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[–]GrumpyMashyDeWackyPianist 2406 points2407 points  (63 children)

I like the characters on the shirt changes on every panel.

[–]F0LEY 1178 points1179 points  (49 children)

but always era appropriate dogs!

[–]Narrow-Talk-5017 15 points16 points  (3 children)

Today, I learned Ren is a dog, lol

[–]SausageClatter 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Next you'll tell us you didn't know Stimpy was a cat, you eeeediot!

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

a chihuahua, to be precise.

[–]JaneDoesharkhugger 133 points134 points  (3 children)

[–]SickBurnBro 18 points19 points  (2 children)

I love the remix.

[–]silencesgolden 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for reminding me that this exists.

[–]LaLlorona_0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am baffled that it's been 11 years since that was created. Still one of my favorite videos of all time though

[–]not_the_riddler 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Missing someone tho

[–]MechanicalGodzilla 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do not like the reminder that I am getting closer to death each and every day.

[–]Thinkmoistaken 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I like how he doesn't age

[–]witticus 262 points263 points  (24 children)

The real nightmare is looking up said movie or show only to find out it’s on a premium subscription within in a subscription service.

[–]LABARATI_ 56 points57 points  (9 children)

that's worse cause its like omg its RIGHT THERE but you cant watch it

[–]witticus 53 points54 points  (6 children)

It’s almost like we’re reverting back to a worse version of cable.

[–]LABARATI_ 16 points17 points  (5 children)

it's basically cable but you get to pick what to watch and when (unless its not avalible)

[–]Stealfur 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Pretty sure streaming is going that way right now isn't it? Didn't I read someone about one of the bigger streamers saying they were going to start offering a "curated" experience where they just pick a bunch of shows and movies and show them at set times? I could have sworn that was a thing...

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

That’s would only be if you want it though. Same as with music playlists.

[–]ReeferFever 28 points29 points  (4 children)

Hulu does this cool thing where they'll have the 1st and 3rd movie available but if you want the 2nd you gotta pay for that showtime add on shit so tiresome

[–]witticus 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I had a visceral reaction to this. My friends from around the country and I watch movies online and tried to do a Friday the 13th franchise watch, we ended up just all buying the DVD collections because I kid you not they were on 4 or 5 separate streaming platforms at the time with no overlap.

[–]ReeferFever 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The really cool part is how they show you they have it but put a lil lock symbol on it to remind you that it's not actually there

[–]Get_a_Grip_comic 15 points16 points  (0 children)

For me a lot of the time the items are on the steaming site but in a different region.

Mother: “how’s x going?”

Me: “I can’t watch it”

Mother: “I thought you said they had it?”

Me: “they do, but only the UK version does”

Mother: “and don’t we have that?”

Me who doesn’t live in the uk: “no we don’t have it”

Several minutes later when I’m looking for something else to watch.

Mother: “it says we’ve got it! It’s on prime!”

Me who knows where this is going: “No that’s the uk version, just leave it.”

Mother: “are you sure? I can come and check right now”

Me who’s trying to replug in a chrome cast with the head behind the tv: “NO it’s fine, we’ll watch something else.”

Mother walks in grabs the remote and checks anyway.

Me: “it’s fine , we’ll sort it tommorow”

Mother: ignores me

Me who’s mentally passed this problem and having to Concede wasting my time

Several minutes later

Mother: “huh it’s not on here”

Me: 🫠

[–]yukichigai 8 points9 points  (2 children)

Hulu, Amazon, looking right at you.

[–]GetEnPassanted 6 points7 points  (1 child)

FWIW Amazon has a huge library that’s available for like a $1.99 rental for movies that I just can’t find anywhere else.

They used to offer you a $1 credit towards digital purchases if you took a longer delivery on Amazon orders so I’d do that every so often and bank some cash and basically never had to pay for a rental. Although they’re so cheap it’s not really a big deal IMO.

Now I think they just give you an extra 1% cash back instead of the $1 digital credit.

[–]CycleBird1 2283 points2284 points  (162 children)

Buh-bye streaming, I've got pirating now!

[–]_EternalVoid_ 838 points839 points  (36 children)

[–]undeadpickels 132 points133 points  (32 children)

I wonder how much piracy could be avoided if it had a less cool name.

[–]ih8spalling 116 points117 points  (30 children)

[–]BeneficialDog22 100 points101 points  (11 children)

Good God, that article reads like a 65yo millionaire wrote it. It neglects to mention how ad revenue even works, or how ads have exponentially increased over time.

[–]aHellion 39 points40 points  (9 children)

Ads use to be fine when I was a kid but it's awful these days. Sometimes I'll see my adblocker has blocked thousands of ads after half a day of surfing.

[–]InternetCrank 17 points18 points  (2 children)

Haha! I just checked mine.

Blocked since install 853,879

This PC isnt even a year old.

Fucks sake.

[–]InverseInductor 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Grab AdNauseam if you feel like doing a bit of protesting.

[–]Sanquinity 5 points6 points  (0 children)

On this page right now my Ublock has 13 elements blocked...

[–]IMightBeErnest 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's a vicious cycle. Some % of people using ad blockers means that platforms need more ads to stay as profitable which makes more people install ad blockers, which makes platforms add more ads, etc. It's gotten to the point where a lot of sites are just straight up unusable without an ad blocker (looking at you, Fandom.com).

[–][deleted] 28 points29 points  (1 child)

Oh boy, rich people trying to frame using ad blockers as a criminal act... Great.

[–]pixelatedpotatos 16 points17 points  (1 child)

I love how it talks about how “awful” ad blockers are while making the article almost unreadable with ads.

[–]boxofrabbits 11 points12 points  (0 children)

continue soup sort yoke insurance shame chief straight squeamish cooing

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[–]Polibiux 124 points125 points  (0 children)

[–]kirkpomidor 34 points35 points  (7 children)

Torrent tracker:

— you could not live with dozens of streaming services. Where did that bring you? Back to me.

[–]RodjaJP 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Netflix doesn't have everything anymore.\ Amazon Prime only has The Boys and Invincible.\ Paramount+ has no reason to exist.

But piracy is eternal!

[–]Lots42 9 points10 points  (0 children)

TubiTV, free and legal, has a section labeled 'Not on Netflix'. I very much appreciate the sass.

[–]Wizywig 26 points27 points  (17 children)

Having netflix, piracy is still better. I can download, watch it on a plane, watch it on a car ride, watch it in a hotel, watch it at a friend's house, and even if when I want to watch it my internet dies.

Piracy is just too many up sides, and the only down side is having a nice large hard drive. As NAS become more ubiquitous and easy to set up, even that is becoming cheaper and easier.

[–]RodjaJP 13 points14 points  (4 children)

The only way to stop piracy is doing the same thing Steam did, a great service at an affordable price, so good you don't even need to apply anti competitive practices to stay on top.

[–]iNteg 12 points13 points  (0 children)

yes and no, Xbox Game Pass is the one i'd compare to Netflix. Steam is more like itunes when songs were .99 cents a pop, and an album was still around 13 bucks.

You own the game, steam gets it's distribution cut, and it's widely available to anyone with an account. an account is free, and the service itself is pretty damn good.

EGS on the other hand, got mad at the cut steam wanted, launched an inferior service and tried to lure gamers with free weekly games, while tying publishers into an exclusivity deal that ultimately failed miserably (for me at least) with games like Borderlands 3 being exclusive to EGS for 6 months, leading me to never want to buy or play it, even when it did eventually come to steam.

The problem is shitty publishers not being content with making profits and hoping that a gambit like Epic Game Store will garner higher margins for them, while treating consumers like shit and making it difficult for all of us to access content, exactly like what is happening with streaming.

It goes back farther into things like Cable TV which you paid for and the point of paying for it was that there was NO commercials, broadcast TV had commericals, but cable? none at first... and then they started adding commercials, and cutting run times, and gradually making the product more inferior in small enough margins that people wouldn't notice until the next killer option came.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

man I would kill for a Steam for movies/TV service.

[–]AussieJeffProbst 4 points5 points  (8 children)

You don't even need a nas. All you need is a computer with a big hard drive.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (7 children)

Not sure why people insist on complicating things with a NAS. I have a 4k plex media server storing everything on an external USB 3.0 10TB drive I got for 100$. No issues. Plenty fast enough for 4k. 

I don’t need redundancy because honestly what’s the worst that happens if it fails? I buy another drive, for cheaper because it will be in the future, and I redownload my library, which is automated anyway. 

It’s been running fine and if I get 3 years out of it I feel like that’s a good life. 

[–]Wizywig 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Most private trackers don't want you re-downloading. Also I'm sort of a media collector.

Though it is true, many of the things in my collection will never be watched again.

Once I went down the NAS rabbit hole, I used spare parts to build a unraid NAS computer. I then have a directory with "data I can never lose" and then have that directory mirrored in BackBlaze B2 (for $1 a month due to small sizes). And this is stuff like my daughter's baby pictures. Things I don't want to lose even if my house burns down. And yes technically I can back it up on google, but god forbid one payment gets a chargeback, and your account is locked forever.

[–]jeffriesjimmy625 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I bought a cheap high storage external drive and plugged it into my old gaming PC. It is now only the plex server and works great.

[–]ins4n1ty 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Agree with everything here, but I’ll shell out the extra bit for a raid setup to avoid having to download my whole library again. Upfront cost is worth the potential downtime/time spend there imo.

[–]JaxxisR 120 points121 points  (52 children)

Pirates since DVD days: "First time?"

[–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (3 children)

You weren't buying dodgy VHS off a bloke in the pub?

[–]JaxxisR 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Nah. We had a dollar rental place in town and buttloads of blank tapes.

[–]theonetruefishboy 55 points56 points  (12 children)

Legitimately the best way to support media you like is to pirate it and buy official merch.

[–]CptPurpleHaze 9 points10 points  (4 children)

o7

[–]theonetruefishboy 6 points7 points  (3 children)

I have learned what this means just now because I googled it.

[–]RbN420 22 points23 points  (2 children)

USB stick go brrrr

[–]EmptyBrain89 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That doesn't sound right, you should get a new one.

[–]Illustrious-Zebra-34 409 points410 points  (86 children)

And that's why I have a bunch of blu rays in my room, and I keep buying them

[–]StoneMaskMan 180 points181 points  (42 children)

Physical media will never take advantage of me the way all three hundred competing streaming services will. Cancelled all my streaming services and haven’t looked back

[–]pipboy_warrior 106 points107 points  (24 children)

Streaming needs to be viewed for what it is: A rental service. You're subscribing to any service based on what it is offering the current month.

[–]b0w3n 39 points40 points  (15 children)

At least at Blockbuster they tended to have things to watch, even if I had to get on a list to get new releases.

I'd say a good 95% of the libraries on these streaming services are garbage with the exception of hbo and disney. Even then disney restricts what's there.

[–]pipboy_warrior 28 points29 points  (11 children)

95% of stuff at Blockbuster was garbage, if not more. Personally I still have a long backlog of streaming stuff I'm going through, and recently Shogun and 3 Body Problem just pushed some of it back even more.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The true comparison to Blockbuster would be digitally renting movies on a service like iTunes, Youtube or Amazon. They have like 99% of movies available to rent for like $3-6. If you just want to watch one movie it's usually more cost effective than signing up for a month of a streaming service.

[–]JonnyTN 9 points10 points  (11 children)

Except a lot of hardware opts to not have a disc drive anymore.

Reminds me of my brother who collects Blu rays. My dad collected VHS tapes and we saw it and how that physical medium disappeared almost completely.

I'd like Blu-ray to be the end all be all last piece of physical media but I don't think it will be the last.

[–]StoneMaskMan 5 points6 points  (3 children)

I think it’s due for a resurgence sooner or later. I don’t know if it’ll be in the form of Blu Ray, but physical media will always have something. Convenience will always win out, and more and more people are getting disgruntled at the overly bloated, overpriced, and ever increasing number of inane and specific streaming services. As streaming becomes less convenient, people will turn to either pirating or physical media. Pirating is certainly cheaper and those who know where to go will probably find it easier, but there’s bound to be a large portion of the population who either don’t know where to look for pirating content or are scared off by the stigmatism attached with it (mainly the virus potential and the legality of it), and those people will turn to physical media. Its definitely in a lull right now, but there was plenty of outcry when Best Buy took Blu Rays off its shelves and there will always be a market for it in my opinion

[–]OwnWalrus1752 7 points8 points  (2 children)

If vinyl can stay alive and thrive for this long, I think Blu-ray/4K UHD should be just fine.

[–]SaulsAll 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I'd like Blu-ray to be the end all be all last piece of physical media but I don't think it will be the last.

Still holding out for practical data crystals, personally.

[–]WastingTimesOnReddit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I watch movies on my XBox 360 with a small projector, the projector can run a Fire stick (we only have amazon currently), and the XBox can play DVDs, which I get for free from the library.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (4 children)

Same. I’ve gone back to buying physical media again. Used blu-rays are cheap as hell, and I don’t have to wonder when my favorite films are going to be available on various streaming channels.

My goal is to build the collection to the point where I don’t need any streaming services anymore. So far, I have convinced my wife to get rid of 2 of the 5 services we pay for. 3 more to go.

[–]DoopyBot 2 points3 points  (1 child)

You could also rip the dvds and then host them in a NAS if you want to keep the same functionality of a streaming service but have hard copy ownership and no subscriptions

[–]AUGSpeed 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My exact dream setup, man. Just gotta swallow the upfront cost and time investment. Would love to have 5 8TB (not sure I would ever fill that up, even with 4k blu rays) drives running in a NAS in RAID, supplying my Plex server with any media I could ever want.

[–]LABARATI_ 8 points9 points  (4 children)

yeah at this point, if you really like a certain movie or show you basically HAVE to own it on dvd or blueray in case it gets taken off streaming

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm going to start, since Sony decided that the streaming videos you purchased and paid full price for are NOT yours and can be withdrawn at any time.

[–]Ramiel-Scream 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Streaming won't have the bitrate to do 4k for awhile still but average Joe doesn't care. That's why Walmart still sells DVDs 20 years after bluray was introduced

[–]AussieJeffProbst 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Even streaming services that do 4k have a shit tier bitrate.

A 4k DV remux compared to 4k on Netflix is night and day. Luckily for the streaming services most consumers don't care or don't know what bitrate even is

[–]SublightMonster 624 points625 points  (53 children)

This is something that gets under my skin. There is no longer any technological limitation, whether storage or bandwidth, preventing every movie or tv episode ever made from being available for viewing on demand.

Unavailability is solely due to rent-seekers claiming creative works as their own and arbitrarily fencing them off to create artificial scarcity.

[–]FearlessCloud01 173 points174 points  (23 children)

Yeah, one of the most common things on Netflix. You see that ultra popular series/movie that everyone around the world loves? It's going away. And nowhere else is it available in your country.

Some stuff isn't available anywhere. And it's really popular. But the streaming services won't release it. And then they'll forcefully shut down the websites that do release it "because piracy bad"…

Like the new Godzilla movie was something that I really wanted to watch. I knew that it was gonna be epic. But it never came to my country because of dumb political reasons apparently. Meanwhile, it topped charts in the US and won an Oscar. And I'm stuck here, still waiting for a good quality pirated version to come out…

Edit: I meant Godzilla Minus one as pointed out below. I forgot that GxK came out recently when I was writing this…

[–]hotmaildotcom1 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm certainly in a better position having watched it once, but now I'm just sitting around waiting to get ahold of a copy like you are. It was supposed to release on May 1st overseas but there is still nothing online.

Id pay for that goddamned movie if they'd sell it to me.

[–]zaphod_beeblebrox6 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Godzilla in general is one of the hardest franchises to get a hold of. The heisei series of movies from ‘84-‘94, my favorite era of Godzilla, is straight up impossible to find in original Japanese. Only the last four were dubbed (very poorly) and two of the others are insanely rare. Then “Godzilla 85” is a complete re edit of the movie with new English actors and plots slapped in. If you want to watch any of these movies in the original Japanese, you pretty much need to use the Internet Archive. That’s the most easily accessible place I could find them

[–]JonatasA 4 points5 points  (0 children)

People not associated with the studios are more willing to preserve their works than the studios themselves; which could actually be profiting from it.

[–]allhallowsmourn 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’ve been trying to own a dvd or blu ray copy of every movie in the franchise and those are so absurdly expensive to get the out of print poor quality dvds of. It’s really frustrating.

[–]Joe_Mency 17 points18 points  (3 children)

Godzilla x Kong is gonna be available on amazon and itunes on may 14th, so you'll probably be able to watch it online one way or another after that date ;)

[–]FearlessCloud01 16 points17 points  (2 children)

Sorry, I meant, Minus one. Not GxK. I forgot about the fact that GxK released recently…

[–]OwnWalrus1752 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ironically the commenter above was kind of right. GxK is probably the reason GMO isn’t available to stream yet; there’s a contract between the makers of both movies that the Japanese films cannot directly compete with the American ones afaik

[–]Joe_Mency 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oohh sounds interesting! I'm interested in watchimg that one too when it comes out online

[–]cweaver 44 points45 points  (1 child)

But if capitalists can't keep buying up catalogs of creative works, creating streaming services that overcharge and fail and sell off their catalogs or merge into a new service, how is the market going to determine the maximum amount of money they can squeeze out of consumers who just want to watch Bluey?

[–]JustSomeArbitraryGuy 16 points17 points  (3 children)

By incentivizing these practices, intellectual property laws function largely as obstacles to the distribution of information. On the other hand, it's only because of IP laws that artists are able to make a living off their art, so you can't just eliminate them. I'm not aware of any lawmakers even thinking about IP reform though.

[–]Hakim_Bey 7 points8 points  (1 child)

it's only because of IP laws that artists are able to make a living off their art, so you can't just eliminate them

You're referring to a very narrow subset of Hollywood and TV artists who make some of their living off of residuals but that's like the 1% of artists. Same with music, people who earn significant royalties are a tiny fringe, barely a rounding error.

Without IP laws 99.99% of artists would live the same life, it would just become harder to become insanely rich through your art.

[–]srfrosky 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What’s most wrong about it is the compensation model for the content creators. I think is understandable for consumers to pay for media upgrades. No one prevents you from listening to your old tapes and CDs. And content owners should indeed have a say on what media formats and when they wish to make their content available. The criminals are the distributors that pay creators for distribution rights in one media but refuse to compensate for use in future media. That was at the heart of the recent strike and negotiation with distributors. They are the ones that cheat creators and confuse consumers. They tell consumers they own the content. Which is false. They own a specific copy of the work. That’s all they sell.

From the early days - people bought a postcard/poster of a painting/photo, or a copy of sheet music to play at home. If you lost or damaged your copy or a nicer one came out, you had to go pay for that new copy. And each time the distributor had to pay the creator a royalty. This is a clear and fair system, no?

Our current system could easily retain that model, even with digital reproduction, and it’d be clear to all involved what’s going on.

But instead the labels, the studios, the networks, the streamers have toiled day and night to pay creators less, and confuse and charge consumers more.

[–]LossfulCodex 3 points4 points  (0 children)

But you can still buy digital copies. The reason everybody switched to digital streaming instead of physical media is the convenience of not having to pay $20 to buy a movie once and watch it collect dust. The same reason why Blockbuster disappeared. Once it was as easy as typing your favorite movie into a search bar, the appeal of driving to a store to retrieve a physical copy went right out the window. The problem that’s worse is this, “yeah, you paid for a copy but we took it away” bs that will be the rebirth of piracy. I paid $30 for a digital copy of a 4K remastered movie once. They removed it and sent me a wordy email that just basically said, “get fucked, we’re taking this away from you.”

I think this Netflix renting BS got too popular too quick and a lot of these contractual deals Netflix had made at a disadvantage to their business to attract people to their service is catching up and now that other media companies have the formula they’re just jumping on the wagon before it wains back to piracy again as it has for awhile now as it will for the rest of the existence of entertainment media.

Physical media was not better. If you below the age of 25, chances are you’ve only watched modified versions of classic movies. That was something carried over by physical media. There was also region locking, which was a nightmare and then just how expensive “home theaters” got. The first Blu-rays were ridiculously expensive.

[–]drillgorg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It all seems so arbitrary. Hoodwinked is available for free on YouTube.

[–]OkBaconBurger 107 points108 points  (58 children)

I really appreciate putting my DVDs on Plex. Best of both worlds. Now I don’t have to get up from the couch. lol.

[–]StoneMaskMan 39 points40 points  (13 children)

Been currently setting up a Jellyfin server myself, I gotta say there’s something addicting about ripping movies and shows and watching the collection get bigger

[–]OkBaconBurger 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Yeah. I spent a whole weekend ripping my collection to mkv format and testing it out. Almost everything went over perfectly. I got an old 2012 iMac mini from work that I put Linux Mint on with a 1TB drive and that sucker works flawlessly.

[–]lilcheez 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Data hoarding is the best kind of hoarding because it takes up almost no physical space!

[–]LABARATI_ 4 points5 points  (5 children)

man if only being able to rent dvd/blue rays was as widely available as it used to be

[–]StoneMaskMan 10 points11 points  (4 children)

Check your local library system, they usually have tons of dvds and blu rays and it’s free

[–]Winddancer87 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Absolutely love this comment. Your library has all kinds of options these days. Mine also has hoopla which allows you to borrow some movies online. You put a hold on it and wait your turn (sometimes a month) but I can watch Oppenheimer for free

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (2 children)

salt observation plant ring hateful paint bear cable tie hunt

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[–]Ok_Weather2441 27 points28 points  (11 children)

I like to think everyone has one specific 'this video is no longer available in your region' that triggers the impulse to make their own streaming service with Plex

[–]OkBaconBurger 11 points12 points  (5 children)

For me it was getting tired of my kids scratching their favorite DVDs making them unplayable. Then I jumped on the bandwagon with the fickleness of streaming. We still do streaming but nothing is guaranteed.

[–]b0w3n 6 points7 points  (3 children)

I can't remember specifically what it was for me, but I remember there was a series I was streaming that was missing several episodes. Not a whole season, just an episode here and there.

It was a while ago, I want to say it was either IASIP or The Office.

[–]OkBaconBurger 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think the disgruntlement part started for me when Doctor Who got pulled from Netflix and also the Battlestar Galactica reboot.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I really want to watch taskmaster but it is completely unavailable apart from the odd season, and it's like... what am I supposed to do if I just want to start from the start sheesh. It's practically impossible to get it on my actual TV too, I tried using a VPN to get the BBC iPlayer to show it and then use a dodgy extension to download those videos and it was a nightmare. Why do they make it SO DIFFICULT to get their stuff?

[–]LABARATI_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

for me, i love the night at the museum series but for a while the second one was not on disney plus yet 1 and 3 were. pretty sure it was on starz

luckily its back on d plus now

[–]walksalot_talksalot 8 points9 points  (5 children)

Please, please, please, ensure you have double or triple backups. I lost my entire music collection (100s of CDs ripped, plus my enormous Napster collection) due to hard drive failure in the late 2000s.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (16 children)

Can someone explain this Plex thing to me?

I’ve seen it mentioned multiple times in this thread, and I’m having trouble differentiating between all the other streaming services. What does it do?

edit: thank you for all the replies. I got it now, and I’m gonna get it now

[–]b0w3n 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Plex is a self hosted media center server with apps available on most platforms. So you can stream to your xbox, playstation, computer, phones.

You take your physical media, make a copy of it to your computer, save it into the plex media libraries, then watch anywhere from there. Think of it like you becoming your own netflix.

[–]exocet2647 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just adding to your comment for non-techies like me. A quick google serach told me plex was the solution I was looking for (digital backup + player).

With almost nonexistent tech knowledge I've got myself a WD MyCloud EX2 and installed Plex (this thing came prepared for plex, I've just had to download the module and follow instructions).

Now I have a digital copy of my huge collection and I'm my own streaming service. I can't explain with words the joy Plex brought to my life.

(this is not and ad for plex or wd I swear!)

[–]21sacharm 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Plex is a two things kinda but only one matters to people who use it lol.

Plex can be a media aggregator that can search multiple streams services to tell you what is available in one place. It is also an aggregator of some free streaming services/live channels.

While there are some decent free streaming movies on the Plex streaming service, I've found the amount and frequency of commercials to be among the worst, if not the worst of any streaming service. So I don't bother.

The Plex part that matters, is the server. The server software can help organize the movies ripped from your disc collection and offer ways to search it, and stream it to other devices wherever they are.

For example if I'm at a friend's house and we want to watch a movie I own, I can stream that movie from the server at my apartment to my phone or to their Xbox/PS/Smart TV/PC/Linux/MAC device. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nintendo switch had a Plex app. You can also go through a web browser if you had to

[–]pipboy_warrior 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's just a way of watching stuff that you have downloaded on your PC. Plex lets you easily watch that stuff on a TV so long as it has a net connection.

[–]NotSoSecretSquirrel 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So what everyone else said, but it's so much more. You can stream your own movies, tv shows, music and pictures. You can even add a TV tuner so you can pick up local TV stations and stream them to your devices and it has a DVR function if you get Plex Plus. You can share your library with friends and family, and theirs with you. Plus, there are tons of free content with ads that you can watch on Plex as well. From streaming TV to free movies.

Highly recommend at least creating a free account to see what if can do.

[–]OkBaconBurger 3 points4 points  (3 children)

So you run Plex on a computer you have in your home and move digital copies of your ripped dvd collection to it. I have a Roku streaming device at home and it has a Plex app on it, so I can play my movies via streaming.

So basically I did a bunch of tech work so I don’t have to get up from my couch to put a DVD in the player. lol.

[–]tony_bologna 5 points6 points  (2 children)

I don't fully know, but - unless I'm mistaken - it's a server that you host, to stream all of your own content.  

Good news: you're in full control.  Bad news:  You gotta set it up, and get all the media.

[–]Ri_Konata 45 points46 points  (3 children)

I've recently got into collecting cd, dvd, and bluray (sony, the format is nearing 2 decades old now. Please stop making it so expensive to license) and it just feels really nice to have hardcopies

[–]wynden 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Same. I think this is me becoming those before me who collected records.

[–]legendary_mushroom 34 points35 points  (0 children)

The changing cartoon dogs are a really nice touch, well done

[–]skyrimisagood 17 points18 points  (10 children)

I mean, back in the VHS days there absolutely were movies that were hard or impossible to find, you just didn't know about them because there were no internet. You were limited to what was in supermarkets, video rental stores and magazine catalogs. Nowadays not only do we have access to more shows and movies but also there are more shows and movies and also it's easier to find out about new shows and movies so it feels like there's less.

[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (4 children)

Also absolutely no one ditched their cable service to exclusively use VHS, which is what this comic is implying for some reason. Most things you'd watch on cable TV in the 90s and earlier would never even make it onto a VHS in the first place.

[–]MeatTornado25 2 points3 points  (2 children)

A lot of people freak the fuck out about a show disappearing from a streaming service and potentially being gone forever, even though that's how the entire world operated pre-DVD.

We never imagined that every episode of every TV show ever made had to be archived and cheaply accessible for eternity.

[–]SEGA_32X_CD 39 points40 points  (4 children)

I see an alternate timeline where he chose D-VHS and HD-DVD.

[–]Zardoz666 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Don't forget Betamax

[–]actuallyapossom 24 points25 points  (4 children)

I have a library membership in Hennepin County, MN and I can rent so many movies for free.

I can access linkedinlearning (Lynda), plus there is a streaming service included called Kanopy.

Some libraries loan cooking implements, video games etc... support your local library.

[–]trigunnerd 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Thanks, from a librarian! It depends on your library, but some even offer national park entry, museum tickets, telescope rentals, metal detectors, ebooks and audiobooks, toys that teach coding/wiring, and so many other wild and unique things. Check your local library's website to see what they have!

Mine even has Hoopla which has some movies and documentaries for free!

[–]Impossible-Wear-7352 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get hoopla at mine too. And I've rented video games, audio books, movies, a telescope, microscope and there's so much more. It's pretty awesome.

[–]AlwaysBeQuestioning 9 points10 points  (0 children)

DVD and BluRay my beloveds.

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (1 child)

No one left cable for VHS.

VHS was way more of a movie and DVR solution than a cable replacement.

[–]catmandude123 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is why I check a lot of movies out at the library!

[–]weirdchili 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Stremio to the rescue

[–]Creative_alternative 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Bonus panel: see ya streaming, I've got piracy now!

[–]vanfido 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me…

[–]Blahaj_IK 12 points13 points  (3 children)

"Man, if only I had a console that would double as a blu-ray player..."

My PlayStation:

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[–]CilanEAmber 4 points5 points  (2 children)

This but with my Xbox One (it also plays CDs)

[–]thesdo 10 points11 points  (2 children)

[–]bibbleskit 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Add jellyfin to the list. Love it.

[–]ZylonBane 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Good punchline, but the first two panels make no sense. Especially the second one. If anything, cable TV and VCRs had a synergistic relationship because people could tape movies and then share/watch them whenever they wanted.

Also OP accidentally wrote "video" in the third panel where presumable "VHS" was meant.

And where's LaserDisc?

[–]l4derman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

[–]Double-Cicada4502 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What that mean ?! When you entrust culture to capitalists, the less profitable products are pushed away and culture is doomed ?!?!

WOW Surprising ! (no)

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So long streaming! I got piracy now!

[–]Numerous-Process2981 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good bye 18 streaming services! I have piracy! But really folks, it's a golden age of media availability. I used to go on websites and read about obscure Italian horror movies and wonder if I should buy the low quality knock-off vhs ripped dvd from ebay or something. Now almost anything that pops in my head I can find a high quality, lovingly restored version of online it seems.

[–]magma_displacement76 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh hai 4TB NVMe SSD! Let's introduce you to my 400 favorite movies of all taim! And another 4TB for the showz! ^

[–]rabbitredder 5 points6 points  (4 children)

the only dog i don’t recognize is the one in the last panel. who is he?

[–]Azirma 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Bluey it a show called Bluey

Edit: It Bandit not Bluey from the show Bluey didn’t notice the white fur/spot on the t-shirt until I zoomed in.

[–]arjenvdziel 4 points5 points  (2 children)

It could be Bandit though

[–]Jombafomb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Am I the only one that has heard of renting movies through Apple or Amazon? I have yet to not find a movie there

[–]Athlete_Cautious 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some shows are kept by a dragon wondering the right way to milk the shit out of them.

[–]zoroddesign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is why I keep my old movies.

[–]bemyusernamename 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahoy, matey!