• hoi_polloi@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      They do like money, it’s why they’re doing this. They lost money on serving you that family plan. At least with the pirate ones they don’t have to host them and stream them to you.

      It’s part of thst dumbass move fast break things mentality tech has. Usually what you’re gonna break are your own bones.

      • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        Oh I know. In the end they’ll gain more money because not enough people know how to access streaming websites.

        • hoi_polloi@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The more people used them with their old pricing models, the more money they lost quicker. Same as reddit with the whole kerfuffle I reckon.

        • Gazing2863@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah I’ve got a person I know that runs a small iptv service. Mainly used for live things like sports. I more got it setup for my parents place because it’s just easier for them to use that then to try to use things like reddit to find streams of each sporting game they want to watch.

          It can also be good for when you just want to put something random on in the background. I personally barely use it as I don’t really watch sports and I hate watching ads. So for my content it mostly comes from sonarr/radarr.

  • blackstampede@lemmy.fmhy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I should probably thank Netflix for helping me save money. Their shenanigans pissed me off enough that I’ve entirely withdrawn from all paid streaming - I have a media server and a VPN now. Total media cost, $70 /year or ~$5.83 /month. For that, I have:

    • Access to any movie or t.v. show any streaming service has ever provided
    • No ads
    • Shows/films don’t get removed from from the platform without warning.
    • JasSmith@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      Right there with you! Though I must be honest, I spent a lot more time and energy on automating the thing than I expected. Now that it’s up and running, it’s bulletproof and very low touch. I’m now permanently out of the streaming ecosystem. Which is really testament to how badly these companies screwed up. I still subscribe to Spotify because I get access to everything for a fair price. Visual media streaming could have been the same thing, but no. They created 10 different competing services, constantly switching where content could be located. All the apps are different and many suck. They’re full of DRM so I struggle to watch them on planes or car trips, depending on the service. They gave us a terrible experience and continue to jack up the prices. I’m out.

        • Rising5315@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Here is a good matrix of which media server app supports what.

          That being said, I’d still recommend Plex for anything more than just a project.

        • JasSmith@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yes, Plex, and a super cheap Intel G5400 plus some disks running Unraid. Very low energy so I can keep it running 24x7. It also supports QuickSync, so can transcode x265 content easily without a GPU.

          My two favourite pieces of software in the world are Sonarr and Radarr. And they’re free! They’ll automate everything for you. Then you just tell them which movies and shows you want and they’ll do all the heavy lifting for you.

          I’ve got them set up with some public trackers, but I also pay for a cheap Usenet subscription ($3/m). Between these I grab almost everything I want.

    • moe93@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Interesting, do you mind elaborating? I’ve been contemplating something similar but not sure where to start.

    • blackstampede@lemmy.fmhy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      A couple of people have asked for more info about my setup, so here’s what I did. I’m on mobile, so forgive any typos:

      1. I bought a refurbished Dell mini PC from some website or other - if you Google “refurbished Dell mini PC” it’ll probably be the top result. It doesn’t need to be fast or have too much memory, but I’ve got a 2TB hard disk in mine, which is surprisingly cheap. Also needs at least one HDMI port.

      2. I installed Ubuntu 20.04, and made a single user with no password, then set it to boot straight to the desktop. Plugged it directly into the t.v. with an HDMI cable.

      3. I bought a cheap wireless keyboard with a roller ball in it that (barely, need a better one) can be used from my couch.

      4. Installed Jellyfin and set it to run as a background service on boot. It has two directories it cares about: ~/Videos/Film and ~/Videos/Television

      5. Set up ssh so that I can use scp to push files from my personal laptop to the server without having to dick around with thumb drives etc. I also have a script that checks how much disk space is available on the media server so I don’t run out (that 2TB drive fills up fast).

      6. Got a NordVPN subscription and use Transmission on my personal laptop to download anything I want to see, push it to the server.

      For a while, I also had an external domain name and IP so I could watch my videos on my phone while travelling, but I switched routers recently and something broke. I haven’t set this back up, but there are services that will give you a static IP and route requests to your actual IP so you can have a static domain name without having to pay your ISP for a static IP.

      EDIT: also, you can set commands to run at login, so it boots directly to Firefox running in kiosk mode on the Jellyfin web app. The end result is that on boot, I get the Ubuntu symbol, a brief flash of desktop, and then I’m browsing my media library full screen.

  • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    1 year ago

    We cancelled Netflix when they changed their plans earlier this year forcing people to pay extra to use their account in multiple locations.

    Fuck em. There’s plenty of streaming websites to watch their content without going through their platform, so whatever. Paying them was a means to say thank you for providing your service, but after being treated like that, they can get bent.

    • foggenbooty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      I was with them for over ten years. Cancelled when they said I could share an account with my mom. Sorry, it’s just not that good anymore and the prices have gone way up. It was time to get out of the pot.

  • GarthTheChicken@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    Why Canada? The artice says Netflix also used Canada to test its password sharing changes as well so it seems Canadians are a testing ground for Netflix for some reason

    • Suedeltica@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      1 year ago

      Why Canada? The artice says Netflix also used Canada to test its password sharing changes as well so it seems Canadians are a testing ground for Netflix for some reason

      Well, Canadians have many biological similarities to humans, so they’re good candidates for a variety of experiments

    • grte@lemmy.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I had noticed this as well. My theory is, they see us as a demographically similar market to the US but significantly smaller. So they can test their plans on us to get an idea of response before rolling it out to a larger American audience while taking a much smaller financial risk.

      • Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Bingo. Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all used as “test markets”. They try an idea out with one of us to see how it might work in the larger markets.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      Canada (or some specific cities here) has long been used as a test market for all manner of things.

    • Zorque@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      Probably because viewing habits are similar to the US, but not as large. So if the “testing” doesn’t go well, they don’t lose out as much as the bigger markets.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Why Canada

      Corporate test markets are always in areas where the demographics cover many different targets. If you test in an area that leans heavily towards one demographic, mostly old people for example, then you don’t get any data about how other groups view your change, like teenagers.

      Canada is incredibly diverse but also small and with well defined boundaries.

    • can@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Smaller sample size but similar enough culture to the states. Sometimes we gets apps first too before they try pushing it to 300+ million

    • May@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Maybe we’re too nice to REALLY complain so they do it here first to prepare U.S.A. Americans for it

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    YAHAR!!! I guess I’ll put on me pegleg and eye patch again.

    To the seven digital seas… YAHAR! mates, we’re sailing again!!

  • grte@lemmy.caOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    1 year ago

    Personally I had cancelled my subscription a couple years ago. Not even over any particular action on Netflix’s part. I wasn’t using the service enough to justify paying for it monthly.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Same here. It’s the same reason we dropped cable about 10 years ago.

      Not enough value to justify the cost.

  • Catarinalina@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    So now they’ve confirmed existing basic plan members are also being targeted “in the near future”. No problem, I’ve saved them the trouble for myself. I had mostly stopped using it by now anyway, not even worth the $10/month I was wasting on it