Disney is raking its customers over the coals with a 75% price hike for their annual subscription (originally $80.) People wonder why piracy is on the rise.
Disney is raking its customers over the coals with a 75% price hike for their annual subscription (originally $80.) People wonder why piracy is on the rise.
A) I often rewatch things, especially shows like Family Guy just to make noise while I do something else.
B) there’s lots difficult to find media like the 1960s Dr Who series or the entire works of Buster Keaton that can’t just be streamed whenever.
C) I share with several friends and family, just because I’ve seen it doesn’t mean they have.
D) Control/security over my collection. When I want to watch a piece of media, I know its there and available. It hasn’t disappeared from whatever service (free or paid) had it last I looked.
And finally
E) No internet access required. If my internet is out, or I want to go somewhere I won’t have internet: I still have full access to my media. (files can be freely moved to mobile devices that won’t have network whenever I feel like it)
/edit. As a side note; I’ve also automated media acquisition via radarr+sonarr. I just open a self-hosted web page, search for a title, click ‘add+search’ and 20min later it’s been found, downloaded and is available to watch. My users can even request media via Ombi without having to ask me. I don’t have to spend any time looking for media ever (be that a streaming link or a torrent).
Well, I use Russian streaming services. All the media imaginable is instantly available to me and I can download it for offline use if I need it. No need for NAS at all.
If that works for you, cool.
I will not support a Russian service, nor will it accommodate my needs.
The biggest reason for this route is that, once setup, finding/watching whatever I or my family wants is as close to effortless as It can be. I don’t have to deal with shady services, nor am I at their mercy (referring to access and content availability). This is particularly important when sharing with friends/family that are not tech savvy. If they have an issue, I can actually do something about it and don’t have to hold their hand through some shady third party site or worry that they’ve gotten themselves into trouble. Once it’s been downloaded, everyone I’ve shared with can access it at anytime hassle and worry free. I (and the rest of my users) don’t have to use caution browsing or streaming from my platform, while I do with random sketchy services. A problem made much worse with alcohol.