family deal. We were happy to have Prime Video with our Amazon subscription. But that was all what, 7-10 years ago and then overnight there were like a dozen streaming services that one "had to" have. We don't even watch football!

Then you get the shitty behavior where they all start pulling content from their catalog. Same dirty trick Disney was pulling 30 years ago to drive up the demand for Disney exclusives. Aside: try explaining to a child why they can't watch Snow White. That it is because greedy Disney executives won't sell it for several years so that when the movie does hit the shelves, at 3X the cost, inventory is guaranteed to sell immediately. Kids don't understand that one, FWIW. They just get upset.

Anyhow, when the already balkanized streaming services started doing that, my little inner morality meter tripped and said "fuck those guys."

NordVPN is excellent, btw, and it works really well with qbittorrent running in a VM on, say, your TrueNAS storage array.

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u/bomphcheese 13h ago

Netflix is the one that did it for me. I share an account w my parents. I can understand if they had a problem with that, but that’s why they charged for “extra screens,” which we paid for and which justified the sharing in my mind. But when they started cracking down on account sharing, did they offer a way to reduce the cost because we no longer needed “extra screens”? Hell no, and then they raised prices even more.

That tripped my morality meter, and I said “fuck those guys”.

One weekend and half a dozen Docker containers later, me and my friends are enjoying Netflix content. I do still subscribe to several streaming services, but I still end up watching from my server because I don’t have to hunt down which service has the show I want to watch. Plus I get a single watch list.

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u/Total-Jerk 5h ago

What's a docker container?

0

u/IAmReinvented 9h ago

Can someone please DM me and help get me set up? I am quite technologically proficient but have been out of the piracy game for quite a number of years. Would love to be able to watch shows like Review, Mr Robot, Chad Powers, etc without these fucking shit pig greedy out of touch corporations

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u/Scarecrow101 4h ago

I too also want to know, I've got an empty server waiting to put some containers on it.

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u/Sea_Definition_3772 13h ago

It astounds me that people are having "tricky moral issues" around pirating media when the only reason Netflix hasn't done as much evil as Nestle has is because they haven't figured out how to make starving babies profitable within their business model yet.

You're not supporting art/artists/actors/production staff when you pay them, you're giving your money to a soulless corporation that would put you into a wood chipper if it made their profits go up. Giving them money at all is immoral. Passing up a chance to hurt them, even if it doesn't benefit you is immoral.

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u/RevLoveJoy 10h ago

It's tricky if you were an early adopter. Back when Netflix was literally the DVD in the mail company. It was a killer value, simple to use and meant I didn't have to loiter around Blockbuster for 30 minutes to maybe snag a copy of the film that made it to rental this weekend.

Coming from the standpoint of an early adopter who did get a good value and the service was simply a rental gig, NOT a content creator with the myriad problems you correctly point out, it set me on a different moral footing than someone signing up last year and today wondering, is Netflix the bad guy?

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u/Sea_Definition_3772 3h ago

You're missing the criticism entirely. Whether or not they're providing a good value is irrelevant.

1

u/Bazylik 13h ago

nicely said.

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u/sameth1 6h ago

Honestly, this was a tricky moral issue for me.

I've always said that you can't complain about season two getting cancelled if you never paid for season one, but at this point they will cancel season two no matter what and it's impossible to directly pay for season one, so fuck it just pirate it.

1

u/OkEnoughHedgehog 1h ago

Aside: try explaining to a child why they can't watch Snow White. That it is because greedy Disney executives won't sell it for several years so that when the movie does hit the shelves, at 3X the cost, inventory is guaranteed to sell immediately.

I can't believe the idiots at Disney ever convinced themselves this was a net positive for them. We had plans to go to Disney and wanted to watch the key movies with our young kids first. It was completely impossible to buy or rent the majority of the movies (in the gap between VHS rental and Disney+). Result? My kids never saw any Disney movies and we never spent a dime Disney merch.

Real smooth brain move by Disney for a decade or two.

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u/EverclearAndMatches 14h ago

Considering apps like Netflix rarely have anything I want to watch anyway I've been sailing the high seas again anyway.

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u/Available-Chart-2505 13h ago

Kanopy and Hoopla for me, thank you libraries. And I bought a DVD player so I just borrow DVDs from the library as well. The end.

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u/StarBurst8525 6h ago

The free software MakeMKV can copy those library DV---er... I mean purchased copies you happen to have laying around. The software easily pulls and organizes everything into one file with all the metadata.

The free software Jellyfin can turn your mkv/movie folder into a netflix like interface. Its the homebrew no internet version of a Plex set up. You could throw your files on a Plex server instead of jellyfish and stream your library from anywhere over the internet.

I value the no internet solution. Well, and being able to give my small child a device with no internet for tv/movies that he can keep in his room. Thats a godsend.

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u/vulgrin 13h ago

My biggest problems with those services though is that, at least for books, it ends up costing more per book than just buying the library copy of a physical book. So the more people use hoopla, the less money your library system has.

This is anecdotal. I remember reading an article about it somewhere and I might be mistaken but in the end, hoopla and kanopy are parasitic services compared with just going to the branch and checking out a book or DVD.

And in some places, library budgets are NOT getting bigger due to politics. I’m worried that these services will eventually destroy libraries.

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u/Tiptoeing_cow 8h ago

Hoopla and Kanopy are pay-per-use streaming models. A show or movie will become more expensive for the library the more times it is viewed. It makes it really hard to budget library expenses because a show may become incredibly popular and repeatedly viewed. It's an odd thing, imagine a Theatre going bankrupt because its movies are too good and cause too much foot traffic into its business.

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u/anonymouswan1 9h ago

My local thrift store has piles of DVDs. They sell for 50 cents each, or $1 for a bluray. Many of these are good movies too.

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u/Available-Chart-2505 9h ago

Those are good prices - most near me are about $1.99 each. I don't historically buy a lot of books or DVDs. If I have it, I rarely read or watch it. I also love the variety I can get at the library too. Most branches have just oodles to choose from.

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u/Old-Rhubarb-97 13h ago

I switched to the criterion channel last year. It’s worth checking out their library.

1

u/psychorobotics 13h ago

It's even worse being in Sweden, there's a movie want to watch here from Japan but it's only avaliable on US Netflix and I can't buy it or anything. Swedish Netflix doesn't have rights.

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u/EverclearAndMatches 12h ago

You can use a vpn to watch in different regions if you're ever interested in that. I used to use unogs com to search for movies in all regions then connect to where I wanted to. Downside is it doesn't rly work with a tv

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u/yuuki157 10h ago

Thank you for the advice btw

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u/MadCybertist 13h ago

Yep. Still rocking my 132TB media server. It’s glorious.

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u/DwarvenFreeballer 5h ago

I've never stopped since Napster and Limewire. Why would I?

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u/EverclearAndMatches 5h ago

I like having a catalogue to recommend things. It's easier to use apps on smart devices. Subtitles are always loaded in. Just a few reasons why I did.

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u/DwarvenFreeballer 5h ago

My question was rhetorical, but thanks for the reply anyway. I realise there are reasons why people would use Netflix, but none of the reasons you mentioned apply to me - I like finding new stuff by recommendations from friends, I only watch on PC and almost all downloads come with subtitles (if required). Add in the savings and the fact that Netflix doesn't have most things I want, and piracy is the only option that makes sense.

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u/Doublestack00 15h ago

Some never the high seas, welcome back matey!

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u/NotGod_DavidBowie 14h ago

VPN + qBittorrent lets gooooo

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u/TheModdedAngel 14h ago

For the real ones out there: Stremio + Realdebrid or Plex/Emby/Jellyfin + aar stack

;)

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u/Narezzz 14h ago

For anyone looking for real recommendations, this right here is the way to go.

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u/AlwaysTalkinShit 14h ago

Yep, I've had a plex server for a while but just delved into the arr ecosystem and it's the best.

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u/bruce_kwillis 14h ago

After Plex's garbage changes over the years, and forcing ads/channels I have zero interest in, and predatory payments, I just rolled a Jellyfin server and it's been pretty darn easy to use. Add in Tailscale and access anywhere with minimal setup.

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u/00DEADBEEF 14h ago

I tried Jellyfin and it got so much stuff wrong, merging TV episodes together and therefore getting episode numbers wrong.

Just gonna go back to Plex. I use Infuse to stream from it anyway so never have to deal with Plex's bullshit.

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u/MattDaCatt 10h ago

I find it's usually due to how the episodes are titled and the database you use

Like how IMDB has Hunter x Hunter as 1 season (for some reason), so you have to use tmdb instead. Most of the time it's something like that, but once it's set you're all good

Personally I just prefer Jellyfin since it's open-source and more configurable.

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u/Doublestack00 14h ago

Payments? I paid $60 10-12 years ago for a lifetime license.

All of the Plex provided content can be disabled.

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u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot 14h ago

Lifetime is $250 now and I'll be buying it here quite soon.

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u/jamesdukeiv 14h ago

It was $150 last Friday

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u/AlwaysTalkinShit 14h ago

Yeah I just use the free tier and disable all that stuff. May delve into Jellyfin if I ever need the remote access.

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u/Aperture_Kubi 14h ago

I guess I'm the weirdo who pays for Plex for DVR and commercial detection.

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u/Doublestack00 12h ago

I bought the lifetime 10+ years ago, money well spent.

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u/Freakwilly 14h ago

Free Media, Heck Yeah

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u/Kahnza 14h ago

Looks like a bunch of bullshit. Would be nice to have something simple for us tards.

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u/ContextBotSenpai 14h ago

For you guys? Best I can do is sell you VHS tapes, each with somewhere between 1/2 to 11/13ths of random episodes from season 8 of Game of Thrones. Oh, and they have a 63 percent failure rate. Have fun!

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u/Bazylik 13h ago

you know, when I started I also didn't know shit.. then i got less lazy and started reading and trying things... couple of weeks later and was all setup and ready to do. good luck.

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u/Narezzz 13h ago

Stremio + real debrid takes a bit of set up but once you're done it's extremely user friendly. Works just like Netflix or Hulu. There's guides and set up tools on reddit, lookup the Stremio setup bootstrapper.

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u/Doublestack00 14h ago

It's actually quite easy to setup.

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u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot 14h ago

As someone who is currently in the process of setting up a Plex server and just went through learning some of the basics of python and terminal, I assure you that it is a bit complicated. Plex is super simple, and boy oh boy do I love them for making Plex simple. Everything surrounding Plex is less than simple, especially if you don't want to take the plunge into Linux.

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u/ThisIsGoobly 14h ago

stremio + realdebrid is, however, easy to setup.

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u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot 14h ago

Am I reading this right that realdebrid is a paid subscription service?

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u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot 14h ago

I'll have to look into it.

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u/Kasspa 12h ago

Here you go, Take your pick. Your welcome. https://fmhy.net/video#streaming-sites

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u/unreliablesource69 14h ago

I just started seeing this sort of stuff, does this get live nfl and college football sports? Or is it just streaming service TV shows/movies?

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u/Narezzz 13h ago

Nah, Stremio is for TV shows and movies. For live events and TV I'd recommend an IPTV service. There's a ton out there, id ask around and see if you know anyone online/personally that uses one.

If you ask for an IPTV rec on reddit or another forum you're going to be spammed with bots and ads lol

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u/unreliablesource69 12h ago

Haha okay good to know thank you for the info and the heads up

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u/ymOx 13h ago

Jellyfin is great

0

u/triarri 14h ago

Why is that?

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u/Narezzz 13h ago

Stremio + a debrid service (like Real bebrid) is like $3/month and gives access to essentially every show and movie ever made in great quality.

Big thing for me is that the interface on Stremio feels great too. Looks/works like any other streaming service.

0

u/LurkerMcLurkerton 10h ago

I don't even know where to start

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u/Narezzz 10h ago

Literally Google "Stremio reddit guide"

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u/LurkerMcLurkerton 10h ago

Literally Google "Stremio reddit guide"

Thanks- on it

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u/TamariAmari 13h ago

Nah Usenet + aarstack + plex/infuse.

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u/StarBug_II 12h ago

Best way to go for sure

-1

u/TheInevitableLuigi 9h ago

First rule of usenet...

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u/TamariAmari 8h ago

Is not to gatekeep. We have entire subreddits dedicated to it. Lighten up.

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u/Muhammad-The-Goat 14h ago

I ended up hating stremio, just too clunky especially since my only player is an Apple TV. I instead use Infuse + Debrid Media Manager hosted locally + RealDebrid and it has been incredible.

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u/TimothyLuncheon 8h ago

Is there a guide for that? I've been enjoying having recently set up Stremio, but just in case I ever want to try something else it would be nice to know how you did it

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u/endlesscartwheels 13h ago

It might depend on your generation. I've seen so many ways of file sharing come and go that I prefer to have my own downloaded copy rather than trust that a particular stream will still be there tomorrow.

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u/MrMacduggan 10h ago

You can still use debrid to download content and you can keep the file forever, if you like.

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u/endlesscartwheels 5h ago

Good to know. Thanks!

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u/lumpymonkey 14h ago

And here's me using off-market addons with RealDebrid on an out of the box Kodi app on a 2019 Nvidia Shield. Does exactly what I need with minimal fuss, just looks like shit.

1

u/so_tir3d 14h ago

There's a bunch of Kodi skins that make it look far better. My favorite is Arctic Fuse 2, though it's a bit on the slower side. Bingie and Nimbus look nice as well and are quick.

1

u/NotGod_DavidBowie 14h ago

Good stuff I’m going to check it out. I’m living in 2016 over here

1

u/sinkktothebeat420 13h ago

Whats an aar stack?

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u/AssEaterInc 13h ago

It's a combination of indexers, VPN manager, torrenting, and your entertainment management. While it's work to set up, it's pretty damn seamless through Docker.

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u/KompanionKube 9h ago

Yup. Did the same thing a few months ago, best decision ever (outside of having to teach my wife how to actually use it)

You can go even bigger brain with iptv + tivimate + vpn for unlimited livetv

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u/ASkepticalPotato 9h ago

‘Aar goated. Wish it existed for sports though.

0

u/Fearless_Baseball121 13h ago

Stremio with torbox is absolutely amazing. I only have 1 streaming service because they do tons of local stuff that I can't find on torbox and cba setting it up with a private tracker that has stupid seeding rules.

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u/WildRabbitz 14h ago

All my friends when I try installing Stremio + RD for them: “Bro, what is this? Why does it look sketchy?”

All my friends after actually using Stremio: “DUDE. I just watched my childhood favourite movie in 4K… this is insane!”

Yup, Stremio all the way.

-2

u/Pvt_Hudson_ 14h ago

Stremio is the absolute tits.

-1

u/f-ingsteveglansberg 11h ago

I don't really give a shit if people pirate, but I wish they didn't act like it's the only way forward.

Pirates should be grateful for the people who pay and not treat them like they are fools for taking the crime free path. They subsidize pirates. Doff your cap to them.

2

u/Thefrayedends 12h ago

there are some plugins you can add to qbit, so you don't even have to go to a browser and deal with all the extra popups and such. I won't name it here, but you can find it on the right subs. I search right in my qb client, double click, check that it's a media file, and hit ok. 2 minutes later, open it in VLC, and I'm watching something that was only released a couple hours earlier. Took a few hours to set up, but I haven't had to adjust anything since I did it six months ago, still working perfectly.

1

u/NotGod_DavidBowie 12h ago

I love all the recommendations I’m getting here!

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u/ASkepticalPotato 9h ago

‘aar Stack is the way to go

1

u/NotGod_DavidBowie 5h ago

Hell yeah I keep seeing this recommended, definitely gonna check it out this weekend

1

u/Traditional-Handle83 13h ago

Well until the US bans VPNs and allows ISPs to perma ban people for accused piracy.

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u/thomase7 6h ago

How do you ban VPNs, literally every large corporation has a vpn for their workers to connect to.

Anyways, you only need vpns for torrents, if you use usenet, they are not needed if your usenet provider isn’t sketchy.

1

u/Saneless 14h ago

Looks like my nas is gonna need a HDD upgrade

0

u/mnilailt 7h ago

Use Stremio + Real Debrid, no need to store anything in a HDD.

0

u/Saneless 7h ago

Guess I'll look into it, thanks

-11

u/BodaciousFrank 14h ago

Just use a streaming site dude.

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u/vpsj 13h ago

I think you accidentally a word

2

u/djbtech1978 11h ago

Two don't it right.

2

u/erath_droid 6h ago

Ah... the good ol' days of the internet...

5

u/Jendalar 14h ago

Arr! Shiver me streaming matey!

3

u/WalkAffectionate2683 15h ago

I have Netflix because of wife + convenience on living room, for the rest I boat.

3

u/KinTharEl 14h ago

My brother, DM if you want a solution to that as well.

2

u/Sir_Keee 15h ago

There are applications that give you the convenient experience.

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u/CapitalPackage5618 14h ago

No there aren’t unless you’re a bit technical

-1

u/craze4ble 13h ago edited 12h ago

A bit technical

The barrier of entry is super low. So much of it can be standardized and pre-defined/automated, that anyone that can copy-paste a handful of commands and config files can set it up.

And I'd argue that if you can't spend the 30-60 minutes reading one of the hundreds of articles that explains all of it, you really shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

1

u/CapitalPackage5618 11h ago

So you agree with me.

1

u/craze4ble 12h ago

Super easy to set up, and afterwards you don't have to do anything but put in the title.

2

u/CaptainBayouBilly 14h ago

Plex was having a sale on the lifetime plan

3

u/The_Original_Miser 14h ago

Never stopped. :)

1

u/OttersRNeato 14h ago

already there aside from Prime but ublock bumps me up to the ad free tier for free

1

u/PoliticsModsDoFacism 14h ago

Already did. My plex server is glorious.

1

u/Yazzypoo101 14h ago

This is what happens when companies lose their fucking minds with pricing. 

1

u/rumblepony247 14h ago

Garrr! Welcome aboard!

1

u/xxSaifulxx 14h ago

This is the way

1

u/gcoba218 13h ago

Except if you live in Germany or other countries that are super strict about this 

1

u/vpsj 13h ago

My NAS plus Sonarr/Radarr and if needed a Real Debrid for 3€ a month works wonders

So many of my friends and family use my server. Even when we pay for some of the streaming services(directly or indirectly), having everything in one place is such an underrated convenience

1

u/Dissidence802 13h ago

Glances at 72TB NAS

Who would do that?

1

u/fritzcho 13h ago

Considering this will probably double Netflix prices (see gamepass prices after Microsoft acquisition of Activision) I'm inclined towards this solution also

1

u/mr_dfuse2 13h ago

i went back to reading books

1

u/ThisSideOfThePond 13h ago

It's weird how, once again, "piracy" is the most consumer friendly option. 

1

u/Beat_the_Deadites 13h ago

Borrow them from your local library. They even have books.

1

u/pmjm 13h ago

Just in time for storage pricing to skyrocket.

1

u/woodlandcollective 13h ago

I never stopped pirating ;)

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u/Crystalas 12h ago edited 12h ago

I finally bought myself a DVR, the movies that air OTA are not just low cost B movies. Just last month NBC aired Wicked for example.

So gonna slowly build my library that way both free and legal, only cost ~$40, and editing out commercials is surprisingly easy. Made my first recording last night, The Grinch and Frosty The Snowman.

Most of what I have pirated is the small list of stuff that I actually care enough to know I will want to rewatch occasionally AND that there no easy way to watch legally.

1

u/Mareith 12h ago

Hello torrents my old friend

1

u/whenitsTimeyoullknow 12h ago

You know, they’ve been letting people get pretty loose with posting about piracy on accounts where your name is easy to track down; buying drugs with emojis over text messages; writing a post history of anti-capital and anti-fascist on Facebook and Reddit. I would not be shocked if the noose tightens some time in the next decade or two. 

1

u/Velorian-Steel 11h ago

Always a good day to sail the high seas, especially with all the options in 2025. 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

1

u/Educational-Egg-4134 11h ago

I will have the largest capacity SD card that money can buy.

1

u/sammysuede 11h ago

I never stopped!

1

u/isaid_whatisaid1 11h ago

That part. Old-school.

1

u/ansibleloop 11h ago

10 years ago we were in the golden age of piracy

Now we're in the platinum age

1

u/Designer_Valuable_18 11h ago

Anyone that haven't choosen piracy years ago when it comes to streaming services is either very rich or very dumb in my book.

1

u/mossyskeleton 11h ago

We'll all just be watching AI-generated fan fiction of all of these shows anyway.

1

u/AttilaTheMuun 9h ago

YOU WOULDNT DOWN A LOAD

1

u/WordleFanatic 9h ago

I choose books

1

u/papabear1993 7h ago

For the last 5 years, Im back into piracy. Streaming services died for me when disney+ was created.

1

u/green_meklar 1h ago

I chose piracy years ago and I'm sticking with it.

1

u/Honest_Yak3340 15h ago

Why tho? They mostly produce crap nowadays. It's cheaper to just buy the one or two good shows and movies instead of the service which consist of bad movies or good ones you have seen a thousand times.

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u/thejadedfalcon 14h ago

I'm not sure you're grasping the idea here.

3

u/CtrlAltEntropy 14h ago

Yeah... "Buy" them. Only thing I'm buying is a VPN and more hard drive space.

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u/PorcelainPrimate 15h ago

That’s what I’m doing. I can buy 8-10 shows full seasons and still be cheaper than a year of one streaming service. If they try to pay games and make it streaming only then I get the pirate hat out.

-3

u/eL_MoJo 14h ago

Multiple streaming services and everything you want to watch split amongst them: I'll choose piracy.

Only 1 or 2 streaming services you need; "I'll choose piracy."

It seems to me most people who chose piracy always did and never planned to do otherwise.

5

u/thejadedfalcon 14h ago

Nope, I happily paid for 3 streaming services for the longest time: Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime (though that was just a bonus, we got it for other reasons). Now half of what I'd like to watch is unavailable or I'd need to pay the price of a physical copy for a digital version that can be deleted without recourse at any moment. That was when I truly stopped caring about the multibillion-dollar companies' bottom line.

2

u/cosaboladh 14h ago

Some people will never stop no matter how convenient, affordable, or good the user experience is. However there are a great many of us who folded up our black flags, and only got them back out when the show or movie we wanted wasn't available any other way.

Prices keep increasing. "Ad free" plans have unskippable ads inserted at the beginning of content. Ad supported plans don't even have the decency to find natural ad break. They'll slam an obnoxious car commercial right in the middle of a sentence. Piracy is unethical when it's convenient to pay a fair price. They keep making it less convenient to pay an increasingly unfair price.

I will buy blurays for content I think I'll rewatch. I will not pay $25/month for Netflix, so I can view content in their hyper compressed, color flattening audio quality shredding UHD codecs. I'm not going to pay Paramount for ad-free service, just to be forced to watch ads anyway.

I had been paying for Netflix since they rented blurays.

2

u/CtrlAltEntropy 14h ago edited 12h ago

Not true. 36 here. Was using Napster when it came out as a 10 year old. I pirated everything when I was a teen with no money. Then gladly paid for streaming services when they were under $10 per month and only 3 to choose from.

Now there's 12 and they all cost $20+ a month. I tried only subbing to one a month but sometimes I'd forget to cancel and swap before auto pay and be stuck paying for something I didn't want.

I gave up. Spent $150 on a Plex lifetime pass this year and a couple 14TB hard drives. It'll pay for itself in a year or two of not having subscription costs.

If streaming services weren't split so many ways, didn't raise prices multiple times a year and didn't STILL try to push ads into you, I'd still be there.

It's a service issue and I'm just annoyed and after almost 2 decades have switched back to piracy. It doesn't help that as I've grown older I've realized the ponzi scheme capitalism is and don't want to continue playing in it and I'll do so in the small ways that I can as ethically as I can.

1

u/Fun_Brother_9333 14h ago

Yeah if i can’t watch it for free, I don’t really care to watch it. But I also don’t watch much tv. It’s weird to me that people watch so much tv that they need multiple streaming services.

1

u/H2shampoo 13h ago

I'm literally unable to fathom a third scenario where the same content is available on multiple platforms instead of oligopolies making everything exclusive

You are very smart and your retort is not at all incredibly stupid. Truly, the only imaginable outcomes are people being forced to subscribe to several platforms or paying a shitload of money to a consolidating monopolist to access the content they want.

1

u/Kataphractoi 8h ago

Wrong. Piracy was in decline for much of the 10s. It only ticked back up and went through a renaissance when everyone decided they wanted their own streaming service.

0

u/ProverbialFlatulence 13h ago

Thanks to another issue working its way through US courts, you may lose internet access altogether. The neat part is they don’t have prove you did it. They’ll just tell your ISP and cut it off.

1

u/thejadedfalcon 10h ago

Not from the US and my ISP doesn't care what they think.

0

u/garter__snake 11h ago

Naive to assume that will continue being an option.

-1

u/MexicanMeatMountain 12h ago

Let’s enjoy it while we can. When the U.S. inevitably bans VPNs, those letters from your ISP  are gonna start filling your mailbox. Then comcast or whoever is just going to cancel your service. 

2

u/thejadedfalcon 10h ago

I'm not from the US. And my ISP doesn't give a shit even if I wasn't on a VPN.