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.
Y’all just need to cancel your Netflix, they are too expensive for far too little
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
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.
Ombi and Overseerr will do this.
FYI, that repo says it’s an archive and that the new repo is https://github.com/thomst08/requestrr
One of those -arrs can be setup to download automatically when someone adds a movie or show to their watchlist.
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
Very slow reply, but do you have a guide for setting this up?
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.
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
I mean I can think of a super easy way for her to do it.
Text you the name. Lol
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.
You need to buy blurays for that
Canceled mine.
Sailing the high seas works just fine.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oh yeah, good point. I didn’t think about translating the srt files myself-- I’ll see if I can make that work
Not sure if this is helpful but I’ve used this site for my srt for rough translations
Oh, that looks promising, thanks. Free translators like google and such have a character limit so I couldn’t just copy paste the whole file.
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
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Try https://github.com/morpheus65535/bazarr
Bazarr is a companion application to Sonarr and Radarr. It manages and downloads subtitles based on your requirements. You define your preferences by TV show or movie and Bazarr takes care of everything for you.
How does it find subs if no one’s created the sub file? Does it auto translate them from the original language?
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.
I cant, i share an account with my mom :(
I share my jellyfin with my mom
Must go through a lot of batteries.
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 🏴☠️
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
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?”
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
No sad face friend, it’s not your fault or responsibility, you are already not supporting them!
I am, im the one paying for my mom ;)
Well hell. 😂
And start sailing the seven seas
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Sounds too expensive. You should cancel it
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…
But they’re actually producing good stuff lately. I’ve watched more Netflix originals this year than I have in the past 10.
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.
“What killed streaming?” - article from 2026
“millennials are killing the streaming industry”
The next season of Bridgerton is cancelled because you selfish millennials wouldn’t drink your verification cans
Actually, that’s probably the one excuse that wouldn’t fly. The only company that cancels more stuff randomly and with no reason than Netflix is Google.
All of the major broadcast networks have always canceled stuff as fast as Netflix, maybe faster since they sometimes cancel shows before the first season has completed airing.
Yes, but they had the veneer of “low ratings” to hide behind. Netflix cancels their content with no warning and no explanation.
Netflix has a more accurate picture of their user ratings for shows than Nielsen ever provided cable companies…
I still love that verification can reference. It was actually quite a bit ago but keeps getting more and more relevant.
People have been making this comment for so long, with every anti-consumer change, and it’s never been true.
Killing VPN usages didn’t do it, canceling shows didn’t do it, the splintering of offerings across multiple platforms didn’t do it, killing password sharing didn’t do it, raising prices didn’t do it, including an advertising tier didn’t do.
And this will not do it.
Hell, this is barely going to tweak the dial. The overwhelming majority of people don’t watch Netflix on the desktop app, why should they fear kick back from the few that do? All they’ll say is the mobile versions will still let you download (because those file systems are sealed away from the user).
Consumers will accept anything if there’s no where else to get what they want. It’s why the “free market” has no power in the tech space: consumers are so addicted to their chosen platforms, apps, devices, and services that they will accept literally anything before they entertain the idea of using anything else.
That’s partially why enshitification is getting so bad: there’s no punishment for it. Users will not move.
It’s sort of like “Going All-In works everytime. Until it doesn’t”
Not enough uses for sure. I canceled all the shitty ones once they implemented these stupid as fuck changes.
It’s ads while I’m paying that would do it for sure for me. I think I pay $24 a month. About to go back to sailing the high seas regardless. Their content has been lacking for quite a while.
Is there any space where the “free market” actually exists?
Yup. Just surprised Pikachu faces all around at Netflix. “But we were assured by our marketing department that customers would just pay any amout we wanted!”
Greed, same as everything else
There’s not enough guaranteed margin in a single combined streaming and production house to feed the employees, investors, and media moguls.
None of these companies are being outright assholes (well not more than normal). The business model is simply not sustainable and they’re doing whatever they can to slow the inevitable collapse. We’re producing 10 times the content we used to produce, and the revenue from the streamers is nowhere near enough to cover the bills.
- Netflix gross profit for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 was $3.525B, a 44.02% increase year-over-year.
- Netflix gross profit for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $14.008B, a 12.54% increase year-over-year.
What?
Why would you use the gross numbers that don’t include the price of making the movies?
Netflix is in reasonably green but it’s the only one
Disney Plus is still in the red if you include their ESPN streaming.
Warner/discovery/max is barely in the green at 100 million.
Revenue in Q4 grew 12% year over year, to $8.83 billion, higher than Netflix’s previous forecast due to favorable foreign exchange rates and “stronger than anticipated membership growth,” the company said. Net income was $938 million, or $2.11 per share.
I’ll give you the silver star for participation award. Now you want to talk about how they’re the only truly profitable company or does that straight too far from your agenda?
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Well that’s mighty selfish of you isn’t it, won’t you think of the Microsoft shareholder who want to make more money from harvesting your data and Netflix for wanting to serve you ads to increase profits.
Microsoft doesn’t care if you use the app or the browser
You’re still on their OS
I’m certainly no desktop developer, but I would imagine a native application gives you access to more intrusive data than a browser, especially considering modern browser protections. Just a theory though
You mean you’re not Edging?
They could keylog everything or screenshot every x seconds and send it to them if they wanted
Log all network requests
The app is most likely electron which is just Chromium
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You’d never know it the way they try to make every Microsoft branded app the default
Depending on the browser, you won’t get 4k. IIRC only works with Edge cause of DRM.
You know what doesn’t have shitty DRM? Torrents.
I think the only way to get surround sound is in the desktop program. I don’t know if that’s a limitation of browsers or if the Netflix guys are just assholes.
I could imagine a technical limitation if they use some proprietary audio codec to send compressed surround sound that the browser somehow doesn’t support, but on the other hand why the fuck am I giving a big tech corporation any benefit of the doubt?
In my limited understanding, they almost certainly do not because if they did client devices would struggle to decode some non-standard format.
It’s probably a DRM limitation.
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And I am set to remove Netflix subscription, while introducing torrents.
Ads are the one thing I won’t tolerate on a paid service.
I refuse to pay to watch ads.
Which is exactly why I want to get rid of cable
Title might be misleading, they’ll only add support for ad tiers, not introduce ads in all tiers
At this time…
But when they do, you’ll get the optional add-on to remove ads for just 2.99 more a month!
Pirated movies don’t have this problem.
I’m just saying, ruin your own service, and lose to pirates who can provide a better one for free.
Yeah, Plex downloads work fine still, on all devices.
Lol downloads is the one thing that definitively does not work for Plex
These companies are gonna complain about piracy being so rampant while making their service so awful that piracy becomes a better choice
As they always did and continue to do in all businesses.
Look at food prices: Supermarket - We’re raising prices on 95% of items by 200-300%. People: Steal because they can’t afford basic food Supermarket: Shocked pikachu face
Supermarket: Shocked pikachu face
Actually, supermarkets typically factor theft and other types of damages (ex. product broke in transit, came open, etc.) into their projected sales.
Oh yeah? I didn’t know that (not sure why you were downvoted for stating a fact, people are weird here)
I got Netflix stock, and i can tell you guys that stock is just going up and up.
People rly are fking stupid
Yep, it’s why everyone is raising prices, introducing ads and stopping password sharing, Netflix was the case that proved it works, there was a dip but now they have more users than before it.
Install an android emulator. Problem solved.
Start pirating again. Problem solved.
Make your own movies and shows. Problem solved.
Start a company, get rich, buy Netflix, problem solved.
Stop watching stuff, do something else. Problem solved.
Found a secret society, infiltrate politics worldwide, stir chaos and destruction, let the world burn and built a new Netflix from the world’s ashes where you still can download stuff. Problem solved.
See? It’s not that hard!
(In case it wasn’t clear, I am joking.)
Best comment so far
Meanwhile with piracy, you have none of these issues… Good job, convenience wins.
It’s literally the thing that keeps me coming back (to the seas). I have paid for the services, and the service they provide has been steadily degraded. I still have Prime because they haven’t fucked up delivery to my home (yet), but I don’t even open the app on Roku anymore, I just download whatever it is, because I have no interest in dealing with their shit interface and then having to watch ads after.
If a service can give me a simple, easy to use interface, good search feature, good quality, and decent enough content, you’ve got my money. That’s just too much to ask these days, so I’ll just donate to the site(s) that provide alternative services.
There is just that teeny tiny ethical problem of not paying the creators and distributors for something we enjoy. This becomes a practical problem as well. If they make less money, it’s likely that even more movies or series get killed or never even started.
Idk what to do.
The golden age of streaming is already over. Peoples wallets are getting tighter these days, but the value of what we are paying for is also declining. There is a lot less on Netflix now then there was 5 years ago and the cost has gone way up. They produce their own shows but then cancel them constantly, even if they have a decent following. Netflix has been putting in effort to make their service shittier and more expensive, removing features that people originally switched from cable to get.
Netflix IS the content creator and yet giving them more money doesn’t seem to be making their content better or stop them from cancelling shows.
Not to mention, some of these streaming sites allow you to “purchase” a movie, but then when they lose licensing to those shows it gets removed from your library. So there’s no value in purchasing digital content anymore because it can get taken from you at any time. Digital ownership has become a myth.
If you want to support your favorite shows, purchase them on DVD or go see it in theater. Paying for a streaming service is only encouraging these companies to continue raising prices and reduce the value of the product you pay for.
I’m not really thrilled about almost all the money in show business being funneled to a couple of actors and actresses and giant studios/big money.
Over and over again the majority of writers, actors, actresses and supporting teams strike for a real share and they never seem to get one.
Meanwhile big companies get billions in tax credits every year for shooting movies. The public subsidizes the costs and then pays again once a show releases. It’s insanely big bucks going to the ownership class.
I am absolutely with you on that one.
But I think it’s tied to how we do business and less a problem which is very specific to the movie industry. Or in other words: it’s our fucked up capitalism in action again.
The workhorses of such shows get almost neglected while the shiny poster people and producers get most of the share.
And that’s basically everywhere the case. CEOs, managers, superiors are making insanely more money than those who are contributing a lot of work. It’s an unfair system which is holding the movie industry tightly in its grip as well.
The fact of the matter is that people will happily pay for content if it is made available in a convenient and affordable way. Hell, many people will voluntarily pay artists for content that is available completely for free. That’s how patreon works, and there are self published authors approaching $1M/year in income due to readers choosing to support the author for their hard work.
People have no issue paying content creators.
Piracy rose to prominence in the 2000s because a few executives were funneling massive amounts of money into their pockets by the sale of CDs and cable services that were simultaneously expensive and inconvenient. The studios attacked pirates directly to little effect because you simply can’t stop the free dissemination of information among the public.
Piracy almost completely died when streaming made the alternatives affordable, user friendly and convenient. In a world where the proliferation of streaming services is making content just as expensive and inconvenient as in the old days of cable, it’s only natural that piracy will once again rise to prominence.
If they want to get paid, they simply need to stop fucking with the customer and offer a service people want to pay for.
… Yarrrrr mateys
Yaaaaaarrrrrr
Ha har, yarr!
Yuuurh!
Yaaaharrrrrr
its like they want you to turn to piracy
Plot twist! Now the pirate pay costs subscription fees, and is owned by Netflix!!! Ohhhhh, what a twist!
They’ve gone full circle at this point: it’s like paying for TV channels and piracy is looking really attractive again, even though Netflix was the reason many people stopped doing that initially (I assume)
Back then, when I wanted to watch a film, I checked Netflix first, then amazon video. I only reached for other sources if it was unavailable at both. Now there are way too many platforms to pay for, and they are getting way too shitty to pay at all.
There was a time when I was even feeling good going “clean”. Now everything is dirtier than I ever imagined.
Yeah, not only are there a dozen platforms that you need to search but they all suck. I have seen so many instances where people download videos for a vacation and then they can’t be played. I can’t even share screenshots to advertise the shows that you are selling to my friends for free!
Funny enough when I have a video file sitting on my computer it just works, all of the time, super fast. And instead of using services that tell me what streaming platform a given show is on it is easier to use a service that tell me the infohash of the file.
Totally agree!
To be honest, I like watching SciFi and superhero movies yet cinemas are too expensive in my country. So, my fiance (Netflix) and I (Amazon Prime) bought thsse services and using together.
But guess what:
-
No HBO in my country, so no DC for me. Yet they are not selling DC to Turkey neither. So no DC movie for me after 2018(?)
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Both Netflix and Prime just puts their content, and forget the rest for Turkey. For example I couldn’t watch Mad Max: Fury Road one month ago
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They are doing some kind of censorship? You cannot watch too bloody, too sexual, too whatever content while there is no legal censorship on internet content. For example I can watch “Barda” (“at pub”) on Youtube but not on Prime.
So yes, why I am paying for TV channels wtih ads?
-
Yup. Cable TV was amazing back in the 1980s. Almost no ads and great content (I loved “Night Flight” on USA, especially). But it didn’t take them more than 10 years to ruin it.
So they are introducing ads and removing the download option, both moves unfriendly to consumers. Sounds like they plan to do a “We’ve listened to consumers and” shelving one of those moves for later (probably the download option) when the hubbub over the worse option dies down.
Also, at least where I live, they are increasing prices.
Makes me feel like it’s time to dust my old pirate hat…
Took me a minute to figure out why these 2 updates would be bundled together. Must be cause if you downloaded something you’d be able to bypass their ads
Must be cause if you downloaded something you’d be able to bypass their ads
They could also download the ads. People on an ad-supported subscription tier would probably expect that those are there.
The ad design could link to the products and out of Netflix. So they wouldn’t get clicks
Idk I didn’t have expertise in this space
Enshittification follows its course.
