New Survey: Most Millennials Both Pay For Streaming Services And Use Pirate Streams When Content Isn't Legally Available

from the fulfilling-customer-demands dept

For any of the entrenched entertainment players seated comfortably in their lofty offices, quite used to counting stacks of money and calling it a profession, they likely already know this fearful mantra: the millennials are coming. Millennials, and even more so the generations younger than them, are driving changes in the entertainment industry. These younger consumers are largely responsible for the cord-cutting trend winding its way through the cable industry, not to mention being the force behind ever-expanding streaming options for everything from movies to television shows and live sports. These are the customers of the future. Customers that will outlive a public that became used to having bloated cable television packages filled with channels and content fit to be ignored.

And those customers are both great customers for streaming services and they are customers perfectly happy to get the streaming they want if legitimate methods for it aren't available. A recent survey conducted specifically with millennials finds that more than half of them regularly use pirate streaming sites to watch movies or shows, but would prefer to use legitimate streaming sites had they been available.

This is one of the main conclusions of a new survey conducted by Launchleap. The data come from a survey among millennials between 18 and 35, and zooms in on pirate streaming preferences in this age group. The results show that more than half of the respondents, a whopping 53%, admit to having used illegal services to stream movies or TV-shows over the past month. Legal streaming services remain on top with 70%, but interest in more traditional platforms such as TV, DVDs or Blu-Ray is clearly lagging behind. The respondents don’t appear to be particularly bothered by their habit. Only 7% of the people questioned say they feel guilty when they watch a pirated movie, the remaining 93% experience no guilt.

You can disagree with the moral calculation of these young people all you like, but the numbers here are both stark and illuminating. If nothing else, this survey should signal to the entertainment industry that however many days are left of customers being willing to live in walled off gardens where content is enjoyed only in the manner approved by a cable company or movie studio, rather than being determined by consumer demand, that number of days is on a short timeline. It's also worth noting that the respondents that said they used pirate streaming sites also paid for content via subscriptions to Netflix and the like. The issue is that there is both a content war currently, with movies and shows available only on one streaming site at a time, as well as the long-entrenched protectionism that has kept some content off of any streaming site at all. The attitude of these respondents seems pretty clear by the numbers: hey, we tried to pay for the content, but you wouldn't let us, so we went and got it from a place that had it.

Money is still a factor in the survey, of course. After all, consumers could get most of the content they demand legitimately by subscribing to, say, three or four different streaming sites at once and switching between them. But that doesn't change the fact that television and movie studios are going to have to contend with the reality that the public doesn't want to, or can't afford to, do that. The question then becomes whether these exclusive streaming deals and content protection continue to be good business, given that these younger customers are finding illegitimate ways around them anyway.

The millennials are coming. And they don't think about entertainment content in the same complacent way the last generation has.

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Filed Under: availability, copying, copyright, millennials, pirating, streaming


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  • icon
    That One Guy (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 12:50pm

    "Get the stick!"

    The respondents don’t appear to be particularly bothered by their habit. Only 7% of the people questioned say they feel guilty when they watch a pirated movie, the remaining 93% experience no guilt.

    Clearly the only possible response is more education, and by that I mean more threats, harsher laws, and bigger punishments. Obviously the only reason those heinous criminals don't feel guilty is because they don't know about how you can be slapped with fines large enough to buy a house if someone really has it out for you, due to the fact that a single instance of copyright infringement causes demonstrable, measurable harm in the thousands if not more to the economy.

    If they knew about the life-ruining consequences and the quadrillions of damages to the economy that copyright infringement causes on a daily basis I'm sure they'd go right back to jumping through the numerous hoops to get all their content the legal way like a good little citizen.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Bergman (profile), 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:26am

      Re: "Get the stick!"

      I'm envisioning two convicts riding a prison bus, both shackled to the seat they're in, sometime in the 2020s...

      Prisoner A: So, I got convicted of 143 counts of first degree murder, 293 counts of rape, and 47 counts of cannibalism. I'll be in prison for the next 800 years. I notice your shackles are twice as heavy as mine. What did you DO?!?

      Prisoner B: I illegally streamed two movies and the Oscars.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      RacerX, 25 Apr 2017 @ 7:50am

      Re: "Get the stick!"

      That's the only possible response.... Unless- unless content providers begin to realize that there's TOO MUCH ADVERTISING, their salaries ARE TOO HIGH, the content makers AREN'T GETTING ENOUGH. The days when they get to jam as many pharma ads in our faces as they want are over, and they need to remake their model or the piracy will take over. Over are the days when they can throw at us the junk saccharin flavor of the month movie, meanwhile the good movies somehow stay unavailable. Less advertising, better access. Until then- Long Live the Pirates......

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 1:32pm

    Technology

    "same complacent way"

    Might also be the previous generations are not as technologically savvy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    jupiterkansas (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 1:39pm

    It's not just the young people that behave this way.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    TheResidentSkeptic (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 1:50pm

    People are just out of control!

    They just don't sit down during prime-time viewing hours to view the "Must watch TV" like they are supposed to.

    And they don't subscribe to and read the morning newspaper either!

    These damn kids just don't understand how the industries need them to behave. How dare they change the way they live their lives!

    You'd think they were in control or something.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ian Moriarty, 24 Apr 2017 @ 1:55pm

    Today in other news: Survey finds that water is wet.

    This news is nearly twenty years old. The original pirates now have children, and are perfectly content to hand down the lesson that if you can't pay for what you want, then other means are acceptable.

    Let me pay for the content, let me own it, and leave me alone. It's really not that hard.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      JoeCool (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 3:15pm

      Re:

      It's also not lost on anyone that the people who whine the loudest about pirates STEALING THEIR CONTENT do so from mansions filled with hookers and coke while they fight to avoid paying artists what they're due. These people can whine about education all they want, but no one is buying their lies.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        That One Guy (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 3:47pm

        Re: Re:

        These people can whine about education all they want, but no one is buying their lies.

        What makes the 'We must educate the public' mantra extra funny is that they benefit from a lack of an educated public in maintaining what 'respect' for the law people may have.

        When people see copyright as focused on 'protecting creators' and difficult to violate such that you have to go out of your way to do so, then they're more likely to respect it and consider it good, and see violations as a serious problem.

        Inform people that the ones talking about 'education' tend to be affiliated with if not actually members of groups that screw over artists at every opportunity, that it's absolutely trivial to engage in copyright infringement such that pretty much everyone has done so at some point whether they know it or not, that the possible penalties for doing so are completely and utterly insane, that copyright is for all intents and purposes eternal...

        'Education' is a problem, but not as they seem to think it is, as I believe that the less educated people are on the law the more likely they are to support it, whereas if people knew what an absolute mess it really is they'd likely be all the more against it.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2017 @ 6:54am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Hell some of these executives have even been affiliated with actual criminal enterprises.
          A big hurdle is that a lot of artists still think the current copyright system (at least in the US) actually protects them. Up to the point when they find out it doesn't (and hasn't in over a decade).
          Don't forget that Youtube's much abused ContentID system was created as a response to lawsuits and legal threats made by huge corporations, not small artists.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 7:52pm

        Re: Re:

        You people have learned absolutely nothing from the HBO's Silicon Valley. Too funny.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Bergman (profile), 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:27am

        Re: Re:

        The problem is that someone IS buying their lies -- Congress.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 1:55pm

    It's kind of funny if you think about it. The phrase "The millennials are coming" is currently being received by the MAFIAA with terror when it should be received with delight. They can get more money by offering it to more people at a time but they are stuck wanting to get awesome profits per unit. This is obviously going to fail in the long term when you consider digital goods.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Unanimous Cow Herd, 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:02pm

    Guilt?

    Why should anyone feel guilty about ignoring artificial scarcity?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:08pm

      Re: Guilt?

      The way I see it is if they wanted any money for it, they'd be begging Netflix or Amazon Prime to show their content for whatever money they will give them.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:14pm

        Re: Re: Guilt?

        But no, instead they attempted to starve Netflix out by jacking up the licensing prices on almost everything. So, Netflix, instead of spending an insane price to license everything decided to take all that money they would have been spending on licensing things and used it to pay for it's own original shows. And to millennials, those are GOOD shows.

        And now I find myself watching pretty much only Netflix, not just because it's so much more equitable, but because they have far better content that is their own. I mostly don't pirate anything because there's not much that's not on Netflix or Amazon Prime that I'd even want to watch even if it were free.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:18pm

          Re: Re: Re: Guilt?

          One of these days they are going to look at Netflix studios and the content Netflix will own and ask themselves how this new player became the biggest on the block. When they have the realization that they themselves forged this powerhouse of competitor certainly will be fun to watch. Their best move would be to pivot strategies now but I doubt they have the foresight.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Roger Strong (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:15pm

    The cable companies are adapting much like the music publishers "adapted"; with awful, short-lived online services of their own.

    Here in Canada, Rogers was pushing their "Shomi" streaming service bundled with their other services.

    The promise: "We've got Top Gear!"

    The reality: The newest episodes were six years old.

    More reality: The service quickly shut down. But you still have to pay for it for another 18 months via the two-year contract on those other services.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Roger Strong (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:40pm

      Re:

      BTW, the new season of Top Gear - which wrapped up last night - was pretty good. I have it on my hard drive, through means that Rogers and the BBC likely wouldn't approve of.

      It's not a case of "hey, we tried to pay for the content, but you wouldn't let us, so we went and got it from a place that had it." It's "hey, I PAID for the content. And I'm still paying for it. So I went and got it from a place that had it."

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:18pm

    Gee just think if they hadn't fought against every tech advance, they could be making more money by making everything available.

    But then the lawyers fight for every 100th of a cent because they screwed up rights so much.

    Maybe stop trying to educate consumers & fix yourselves.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Avatar28 (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 2:27pm

    It's hardly just the Millennials. We subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime and now Hulu. There have been several instances where we wanted to watch a particular movie. I searched for it on all three services as well as Comcast's OnDemand library. All I found were options to buy it for close to $20. In one case I went and bought a (used) copy of the 20+ year old movie off Amazon for $4 shipped. Guess who didn't see a penny of it? For other movies I've searched, given up and went to the Pirate Bay for it. I really did try to do it legit but when four different streaming services don't have it then, eh, whatever. I'm not paying $20 for a movie I will watch exactly one time.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    tracyanne, 24 Apr 2017 @ 3:21pm

    It's not just the Millenials

    It never was, but I for one am glad they are a handy club with which to beat the corporate gatekeepers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 6:05pm

      Re: It's not just the Millenials

      Indeed. Today's millennials are the children of the kids who had to sit through "Home Taping is Killing Music". It's not one generation corporate gatekeepers have to contend with, but two.

      Actually, considering how often gatekeepers end up suing grandparents for downloading content they never knew existed, it's really three generations.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Thad, 24 Apr 2017 @ 3:50pm

    I spent a good big chunk of yesterday going through my collection of legally-purchased Blu-Rays to see which ones will play under VLC for Linux.

    It has not escaped my notice that it would have been much, much easier just to pirate the fucking movies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 4:49pm

      Re:

      There are plenty of ripping tools out there. Streaming is still poor quality compared to a Blu Ray.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Thad, 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:12pm

        Re: Re:

        Streaming is still poor quality compared to a Blu Ray.

        Yes, I know. That's why I buy Blu-Rays.

        There are plenty of ripping tools out there.

        I don't want to rip them; a collection of 1080p movies with 5.1 audio take up more hard drive space than I'm interested in using. I could compress them, but that would defeat the purpose of buying Blu-Rays. I want to be able to put a disc in my drive and play it.

        Here are the resources I've been using: BluRay playback and ripping on Fedora (AACS, BD+, BD-J) -- so far I'm just using the open-source tools; I haven't given MakeMKV a try yet.

        VukExtract

        VukExtract relies on DVDfab running under WINE. I couldn't get the current version of DVDfab to run, so I downloaded DVDfab v9 at oldversion.com.

        The good news is that most of my discs worked fine out of the box with the keys available at labDV, and, of the ones that didn't, I got some working using VukExtract. The bad news is, a couple wouldn't play even after I ran VukExtract, and some had graphical glitches. I'm going to look into alternate players for the ones I've had trouble with (give mplayer a shot), and if that still doesn't work I might try the makemkv method.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          tracyanne, 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:57pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Streaming actually isn't a serious consideration for me, my "Broadband" connection is way too slow, As a consequence I really only have 2 choices, purchase DVDs when they are available, or Download via Torrent.

          720p is sufficient quality for me, if the story is any good it will be good at 720p. So ripping and compressing for storage on HDD is a good solution. Of course Torrenting works well too, and 720p usually uses less bandwidth.

          I just wish more people would make stuff available at the lower quality.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            JoeCool (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 6:56pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Now there's a market that would do well - HD movies h.264 compressed to fit on DVDs at either 1920x1080 or 1280x720. I've had very poor luck with BDs. The drives I got for my PC went bad after a few months (both of them), my PS3 doesn't always "like" a BD and playback skips while the fan cranks up to vacuum cleaner levels, and I've gone through three stand-alone players. Never had a problem ever with any DVD drives I've had in any device.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 9:47am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Now there's a market that would do well - HD movies h.264 compressed to fit on DVDs at either 1920x1080 or 1280x720.

              We have that already, just not in the form of a market. All of the movies I have fit on a DVD, most on a single-layer DVD. The h.265 ones that have been appearing over the last year are even better quality for the size.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • icon
                JoeCool (profile), 27 Apr 2017 @ 8:24pm

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                Yeah, it's funny how you could actually use piracy to identify legitimate markets to exploit. So why aren't they doing that? Oh, right, copyright morons... :/

                link to this | view in chronology ]

                • identicon
                  Thad, 28 Apr 2017 @ 10:46am

                  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                  Neil Gaiman had a pretty great essay about how he initially took great offense at piracy but, over time, realized that people were using it to read his books in countries where they weren't available through any other means, and that among other benefits he could use this information to make a case to publishers in those countries that there was a market for his work there.

                  I believe the essay is published as a foreword to Cory Doctorow's Information Doesn't Want to Be Free, and also in Gaiman's own essay collection View from the Cheap Seats.

                  link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 5:57am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            " I really only have 2 choices, purchase DVDs when they are available, or Download via Torrent."

            Public library? Redbox? Lending from friends? There are more options out there.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 10:45am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Everybody get a load of this guy! He has friends! What a loser!

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              tracyanne, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:01pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              I've tried the Piblic Library, they have bugger all to choose from.

              Never heard of Redbox, but a quick search reveals "Stream movies on-demand, no subscriptions needed."... Stramimng isn't an option for me

              But speaking of Rentals, all the old school Movie rental outlets seem to be closing down, due, no doubt, because of competition from Streaming services.

              Yep do the lending from friends this too, then rip the movies to HDD.

              I also search Farmers markets for "pre loved" copies.

              So for most stuff there's purchases and Bittorrent. Many movies, and TV series, are not available, especially older ones, for purchase, due to artificial scarcity, where the gatekeepers stop producing them.

              It would actually be so easy to enable the retail stores to simply burn copies of older stuff, but no we have to have fancy packaging in and limited runs to keep the prices higher.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:12pm

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                I suspect he was referring to Redbox kiosks where you can rent physical discs, not Redbox's streaming service. I live in the Phoenix area and there are a lot of grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, etc. that have Redbox machines upfront; it may be worth checking the Redbox website to see if there are any in your area, though if you've never heard of them before then it's quite possible there aren't any where you are.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              tracyanne, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:18pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Also Redbox appear to be US based. So if they do rent actual DVDs, then I'm pretty sure they don't cater to my country.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 5:54am

          Re: Re: Re:

          "I want to be able to put a disc in my drive and play it."


          Then buy a blu ray player? I don't know what you expected trying to watch a DRM encumbered disk on a hobbyist OS.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Avatar28 (profile), 25 Apr 2017 @ 8:34am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            It would be nice if I could do it in Windows but they updated the discs such that newer ones needed a software update and I wasn't paying $70 to buy the latest version of PowerDVD.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              JoeCool (profile), 25 Apr 2017 @ 9:42am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              So put that money into AnyDVD HD from RedFox. It works better as well as removes the "protection" (from skipping ads) at the same time.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:21pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            I don't know what you expected trying to watch a DRM encumbered disk on a hobbyist OS.

            When I bought a Blu-Ray drive, I expected I would continue to run Windows on my HTPC, Mr. Coward. I did not expect that the next version of Windows would be a glorified piece of spyware that bundled popup ads and installed on users' computers after they told it not to. I further did not expect that the next time I bought a new computer, Microsoft would disable Windows Update if I installed Windows 7 or 8 on it.

            But yeah, clearly I'm the guy to blame for the problems I'm having. It's not the MPAA's fault for pushing an encryption standard that's easier to pirate than to play, it's my fault for being stupid enough to legally purchase Blu-Ray discs and a Blu-Ray drive and expecting them to work.

            Out of curiosity, do you consider the Mac OS to be "a hobbyist OS" too? Because even the commercial Blu-Ray player apps for Mac OS have many of the same disc compatibility issues as VLC.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              tracyanne, 25 Apr 2017 @ 4:22pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              I keep copy of Windows 10 on a VM (it was the free version released to Windows Insider Program members, which I joined so I could have a legal copy of Windows without paying for it), it never connects to the Internet, so spying by Microsoft isn't an issue, and I don't care about updates... it never connects to the Internet, so I'm not worried about security issues (any problems that might be caused by shonky software are easily fixed by restoring the VM from backup).

              I keep it around just in case I need Windows for anything where the Corporate gatekeepers have made life difficult for us Linux users, so far I haven't had any real issues, since I don't bother with BluRay. An issue with an update of the Linux version of MakeMKV caused a temporary need for the Windows version, and that's about it.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 5:03pm

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                Yeah, I've considered a Win10 VM or dual-boot, but I'd really rather not if I can avoid it.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 2:00pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            a hobbyist OS.

            If Linux is hobbyist OS then the hobbyists own the Internet, high performance and super computing.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:05pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Servers and supercomputers aren't generally used for playing Blu-Rays, though. I'll grant that, on the desktop, GNU/Linux is a niche OS.

              My point, though, is so fucking what? My dollar is worth just as much as a Windows user's dollar. I'm a paying customer. Making it more difficult for me to play movies that I have legally purchased is not a good move on the MPAA's part, because it makes me less likely to buy Blu-Rays in the future. Meanwhile, it's done fuck-all to prevent piracy; as noted, I could pirate these moves and pay nothing for them, easily, and have a much better user experience than the one I am having as a paying customer.

              Though I'm sure "DRM doesn't stop piracy, it only inconveniences legitimate users" is not exactly a new argument to anybody who's reading Techdirt.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Canuck, 25 Apr 2017 @ 6:44pm

                Good move...

                "Making it more difficult for me to play movies that I have legally purchased is not a good move on the MPAA's part"

                Buying those movies was not a good move on your part. You got played for a fool and you're funding their asshattery.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

                • identicon
                  Thad, 26 Apr 2017 @ 10:50am

                  Re: Good move...

                  Yeah, cute to see that point made a third time. So let me ask you a question: do you expect me to believe you don't go to movies, purchase them, use legal streaming services, watch videos on YouTube that have sponsorship deals in place with studios, etc.?

                  link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:26pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              "Google" is hobby powered.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        J5892 (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:20pm

        Re: Re:

        True, but torrenting quality is just as good.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:34pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          You torrent 30GB movies?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            J5892 (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 6:18pm

            Yes.

            Not often, but I have torrented a few full quality blu-ray movies.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 2:22am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Some parts of the world have no data caps, and DSL more than good enough for video streaming. I could stream 1080P 24/7 if I wanted to, with bandwidth to spare software updates. I find all my video entertainment on YouTube, which means no DRM hassles on my Linux Boxes. 30GB is about my evening consumption.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 5:59am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              >I could stream 1080P 24/7

              At a relatively low bitrate.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 9:51am

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                At a relatively low bitrate.

                50-megabit DSL is readily available these days, inexpensively, at least in some areas. Specifications for some hundreds of megabits exist. Wikipedia says BDs have "a maximum AV bitrate of 48 Mbit/s". Of course, streaming video can use better codecs (H.265 or better H.264 profiles).

                link to this | view in chronology ]

                • identicon
                  Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 11:02am

                  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                  It's not a problem with bandwidth, streaming content providers (even 4k) limit the quality of their streams for economic reasons. Streaming services want to use as few bits to transmit to as many subscribers as possible. Cable companies do the same thing by degrading their service.

                  In terms of technical quality the best sources are digital TV broadcasts (over the air) and physical media.

                  link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • identicon
                    Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:14pm

                    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                    In terms of technical quality the best sources are digital TV broadcasts (over the air)

                    Except that for the last 30 years the broadcasters have been polluting the stream with watermarks--and lately overlaid ads! I don't download tv-rips anymore because of it.

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        That One Guy (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:31pm

        Well if you're going to be punished anyway...

        The funny thing is, whether ripping legally purchased movies or downloading them, Thad would be breaking the law either way so long as the blu-rays had any form of DRM infecting them.

        Download a movie without paying for it = Breaking the law.

        Ripping a legally purchased movie so that you can watch it how you want and/or make a back-up copy = Also breaking the law.

        People that try to operate within the law have to deal with numerous obstacles and annoyances, things that those that go straight to the infringement option don't have to deal with, and if they try to mitigate those obstacles and annoyances they're breaking the law anyway.

        I can only imagine how many people facing that sort of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' issue have decided to skip the 'pay for content' step entirely, since if they want it on their terms they'll be breaking the law regardless, and the latter option is cheaper and involves less hassle.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Ninja (profile), 25 Apr 2017 @ 5:24am

          Re: Well if you're going to be punished anyway...

          Note he is ripping so he actually can watch it with his equipment. He's being blocked from watching legally purchased blu-rays in his legally owned equipment. And the MAFIAA and their minions wonder why people gave them the middle finger and went piracy. I've never bought a blu-ray and never will exactly because of this kind of bullshit.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 9:54am

            Re: Re: Well if you're going to be punished anyway...

            He's being blocked from watching legally purchased blu-rays in his legally owned equipment.

            And is giving the MAFIAA the funding to block him.

            Personally, the idea of loading stuff from a disc is just so inconvenient. With under $1000 in hard drives I can be watching any movie 10 seconds from when I think about it.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:26pm

              Re: Re: Re: Well if you're going to be punished anyway...

              And is giving the MAFIAA the funding to block him.

              That's a fair criticism and one I'll definitely keep in mind the next time I'm interested in buying a disc.

              On the other hand, I'm adding all the keys I extract to labDV, so I'm also actively helping to make the process less painful for other users.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Avatar28 (profile), 25 Apr 2017 @ 8:32am

      Re:

      Oh my god, this. I have a bluray drive on my PC. I tried watching a movie on it, it said it required updates to the bluray software. I went to update it and the version I need to upgrade to is a free upgrade but I can't update to because it was an OEM version (the computer OEM doesn't provide an update). So, basically, they updated the features on the Blu-ray disc that broke the software and required updates on it. I wasn't about to pay $70 just to watch the bluray I legally owned. So I said screw it and downloaded the best one I could find and seeded the shit out of it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 9:42am

      Re:

      It has not escaped my notice that it would have been much, much easier just to pirate the fucking movies.

      But they'll try to make that more difficult, and you're giving them the funding to do so.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:37pm

        Re: Re:

        But they'll try to make that more difficult

        So? They've been trying to make it more difficult for twenty years now; where's it gotten them?

        They can try all they want; it's not going to get harder for people to copy ones and zeroes from one computer to another.

        and you're giving them the funding to do so.

        This is a fair criticism, and, as I said above, something to keep in mind the next time I consider buying a movie.

        But I subscribe to Netflix even though it uses DRM, I just bought a Kabylake processor even though it's got DRM built right into the firmware, and I've made any number of other compromises to purchase things that I enjoy despite having serious qualms with some of the ethics underpinning them. These are choices we all make, all the time, and unless you want to go full Richard Stallman and use a Thinkpad x60 with completely free software (and not watch TV or movies at all), you're supporting unethical DRM somewhere along the line.

        I've just taken a step away from unethical companies by opting to keep Windows off my new computer. Maybe I'll take another step away and quit buying Blu-Rays. But I'll probably keep Netflix. And I intend to keep the Blu-Rays I own, figure out how to play them, and share that information with other people in the same boat I am.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 1:53pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          I've heard makemkv works and there's a ppa for ubuntu.

          Unless you really need to watch on a specialized device, It's probably less of a hassle to buy a blu ray player, don't connect it to the internet, and hook it up to a display though since they're much less expensive these days. Buying used players and discs also helps to give less financial support to the DRM companies.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Thad, 25 Apr 2017 @ 2:55pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            I haven't tried MakeMKV yet but I'll give it a whirl if I can't get everything working with libbluray/libbdplus.

            Might see my way to picking up a used PS3 one of these days too, though I'd prefer to just be able to play discs on my HTPC.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Thad, 26 Apr 2017 @ 10:54am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Update: I gave up on libbluray/libbdplus and tried MakeMKV, which works great. So I amend my initial statement: it is not significantly more difficult to play Blu-Rays under Linux than it is to pirate them, provided you're willing to install a proprietary tool to do it.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:49pm

    I've paid for WinRAR twice, and when faced with a "here's my music you can download now and donate what you want" I donTed $1 per song. Why? Because the option was there.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2017 @ 5:59pm

    Convenience and Permanence

    I subscribe to a few streaming services, but I still pirate TV shows, for a number of reasons. For example, I pay for Comcast's Xfinity tv thing, and I can stream current shows through that. I don't, though, because of the atrocious player, and pointless 24 hour delays for streaming availability. I'll watch shows on Netflix or Crunchyroll, but I'll still download pirated copies because items from their catalog will be pulled without warning.

    I would gladly, gladly pay ~$50/mo for a service that offers me the same convenience, reliability, and permanence as pirating does. It just doesn't exist.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ECA (profile), 24 Apr 2017 @ 6:01pm

    DUH!!

    LEts ask something..
    HOW many OLD movies Black and White, HAVE the younger generation WATCHED??
    Goto Youtube, Search for Public domain..

    For SOME reason the Corps keep hiding WHAT SHOULD BE in the public domain..
    They use ALL their media, as MONEY and TRADE..
    THEY choose what you WATCH..What is released..

    Anyone see an Independent or Even a Corp channel Run LOTS of public domain?? there are only 2-3 that run OLD movies..
    OLD series, Old movies, OLD everything...AND they SHOULD NOT be paying to SHOW public domain programming..

    It also gives you a LOOK at the Rating system..THEIR WASNT ONE...and the MOVIE CODES werent around EITHER..

    What I LOVE, is finding the First issue of a Movie that was CREATED in SILENT and B&W.. They have been REhashing shows FOR YEARS...and 90% of the time, its BOOKS that were NOT Copy written.. HARDLY ever did they do Current Books or Stories..(and STILL they dont) OR they do the story and Change a few things and Call it a NEW INTERPRETATION..

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 2:26am

      Re: DUH!!

      A major reason why many movies that should be in the public domain are not available is that the Studios let the only copies available to away in their vaults. That is because they are not interested in keeping lots of movies available, but rather in only having a few new ones on the market at any time, so as to maximize the audience and the profits.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2017 @ 6:45am

        Re: Re: DUH!!

        And thanks to this we get a lot of classics lost to film rot.
        Also lawsuits to reclaim the last surviving copies from fans who luckily happened to record them back when they aired.
        And then lock them up again.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2017 @ 5:03am

    We are going to build a paywall to stop this. It will be the best, biggest, most secure paywall. A fabulous paywall. And we'll make the pirates pay for it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rekrul, 25 Apr 2017 @ 3:09pm

    Way back in 2001, I missed the third episode of the Fox anthology series Night Visions. I completely forgot that it was on. It was years before I found someone who had recorded it and when I borrowed the tape, the image was horrible.

    Now the internet is like the world's best DVR. Most of the time I don't even bother watching shows when they air, I just grab the copies off the net later than night or the next day and watch them when I feel like it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    THustmyre (profile), 26 Apr 2017 @ 12:24pm

    I have all streaming services

    Like the title says I have almost everything, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO. I'm still forced to go online and watch streams of some of the shows I like because they refuse to bring them to the streaming services.
    The only benefit to cable is that is has shows that aren't available to stream and that's a problem the companies can fix on their own by just adding them to the freaking streaming services!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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