It’s like they are trying to irritate people into canceling their accounts.

Imo, this one might actually be worse than the account sharing and cause people to quit. As soon as you have people messing around with their subscription version, it’s all too easy to just say “nah, I actually don’t want this anymore”.

95 points

Piracy my beloved🏴‍☠️

permalink
report
reply
32 points

Oh my show is no longer available on my paid subscription? It’s still right here on my server.

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points

That’s the thing that’s always bothered me about the online services. Sure, I can “buy” a movie or series or whatever, but I only have actual access to it so long as I still subscribe, the service has rights, and I have access (like, if I’m on a plane or ship, suddenly I can’t watch something).

If I download a copy, it’s mine for as long as the physical media lasts. I can keep it theoretically forever, I can put copies on my phone or the cloud, stream to my computer, my cousin’s tv, whatever.

permalink
report
parent
reply

I’ve been mostly content to license streaming media, since it’s convenient, and above board. But between everyone raising prices and pulling content so they can cut residuals. I’m really rather burnt out on the model.

permalink
report
parent
reply
22 points

As Homer once eloquently said: “Nothing a month. We can afford that!”

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points
*

When I was a poor kid I pirated, went to paying as a working adult, now I am back to buying random DVDs at thirftshops but if they keep this clown thing up, I will sail. These clowns have hard time understanding who controls the money flows here, shiti video streaming service is not a monopoly/utility…

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Time to sail the seven seas again. Yarrggghh 🏴‍☠️

permalink
report
parent
reply
60 points
*

The thing I don’t get (I do - it’s greed, FYI) is why the fuck they even care? If I’m paying for 2 or 4 screens on my Netflix account, why the fuck does it even matter which address they’re playing at? Netflix were about to sting me because my stepkids (who are with us half the time) were using my account while at their dad’s.

Believe it or not, Netflix finally drove me to Plex. I’d been holding out, still using Kodi, but decided the money I was saving could go towards a much nicer setup, and it did. A pair of HP DL380 G7s, Proxmox - the works.

Now my stepkids use my Plex server, and have both happily streamed the latest Black Mirror from it (shit season, BTW - another hump in the downhill shitshow that Netflix has become). And the savings from my cancelled Netflix sub will have paid for it over the next 12 months or so.

Thanks Netflix! Ya dumb cunts.

permalink
report
reply
23 points

It’s simple - you’re paying for 2 or 4 screens, but you could be paying for 2 or 4 screens AND multiple accounts! That would give them more of your money, so it’s their preferred option.

Love might be sharing a password, but profit is paying multiple times for the same thing, so here we are…

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

They made record profits during quarantine, when everyone was stuck at home. Now they have two problems:

  1. Some of those people have cancelled because they’re now busy.
  2. They’re expected by shareholders to continue that kind of profit increase forever.

They don’t actually care any more than they ever did, this is just an easy way to get money out of accounts they see as less likely to cancel because many people are using the same account.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

how hard was it to do a plex server? did you just use an old pc or what did you use as the host?

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

After some discussion with the Minister for War and Finance (my wife), we agreed I had a modest budget (~$300AUD) to spend on some old enterprise servers, which I did.

But I’ve seen plenty of posts where people are getting away with their old gaming rigs, and the like.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’ve got a PC that my job was throwing out and I put a CPU, hard drive and RAM combo I got on Craigslist (that’s like gumtree) for $20USD in there and I’ve only ever had problems with 4k and HDR. Plex itself is pretty cheap perf-wise! Transcoding can be a problem but you can set it up to pre-transcode multiple quality options or just stream it original quality if you have the bandwidth.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

I may do something similar! Might as well

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

I set up mine shortly after cancelling Netflix after the last price increase about a year ago.

Repurposed an old Raspberry Pi 3 that had been a Kodi setup. Added a spare 2TB PS4 external HD. Been working great the last year. But looking to get an actual NAS setup to replace paying for google photos (my wife), more Plex storage, and a python dev server. That’ll run my about $900 though.

The Pi3 with the PS4 HD was less than $130.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

is why the fuck they even care? If I’m paying for 2 or 4 screens on my Netflix account, why the fuck does it even matter which address they’re playing at?

You and your family could be paying for 2-3 accounts instead, and also paying for the 2 or 4 screen plan on all of them if you want 4K.

Maybe you won’t, but many will. And they’ll offset you unsubscribing your one account.

Plus even if they increase their total subscriptions by only 10% it’s still worth it, because they probably lost active users, so there’s less actual load on their servers for the same amount of subs.

I dropped my 4 screen plan in October or November when I first heard about the upcoming sharing restrictions because it was actually being used from 3 or 4 locations, but unfortunately I think us cancellers are probably outnumbered by people who just created new accounts because they had to stop using someone else’s.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I think us cancellers are probably outnumbered by people who just created new accounts

Oh, 100% right there. Those of us that are both willing to cancel and capable of setting ourselves up with an alternative like Plex are, sadly, in the minority. I’m doing my bit, though. Have invited a couple of friends to my library and showed them how to use the app, and they’ve happily cancelled their Netflix as well.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Personally I prefer jellyfin but I’ll usually stick Foss where Icabn

permalink
report
parent
reply
50 points
*

I like how they keep testing this crap on the Canadian market.

I dont know if were the best guinea pigs, I mean look at what we pay for telecoms. We’re pretty passive when it comes to being gouged, other countries might not be so potato-like in their response.

permalink
report
reply
11 points
*

If the docile sheep up North don’t go for it, then there’s no way the slightly less docile sheep South will go for it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

We’re pretty passive when it comes to being gouged

God, this is so painfully true.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

| We’re pretty passive when it comes to being gouged

Only if you include cell phone plans, internet access, air travel, housing, and food. Oh, and pet food.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Pet food?

permalink
report
parent
reply
41 points

Just gonna drop a couple links here, do with them what you will.

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy

permalink
report
reply
16 points

Thumbs up for piracy. Once you figure out jellyfin/plex there’s no way back.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

Yeah, I just got started with jellyfin and it is amazing never going back

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Only problem really is storage. High quality video can fill a hard drive pretty quick.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

You’re absolutely right hehe I gave my media server 12TB thinking it woulf last ages but I already filled it in just a few short months.

permalink
report
parent
reply
35 points

I already dipped. By the time I cancelled I wasn’t using the service enough to justify paying for it monthly, anyways.

permalink
report
reply
17 points

Me, too. In my country, I’m paying the equivalent of 13€ for Disney, Amazon, HBO and SkyShowtime combined. And although Netflix has some good shows, it’s nowhere near enough to rival all of these together - no way I’m paying 10€/mo. just for it. Guess I’ll pirate the few I actually miss.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

I just cancelled everything, no more subscriptions for me, except for the yearly re-up on usenet indexers

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

Yeah, imagine running a company, with customers that simply pay the monthly, because it is cheap enough to cancel. But then you start annoying the users and reduce convenience, then increase the price. What could possibly be the end goal here?

permalink
report
parent
reply

Technology

!technology@beehaw.org

Create post

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Community stats

  • 2.7K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.5K

    Posts

  • 82K

    Comments