Despite Netflix and Amazon Prime, Most of the World Watches Pirated Content (techinasia.com) 244
An anonymous reader shares a TechInAsia report: More than half of the people surveyed across the world still watch pirated movies and TV shows, a new survey shows. The study, conducted by digital security firm Irdeto, asked more than 25,000 adults across 30 countries about video watching trends. Here's what it found: 52 percent of those surveyed said they watch pirated videos. 48 said they would stop, or watch less illegal content after they were told about the damaging effects of piracy on the media industry. While many recognize that producing or sharing pirated video is illegal (70 percent), far fewer people are aware that streaming or downloading is also against the law (59 percent).
lol amazon prime (Score:5, Informative)
Re:lol amazon prime (Score:5, Insightful)
Dude. Amazon prime's streaming is garbage. It's all bait n switch. You're paying 100 bucks a year and you only get a handful of episodes per show/season. After that they expect you to pay per episode. No thanks.
Well, you're not paying $100/year for prime streaming. At least few people are.
I'm paying $100/year for the shipping benefits (I make it all back during Christmastime when I send gifts to my extended family), the prime streaming is just a perk... and sometimes useful since there are some shows that Prime has that Netflix doesn't. So prime streaming is worth something to be, but not $100/year. Maybe $10/year. Though if I didn't have Netflix, Prime Video would be much more valuable to me.
Re:lol amazon prime (Score:5, Informative)
I found that often, even though we are paying Prime fees for free shipping, the shipping fees are still often reflected in the cost of the item. I don't know why I keep Prime. They seem to be double dipping at times. When you search for the same item and find it for a lower price, it's likely a non-prime item, and often the price difference is pretty much in the ball park of the 2-day shipping cost.
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This. Amazon is convenient, but their prices have bloated since prime such that most of the time it is worth my while to find a promotion elsewhere and get free shipping. Prime basically keeps me from becoming irate at Xmas time when my wife would otherwise just be ordering stuff without heeding how much shipping is going to be at the last minute for the cheap garbage her relatives want for Xmas. Between Prime BS and their search algorithm that mostly ignores my search terms I am really close to being do
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Re:lol amazon prime (Score:4, Insightful)
So if the problem is that prime-eligible items have their prices jacked up by the cost of shipping, thus negating the value of the service, the solution is to ignore the problem? Do you work for Amazon?
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It's definitely the case for small items. I've been using Prime for 10-12 years and the prices for items have slowly crept up. I can frequently find a third party sell that isn't doing prime that has an item that is +Shipping that rivals the prime price. But it's much harder to compare the third party seller because sometimes I get the item in 2 days and other times it's more like 10 days. Where as prime shipping has been more consistent, probably because it all comes from the same set of warehouses.
Really
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So if the problem is that prime-eligible items have their prices jacked up by the cost of shipping, thus negating the value of the service, the solution is to ignore the problem? Do you work for Amazon?
(Not the original poster, but...) I don't think that Prime eligibility, even when the item costs the same as a non-Prime item plus shipping (usually a fixed amount per category, not per item), is necessarily "negating the value of the service." Unlike a random shipping method a third party might choose, Prime shipping is usually two days and gives you the option to upgrade to next-day for a per-item fee. If you don't care how fast it ships, Amazon has also been doing a promotion lately where they let you ch
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You're paying for fast shipping with Prime, basic shipping is definitely pre-loaded into the Free Shipping items cost.
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It's a scam. Once you have it you feel like you should be your money's worth. You buy more from Amazon, and they use it to drive you to the things they want you to buy. Unless you buy a lot of stuff and can't be bothered to wait a few more days for the free shipping you don't even save any money.
I just use the free trials they offer every few months, but never pay for it.
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Its a total scam dude, that is why Amazon is being sued over Prime [dailymail.co.uk]. Log out and then look at the prices of several items, note them then log back in and see what the prices are. You'll find your Amazon Prime membership will often raise the prices on items so you aren't saving shit, its just a shell game and all you are really getting for the $100 a year is the streaming service.
Personally I don't think their content is worth anywhere near a c-note a year so I passed on it but YMMV.
The article you linked to doesn't match what you are saying.
The lawsuit claims:
Instead, the suits accuse Amazon of offering free shipping on items whose prices had been inflated to incorporate the cost of the shipping.
Well duh, Amazon doesn't try to hide that, items with "free" prime shipping often cost more than items without free shipping, or with paid shipping.
This is especially true with low-cost items. For example: Sharpie Permanent Markers, Ultra Fine Point, Black, 5 Count [amazon.com]
Here's the pricing Amazon advertises:
Price: $5.79 FREE Shipping (3 days) for Prime members Details
Note: Available at a lower price from other sellers, potentially without free Prime shipping.
New (61) from $4.99 & FREE shipping.
I've tried the "Clear your cookies and check pricing" trick after other people have said that Amazon inflates prime prices, and ha
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Whenever I search Amazon, I do it to find the item, then log on to purchase it. I've never seen the prices jump.
Re:lol amazon prime (Score:5, Insightful)
This goes hand-in-hand with TFA's conclusion. Start watching a series on Prime, continue watching it pirated. Then, next time, eliminate Prime from the loop since it added so little. Amazon Prime and Netflix will never have as wide a catalog as TPB.
Re:lol amazon prime (Score:5, Insightful)
Then, next time, eliminate Prime from the loop since it added so little.
It actually subtracts a bit, rather than adds anything. Thing is, go to TPB, type in the name, get a super fast download (choose the quality), and watch it on any device, with your own media player, in any way you want with precisely ZERO hassles from DRM.
That's the problem with pirated stuff: it's not just that's free, it's also better.
Contrast that with music. If I get it from amazon, after paying, I get a zip file with nicely categorized, DRM free, play anywhere anyhow files in it. That is an excellent product.
Nailed it. (Score:2, Interesting)
The movie industry leaders made a collective decision to retain control over the distribution of their digital products. They saw what happened to the music industry as a loss of control. Your "excellent product" is precisely what they despise.
In the short term, there is absolutely no plan in place to rectify this. No video-content producer wants to be beholden to free-market impacts on price. They absolutely don't want to accept the terms of someone else's video streaming service. They abhor the thoug
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This + Plex.tv (Score:3)
Make your own streaming service for free.
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I had subscribed to Netflix, then canceled my subscription because most stuff that I wanted to watch (e.g. my favorite movies) weren't available in my country. Lack of localized subtitles was a major no-no for my wife. Incomplete cartoon series was a let-down for my kids.
Pirated movies are of excellent quality, have localized subtitles, some are dubbed in my language (important for cartoons). Shortly put, better service.
I couldn't care less about "exclusive contracts" preventing me from enjoying content leg
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I had subscribed to Netflix, then canceled my subscription because most stuff that I wanted to watch (e.g. my favorite movies) weren't available in my country.
This, emphatically. I had it for three days, then canceled it when I realised how fragmented and... relentlessly Pink their selection was. The Subgenius needs SLACK, not ... digital MUSH.
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He didn't say people in the US don't pirate; he said they pirate at a much lower rate than people in other parts of the world. The study to which you're referring say that as well.
Work the system... (Score:2, Informative)
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What people do, vs what people say they do, vs what people say that people do are three almost disconnected things.
Do you break the law? Would you stop if X? How many paying customers do you have?
All of these are extremely loaded questions, without some form of independent validation of the results - voluntary answers are highly unreliable.
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plus free books
Even with the free books, half of them (at least the ones that actually look interesting) are just one of a series of books, so they are still trying to drive you towards more purchases
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Just curious, is that for electronic or print versions?
That kind of pricing model might make sense for new books or indie authors: cheap for older books, or to entice the curious, and then more expensive for the newer books and/or once readers are hooked.
I wouldn't expect that for something that old, though.
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https://www.amazon.com/Split-I... [amazon.com] $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Ad... [amazon.com] $5.99
https://www.amazon.com/Juxtapo... [amazon.com] $7.99
The cycle is almost complete (Score:3, Interesting)
It used to be that art was more or less done because either the artist was driven or a patron was willing to fund it.
Right now, art in various forms draws a lot of money... but it isn't piracy that will kill Hollywood, it's machinima. Once an affordable computer can replicate the real world (plus special effects)realistically, the current system will fail completely.
Then our problem will be wading through all the polished turds produced by people who only think they're talented while we're trying to find an actual precious stone.
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Right now, art in various forms draws a lot of money... but it isn't piracy that will kill Hollywood, it's machinima. Once an affordable computer can replicate the real world (plus special effects)realistically, the current system will fail completely.
There are low budget efforts from the big studios using this very idea that have been pretty good: Star Wars Clone Wars and Rebels, and the DTV Tinkerbell movies. That level of quality has little "wow" factor, but it doesn't matter if the writing is good. It will soon be to the point that independents can create stuff at that quality level, and make some money.
But that's a threat to the direct-to-video market. The Marvel movies are also mostly animation, and no independent outfit will be challenging them
It's all about CONVENIENCE. (Score:5, Insightful)
Pirated material can be played with your player of choice, on your device of choice.
It can be played at 1.5x speed. The audio can be amplified, or filtered, and the channels can be mixed differently.
The video can be transcoded to meet the needs of a mobile device.
The content can be consumed off-grid.
There is just so much convenience when these motherfuckers get out the goddamn way!!!1111
Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you're drilling-down too far.
Pirated content is free from restrictions governing its availability. It's availability is not limited to a single television season for a few weeks or months, or for a slate of a hundred films for a few months before being changed-out and no longer being available. The viewer is free to watch any content that they can find any time they want to.
We have over 2000 movies and TV seasons in our physical media collection spanning five formats. There are no restrictions preventing us from watching whatever we want from this set. If streaming is going to work, this is how it will have to work, like someone's personal movie collection, with everything possible available all of the time, ad infinitum. Forever.
Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. (Score:5, Interesting)
It gets better as studios are still restricting content per region and sometimes country. In Europe and USA and Canada you can get commercial for shows that are airing a few miles away but you can't legally watch for another few months per the studios desired schedule.
I find it funny. You have a hit show world wide. You tell the word when it will air in country a and then get pissed when the world pirates it since it won't be in their country for 6-9 months in the future.
Piracy is and always will be an economic one if people are pirating your content that means the supply side is not meeting the needs of the demand side in a massive way.
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Sometimes I wonder if their staggered-release model is to attempt to span revenue over time. It's generally easier to budget when revenue comes in as a stream rather than in chunks.
I don't necessarily agree with it mind you, especially when it's been proven that the viewing audience is only willing to wait so long for the next thing that's already out.
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Disabling common, expected technology is a deal breaker too. For example, if I buy an ebook, it better support text to speech with my choice of high quality speech synthesis engine. I'm not paying 30 bucks for your audiobook version, if you try to force me I'll be paying you nothing at all.
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If streaming is going to work, this is how it will have to work, like someone's personal movie collection, with everything possible available all of the time, ad infinitum. Forever.
That's what the people on /. said about MP3s too but I'd say Spotify and friends have proven that's not really the problem. The problem is that we want specific content and you'll never be able to say a video is a video in the same way that music streaming services say a song is a song. HBO will want to charge you for Game of Thrones, BBC for Doctor Who, George Lucas for Star Wars, NFL for football, Brazzers for pr0n and so on. And that's okay, but there's no federated access. I'd like to add sources to one
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We've done much the same thing. Unfortunately a large part of our collection is on VHS and Laserdisc, which don't really lend themselves to digital storage. We generally have a two-format rule, the new version needs to be two formats better than the old version in order to justify replacing it, but we're starting to soften on that with the Laserdiscs. It was easy to find DVDs to replace tapes, but there are a lot of titles on LD that can't be found on Blu-Ray and on the modern projector the analog Laserd
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Netflix and Amazon Prime have fuck all content. Both libraries are shrinking as they throw money into their own shows instead of renting it from content owners. What they offer is good enough to be superior to live TV and incessant fucking adverts, but it's way too small a selection unless you've not seen anything for over a decade.
Meh.
I watch random stuff. Amazon Prime Video keeps me occupied enough with what is there to suit my purposes.
Just recently I went back and watched all three seasons of the original Star Trek, Generation Kill, and Band of Brothers.
None of those would even get a second glance if I had to pay for them directly.
Yes, if you want the latest X-men dreck then you might be disappointed. But as an alternative to channel surfing or Youtube it works great.
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Netflix and Amazon Prime have fuck all content. Both libraries are shrinking as they throw money into their own shows instead of renting it from content owners.
This is one of the downsides of competition, all of the media cartel giants are getting in on the streaming action and they all want to have exclusive shows, so the prices are going up and everything that is licensed exclusively disappears from the library of every other service. The new Netflix-wannabes want exclusives because they don't want to just be successful, they want to destroy Netflix. In particular, because Netflix is not a cable/satellite network, it is an existential threat to the cable TV di
Obligatory Oatmeal (Score:3, Funny)
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones [theoatmeal.com]
Re:Obligatory Oatmeal (Score:5, Funny)
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones [theoatmeal.com]
Sure that's funny and all, but how do I find the site for "Impossibly proportioned girls that want to date your testicles!"? I've been searching for that my whole life!
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http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones [theoatmeal.com]
Sure that's funny and all, but how do I find the site for "Impossibly proportioned girls that want to date your testicles!"? I've been searching for that my whole life!
This.
And to add to this that a lot of content that is available on US Netflix is not available outside the US, even on Netflix. So if publishers are going to try to lock down their content, they can expect pirates.
I believe Gabe Newel, Brad Wardell (Of Stardock) as well as whoever is in charge of CD Projekt Red (GOG) have all said something along the lines of "pirates are just unserved customers".
In order for me to pay for some shows in the UK I need to wait for them to come out on DVD... that misse
Re:Obligatory Oatmeal (Score:5, Insightful)
In this country, the official position used to be "provide your content in an acceptable manner or we won't prosecute people when they pirate it". They have since changed that policy but I still think it's a decent one. Specifically where it concerns geoblocked content. Not willing to sell here for some arbitrary reason? Then people are free to avail themselves of it as far as I am concerned, and that's precisely what I did for a while with ebooks. I'd try the regular stores, and if I hit a geoblock (which was very often during the early days of ebooks) I'd try a store that accepted PayPal (so I could just enter a bogus US address and bypass the block). But if that failed, TPB usually had what I wanted.
Copyright was intented to foster the spread of cultural works, and to encourage creators to keep on creating. Giving creators a chance to make some money with their craft is one way to encourage them thusly, but the reward is a means, not an end.
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Hear, hear!
I am convinced that most people are inherently honest and would gladly pay for what they watch, if given the chance. And I remember a TED talk by Amanda Palmer [ted.com] saying the same thing.
But what do they ask us to pay for? Exclusive rights wars, clumsy proprietary players, limited play periods.
If the studios and distributors had any brains at all, they would acknowledge that limiting the spread of the files is a lost war, they would give easy access to them and a wide variety of payment methods, inclu
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Pirate PowARR!! (Score:3)
Prepare to be boarded, lilly-livered DRM-lubbers!
People don't tolerate rent-seeking (Score:4, Insightful)
And despite the summary, it isn't necessarily illegal to pirate in certain countries. Heck, the former USTR maintains a special list of countries you should visit [wikipedia.org] if you wanted to do so.
Many people tired but... (Score:2)
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I actually tried to subscribe to the HBO web service in Canada and discovered that I could not get "Game of Thrones" without paying an extortion fee... So..I wait for DVD's from the library.
Or you could just download it on BitTorrent.
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So..I wait for DVD's from the library.
That's code for "I downloaded it on BitTorrent"
Despite? They're content creators themselves. (Score:2)
All the services like Netflix and Amazon prime have their exclusive content. They are like different channels on cable TV.
Netflix long ago stopped being a content store and became a content creator.
it doesn't make any sense to say despite Neflix because Netflix sells their own content, not make others content easily available.
"Can't stop the signal, Mal" (Score:2, Informative)
Most of the world has no access to most shows (Score:2)
Netflix might have a lot of content is a few countries, but has little content in most countries. The choice ends up being either not to watch or to pirate. There's no real damage to the industry in such cases.
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>The choice ends up being either not to watch or to pirate. There's no real damage to the industry in such cases.
Except of course most people who don't pirate (presumably because they don't know how) will simply settle for what's otherwise available.
You may not recall the 'good old days' of broadcast television pre-On Demand and pre-VCR... but if one of the handful of channels you could get in your area didn't have what you wanted and you didn't feel like doing something other than sit in front of the tu
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You make your own bed (Score:5, Insightful)
The content companies only have themselves to blame, mostly at least. When there is no way to catch up on missed episodes the only choice is pirated or stop watching altogether. Which would they prefer? Beyond that, cable isn't cheap. We pay $100 a month for something that we used to get for free over the air. And most of the world is dirt poor, so if they can't get content for cheap... I'm not exactly poor but I'd never ordinarily pay $1.99 just to watch one episode of one show.
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We pay $100 a month for something that we used to get for free over the air.
Bullshit. What you used to get over the air, you can still get over the air, for free.
You pay $100 a month because you aren't willing to settle just for what comes over the air, or even the basic cable/satellite package... you decided you wanted even more.
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Not true. Some of the content you can no longer get over the air includes sporting events and recent movies. Those items have largely moved to cable TV.
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When there is no way to catch up on missed episodes the only choice is pirated or stop watching altogether.
You could always wait for the missed episodes become available. I know, I know, that would involve delayed gratification...
I'm not exactly poor but I'd never ordinarily pay $1.99 just to watch one episode of one show.
Ah, so you're just cheap. And the content companies have themselves to blame for that because...?
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Yeah. We have a Netflix subscription, Amazon Prime and an expensive Dishnetwork bundle. You'd think with all that there'd never be a need to stream from anywhere else.... nope. DVR missed some episodes of a TV show a month or more ago and you just now noticed? You can keep recording the new ones, but no way to watch the old ones but to find an "illegal" stream online.
At some point the video content creators need to figure out that people who've paid for their content at least once just want to be able to co
Flawed Study (Score:5, Insightful)
This study is so obviously flawed in methodology it's laughable. Clearly this is just a bunch of propaganda. First, if you're surveying people around the world you also need to determine what licensed streaming services the person has access to as not all (or even any) services are available in all countries. Second, you need to consider the differences in the catalogs of licensed services from country to country. Because of antiquated business practices and agreements the catalog of Netflix (for example) varies greatly from place to place. In most places it's much worse than the US, which isn't even that great. Third, the study makes the assumption that simply viewing pirated content is in fact illegal (and they report about this with a leading statement, Did not know that simply watching....). While this may be true in some regions globally there is certainly some disagreement about whether only distribution is unlawful or whether consumption is also unlawful. This really smells like media industry propaganda to me.
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Why I pirate? (Score:2, Insightful)
Best comedy serie ever? Married With Children of course, cannot find it in French in Canada, even in DVDs, so torrent it goes.
Repeat for a lot of things dubbed in French and unavailable by any legal meaning in Canada.
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What's baffling is the lack of french dubbed content on Netflix Canada. According to 2011 statistics, english is used by 58% of the population and french by 22%. So take the smaller-than-USA catalog, put only maybe 10% of it dubbed in french (most of the time there's not even french subtitles either) and that means Netflix Canada are losing at least 20% of potential customers.
Go ahead MPAA...convey your "damage" (Score:5, Insightful)
"48 (percent) said they would stop, or watch less illegal content after they were told about the damaging effects of piracy on the media industry."
As movies continue to smash box office earnings records, and leading movie stars continue to justify obscene paychecks, I'd love to know how the MPAA is going to convey those "damaging" effects.
Sure as shit doesn't seem like they're hurting, especially in the face of what appears to be rampant piracy.
Re:Go ahead MPAA...convey your "damage" (Score:4, Funny)
What's annoying is those messages at the end of the credits, such as "This movie was produced with 15,000 people" and such.
What they will never write is "This movie was produced with 15,000 people and the three main actors got 95% of the money."
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Dude, Tom Cruise could only afford a *single* goldplated shark tank this month!
Non-negotiable items (Score:3)
I have sincerely tried to be legal. I bought HDHomeruns and cable cards so I could consume media in my linux environment legally on a DVR that has capability that is important to me and storage that lets me keep it as long as I want. But the cable co's are now encrypting to make cable on all but a few channels making it impossible for me to view on the platform of my choice. They are using encryption as a way to force you into a rental scenario. As for online streaming, I don't have fast enough internet to stream. I wouldn't even if I could. I will download on linux and view using the player of my choice or I'll work around the artificial crippling.
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But the cable co's are now encrypting to make cable on all but a few channels making it impossible for me to view on the platform of my choice.
The reason for the cableCard you claim you have more than one of is to do the decryption of content. If your cableCard isn't decrypting the content you are paying for, it is broken. Call the cable company and get it fixed.
I have an HDHomeRun with a cable card, and VLC talks to it just great on Linux. At the point it hits the net it is unencrypted and ready for many different viewing programs. I've even got a DLNA (IIRC) app on one of my Android tablets that can view the content from the HDHR.
Fellow HDHomeRun owner here. It was my hope that your description would be the case. I initially made my setup with Mythbuntu, and then I learned about the CopyOnce flag. The use of the CopyOnce flag is prohibited on the broadcast channels, but on actual-cable channels (not even HBO/Showtime/Starz), it's up to the cable company as to whether they want to use it. My cable company (Altice, formerly Cablevision) sets that flag on all their non-broadcast HD channels, and over half of the SD ones, not including
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When did this happen?! (I fear I'm probably misinterpreting your comment.)
I have one of the older non-CableCard HDHomeRuns and it worked great for a while.. but ClearQAM gradually phased out so that CableCard was the only option that could receive everything you pay for. At the time the CableCard version of HDHomeRun came out, it was not interoperable with whatever software you wanted; you had to use Microsoft's whatever-it's-cal
Think of the children! (Score:5, Funny)
"damaging effects of piracy on the media industry"
1. I believe children are damaged by the media industry.
2. Therefore the media industry needs to go away.
3. Piracy has a damaging effect on the media industry.
4. I pirate media content because it is my moral obligation to damage the media industry - for the children.
Well, that should totally hold up in court.
There MAY have been a survey, (Score:5, Insightful)
but they didn't provide ANY indication of the exact questions asked, how they chose potential respondents, how they rejected potential respondents, how many results they threw away and under what criteria - you know, any of the important stuff that would allow the reader to actually evaluate whether or not the conclusions drawn have even a chance of reflecting the real state of affairs. The 'article' is a blatant, crude, substanceless, hit-and-run propaganda piece, and any thinking person should either take its conclusions with a whole cupful of salt, or dismiss them out of hand.
Re:There MAY have been a survey, (Score:4, Informative)
We call this a "push" survey. It usually ends with a question like "now that you know X, will you do Y?"
People prefer Legal (Score:2)
If you give people a reasonable alternative to piracy I'd like to believe they would take it. Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon between them scratch my TV needs, although, with further fragmentation of the streaming market, I'm seriously considering reviewing the situation. I can't pay for EVERY channel that fragments off and wants its own subscriber base.
When it comes to sport- I have to stream from grey-area sources. I'm sorry, I'm not paying for cable just to have sports- nor am I paying $60 a year just to wa
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I really don't think so, if it's easy enough to steal, with a practically 0% chance of getting caught for said theft, people will do it.
It does hurt the industry as well, why do you think so many develpers are are wary of PC gaming, piracy. So someone like me who does not steal, is denied access to stuff because of the people that are stealing. It sucks.
Gimme all of the content (Score:2)
Tried Netflix and Prime. You expect to get anything and everything. But instead you get one decent show, a load of old movies you've already seen.
Suddenly the most important thing is to remember to terminate subscription.
Let me put it this way. I can only watch so much content. There's more content around than I'll ever watch. If I'll be allowed to choose out of everything then I'll come back.
I think I might speak for one or two more.
Well - it is Free & Easy (Score:2)
Aside from not having "good" content on Netflix/Amazon/iTunes etc (aka be an appealing product) --- watching Pirated content fills the "Now" and "Cheap"
I know multiple people who watch pirated content -- and Own a copy too -- only because the mechanism to watch said content is easier via the pirate tools. One person wants to watch on his phone when traveling (or some mobile device for the kids in the backseat) - but the copy he purchased on iTunes/Amazon can't be loaded onto said device. But the device
What damaging effects? (Score:2)
Now let's talk about the damaging effects of making sharing a crime.
Piracy is often due to geo restrictions (Score:2)
I live in Finland and have tested all streaming services available here. Checked the scifi movies section on all of them and results were poor: HBO Nordic 5 movies, Viasat 13 movies and CMore 28. Netflix had similar selection. And most of the movies were old, some so old that they were shown on TV. Selection on TV series was slightly better, but still I had watched all interesting shows during the first free month all these services offered. And I only watched 1-2 hours every now and then.
what do you expect? (Score:3)
Most people around the world are poor, and they probably can't afford legitimate access to US video programming. Hollywood should be happy that foreigners are pirating their movies. It helps keep down competition from places like Bollywood. America benefits from exporting its culture abroad.
It's been said before... (Score:3)
...but I'm going to say it again: Convenience, convenience, convenience. The market always corrects when you try to impose artificial supply constraints, especially when demand is high.
You'd think people would have learned from watching the music industry go through it's "head in the sand" phase.
Speed trap (Score:2)
If last year I watched a hundred pirated videos, and this year I watched two, this survey would say I still watch pirated video.
And the list of people who think streaming pirate content isn't illegal would seem to include the UK trading standards - https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/03/06/1958209/streaming-pirate-content-isnt-illegal-uk-trading-standards-says [slashdot.org]
This survey is a streaming pile.
Re: (Score:2)
This survey is a streaming pile.
streaming, huh? that means if i try to take the survey, i'll be told "This content is not available in your region."
i wonder if i can torrent it?
So... the US really is only a blip on this survey (Score:2)
Looks like maybe providers need to make the content available to those countries who are watching that "pirated" content.
It really seems to me that this is more about content not being available, so people find ways to get it. While Netflix/Amazon may be available in some of those countries, do they get the full list of shows/movies, or just a pittance? I know it is likely due to copyright law restrictions, but that should serve as a wake up call that those restrictions are not helping the copyright holde
Despite Netflix and Amazon? (Score:2)
cost vs income? (Score:3)
I'm guessing thats really because most of the people of the world still don't live in first-world countries with significant disposable income and high-bandwidth internet.
Dear TechinAsia (Score:3)
If folks have to resort to pulling content from frowned upon channels, Big Media has only themselves to blame.
While Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the like are cheap enough, the quality and lack of shows available to stream across them reflects their price. I cannot tell you how many times I've searched for a show I was interested in watching on Netflix, only to find out that it isn't available in the streaming catalog. I can't tell you how many times I've found a series I would like to watch, only to find out it's Season 3 and the first two seasons aren't there anymore :|
When the MPAA / RIAA pull their heads out of their ass and realize the following:
1) Make the content available across all platforms, not this exclusive bullshit we have now
2) Make it reasonably priced, WITHOUT ADS ( don't f*ck this up, you'll sink the whole damn ship )
3) Get rid of the GD geo-blocks. We don't need YOU telling us what YOU think WE should watch.
You'll likely find the number of folks who resort to the Yarr-Matey versions will drop significantly and instead of bitching about the " Pirate Problem ", you can instead focus on your real issue.
That being the creation of quality content that folks actually want to watch.
DRM (Score:2)
"Despite Netflix" ? (Score:3)
I'm struggling with how this is "despite" Netflix. These days I'm saying it's more because of Netflix. When Netflix started it was promising an alternative to the video rental model. Easy, online, full of popular content, right at your door. When they moved to streaming it was revolutionary, all the latest and greatest and a huge back catalogue giving the middle finger cable providers.
Now?
Now I struggle to see how Netflix is any different than owning cable. They mostly fill up their catalogue with their own self made content, content from others is sparse, content is not first to arrive on Netflix unless it's exclusive, and outside the USA let me just say the content is utter garbage. How garbage? Look for Australian TV shows in the USA, and then try and find the same shows on the Australian Netflix. Yes even the local content is harder to get locally on Netflix compared to the USA.
So when people say despite Netflix people all over the world are pirating, I would say they would first need to put a bit of effort in before qualifying for the word "despite".
myth that viewing pirated content=illegal (Score:2)
At least In the EU its legal to stream pirated content.
http://www.digital-digest.com/... [digital-digest.com]
Why pirated content? (Score:2)
Here is why people choose pirated content:
"Every movie you've ever searched for" is unavailable to stream. This title is available on Netflix DVD.
-and-
You can stream this, but we have non-skippable commercials poorly cut in and if you pause or seek it the episode will restart. Also, we use dumb buffering, so that every commercial causes the buffer to flush and you'll end up watching most of the video at 180p, not 1080p, quality.
prime is for shipping (Score:2)
Too late to the party (Score:2)
I believe that most people have found that pirated content is high quality and no ads, plus all those RSS feeds have been set up to automatically download shows a long time ago, well before Amazon and Netflix came to the party.
So why switch from something high quality and ad free?
Re: (Score:3)
Crunchy Roll I think has the rights for Simulcast of this show.
But you do have a point that real shows are region locked or not licensed in certain regions. It's attempting to control distribution of something that's always going to be easily distributed that's the problem.
Re: (Score:3)
I had cable for years even though there were other options because the content I wanted just wasn't there yet... now it's much better but if you need to sign up for a subscriptions on half a dozen sites then you may as well be paying for cable.
I have netflix, prime, my dvd collection, and a bunch or free ad supported content like cbs and cwtv that I watch and no cable. I don't mind commercials on free content, I do however mind paying for cable and still having a boat load of commercials.
Re: (Score:2)
A lot of Hollywood content is not available, not just more obscure stuff like Japanese shows.
Diane Keaton and Richard Gere were in Looking for Mr. Goodbar but it hasn't been released since VHS and that's not the only film that's languished in obscurity.
They seem to get buried in rights problems, although I'm never quite sure why it remains a problem some 20, 30, or even 40 years or more after the film was released. What kind of rights/income can they be fighting for 40 years later? Many of the people invo
Re: (Score:2)
Also the subs are TERRIBLE! I've been watching Kuromukuro on netflix just because its there. And sometimes the subs make me want to vomit. I watch enough that I have picked up broken Japanese and when the subs are not even conveying the basic meaning your know you have problems. That and the white font they use is often invisible against lighter backgrounds.