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.
pirateshipnoises
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
You’ll find me in the Drunken Slug tavern.
First rule of the sea:
Never place your rear end on a pirate’s face.
Netflix will be losing to a competitor with an ad-free tier that costs $0.00
Nice, subbed
Is the megathread being carried over too?
Megathread is in the pinned post.
Yay! Or more like Yarrr! That’s amazing
ONE DEFINITELY SHOULDNT LOOK INTO RADARR OR SONARR OR QBITTORRENT WITH THAT NICE SEARCH BAR THAT SEARCHES MULTIPLE TORRENT SITES.
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FYI, Proton free tier doesn’t support P2P traffic.
Also there definitely isn’t a VPN called cryptostorm that offers a nice free tier.
Ideally you should only use a VPN that supports port forwarding to download torrents, like AirVPN. Your IP is still hidden, but you can also seed the torrents. Don’t be a leecher! Sharing is caring.
1.0 ratio leggoooooo
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No one should ever know about the torrentio addon for Stremio!
When I downloaded streamio it couldn’t find that add-on
That’s because it is not tied to stremio, otherwise it would be illegal, you have to search for it :P
How about I do it anyway
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.
Maybe they noticed that most people don’t want the most expensive Plan if they are not allowed to share anymore
SSDs are very cheap these days
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.
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.
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.
WD Red 4TB drives are only around $70 new, and they’re built for constant use in NAS devices.
Those would be the SMR drives, if you don’t want that you’re looking at about $84.
I see, I got a WD Red Plus for myself for around that price, and it looks like that’s CMR. The base WD Red is SMR, though.
Yep! The Plus/Pro line is the good shit. The base models of WD drives are not great now, especially if you’re going to set up a RAID array of some sort.
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
I admit my mistake, I just quickly looked up the cheapest HDDs on google and saw some for 40 USD but it looks like they aren’t for sale anymore or something. Still, a WD Red goes for 70 bucks, which is half the price of a SSD of that size while also being more than good enough for movies.
If you look at price per TB 4TB drives are a bad choice.
Anakin and Padme image macro
That extra money will go to the writers and actors right?
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.
Until they patch this loophole by forcing yearly subscriptions.
Then I would definitely dig out my old eye-patch and captains hat again 🏴☠️
Yarrrrr!
No doubt this is coming in the near future
A lot of other services usually offer a yearly discount, and I can see Netflix offering that. However, I don’t see Netflix choosing to get rid of the monthly market entirely.
They could just make the monthly price so high that people will always get the yearly plan. For example, make the yearly plan cost the same amount as three months on the monthly plan.
They could, but it appears that stream switching is becoming a way that people are consuming streaming media. It becomes a business decision as to whether to go for that market segment or not.
If that happens…mass exodus don’t think they are that stupid! The service, the company are on a cliff edge…it would be equivalent of slitting their throat and bleeding out fast!
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.
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.
The offender for me is that they don’t commit to most show’s development.
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.
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.
The issue isn’t the number of seasons, it’s the abrupt cancellation of unresolved stories. 3 seasons is plenty. 2 seasons is fine. Hell, Chernobyl is one of the greatest pieces of media ever produced and that’s a mini-series. Just commit to giving the creators a chance to resolve their story. If that means a truncated final season, so be it. It builds consumer trust, and it increases the value of the back catalog. When I subscribe to a streaming service, a show that was cancelled on a cliffhanger offers me literally zero value. I’m not interested in starting a show that I know will never provide a satisfying conclusion.
To be fair, I’m on the fence about this reason. I really don’t like for a good show to get ruined after a long run. I hate for a good show to end, but I like it to end while I enjoy it. I’m usually okay with a series only running a few seasons. However, if the quality stays up, yes, please make more!
It’s fine to only have a few seasons, but tell the writers that in advance so they can complete the series.
Also, cancelling after one season is shitty.
IS IT CAKE?!
Literally all you need is a networked raspberry pi with a content hard drive, and Kodi installed anywhere. Don’t look back.
Can you elaborate for on this for simpletons like me? I’ve looked at raspberry Pi’s before but have no idea what I’m looking at or for because of the options.
If you don’t know anything about this stuff and don’t want to get into setting up linux software, you’re better off just getting a simple self-enclosed NAS drive like a WD MyCloud (just an example, I don’t know all the options out there now) that you connect to your LAN and then connect to it with Kodi or another player. With that you just login to it from a web browser to create your content folders, then map it as a drive in windows explorer and copy data to it over the network like any other drive. Then Kodi etc can be provided the network address for that drive and content folder. (And have a separate USB drive to make a content backup in case the NAS dies one day.)
Otherwise I use a raspberry pi 4, as it’s fast enough to be an emulator box with retroarch (etc), and a torrent seedbox for acquiring content with deluge installed (behind a VPN), and a pi-hole for blocking ads network-wide, and has 4 usb ports for content drives. For just hosting media you’d only have to make changes to the config for it to automount the usb drives every startup, and then the pi just acts like a NAS with several drives. The software for vpn, torrents and emulators (all included or free via git) can be a bit complicated to setup but once you have it correct, you can make a backup image of the microSD card that the os is on if you have to restore it later. I personally didn’t know what I was doing on linux when I first set it all up years ago, but got everything working properly just copy and pasting from guides on stackexchange etc.
Again, if all that makes your head hurt, just use a self-contained NAS drive for content.
edit: should probably add that I personally haven’t installed a vpn on the pi for torrenting, as I have a router with vpn built-in, and set the firewall rules so the pi can only access the internet through that (because it’s faster.) There’s a few ways to handle it.
I have an Odroid C4 with Jellyfin, but some content just won’t play. Does Kodi work better?
On any other hardware platform I’d tell you that Jellyfin is the best of the best. With that board, it might be worth trying Kodi.
I dunno, I’ve always found Kodi pretty janky but it seems pretty good at playing back content on lower spec hardware.
There were definitely a few versions of releases 19.x that had buffering issues with larger 4K videos where it would just stop playback, but the latest ones for versions 20.x seem stable for me. Only issue I can think of is sometimes the touch interface on a tablet gets confused and won’t let me scroll up or down, but restarting the app clears it. No issues for me with the pc app interface using mouse pointer and scrollwheel, or the remote controlled interface on a FireTV.
(accidentally deleted first reply)
There were definitely a few versions of releases 19.x that had buffering issues with larger 4K videos where it would just stop playback, but the latest ones for versions 20.x seem stable for me. Only issue I can think of is sometimes the touch interface on a tablet gets confused and won’t let me scroll up or down, but restarting the app clears it. No issues for me with the pc app interface using mouse pointer and scrollwheel, or the remote controlled interface on a FireTV.
edit: after reading about jellyfin, the main drawback I can see to using that is you have to install specific server-side software for it (unless I misunderstood) while Kodi is self-contained on the client side and just reads any accessible folder locally or on the network. (Not bashing jellyfin as I’ve never installed or used it, just noting that difference.)
I haven’t had anything that kodi wouldn’t play, but I also don’t have a ton of different file types. For music and movies it hasn’t failed me yet. You just need to be able to give it a network address to the content folder on a NAS or pi, and it usually scans everything for me. Kodi connects to it from a Fire Tablet, FireTV Stick and the pc app.
And where does the content come from?
Yeah I see you harping about having to download your own material, but that is the reality of self hosting, acquiring content. And the joy of not having an algorithm recommending things. It’s not for everyone. If someone’s not capable of such things, that’s fine, then this convo isn’t for them and they should just keep using netflix.
But that’s the point I’m making. It’s absolutely fine that it’s not as simple as using a ready-made service. And we shouldn’t behave like it is, because that’s just not true.
Nobody said it was. My reply was specifically to the OP, who said their plan was “ramping up my selfhosted setup.” They’ve already got experience and are on the path, so my comment was appropriate in that sense. Try to read things in context. Nobody suggested everyone’s boomer parents should jump on the bandwagon here.
Sonarr and Radarr with Ombi for requests if desired. Transmission + OpenVPN for the download side.
Or you could manually rip DVDs/Blu Rays if you can still get ahold of them for the stuff you want to watch.
So you literally need much more than a networked raspberry pi with a content hard drive, and Kodi installed anywhere.
yes, captain obvious, you literally need to acquire content for self hosting. otherwise what I mentioned is all you need to self host said media. the modern version of a dvd collection. whoa.
I’m a big fan of Overseerr versus Ombi. Overseerr has a better user interface and seems more approachable to my less technically inclined family members.
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.
You vastly over estimate the willingness of people to learn how a computer works.
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
Definitely time and learning curve. I’ve really wanted to self host some apps for 1–2 months now. Currently taking basic sql and python courses so that I can do the installations and databases correctly. App documentation is usually lacking and YT tutorials lead to more products and terms I’ve never heard of. There’s a big learning curve for non-programmers.
I’m definitely not saving money by self hosting, but it’s a fun way to drain my bank account.
Well, I mean on those vendor NASes it’s pretty much just chuck in a hard drive or two, follow prompts for setup, install the Plex app from said vendor’s app marketplace, make a login, and add your content to the specific TV, Music, or Movie folders…Admittedly this doesn’t get you setup with running Plex outside the network, but as a basic setup it’s fairly easy.
I’m also confident someone would mess those instructions up, but if you even understand what self hosting is I’m fairy confident someone could follow the above instructions to add their content. Obtaining content is a different story, but if you already have your content it is easy.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Plex gives recommendations and has apps for smarts TVs.
Agreed that obtaining the content can be difficult but the user experience is top notch. It even skips credits and jumps to next episodes for tv shows now too.
For obtaining content, Nefarious is my go to solution. It’s nearly as seamless once you get past initial setup (which is not simple)
You still need to get content generated.
Yep you do and some may argue that, depending on how you obtain that content, it’s even easier than the setup of the NAS and Plex itself.
This is exactly the sort of stuff we predicted way back then; this is why I’ve never touched this stuff.
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.
The vitriol meant you were right.
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.
Strange how that works out isn’t it?
Honestly, I was expecting them to try this a lot earlier then now.
Enshittification 101. Usenet is cheaper, torrent indexers can be free. Remember, “Information wants to be free”, also remember the 5th of November…
We wanted to axe one of our two streaming services next month. This makes the choice pretty easy. The netflix catalogue sucks balls anyway
