Pirating Netflix originals.

jester77 · 10-09-2013 04:37PM

weisses wrote: »

Problem with Rolling it out in Germany has probably to do with the dubbed content

Netflix are already in Scandinavia, so I doubt dubbing is the issue. Any anyway, most people I know here watch stuff in its original language.

April O Neill · 10-09-2013 04:57PM

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

I like the idea of Netflix, I see it as a user friendly service for those who aren't tech savvy enough to pirate.

Even if I was tech savvy, I'd still subscribe. Even for the tech savvy, it's still a big pile of hassle to pirate successfully.

EyeSight · 10-09-2013 05:12PM

April O Neill wrote: »

Even if I was tech savvy, I'd still subscribe. Even for the tech savvy, it's still a big pile of hassle to pirate successfully.

This.
I am very tech savy, promised never to pay for services as i loved pirating, but after a 30 day free trial i must admit, the convenience made me buy an account. That said, i use both USA and IRL netflix. The IRL is a bit weak IMO so i don't know would i buy only that.

I wish more shows would do what Breaking Bad is doing. Putting episodes online the next day

jester77 · 10-09-2013 05:46PM

April O Neill wrote: »

Even if I was tech savvy, I'd still subscribe. Even for the tech savvy, it's still a big pile of hassle to pirate successfully.

Same here, the right model at the right price and I will happily pay. Spotify, Amazon, Steam & Lovefilm have all gotten it right. For TV, Netflix doesn't seem to be quite there yet from what I see, but they seem to be the best option.

As for pirating, it is now very easy to setup an automated system that needs zero maintenance these days.

April O Neill · 10-09-2013 06:10PM

EyeSight wrote: »

This.
I am very tech savy, promised never to pay for services as i loved pirating, but after a 30 day free trial i must admit, the convenience made me buy an account. That said, i use both USA and IRL netflix. The IRL is a bit weak IMO so i don't know would i buy only that.

Once BB was done, I was debating whether to keep the IRL one, but now that I use both IRL and US, I'm happily going to keep it. 6.99, seriously. I drink G&T and that's what I'd pay for one in a pub where I live. Seriously. One. Puts it in perspective.

April O Neill · 10-09-2013 06:11PM

jester77 wrote: »

Same here, the right model at the right price and I will happily pay. Spotify, Amazon, Steam & Lovefilm have all gotten it right. For TV, Netflix doesn't seem to be quite there yet from what I see, but they seem to be the best option.

I didn't like Lovefilm when I was on it a few years ago. Hated how awkward they made it to unsubscribe.

B.A._Baracus · 10-09-2013 06:39PM

The sad thing is people will always pirate things. Doesn't matter if NetFlix was 1 euro per month.

Gabe Newell (founder of Valve Software and Stream, a type of netflix service of games you could roughly say) .. once said "people are willing to pay for things and not pirate them if they are cheap and value for money" - he is right. NetFlix in this case does offer value for money.

But people will still pirate. As good as netflix is, it doesnt have the latest releases. So if someone wanted to see World War Z now instead of 6 months time on netFlix. They'll likely pirate.

SherlockWatson · 10-09-2013 06:53PM

April O Neill wrote: »

Even if I was tech savvy, I'd still subscribe. Even for the tech savvy, it's still a big pile of hassle to pirate successfully.

It really isn't though.

lkionm · 10-09-2013 07:08PM

SherlockWatson wrote: »

It really isn't though.

4 clicks and I am downloading the latest dexter.

5 clicks and typing into a search bar for anything else.

It really is just as easy as using google, with less looking.

Anyone who downloads dodgy stuff isnt interneting right. It says dvdrip or bluray or Russian or cam

April O Neill · 10-09-2013 07:18PM

SherlockWatson wrote: »

It really isn't though.

Ok then.

jester77 · 10-09-2013 07:29PM

lkionm wrote: »

4 clicks and I am downloading the latest dexter.

5 clicks and typing into a search bar for anything else.

It really is just as easy as using google, with less looking.

Anyone who downloads dodgy stuff isnt interneting right. It says dvdrip or bluray or Russian or cam

It's not even that complicated, 0 clicks and 0 interaction and it is on your TV waiting for you to watch less than an hour after it has aired. Automated solutions are now easy to set up and have better interfaces than Netflix.

COYVB · 14-09-2013 12:08AM

April O Neill wrote: »

Even for the tech savvy, it's still a big pile of hassle to pirate successfully.

Ah it's not. It's actually easier than it has ever been assuming you pay for a "file hosting" service. But it's still not quite as easy as hitting a button and streaming whatever you want in a reliable format and top quality

14-09-2013 05:05AM

I'm not one to judge others & their choices, but I couldn't pirate unless there wasn't a cheap enough alternative. I don't buy the "it's stealing" spiel from IMRO and the like, but I'm happy to hand over if the price is right. Of course, there's always going to be Ayrn Rands out there who think it's fools who pay for free things, just like someone reading this will get coked off his head or smoke a giant dooby.

Pirating Netflix though? Pure skanger think. If you're going to pirate, why waste time on their system? Isn't there more piratey places to get your fix? (don't answer that with specifics).

And pirating Netflix originals. Seriously? 7 quid a month? Dude, if you've not got 7 quid to scramble together in 30 days, you have bigger problems than your lack of TV choice.

Rosy Posy · 14-09-2013 05:09AM

No Netflix in New Zealand

. I'd happily pay for it and not pirate if it was available. Til then...

14-09-2013 05:17AM

Rosy Posy wrote: »

No Netflix in New Zealand . I'd happily pay for it and not pirate if it was available. Til then...

*salutes the Jolly Roger*

In the absence of alternatives, Pirate on, m'dear...........

pickarooney · 14-09-2013 08:10AM

There's no way I would trust a streaming service to watch something like Breaking Bad. You just know it would lag or your WiFi would cut out at the climax of an episode.

pickarooney · 14-09-2013 08:23AM

seamus wrote: »

Pirating is pretty quickly receding into the recesses of the Internet and as a fringe inconsequential activity where it used to live before Napster. The only reason pirating gained any traction beyond the 1% is because it was the only game in town for so long if you wanted an alternative to renting/buying a film or buying a CD.

There was a lengthy interview with Kevin Spacey recently enough where he stated that the movie industry has an opportunity to not make the mistakes the music industry has made. And he very concisely said something which I've been saying for ten years - give people what they want, when they want it, and in the format that they want it, and they will pay you for it. Limit the selection, limit the availability or limit the format and they will go ahead and bypass you and just take it for free.

99% of people lack the technical skills to pirate content, however minimal those skills may be.
They don't want to watch movies on a piddly computer or laptop screen, they want to watch them on the 40" TV screen on the corner.
They don't want to spend 20 minutes hunting through dodgy streaming sites to find one with the movie they want in a decent format with no weird subtitles, DOGS or other onscreen crap.
Likewise, they don't want to spend 30 minutes downloading a HD film and another 60 minutes converting it to a HD format their TV will play and then figuring out how to transfer it to the DNLA media server and making sure the software is picking it up and transcoding it correctly.

People want to be able to sit down at their TV, click a button on their remote, select a film and watch it in HD. That's convenience, and people are paying for it, in huge numbers.

I still download some stuff, like Game of Thrones, but it's a big pile of hassle. I pay for Netflix because it bypasses all that hassle for the stuff in its library.

I think this is mostly nonsense. You can't reasonably say that 99 per cent are too stupid to click a link and download a file but are somehow bright enough to sign up to Netflix and set up their TV to display it. Everything is available in at least 720p on illicit sites and takes less time to find than on Netflix. There's no need to convert or transcode anything. How many people have even heard of Netflix compared to The Pirate Bay?

The Black Oil · 14-09-2013 10:55AM

To me, downloading/streaming has never been about giving two fingers to the CEOs of entertainment companies, although one could make the case for doing so given some of their whining. It's always been about access to content and stories. Don't remind me of that 'you wouldn't steal a handbag' bollocks, as if a couple of clicks of a computer mouse is like assaulting someone on the street.

As noted by Seamus, Kevin Spacey seems to get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ukYf_xvgc

FouxDaFaFa · 14-09-2013 11:51PM

Netflix Uses Pirate Sites to Determine what shows to buy.

Dman001 · 15-09-2013 12:38AM

I pay €35 for Sky, in which they provide their On Demand service - Sky Go. Sky Go is free for subscribers, but only allows you to watch content on two devices. If I want to up it to 4 devices, I have to pay €6 extra. The content, while being high premium stuff from the likes of HBO, contains ads and is in SD.

Netflix on the other hand is 7 quid, ad-free and in HD. I can download the Netflix App on a high variety of platforms, and contains a reasonably high amount of content.

While the two are not like for like, it gives a good comparison of how one of the big "players" like Sky offers little value for money compared to Netflix. Just like Blockbuster in the US, they are getting too comfortable in being a major player, being able to charge whatever they want moreless and failing to innovate and change with the times. I don't believe that Netflix is having a major influence in nabbing Sky's customers at the moment, I do think overtime people will question whether they are willing to pay such a charge for Sky's service.

pickarooney wrote: »

I think this is mostly nonsense. You can't reasonably say that 99 per cent are too stupid to click a link and download a file but are somehow bright enough to sign up to Netflix and set up their TV to display it. Everything is available in at least 720p on illicit sites and takes less time to find than on Netflix. There's no need to convert or transcode anything. How many people have even heard of Netflix compared to The Pirate Bay?

I do agree with Seamus' take. Netflix is integrated into everything now. I turn on my Xbox/PS3, Netflix is there. I turn my iDevice, Netflix. Smart TV, Blu Ray Player, Android Device, so on. Little to no technical experience is needed to use it or set it up. People are still relatively clueless when it comes to Torrenting. In my experience, people don't really know what they are doing, and so are afraid to try it and end up looking for a streaming website to watch what they are looking for. Also, I stream Breaking Bad every week - Haven't hit a hiccup once. And I'm on an average enough connection of 7Mb/sec.

C14N · 15-09-2013 04:36AM

I pirated House of Cards but ended up watching the second half on Netflix anyway. Really, if you want to, it's quite easy to pay for Netflix once and binge on the original shows and then cancel again which gets you all of their stuff for €7 a pop and that seems like a bargain to me. I decided to hang on to Netflix after the free trial though because there is so much good stuff to watch on here. Sure, they don't have everything and if you look for something specific, it probably won't show up but if you browse around, there are plenty of things worth watching to keep me going for a few months at least.

pickarooney · 15-09-2013 08:02AM

You can't use Netflix on a plane or in rural Kilkenny which is another major drawback.
Imagining I'm an average user, I type Netflix into the play store and get no useful results. What do I do next? Give up most likely or type in 'torrent' and get what I'm looking for that way.

Dman001 · 15-09-2013 12:33PM

pickarooney wrote: »

You can't use Netflix on a plane or in rural Kilkenny which is another major drawback.
Imagining I'm an average user, I type Netflix into the play store and get no useful results. What do I do next? Give up most likely or type in 'torrent' and get what I'm looking for that way.

But how often is the average user on a plane? 4/6 times a year max?? And fair enough it won't work well in places with bad internet support and infrastructure, but neither will torrenting.
I'd say the average user will rather give up or look for some website to stream what they are looking for. The average user is clueless how to torrent IMO.

pickarooney · 16-09-2013 11:45AM

Dman001 wrote: »

But how often is the average user on a plane? 4/6 times a year max?? And fair enough it won't work well in places with bad internet support and infrastructure, but neither will torrenting.
I'd say the average user will rather give up or look for some website to stream what they are looking for. The average user is clueless how to torrent IMO.

My point is that when you download a file you have it to play whenever and wherever you want.

I'd actually love to see the results of a poll of 'average users' asking if they know what a torrent is or if they know what Netflix is or how to use either.

Dman001 · 16-09-2013 01:37PM

pickarooney wrote: »

My point is that when you download a file you have it to play whenever and wherever you want.

I'd actually love to see the results of a poll of 'average users' asking if they know what a torrent is or if they know what Netflix is or how to use either.

I know where you're coming from with the lack of offline support, and there are plenty of other legal alternatives to download movies/TV Shows for offline viewing . I know, again in my own experience, digitalising my own media caused me more pain than it was worth. Messing around with an external HDD, finding hardware that will support external HDDs and the format my media was in and finding quality torrents - it just wasn't as smooth as I imagined on paper. But again, that's my personal preference. And I really think in a world that demands instant gratification, Netflix is an easier solution. (I type this as I watch Breaking Bad on Netflix

)

Edit: While on the topic of piracy, music piracy has fell by a third in the UK over the last year. I think this is proof that, as Spacey said, present consumers with an accessible service with the content they want, at a reasonable price and they will pay.
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/online-music-piracy-in-the-uk-drops-by-a-third-50012233/

lovesfatgirls · 16-09-2013 02:12PM

i pay a netflix sub for xbox/ps3 on the surface it looks like theres a tonne of content but theres not really youll burn through it in a couple of months depending what your into but i find its a steal at 7 yoyo p/m, should be noted i dont have a t.v, nor do i watch it the ads infuriate me.
The only problems i have with netflix is theres no linux support unless your running a vm which sort of defeats the purpose and it breaks if your running opera (for me anyway) inb4 chrome/firefox just no, theyre also very slow at rolling out new content.
Piracy is a completely different issue/thread some people do it because they can some do it because they have to.

nelly17 · 16-09-2013 02:22PM

I pay for sky- which I rarely watch now although the missus & kids watch it but most of what I watch is on netflix now. I have pretty much become a law abiding citizen over night once I got a Netflix & Deezer subscription.

EyeSight · 16-09-2013 02:32PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I think this is mostly nonsense. You can't reasonably say that 99 per cent are too stupid to click a link and download a file but are somehow bright enough to sign up to Netflix and set up their TV to display it. Everything is available in at least 720p on illicit sites and takes less time to find than on Netflix. There's no need to convert or transcode anything. How many people have even heard of Netflix compared to The Pirate Bay?

i have to disagree strongly. Downloading isn't as easy as netflix. Netflix has a great search engine and you can find anything in seconds without 5 adverts popping up to tell you that you won a free iphone. It has never buffered on me either and i don't have high speed broadband.

I used to pirate and still do for non-netflix shows. But it's a nightmare to get past all the Capthchas, pop up adds, fake download buttons, randomly resetting streams which cause you to reload the whole stream :mad:

I don't most people care about the difference between 720 and 1080p but i have never gotten HD from a streaming website(unless you need a premium account

)

I won't harp on about pirating, i don't think it's nearly as bad as the music industry are making out, but i must say Netflix is an incredibly cheap and helpful service

16-09-2013 02:34PM

Had a Netflix trial for a month, then I got XBMC, ain't looked back....

C14N · 16-09-2013 03:00PM

pickarooney wrote: »

You can't use Netflix on a plane or in rural Kilkenny which is another major drawback.

That's a good point. When I was staying in Dublin during the year last year for college I had UPC and I could download or stream what I wanted, no problem. If I wanted to watch something when I went back home to Kildare though, I had to download it in Dublin first and then bring it home because the connection wasn't fast enough for Netflix. Depending on who you are, you may find yourself on planes or trains often enough too.

pickarooney wrote: »

I'd actually love to see the results of a poll of 'average users' asking if they know what a torrent is or if they know what Netflix is or how to use either.

I'd say most people know what Netflix is, they ran a pretty prominent marketing campaign when it came to Ireland and I think most people of all ages have at least heard of it. Torrenting wouldn't be quite as well known in my experience but I think most people under 30 as well as anyone older who knows a bit about computers knows about torrenting or at least some way of getting content for free.

Pirating Netflix originals.

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