Had an interesting conversation with someone the other day on why people pirate - especially due to the cost of living increasing, etc.
I've just cut back on a bunch of streaming services myself - mainly due to cost.
Was curious to hear all of your perspectives on why many of you pirate.
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Quad9 9.9.9.9
Why would you overpay for internet then sail the high seas?
Good for them, use a vpn then or nzb instead.
they them selves are pirates… how can anyone still be with Telstra for internet these days is beyond me.
I switch internet often, basically all mobile data. I find Optus or Vodafone does not block them as much as Telstra. Many OZBers have excessive Boost SIMs.
yeah i switch nbn every 6 months as thats when plans discounts expire, i like to be on 100/20 plans for under $70 a month. but i never use optus, vodafone or telstra. they are scum!
What do they do? Block your download or send you threatening letters or some other?
Maybe I’m too old now but I just cbf tbh
I wouldn't know how to these days, I knew back in the early-mid 2000s but things have changed a lot since then.
it really hasn't changed that much and it's easier than using crappy streaming services that require all sorts DRM or shitty apps that require play integrity API.
It's also nice to not have your usage mined and targeted with all sorts of behavioral analytics too.
I wouldn't know how to these days, I knew back in the early-mid 2000s but things have changed a lot since then.
Things have not changed at all, the method is virtually identical:
The only optional step is a VPN subscription if you want to anonymise your Internet traffic, in case your ISP is throttling/restricting torrent traffic somehow.
Late to this party, but for anybody reading: things have absolutely profoundly changed thanks to clients like Stremio and services like RealDebrid. I don't have to touch torrents - Stremio serves everything up for me in a lovely point and click Netflix style interface that runs on my laptop, TV, whatever, while Torrentio pulls out cached files from RealDebrid in the background.
Piracy always works. I pay for every videogame I play but I also crack the DRM on a regular basis because it results in better performance or, sometimes, the game working where the DRM broke it for some reason (looking at you, Ubisoft).
TV and movies are sometimes not even available in Australia, thanks to the bizarre system of copyright rules that companies have setup. That's not 'stealing' as they like to call it, that's them being so backwards they can't even be economically sensible.
Yeah I'll typically buy from GOG over Steam these days just because of their stance on DRM. Having said that, I typically just use their launcher and don't actually download the DRM-free installers…
Steam achievements are half the fun though.
True, you do lose that, and I do like me some achievements…
Agreed, the Steam achievements have me in a vice-grip haha
Started out with one or two streaming services. Now there are a million of them.
Most shows and movies are nowhere near the level I would actually pay money for, just endless remakes and soulless DC/marvel garbage.
Some shows/movies are still released in Australia later/not at all on certain services.
Real-debrid is $26 for 6 months
can stream 170gb blu-ray remuxes
I'm not giving Rupert Murdoch 1 dollar.
What if your internet connection is erratic, can you download or buffer ahead to watch later?
Yeah can download for later. Probably could find torrents though. Probably want to checkout the r/piracy megathread.
RD allows you to download torrents and convert them into direct links as well.
$26 AUD? no way it's that cheap wow
Even less when you factor in the free extensions when you cash in your points
Shhhhhhh
don't stress, we can just as easily go usenet for the provider if this falls over.
Coupled it with Stremio is just the perfect streaming service anyone can dream of
It’s always been about affordability. People used to pride themselves on dvd collections. And they were big $$$. Piracy will never die based on $$$
It's about enjoying a mans right to enjoy a succulent Chinese meal.
when you can get better quailty for free why would you pay for worse? also guess why music is the only thing I don't download
Always wanted to be a bikie, so this is the closest thing to being one
Because Our Flag Means Death made piracy look like such fun!
Weird thing about that show is the characters are real people from history and their exploits are, broadly, what they actually did.
With streaming services we have no control over the quality. I remember watching a movie on Stan using surround sound and it had terrible audio quality. Since then I've found its very hit and miss whether streaming services will support surround sound - then I feel ridiculous to have paid for such services.
I know another method where I can specifically choose the codec and quality of the video and audio I'll be playing.
It's easier to run a Plex server than it is to subscribe to multiple streaming services, especially being an IT worker, once it's setup properly it manages itself.
Especially with all the Arr self hosted services out there now. I've automated the entire process.
I only just realised what the "arr"s are in reference to 🏴☠️
can you point to some resources to figure this stuff out? note: must be suitable for an idiot who is overwhelmed easily.
i've gotten back into torrenting and like the idea of hoarding media, but it's confusing. i would like to set up a spare mac mini that i've got as a centralised media server.
Here's a good one though it's geared towards having a spare windows PC, hope it helps
https://www.cuttingcords.com/home/ultimate-server/getting-st…
Why running a Plex server when you can have everything you want when you want with Stremio+RealDebrid? Genuine question.
RealDebrid could dissapear tomorrow or the content could be unavailable.
It won't. No one can ever know what is being downloaded from it so there's no way to track any illegal activity from it. And even if RealDebrid disappears, can use any other debrid service.
how much does Stremio+RealDebrid cost? Do I just register for an account, pay and then login later to browse whatever I want?
Stremio plus Torrents is free - haven't bothered trying realdebrid yet
@GordonHanley: Real debrid is a game changer in my opinion. Makes the experience absolutely seamless and can stream 15gb movies with no buffering with my very basic 25mbps nbn
Stremio is free, Torrentio is free, real debrid costs around $50 a year but it's well worth it.
You subscribe to stremio and RealDebrid, add the Torrentio add-on with the RealDebrid API key and you have everything ready to stream.
@BLAIL: As I said above, I have a basic 25/10 plan and can watch movies up to 15-20 GB with no buffering. So if you have a 50/20 plan you can double that, which will be good for really good quality 4K files. RealDebrid allows you to download at your service's max speed from the get go.
If you want to watch the really large files, i.e.80-90 GB, then you should get a 100/40 nbn. I see no reason for it unless you have a really large 8K TV or something.
@liongalahad: One of our TVs is non smart but has chromecast plugged in - can we cast content from a mobile/ipad for example?
@BLAIL: Ive never tried but Im pretty sure you can cast from your android phone to your chromecast. Has to be android because there's no stremio on iOS
But I highly suggest you buy the Chromecast with Google TV (the white one). You can probably find one for 20-30 bucks on marketplace
@DooDah: No. When using debrid you are not torrenting, you are downlaoding a file from a normal http link, and the content is fully encrypted. Same as if I shared with you a file privately through a web hosting service - there is no way anywone can now the content of the downlaod (unless the debrid provider shared your details but that ain't happening or they would close business tomorrow).
So there is absolutely no point using VPN with Real Debrid, to the contrary if anything it will slow down your downlaod so I would suggest NOT to use VPN with Debrid.
I already run a home server for a bunch of other stuff, so I just added more storage, configured it and it was complete.
With Plex the casting and apps have proven to be pretty reliable for me, I barely run into any issues it just works every time.
What kind of hardware is your Plex server running on?
There's always the argument of having something that can do transcoding etc etc and how it's not worth it if they can't.
I've heard an Nvidia Shield is a good first bit of hardware for it.
@ForbiddenCouponJutsu: Mines running an 8th gen i7 W/32gb ram 18TB storage (Yes it's WD RED PRO drives) and a Quadro P2200 for transcoding that I was given.
I self host everything except my emails, and I mean EVERYTHING
Documents, photos, videos, passwords, ad blocking DNS servers, VPN + more, all encrypted and backed up incrementally to 2 separate locations
It was quite enjoyable to setup and it now saves me way more money than I'd be spending to pay for all those services seperately.
I don't pay a cent via subscriptions and I get to keep the rights to my own data.
I haven't used the shield myself but I've heard good things, I want them to release a new one W/ HDMI 2.1 and 4k120 support for local game streaming before I buy one
@CtrlAltSpoods: Very nice setup, that is exactly the kind of thing I want to do moving forward, I just lack the funds to get the hardware I want for that kind of a setup.
Out of curiosity what do you use as your backup solution? And do you backup l your movies/tv shows as part of that? As I can see that requiring a lot of storage if so.
Sure but why bother when real debrid stores for you every movie and series that has ever existed?
@liongalahad: Never heard of that service before and I use Plex because it just works, especially w/ casting, has really easy mobile sync flor flights, and family members understand how to use it.
@CtrlAltSpoods: Ok but how do you get new movies on your Plex? You need to manually download it and store it? With Stremio and RealDebrid everything is instantly available at the max possible quality at any time without needing to store anything. It has a small cost but it is so good, it just works with no hardware other than your tv
@liongalahad: I do have to do that, but I've automated all of it, I just click one I wanna watch and it's downloaded and available in about 4 minutes.
I prefer to not rely on other services that could technically disappear at any moment, and it makes it was easier to just stream to any tv in my house.
That guy comes across as being really paranoid
"do what you want coz a pirate lives free"
Yarr-Harr-Fiddle-De-Dee!
doesn't matter if it's a game dev/pub or movie studio it's mainly because their mindset is "(profanity) The Customer"
games are realised BROKEN and often completely different to the trailer
and most movies are the same old recycled trash, dumbed down
wanna watch a tv scifi show - turns out it's a relationship drama
Because these days if buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing.
It never was. It is always copyright infringement, which is different than stealing.
You wouldn't download a car
If I could download a duplicate car without depriving the owner of the original car from which the duplicate was made free use of their vehicle, I probably would.
Louis Rossmann has been talking about this very issue. His Netflix experience says it all.
sharing is caring
The above post brought to you by the GOP 2023, all MAGA all day.
You don't sound like someone who uses modern technology.
To be honest, I try not to.
"If paying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/technology/sony-playstati…
Stremio + real debrid + torrentio = every streaming service there is combined for a ~$5 a month. No VPN required either.
Add trakt for watch history and curated lists of shows, movies, anime, etc.
YouTube included too.
YouTube also? What's the catch?
Catch is that it’s not the YouTube ui. you select your channels and it downloads them for you. Can even let you know when there are new uploads.
ok thanks
ezra and seren are good for kodi too with real debrid and trakt. troy point has some good guides on his website.
Streaming has mostly crap, shows get deleted too often, geoblocks etc.
I think that has been proven (at least anecdotally), when content is available in a simple and cost effective way people reduce or even stop piracy. Now ramp up the cost and spread it over a dozen different services and we are getting back to the bad times where piracy is the seemingly better option.
You also need to factor in how hard it is… What was once the dark corners of the internet frequented by the nerds is now easily accessed by your grandparents to download their latest show with little hassle. A google search can get people going with minimal learning curve (although it probably includes plenty of malware). And that's before you get some random web service that streams everything to your browser or better yet, some Android based box you plug into your TV that does it from the comfort of your lounge chair.
If all content was available in a timely fashion to Australia (which isn't always the case) and you added up the cost of all the different fragmented services you get to around $100 / month. It's probably not a terrible deal compared to what cable TV (Foxtel) used to provide, but convincing people to spend that kind of coin in one place is hard… but spread it out over a few services and it's that much easier as people can pick and choose what they want (before ending up with a bunch anyway).
Could a consolidated service get people on board for $100 / month? Probably not. $50-60 / month… maybe??
Easier to find content tbh.
We gave the media oligopolies a second chance and the benefit of the doubt when Netflix got big, then they created 20 new networks and failed to syndicate globally so I'm back on the seven seas. Not to mention the flaky apps and websites that mean you can't even enjoy content you pay for. I can do it better myself, so I do.
Don't even get me started on the absurd price of watching exclusive sports on streaming services…. then you still get ads, even for expensive PPV. They're taking the piss.
Don't bother commenting about how we have to pay them or they can't create, that's simply not true, the first dramatic productions were shadows on a cave wall.
I pay for Netflix, Disney, Spotify and PlayStation Plus. That's enough. I might pirate once or twice a year if I can't find something specific on those services.
There is heaps to watch out there already either free or streaming im not desperate to watch anything illegally or before other people.
I refuse to pay for anything i dont have too - lets just leave it at that
the things i do pay for i usually via non-direct means my Spotify is still Turkish, IPTV etc
The level of greed and stupidity mainly Americans have hit has me pretty much avoiding at all cost to give them a cent of my money unless there is 'real' value in a service which i would argue Prime is
install brave browser onto phone and desktop and no ads on youtube. i stream my music from youtube for free because no ads from brave.
I used to pay for Netflix, Stan, Paramount, Amazon Prime, Apple and Disney. It was ridiculous finding content and I still didn't have enough different services to watch everything I wanted.
Then Netflix decided letting my mother use the account was no longer allowed (even though they had promoted account sharing in the past). That was the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak.
Now it's nzb + the occasional torrent for rare/hard to get euro/asian movies and TV shows. With Sonaar/Radaar/SabNZBd/etc. everything is just as automated as before, so the convenience is still there - but surprisingly there are fewer ads now…
I've never seen such a weak attempt at hiding market research.
You're either a uni student doing a course or working for a streaming service trying to gather this data. Your replies especially, validate that. lol
I'm also under the impression that this is probably some kind of market research.
It is called sampling.
Try-before-you-buy kind of perfectly legal activity.
No illegal piracy involved.
:-|
Further here - is torrenting still the pirate's preferred choice? Or is napster still kicking?
Napster?? pffft… Everyone has moved to LimeWire, Kazaa and eMule…
Don't forget iMesh and Grokster!
Telstra network cracks down hard on torrents.