This last round was the line for me. Canceled the whole Hulu/D+ mess and haven’t looked back. My Jolly Roger is a little tattered these days, but I still know how to fly it.
I quit years ago, back when for me the easiest way to watch what I pirated on my TV was slapping it on a flash drive and walking to the tv like some kind of pleb.
Plex is glorious!
Argh me hearty, fly it with pride.
Honestly it’s never been easier
Recently got on board (heh) with all the -arrs and my Plex is now basically all streaming services combined.
I started seeing ads when playing (some) Amazon/paramount videos, plus the Netflix and Disney+ password crackdowns, and the price increases, I’m so over this crap.
I’m feeling the same way. I was getting pissed off that my kids couldn’t watch Netflix when they were at grandmas house first. Now they got mid-roll ads and I’m so over it.
Remember when they’d grandfather accounts in so you keep the old rate and features as a token of appreciation for your loyalty as a customer?
Yeah that’s an ancient relic these days. Your loyalty as a customer means dick.
I don’t even pay for Netflix or Disney. They are covered by my phone (TMobile) and credit card (Amex BCP) respectively.
Still, GabeNs Law has proven accurate once again. Ahoy.
Mmm it’s really sad but some of the nonstandard acquisition sites (even free ones) are better for content discovery than any service has ever been.
Because they don’t fucking recommend each other do they? No.
But the alternative market knows no boundaries. They don’t give a fuck who put what out. “Hey fyi since you like this, you might like this handful of similar things that we make nothing directly off telling you about , but indirectly benefit because you come back”
The Reddit megathread is one of the only things on that site I still reference. Not great, but better than the alternatives (until I get automation set up then it’s all over).
Stremio + Real-Debrid is the way to go imo
Don’t forget Torrentio. That’s a crucial part of that combo.
I forgot that its not built into Stremio honestly
I love how the initial stremio setup follows your account if you install it on another device.
Right? I really struggled getting it set up on my Shield TV because I didn’t understand that the setup will follow the account. So, anyone new to this, set it up on your computer where it’s easiest, then just log in everywhere else.
Yar har, fiddle de dee Being a pirate is alright with me! Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free You are a pirate!
Join us on the high seas!
Welcome, new user!
🏴☠️
I was already on the fence about cancelling Disney, and honestly this is a great excuse.
Those Disney shows are kinda awful. Outside of The Mandalorian, the marvel shows and other side stories are extremely hit and miss.
The last season of the Mandolorian wasn’t even good. It spent most of it’s time setting up other crap I am not interested in. There really isn’t anything they can do that will make the premise for the sequels not a lazy regressive pile of garbage and it’s dragging this show down with it. I didn’t even bother with Ashoka since that looked like it was going to be even more of that.
Ahsoka could have been good if it was longer bit they just spent the whole series building up and left it hanging at the end and the actor for the most interesting character died so that part of it can’t go anywhere
I really liked rebels a lot (especially once they improved the textures). I just can’t bring myself to get invested in Star Wars anymore given Disney’s handling of it thus far.
I wasn’t even planning on cancelling Disney+. I wanted to downsize from the Hulu combo package because I found i never watched Hulu, but it wouldn’t let me switch directly. I had to let the combo membership run out before I could start a new D+ membership.
And, well, I just have gotten around to that yet…
The only thing I use Disney for is to rewatch old X-Men
I wish they had all Silver Surfer seasons.
I started flying my jolly roger cause I was out of a job but now I have such a library and I have no desire to ever pay for a subscription again.
I love this image, usually when I talk well about Stremio they think I’m shitting on Kodi, and that couldn’t be more far from the truth!
I like this duo beating up companies and I use both!
I use both too!
I remember using Kodi around 2012 and it was a bit of a hassle to get it set up initially (install different repos etc.) since out of the box it was very vanilla. Is it still the same process or has it gotten better where users can hit the ground running after install?
I started using it on Linux, then a Mi Box and finally and since then a Nvidia Shield TV Pro, I think it maybe has the same “difficult” steps to set it up (meaning navigating through many menus and using the keyboard several times, something not ideal on a device with a remote), if you go with the default skin (which I despise) then you can save a lot of time thinkering (I kinda don’t mind this).
Anyway, when you have your setup working as you want it then it requires low maintenance, add-ons can auto update themselves and I haven’t found they broke horribly or feel the need to disable auto update and check changelogs for every version before updating lol.
It definitely isn’t as plug and play as with, let’s say Stremio, but once you set it up you have a lot more flexibility, filters, customization, you name it.
Ok thanks for the response. I will check it out again.
Jellyfin is better if you watch on multiple devices and remotely
Stremio can do that, if you are the only one doing it ofc (no account sharing if you use a debrid service).
But then you have to host all of it yourself right? Why would people want to go through that hassle when Stremio + debrid is cheap as hell?
Because some of us want to have more control
Would put Plex in there as well if it wasn’t for their recent opt-out streaming history visibility update.
No need to use Plex
I use Jellyfin and plex still has it’s uses, much easier to share content remotely for example
Plex is also a much better music player/streamer if you have plex pass with plexamp. Jellyfin’s audio renderer is pitifully bad by default, and only marginally better if you modify the factory file to use something like MPC-HC. Also, Jellyfin’s album and artist sorting is pretty mid.
Just use Jellyfin with Symfonium
Or use Symfonium with Navidrome
I’m guessing Symfonium doesn’t have custom DJ modes and automatic music mixes based on your local library and past listening habits? Their website doesn’t mention.
The DJ modes and track/album radio and artist mixes are what sold me on Plexamp.
Don’t know what DJ modes are but it has automatic mixes. Just try it I guess.
Plus one for symfonium. I’m just wondering how to deal with my 5 star music ratings in plex. I typically listen to playlists based on a star rating of 3-5 stars and sometimes I’m only in the mood for 5 star songs so I have like 3 or 4 playlists. I would hate to have to individually rate songs all over again. Also seems like jellyfin only has a like system…
I have debated getting a lifetime plex pass for a few reasons, I might when it’s next on sale but I’m not fully decided on it yet. I have been using Plexamp recently to listen to audiodramas though, sorting through stuff like that with anything other than the file structure I have already set up just really does not work for me
I prefer Jellyfin for just watching stuff on my TV streamed from my computer though
How so? You can use tailscale/wireguard or just port forward to remotely access.
I said easier, setting up a vpn for my family to be able to remotely access my media on their TV is no where near as easy as setting up a Plex server and sharing it that way
Port forwarding doesn’t require VPN.
Does Plex Sharing not open up ports either manually or via UPnpP?
You shouldn’t be opening up access to your Jellyfin server to the internet, that’s why.
Not only are there known vulnerabilities that can, and will, be abused by bad actors (Not even humans, automated systems). But it also provides a convenient way for media entities & your ISP to target you in mass piracy crackdowns.
Nevermind the undisclosed or unknown vulnerabilities that may be exposed by Jellyfin.
Having it behind a VPN protects you and your media.
I am in a situation where I can’t open up ports manually (or access my router at all) so it’s definitely not manual
Comics like this assume that the service in question has anything worth pirating. We’re talking about Disney here, though.
Disney owns 30 percent of media. Just because you don’t care about what they have doesn’t mean it’s not worth to someone.
I’m saying this as someone who is in a similar boat where I don’t really care for anything they make beyond the occasional marvel movie but not all and also I’ll just pirate what I like anyways.
They inherited tons of good stuff people seem to ignore. I think that’s partly because big chunks of that library are still available on other services, but if they decide to make everything they own exclusive, it’ll be much more of a pain in the ass.
Iirc a lot of stuff is allowed on other services because it might not fit in with their branding. Same reason Hulu is still a thing even though Disney owns them.
They got the X-Files here
Stremio the GOAT
popcorn time?
What’d they do this time? I don’t subscribe to them
Password sharing crackdown, a la Netflix
What? Kids are getting free streaming while at college? These millionaire college students have gotten enough of a free ride!
It will be interesting to see how effective it is, I got around Netflix by just using browser versions. They did a shit job and haven’t bothered to fix it.
Why try that hard ? Subscriptions went up. They win that one.
Dunno, I’m not subscribed either. Can’t imagine it’s anything good though (if it is, I’ll delete my post and phone Disney to apologise).
Can you imagine if a streaming service did something good? “We’re updating the terms of service. Now each profile under your account can have their own usernames and passwords to access the service, the profile limit has been doubled, and the number of concurrent logins per profile tripled!”
Honestly keeping it kinda fuzzy and not cracking down is the best option for them.
Some people just aren’t willing to pay full price for Disney+. But if they can share their account with someone else, they can pay half price. Most of the cost is in producing the content so having two people paying half price instead of zero people paying full price is a win for them.
But not explicitly allowing this means there’s a lot of people that won’t share their account. I got sticklers in my family like that… meanwhile my Netflix password is on a note on my parent’s fridge. Anyway the sticklers pay full price, the people that don’t want to pay full price are still paying something, this maximizes the revenue.
But they’re being stupid and think cracking down will convert two people sharing an account into two accounts paying the full price. But it’s more likely to convert two people sharing one paid account into zero paid accounts.
But it’s more likely to convert two people sharing one paid account into zero paid accounts.
Netflix’s user numbers and revenue went up after their “crackdown”. That’s why everyone else is doing it too.
Thank you for the expert answer.
“I have altered the contract. Pray I don’t alter it further”
–Disney
You can get going with Jellyfin if you want a alternative
First setup Jellyfin on a old computer. (Preferabllly Intel with hardware acceleration) https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/quick-start/
For content follow the following:
Buy the bluray -> rip with MakeMKV -> transcode with Handbreak -> copy into Jellyfin -> update metadata
Or you can use the *arr stack. Blurays are expensive.
Removed by mod
Oh no! Anyways… back to pirating
me over here using my old bulldozer cpu with a 1060…
transcodes just fine though.
Exactly what I’m running. Those FX-8350s are absolute tanks. Hot tanks, but solid
Look at you with your bulldozer and your GTX 1060. What a bloody luxury. I am here with a pile driver and a GTX 970.
I recommend you both downgrade to phenoms for a performance upgrade.
Rocking 970 aswell. Hell, my RPI could do it with some tweaking at 1080p.
The 970 actually does 4K, just not 10 bit HDR.
About how long would you say
rip with MakeMKV -> transcode with Handbreak -> copy into Jellyfin -> update metadata
takes? I have a lot of movies.
For my wife’s 1300 DVDs, it took me 3 years (it’s not an automated process, so obviously this wasn’t 3 years of 100% uptime).
The hardest part for me has been dealing with DRM. Some movies will have their scenes scrambled 1000 ways, and then the DRM is just knowing which playlist is the right one. MakeMKV usually handles this, but sometimes it gets it wrong. so I have some scrambled movies that Ive never gone back to re-rip. It’s VERY frustrating when it doesn’t work, but very simple when it does.
Overall, still worth it for independence to me though. When The Office/Friends/etc got yanked from Netflix, but I still had physical copies and jellyfin, I felt REAL vindicated.
I’m not sure if I’ve seen 1300 different movies…
I haven’t. I do the tech support, she watches the movies. It works out for us.
The step that takes the longest is the “transcode with Handbrake” one. On my fairly slow mobile Ryzen 7, it takes about an an hour and a half.
The thing is, you can tweak settings in Handbrake to be faster at the expense of video quality and/or file size.
What I do is to set up a bunch of files and let Handbrake run overnight. In the morning, everything’s done and I can work on the next batch. It helps that I work from home.
Ripping from disc takes about 20 minutes. Copying is as fast as your network. Updating metadata can be done whenever.
Its going to take a while but exact estimates are hard to make as it varies heavily
I would just take your time and do 1-2 movies a week
I mean Disney made money on a theme park ride and a never-ending movie series about piracy seems only fair …
I mean, capt’n, a EULA/TOS is a guideline really
I was trying to think of a way to work in a Pirates of the Caribbean joke about the Terms and Conditions and the pirate code before I realized that was literally what you just said 😩 I’m tired man
The updates are never good for the consumer. The quality of the platform goes down, but the prices goes always up. Canceled.
Save us Hondo!
Trade those subscriptions in and buy the stock instead.
Again?
They are altering the deal.
Pray they don’t water it any further.