Netflix has managed to annoy a good number of its users with an announcement about an upcoming update to its Windows 11 (and Windows 10) app: support for adverts and live events will be added, but the ability to download content is being taken away.

Netflix must realize that it’s a huge frustration for people who relied on offline downloads to watch content without internet access: on planes, trains, and campsites, and anywhere else where Wi-Fi is unavailable or unreliable.

There’s a small chance that Netflix will change its mind if it gets enough complaints, but the streaming service seems determined to add as many money-making features as possible, while taking away genuinely useful ones.

    • essell@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yup.

      They told me I could choose between ads and a 35% price rise.

      I replied “I have a better idea”

      Can honestly say I’ve not missed out watching anything I wanted to watch

    • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      If I could figure out an easy way for my partner to download content to my Plex library, I’d dump Netflix and Hulu in a heartbeat. I’m picturing an app where they can search for any show or movie, hit download, and it will grab it from my private tracker and toss it on my server. AFAIK something like this just doesn’t exist.

      • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        One of those -arrs can be setup to download automatically when someone adds a movie or show to their watchlist.

      • variants@possumpat.io
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        7 months ago

        I setup overseerr to auto add users added to my plex server and auto approve anything they request or add to their watch list, they just need to login once to my overseerr for their plex account to be linked after that as long as they have the online media thing enabled that is enabled by default they can just search for anything through plex and add it to their watch list and overseerr will auto add it to the arrs and begin the search and download. I have to get in there from time to time to manually do shows that are low quality or in a different language some times but other than that it’s all automated, you can even setup another tool that auto deletes things after a certain time so you can manage your storage easier

      • Mountain_Mike_420@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        You can use the plex watchlist feature to do this. Add the plex watchlist to the arrs and then when anything is added to the watchlist on plex the arrs will see it and add it to the queue. Works great.

      • eguidarelli@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I’ll second Ombi. It has a slick interface to search for any movie/tv show and when the user presses a download button the backend interfaces with other apps to download the media and provide it to Plex. Having your partner interface directly with Radarr or Sonarr just isn’t as user friendly

      • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        There are several.

        I use Tailscale for it. Install it on your server, give partner access and she can add stuff to your .arr’s from anywhere. Simple and free.

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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      7 months ago

      The one value streaming services provide is subtitles in languages other than English. Unfortunately there aren’t enough pirates in a lot of countries to make foreign media viable.

      • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth
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        7 months ago

        That’s hilarious, I used to have trouble finding the stuff I wanted in subbed English, could only find dubbed that was changed in significant ways usually.

        Yes I was an anime nerd in the late 90’s and 2000’s

        • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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          7 months ago

          How does it find subs if no one’s created the sub file? Does it auto translate them from the original language?

          • morriscox@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            No*. You can add providers which will automatically check for and download (all of) the available subtitles and it can automatically check for new and updated ones so that you don’t need to. It can also do synchronization and modifications like fixing uppercase and OCR. It greatly reduces the amount of work that you have to do.

            *I just checked the OpenSubtitles.com provider and it has an option for AI translated subtitles in search results.

      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        My small ass original country with 9m pop has its own subtitle pages for pirated content. You just need to search by title + release group (+episode, if a TV show).

        I’m guessing most of them are created by some auto-subtitling services, because most are pretty horrible quality. But still better than nothing.

        • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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          7 months ago

          Is the release group the name of the people who usually upload subs? How would I find that?

          For example, I’ve been trying to find Japanese subs for the show American Horror Story, but the only way I know to look is to search for the title plus subs. But the only result that even comes close is the opensubs site, which doesn’t have much Japanese content.

          • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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            7 months ago

            The release group or person is usually a tag at the end of the file name before the extension.

            You could try auto-translating the subtitle files content, see how well a job some of the translation services do.

      • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        I spun up a Plex server for myself, built a NAS, then started inviting friends and family. If I can get multiple users to drop their subs, I’ll be making a larger impact. Fuck streaming subscriptions, I’m pirating content until I die. Now I can pirate for multiple users 🏴‍☠️

      • variants@possumpat.io
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        7 months ago

        I used to as well until I canceled it, I and my brother both setup plex servers so now they have more content without having to pay extra for sharing an account to a different address

        • DacoTaco@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Sure, but im not gonna be constantly trying to find stuff for her or get a constant messages of “can you get this for me?”

          • variants@possumpat.io
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            7 months ago

            You can make it all automated with overseerr, they just search on plex and if you don’t have it they add it to their watch list in the plex app, overseerr will auto add it to radarr or sonarr and start searching for it automagically

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      I’m going to try doing that. My wife watches it a bit though, and my kids watch it occasionally. I’m thinking I’ll set aside $200 to buy whatever series they want, and if that lasts us the year, we’ve come out ahead.

      I need to do the same for Disney+. We really don’t watch either enough…

    • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      But they’re actually producing good stuff lately. I’ve watched more Netflix originals this year than I have in the past 10.

      • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 months ago

        You can pirate, or if you want to do it the “right” way, you can sign up when there’s something you want to watch and cancel when there isn’t.