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Netflix kills Basic plan, making its cheapest ad-free tier $15.49 (arstechnica.com)

submitted 11 months ago by pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev to c/technology@beehaw.org

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I've been putting off having a local copy of the series and movies I watch because I still can access them quickly and cheaply enough in some streaming service, I think it's time to plan ramping up my selfhosted setup.

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[-] Screak42@infosec.pub 86 points 11 months ago

pirateshipnoises

[-] zergling_man@lemmy.perthchat.org 23 points 11 months ago

YO HO AHOY AND AVAST BEING A PIRATE IS REALLY BADASS RAISE THE BLACK FLAG AT THE END OF THE MAST YOU ARE A PIRATE

[-] orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 11 points 11 months ago

You’ll find me in the Drunken Slug tavern.

[-] Parsnip8904@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago

First rule of the sea:

Never place your rear end on a pirate's face.

[-] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 61 points 11 months ago

ONE DEFINITELY SHOULDNT LOOK INTO RADARR OR SONARR OR QBITTORRENT WITH THAT NICE SEARCH BAR THAT SEARCHES MULTIPLE TORRENT SITES.

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[-] 001100010010@lemmy.dbzer0.com 61 points 11 months ago

Netflix will be losing to a competitor with an ad-free tier that costs $0.00

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

[-] MaggiWuerze@feddit.de 10 points 11 months ago

Nice, subbed

[-] theshatterstone54@feddit.uk 5 points 11 months ago

Is the megathread being carried over too?

[-] 001100010010@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 11 months ago

Megathread is in the pinned post.

[-] theshatterstone54@feddit.uk 9 points 11 months ago

Yay! Or more like Yarrr! That's amazing

[-] briongloid@aussie.zone 47 points 11 months ago

The next step is for the ad-tier to go to $7.99, $8.99, $9.99

The strategy was always to make the ad-free options more valuable by comparison.

In no more than 36 months, the ad-tier will cost the $9.99 it was intended to replace, making Netflix having successfully added ads to the base tier, for no discount.

[-] B0rax@feddit.de 33 points 11 months ago

Maybe they noticed that most people don’t want the most expensive Plan if they are not allowed to share anymore

[-] davehtaylor@beehaw.org 28 points 11 months ago

Anakin and Padme image macro

That extra money will go to the writers and actors right?

[-] IncidentalIncidence@feddit.de 27 points 11 months ago

SSDs are very cheap these days

[-] klisurovi4@midwest.social 40 points 11 months ago

HDDs are even cheaper and you really don't need an SSD for movies. You can get a 4tb HDD for less than 50 bucks and that will hold more than enough movies/shows for the majority of people.

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

You can get a 4tb HDD for less than 50 bucks

[citation needed]

Couldn't find them (or some that are close), at least not in the EU.

Edit: But I'd be happy to see US examples as well.

[-] flak@beehaw.org 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

You can get refurbed drives for under $50.

New ones that aren’t white label (which, nothing wrong with that) for 4 TB are about $100.

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[-] thatgirlwasfire@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The cheapest Sata HDD i can find in the US thats 4TB is $60. So maybe if they go on sale they could be less than $50. But OP was probably just exaggerating.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XK45S8B?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

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[-] nixnoodle@beehaw.org 25 points 11 months ago

An alternative to self-hosting and piracy, if there's something you really want to watch, just buy a month, then immediately cancel the subscription to whatever service has that show, after all the episodes has aired. I usually spend between $30-$50 in total on streaming services in a year this way, and as a principle, I call it "buying a month" as opposed to "subscribing." Right now I'm waiting for Secret Wars to finish on Disney+. Will probably watch the last few MCU movies and some other stuff during the same month so that's probably up to 10 shows/movies for $whatever-a-month-goes-for these days. Might do a month of Netflix later in the autumn, as I have a few things I want to watch there now that didn't quite justify buying on their own. And no, I very rarely rewatch anything, so I don't really worry about loosing access to them in the future.

[-] nyander@beehaw.org 24 points 11 months ago

Until they patch this loophole by forcing yearly subscriptions.

[-] nixnoodle@beehaw.org 19 points 11 months ago

Then I would definitely dig out my old eye-patch and captains hat again 🏴‍☠️

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[-] k_rol@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago

No doubt this is coming in the near future

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[-] rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee 23 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

All I can say is Netflix at 12.99 was a tough sell. That was the rate hike that made me drop them. 15.49 forget it.

When Netflix was the ticket and my sub was 8.99 some years ago, I didn't pirate anything because I didn't need to. I'd have to pay a hundred a month due to the fracturing and inflation of streaming services now, and I still wouldn't get everything. I didn't wanna pirate, but the industry backed me into a corner.

[-] ArcticFox@lemmy.ca 18 points 11 months ago

I love Netflix. I'd happily pay them $20 per month for a single account. The problem is their content. It's not original anymore. Shows with real story and depth have been replaced with reality tv and typical Hollywood formula. Sad seeing the slow decline of the platform that started out so great.

[-] alucard@sopuli.xyz 20 points 11 months ago

The offender for me is that they don’t commit to most show’s development.

[-] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago

They go by peoples perceived attention spans. On average most people don’t get invested more than 2-3 seasons per show and they keep needing to make more money each year so this is a more efficient strategy.

[-] pbjamm@beehaw.org 8 points 11 months ago

3 Seasons is plenty of time to create a very complete and compelling story. The problem is when they dont allow for the completion of the story but instead cancel the show for $reasons.

I watched and loved the german series DARK and was quite excited for the new show 1899 from the same creators. Unfortunately it was dumped after only 1 season so I never even watched it. I dont want to get invested in something that I know will never be completed.

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[-] mateomaui@reddthat.com 13 points 11 months ago

Literally all you need is a networked raspberry pi with a content hard drive, and Kodi installed anywhere. Don’t look back.

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[-] oranwolf@pawb.social 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They're just driving us to self hosted content quicker. Honestly if you can afford a NAS like a Synology or an Asustor, setting up Plex is so easy.

Some edits to this comment:

It's surprisingly easy to do this versus most other custom configurations. You don't even have to build a PC and setup holds your hand.
This is NOT including obtaining content, I was simply saying "Getting Plex running".
There are other configs you may need to get Plex the way you want, but watching your content on your local network effectively is complete once you complete the standard setup.

[-] OofShoot@beehaw.org 21 points 11 months ago

You vastly over estimate the willingness of people to learn how a computer works.

[-] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago

I self host so much stuff but like.. the amount of time and effort that’s gone into that.. maybe $10 or $20 a month totally makes sense after all to most people haha

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[-] WimpyWoodchuck@feddit.de 12 points 11 months ago

Even though many people suggest that, I don't believe you can compare any off-the-shelf streaming service with a self-hosted Plex.

You have to find and download content to your Plex. You don't get recommendations. You don't get a built-in interface on your smart TV. You have to deal with network configuration, VPN, private trackers, seeding ratios etc.

How on earth is that comparable to pressing the Netflix button on your TV and selecting a recommended show? Even my boomer parents managed to do this on their own.

[-] LiesSlander@beehaw.org 10 points 11 months ago

I think we gotta work on building community if we want to see people really move away from streaming services. One person with a NAS in a small apartment building could help a lot of their neighbors out with entertainment. It would be more work for the person hosting, but if the folks who benefit help their friend out too it might end up being less work overall.

I'd give someone access, teach them how to use the software, and download some of their favorite shows if they let me borrow their truck when I needed, shared dinner sometimes, or helped me clean house. I think a lot of folks would benefit from that kind of thing, but it would require us making friends with our neighbors. Which, on reflection, is actually really really hard. I imagine it would be kinda awkward to start the conversations around this, but you'd get around the step of everyone getting their own NAS at least!

[-] abbadon420@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

I remember in the zeroes everybody knew a guy who sold burned dvd's. At first they came as a bare dvd in an envelop, but eventually they came in an actual dvd case with a copy of the original sleeve as welll. Some guys would even sell from a stand in public markets.

I could see these guys sell local hosted streaming services to their neighbours, friends and anyone else through word of mouth.

[-] bandario@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 11 months ago

If you take the time to RATE everything you watch in Jellyfin the recommendations start getting pretty good.

I have a built-in interface on my smart TV for Jellyfin, and I had one for Plex.

I didn't have to deal with any network config, just login once.

Your concerns over obtaining the content are valid, but concerns around the user experience are not.

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[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 12 points 11 months ago

Enshittification 101. Usenet is cheaper, torrent indexers can be free. Remember, "Information wants to be free", also remember the 5th of November...

[-] zergling_man@lemmy.perthchat.org 12 points 11 months ago

This is exactly the sort of stuff we predicted way back then; this is why I've never touched this stuff.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 19 points 11 months ago

I remember commenting on Reddit that the ad tier would start chiseling away the solid ad free tiers. I had absolute vitriol spew at me for saying that. And here we are.

[-] maegul@lemmy.ml 16 points 11 months ago

The vitriol meant you were right.

[-] Crotaro@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago

Just don't fall into the trap to think that receiving backlash automatically means you're in the right. Otherwise, u/spez and Putin would need to be considered heroes for their bravery of doing their thing despite protests.

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[-] Titan@beehaw.org 11 points 11 months ago

We wanted to axe one of our two streaming services next month. This makes the choice pretty easy. The netflix catalogue sucks balls anyway