this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 155 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] anewbeginning 39 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I’ve definitely made a return to dark waters.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago

Can't say I ever left.

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[–] [email protected] 127 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Hilarious that these subscription companies learned nothing from the cable industry that they’re disrupting

[–] Candybar121 85 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I swear I've seen every single company from Netflix to Disney to Spotify to Youtube to Apple doing the same sort of thing in like the past 3 months. This is GROSS.

[–] NOT_RICK 71 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I can’t wait for their suprised pikachu faces when they put so much friction into using their products that piracy starts eating into their profits. Us nerds are already fed up, and when that happens piracy alternatives grow. That makes it that much easier for the general public to also sail the high seas. I give it 3 years or so before they’re all shocked and crying to congress about the problem they created

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Nah they'll put out a bunch of news articles talking about how much money pirates are costing them. If they get enough public support or line the right pockets we might also see Congress crack down on this 'scourge' that's probably totally linked to terrorism somehow and "must be dealt with swiftly."

[–] krakenx 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Sopa/pipa was the one and only time the American people beat the corporations+Congress. Don't mess with our circuses is the one thing everyone agrees on.

They absolutely will try though.

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[–] kaitco 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think that piracy will get to a point that it will eat into their profits. Most people want whatever is easiest, and doing the basics of torrenting in a way that doesn’t cause drama with the internet provider and then either using some kind of Jellyfin or continuous streaming setup is far beyond “easy” for the general populace. In order for piracy to get to the public, it would need to be just as simple as streaming through a TV.

Folks predicted that Netflix would see a mass exodus when they cracked down on account sharing and they actually increased accounts instead.

Piracy will definitely continue its upswing, but it is more likely that the majority of people will just watch whatever is available on maybe one or two streaming options or just slowly return to just broadcast TV or even cable. Piracy didn’t kill television when the VCR was invented, and it didn’t kill music when the first iterations of Napster and such first became known. Piracy will always be present, but it has a lot of hurdles before it really makes a dent in corporate bottom lines.

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[–] GeneralVincent 51 points 8 months ago

A lot of these streaming companies are just cable companies who needed to change their business to keep up, but don't want to change their predatory practices

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[–] Tinnitus 117 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I canceled my subscription right after I got that email. I don’t use it enough anyway. I’ll just sail the high seas if a new show that I want to watch ends up there.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's what happened to me too. I got that email and was like "oh shit, I'm paying $16 for HBO and I can't even get 4k?" Cancelled.

[–] peopleproblems 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Oh shit I didn't know that last part.

That was an easy cancel.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

I didn't notice Atmos was gone until now. I have an ok Atmos system that works pretty great on the titles that support it. I love Atmos.

I get it free with my Internet service so I'm not cancelling, but I'll never subscribe.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Right? Who'd want to pay 16USD a month for DVD quality video? You'd get more value digging out of the Blu-ray Bargain Bin once a week.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

DVDs are 480, but your point stands. It's straight too expensive to not include 4k.

[–] [email protected] 88 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What a weird way to thank someone

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[–] LazaroFilm 74 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I really don’t want to have to go back to torrenting, but it seems that’s the only option if they keep pushing like this. I’m a camera operator, I work in the industry, my livelihood depends on movies being made. But racketeering the viewers is not how you’ll sustain an industry. Sure it’ll raise your quarterly report but it will damage your business deeply. Producers are cutting themselves a slice bigger every day, both from the viewers and the workers (look at the writers and actors strikes). We can’t make art in a system dictated by instant guaranteed returns and viewers aren’t stupid enough to pay hundreds of dollars to watch the same low effort shit over and over. The film industry NEEDS TO CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[–] kamen 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The film industry NEEDS TO CHANGE

Agree, and I'd add that it's not just the film industry. It's mostly the same shit all throughout entertainment industry as a whole. Take video games for example - each year there are assumingly AAA titles coming out half cooked at release and yet they cost more than they ever have. Thank you very much, I'd much rather just wait a year for you to fix all those bugs and I'll buy the game at 80% off if it's any good.

[–] LazaroFilm 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I blame it on investors quarterly reports. Movies and games take years to make. For a movie is usually 1-2years pre production 2-4 months filming 1-3 years post production. So you will see a net loss for all this time. Same with games. It’s years in the making but they want quarterly returns not possible.

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[–] thesilverpig 8 points 8 months ago

I also work in the industry, light tech, and I went back to torrenting like a year ago. Feel pretty good about it. I actually had a paramount plus subscription that I cancelled after working on a paramount show. Fuck those guys.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Don't worry, I'm sure they'll increase the price to make up for it.

[–] gedaliyah 13 points 8 months ago

That's what all the others are doing

[–] Lordgeoffery 8 points 8 months ago

Hahaha so true

[–] Weslee 54 points 8 months ago (7 children)

I solved it by cancelling and getting a raspberry pi, installing Plex media server, and just pirating the movies and shows I wanna watch

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (6 children)

I did the same thing but went with LibreELEC+Kodi. And it even works with the TV remote.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 8 months ago

"New Features" ah yes. Actually it's an upgrade to a new features plan. They are doing you a favor. The new plan is completely free and you even gain streams from other platforms, also free. Yarr!!!

[–] [email protected] 45 points 8 months ago

This totally sucks, though I have to say I am impressed that they spelled it out so clearly. I can't believe they showed it to you like that instead of burying it in some legalese/fine print, across multiple emails or something

[–] nakura 42 points 8 months ago (4 children)

So glad I built a PLEX server.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Have a look at Jellyfin, if you haven't. I moved from Plex because of restrictions in HW decoding.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (8 children)

Do you mean hardware encoding, because that's what's paywalled in Plex.

I personally migrated from a Jellyfin ecosystem to a Plex with Lifetime Pass one when building my current server - while both are highly capable media servers, Plex has, by far, the better clients.

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[–] CosmicTurtle 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I moved over to Jellyfin because to pay for Plex Premium just to be able to stream my own videos was too much.

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[–] tedd_deireadh 7 points 8 months ago

Same. It's been a much more satisfying investment and has made streaming the content I actually want infinitely easier.

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[–] seaQueue 39 points 8 months ago

🏴‍☠️

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The en-shittification saga continues. 💩

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What innovation! Digital shrinkflation! Otherwise known as a scam.

[–] 9715698 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Hey now, that extra bandwidth for downloading 4k content is really expensive, same goes for buying a third device to stream it on -- HBO is really doing OP a favour here by saving them money

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[–] Usernameblankface 22 points 8 months ago

Time to pick up a DVD player and look around for some movies for sale.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

They alerted the deal. Pray that they don't alter it any further

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago

Way to go to fight against piracy 🤡

[–] sturmblast 17 points 8 months ago

Yarrrr, sail the seven seas with the rest of us!

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

Interesting customer retention move for a service that hasn't been able to make much new content for the past six months and is about to see its new releases dry up.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

Total bullshit

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

"Thank you for being loyal, here's how we are going to fuck you over"

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Don't forget the whole point of the rebrand was to sell off the actual HBO content and fill Max with shitty reality TV. It's the exact same thing only they don't send you an email about it.

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[–] Hildegarde 11 points 8 months ago

This is not shrinkflation. This is fleecing.

Shrinkflation is a scheme that takes subtlety to pull off. There's some level of artistry involved in increasing prices in a way that is unnoticed by the customer.

This is so unsubtle it doesn't even deserve to be called shrinkflation.

[–] ExcursionInversion 9 points 8 months ago

I left when they added all the discovery+ stuff. So much trash/clutter was included with that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Canceled today after I got this email. Let em burn

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