this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
448 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

37742 readers
547 users here now

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.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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".

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] dinodrinkstea@beehaw.org 87 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Piracy my beloved🏴‍☠️

[–] briongloid@aussie.zone 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] athos77@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] sndmn@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 year ago

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

[–] sadreality@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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...

[–] casino@beehaw.org 11 points 1 year ago

Time to sail the seven seas again. Yarrggghh 🏴‍☠️

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 60 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

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.

[–] doctortofu@reddthat.com 22 points 1 year ago

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...

[–] tanglisha@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] HectorBarbossa99@lemmy.fmhy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] storksforlegs@beehaw.org 54 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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 our response.

[–] Liontigerwings@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[–] Tigbitties@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

We're pretty passive when it comes to being gouged

God, this is so painfully true.

[–] mPony@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

| 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DoucheAsaurus@kbin.social 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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

[–] PracticalParrot@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] mrB@lemmy.mb-server.com 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] grte@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] yGns@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] variants_of_concern@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Ronno@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

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?

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 year ago

Which is why I'm switching to jellyfin

[–] SeatBeeSate@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago

Lol, so we got people to remove family accounts, paying more because they can't share anymore. Then people probably downgraded because it's not worth it more than $10 for one person. And now they're killing that too, so there's no reason to use Netflix?

[–] that_one_guy@beehaw.org 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I really should thank Netflix for finally motivating me to actually get off my ass and build my home server. After cancelling all of my streaming subscriptions, it really does pay for itself.

[–] Rob@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Fuck Netflix. I bought a firestick and threw Stremio and a vpn on there. Watching Black Mirror without giving those cunts a penny.

[–] Antik@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

I upgraded to the 4k max firesticks. I have my own Plex server, so I basically have my own personal Netflix.

Pirate bros!

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Peeko@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

My family dropped netflix in Canada as soon as the password sharing change went into effect. I got a radarr + sonarr + jellyfin server all setup and even my parents can very easily find what they want and have it ready to go, they don't miss netflix at all.

[–] LDRMS@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

We have a $23 plan with Netflix with 5 user profiles on it each from different locations and when the whole password sharing thing started and came into effect we thought “we’ll it was a nice run, Netflix”. Then the day came where we had to set the “main ip address” for the account and it’s been so weird. We all still have access to Netflix, each user literally uses a different ip address and 80% I’m on a vpn.🤷🏻‍♂️ 100% not complaining lol!!

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They were talking about for continued use the other people on your account would have to connect to your local network once a month to keep that device active. Easy with family member bringing over a laptop, difficult with a TV; unless you setup a vpn tunnel to your home router.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] normarcl@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How easy was it to setup the server? I'm slightly tech savvy but server stuff has always kinda of alluded me.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We left Netflix after I decided I didn't want to understand their rules.

"Number" of streams was easy to pay for and made sense. We paid for extra screens, so our parents could have easy access.

There are too many streaming options and services worth subscribing to these days, and more than any one person could watch so, well, not a problem.

Do I miss netflix, nope.

[–] specialneedz@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most people I know will be subscribed to one streaming service and switch every few months to get the shows they want. I’m expecting most streaming services to become a lot more “user hostile” as they try to squeeze out every penny.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] plum@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had actually thought about signing up for the basic plan because it is just me who likes it, but I was put off by the low quality.

Well - I guess now I’ll be officially sticking to Plex.

[–] GeekFTW@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago

I gave up on Netflix so many years ago now with zero regrets. The second they started their rumblings (nearly a decade ago now) about wanting to stop people from accessing other countries media selection I said fuck it, spun up a Plex install and never looked back.

[–] seluar@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Just canceled mine when they enforced the no non household sharing. Now sailing with the pirates.

[–] KingPyrox@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can only assume this but this is most likely a response to the C-11 bill that just passed. Netflix was already losing mass amounts of content due to other streaming services. And now our government is mandating that all online streaming have & pay for a certain amount of Canadian content...

Our government is really the one fucking us over when it comes to the internet. From only ever helping monopolies to passing laws on the internet that can only harm users.

[–] TXinTXe@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (5 children)

That law is in effect in Europe since a long time ago (in fact is thanks to that law that netflix carries so much non north-american content) and netflix didn't remove any tiers.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] LDRMS@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Things in Canada have changed dramatically over the past 15 years and every year it seems to accelerate at a faster rate. We all thought Reddits “enshitification” was bad, living here is worse!!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] unsunny@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I get that they’re being greedy, but provided you’re not set on watching one specific show, why pay for Netflix? Lots of cable TV providers are setting up their own services and taking their shows there instead of Netflix. Most of the Netflix originals either don’t last, aren’t even close to being good, or both; I feel like there hasn’t been more than two or three major hits from them a year in awhile (could be wrong though). In the past they had no big competitors so they could charge whatever, now it just seems like way too much.

(I guess that doesn’t mean the ad-supported tier going away, but who wants to pay and still have to watch ads?)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] cassetti@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Way back a few years ago when Netflix started going down hill, I cut back to the cheapest plan at like $8.99 - it was limited to one screen at a time, and 1080p resolution. That's fine - my big TV is only 1080p resolution anyway so it worked.

Then they quietly raised pricing to $9.99 and I noticed my resolution had decreased to 720p. That was about two years ago. I cancelled my Netflix subscription after over 15 years as a Netflix customer (pre streaming back when it was DVD rentals only). I don't miss it.

Already planning on cancelling other services like HBO Max next - just don't watch enough television to justify it.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Zols@lemmy.one 7 points 1 year ago

Netflix’s catalog seems to just be dying you watch one thing on there and you’ve seen everything.

[–] sickday@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Sonarr and Emby were pretty much the only things I needed to scrap streaming services entirely.

[–] econpol@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's been a while since I last has Netflix. I found myself looking through their selection with nothing enticing me to watch. I don't know how people keep it for years. Did you always find something you liked?

[–] Xor@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

Lol yeah it wasn't the screen sharing thing that got me. When the news about that came up I realized I hadn't used Netflix for 6+ months. There's just nothing good in their library anymore

[–] LDRMS@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

I felt the same way, then got a proper vpn and boom. It’s like having Netflix for the first time all over again!!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mullvad is 5.50$/mo, enjoy.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Rhabuko@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that the 720p plan or the 1080p? Anyways, I already thinking about canceling it. I pay already 12,99€ a month and the program quality has gotten worse over time.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wat.

Edit: Oh it's only for new people.

load more comments
view more: next ›