
The Pirate Bay is trialing high-quality video streaming - elorant
https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-is-trialing-high-quality-video-streaming-links-191209/
======
jakobegger
We have a Netflix subscription, an Amazon Prime subscription, and we
occasionally rent movies from the iTunes Store.

But if I want to watch something specific, 50% of the time I still can't get
it on any of the stores.

I don't understand why video seems to be so much harder than music? I can
legally stream almost any song I can think of from any streaming provider, or
I can buy DRM free albums! But for video, the pirate bay is often the only
place you can get something.

~~~
danaris
I think that ultimately, the difference is probably radio.

Before the internet, people consumed music without buying it all the time.
People consumed movies first solely at theaters, then at home from VHS and
DVD. Some movies came to TV occasionally, but it was never a guarantee for any
given title.

So there was already a centralized way to pay record labels for music, and the
basic idea of licensing it all to be played in a streaming format was well-
established.

The movie industry, on the other hand, still wants to make you pay every time
you watch, like back when it was still just theaters.

~~~
FussyZeus
I think it might be because of the ubiquity of music piracy during the 90's.
In it's heyday, you could get anything off of Limewire, Kazaa, and of course
Napster with extremely little effort.

By contrast, pirating video didn't come until later, when it was more
technically feasible (downloading music over a modem already took forever, can
you imagine downloading full length movies!?) and by that time, the likes of
Spotify had already made legally consuming music so convenient as to make
piracy obsolete.

Even now, the pirating of PC games is being made more common by the
introduction of the Epic Store, which, regardless of your feelings on it, has
added friction. Games promised to Steam users are being delayed or going full
Epic exclusive and many users are saying "fuck that, we're not getting
railroaded into using a launcher we didn't like" and turning to piracy
instead.

The video landscape is even worse, where it used to be only a select few
providers had their own bespoke services (like HBO) now every channel is
looking to make their own damn subscription happen, which is adding _tons_ of
friction, causing the boom in piracy.

The music companies learned, and the video companies haven't, that the main
way to counter piracy is to make the legal way to get something as easy as
possible, so easy that customers don't mind parting with some cash. And
streaming right now is anything but easy.

~~~
ChrisSD
> Even now, the pirating of PC games is being made more common by the
> introduction of the Epic Store, which, regardless of your feelings on it,
> has added friction. Games promised to Steam users are being delayed or going
> full Epic exclusive and many users are saying "fuck that, we're not getting
> railroaded into using a launcher we didn't like" and turning to piracy
> instead.

A lot of people said that about Steam and yet it became what it is today, with
many titles that now require Steam (unless you pirate).

~~~
voltagex_
It's funny/sad - if you check the exes for a lot of Epic Store games, there's
no DRM - better the DRM you know than the (no) DRM you don't?

~~~
Lorkki
Steam doesn't require use of its DRM either, and it's well-known that several
titles don't have any: [https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-
free_games](https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games)

------
carlhjerpe
[https://github.com/arvidn/libtorrent/pull/4123](https://github.com/arvidn/libtorrent/pull/4123)
<\- Once this PR is ready and merged we'll probably see a boatload of
streaming websites streaming (web)torrents. This might just be the next era of
pirate streaming coming up, considering the ease of distribution when you
don't have to do it yourself. For those unaware, libtorrent powers a lot of
torrent clients.

~~~
Jnr
If everyone switches to using webtorrent to stream things from their browser,
there will be less 24/7 bittorrent clients seeding content.

And the public bittorrent ecosystem won't work without seeders.

As the saying goes: "sharing is caring"

~~~
rakoo
There will be those who will continue seeding as before, and there will be
those who merely leech and stop sharing after they're done, as before. Their
number will only grow (which interestingly will actually make the torrent more
lively) but I don't see why the first group would diminish in numbers

------
ajmurmann
While streaming is certainly more convenient, I frequently wish streaming
providers would also allow me to download movies in advance on more platforms.
Especially for 4k content the bitrate on streaming can be quite limiting. I'd
love to be able to download really high quality video in advance. Currently
buying a 4k disc or piratebay seem to be the only option.

~~~
BlueTemplar
Even worse, the previous summer I was all hyped for UHD-1/HDR, decided to go
buy a compatible Xbox... (since it was the most recommended player) only to
find out that the (big!) store didn't even have Planet Earth 2 to go with all
the "4k" hardware they sell ! Guess what I did ?

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driverdan
Blogspam of this: [https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-is-trialing-high-
qua...](https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-is-trialing-high-quality-
video-streaming-links-191209/)

~~~
dang
Yes. We changed the URL to that from
[https://thenextweb.com/apps/2019/12/10/pirate-bay-
streaming-...](https://thenextweb.com/apps/2019/12/10/pirate-bay-streaming-
apple-netflix/).

------
enahs-sf
I dream of a product where I can watch anything. Any tv station, from any
country, in real time and HD. Any movie or film that has been digitized.
Searchable in a well indexed fashion. Any user generated content as well. No
switching between YouTube or reddit or Vimeo. Just one search bar and all of
the things.

And then I wake up. It was just a dream. The rights and licensing would never
let this happen.

~~~
xkcd-sucks
Is Popcorntime still around?

~~~
hbcondo714
When I had Time Warner cable, I would use PopcornTime all the time without any
VPN. After it was acquired by Comcast and rebranded to Spectrum Internet, I
immediately received a notification that I was using an illegal service. I
then subscribed to an IP blocker service hoping I could use PopcornTime
without being detected and sure enough Charter blocked my internet. I had to
acknowledge that I was aware of the illegal activity in order to get my
internet back.

I wonder if BayStream will have the same issues.

------
wishinghand
If not for my friend who sails a lot, i would have needed to turn to the
Pirate Bay to get a copy of the film The Fall with Lee Pace in it. One of the
most beautiful films ever made and it’s not available to stream anywhere. Or
purchase in hard copy unless I go for an $80 used copy on eBay or amazon. It’s
out of print and no studio seems to be interested in putting it out there.
Went through something similar for the film Hero with Jet Li, but eventually
found a new old stock copy for a reasonable price. Sometimes things just
aren’t legitimately available anywhere, streaming or not.

~~~
Godel_unicode
Netflix has the DVDs of both of those movies.

~~~
wishinghand
I can't own those, unless I refuse to return them to Netflix. I could "lose"
them but it's still ridiculous in order to acquire those films.

------
xfour
Speaking of new streaming services, I was trying to watch The Expanse Season
4. Amazon famously made this happen, so thanks to Bezos there. But even though
I have their Prime service there seemed to be a monthly service called Prime
Video required. Amazon seems to be doing the Microsoft thing where everything
is Prime something and it’s confusing and annoying.

~~~
jlokier
Amazon Prime Video is confusing.

When I had an Amazon Prime Video subscription, almost everything I wanted to
watch had to be paid for separately, yet had Prime Video labels all over the
place.

It took me months before I realised that Prime Video wasn't actually getting
me anything I wanted. I needed to pay outright for each season of what I
wanted, and Prime Video didn't change anything about that, such as prices or
what was available.

When I figured that out, I dropped the subscription. I still watch things on
Amazon Prime Video, without the subscription to Amazon Prime Video. Yes,
confusing.

~~~
integricho
So what is Prime Video for then, could you explain it for us that still don't
get it?

~~~
pasttense01
Amazon Prime Video is the streaming component of Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime
Video is thus somewhat comparable to Netflix--but with a poorer selection of
movies and series. Amazon Prime has a number of other things, primarily free
shipping. So if you have no interest in free shipping or the other things in
Amazon Prime you can save a few dollars a year (but only a few dollars) by
just getting Amazon Prime Video.

------
csours
I hate ad supported video with the power of 1000 suns, and it's not because of
the ads themselves. It's because the ads stutter and skip and take twice as
long to play as the content of the ad itself.

How can they fuck it up so bad? The ads are how you get paid, how is it that
you don't prioritize playing the ad correctly? If I were a sponsor, I would be
furious!

I tried to watch some movies on IMDBtv for instance, and I got through one and
gave up a quarter through the second one.

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pasttense01
The big question is how this streaming operates and the legal consequences.

There was a previous version of torrent streaming called Popcorn Time:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time)
Basically users suffer the same legal consequences as for torrenting: they are
not just downloading, but also uploading--that is how the software works. This
is quite different from a streaming site like Fmovies--where the user is
downloading only--and not uploading.

~~~
CraneWorm
> Basically users suffer the same legal consequences as for torrenting

namely, none, baring exceptional cases

~~~
iforgotpassword
Maybe in Somalia...

~~~
Mediterraneo10
Or Eastern Europe. Everyone torrents films here, and until recently, ISPs
often even facilitated filesharing. Cases where anyone has received criminal
sanctions are vanishingly small, even in the EU or West Balkan states, let
alone Russia where reportedly most copyright infringement cases are dismissed
out of hand.

------
kop316
Personally, I use the following two combinations:

\- For things I will watch/listen to a lot, I purchase and rip to my server
running Plex. Then I control my own streaming server and don't have to worry
about where to find it. If you have a local secondhand store, its not hard to
find what you are looking for.

\- For one offs, I can actually very reliably find it either on Redbox or my
local library. The local Library had DVDs and Blu-Rays there. I watch and
return.

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fenwick67
PopcornTime.sh also works really well for streaming, you can even cast to your
TV. Its convenience is seriously on-par with Netflix.

~~~
tnolet
I use Popcorntime a lot. It’s the only “service” in the world that just allows
me to see what I want regardless of whether it’s on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon
or just cinema.

I would pay for a service like this in a heartbeat.

~~~
BlueTemplar
It doesn't work _that_ great for anything that isn't "top 100 popular".

~~~
oscargrouch
Change the file from "Popularity" to "Recently added" will probably do the
trick.

Not everything like a torrent indexing service, but also theres a lot of
stuff, not only the popular titles.

------
alistproducer2
This is been around in various forms for quite a few years. But it's never
really caught on because the basic fact is it turns everyone into leeches.
Also doesn't really make any sense because when you stream something you're
downloading and anyways so you might as well be a good citizen download it,
and then seed it, and keep the community decentralized and healthy.

~~~
runeks
Why do you say that? It’s perfectly possible to download a file sequentially
while uploading parts of it. Although I guess the ending would be harder to
find than the beginning... but if all they do is make the first half part more
widely available, I don’t see the issue.

~~~
sp332
I think the issue is that it stops uploading when you're done watching the
movie and close the tab. It would be less of an issue if it somehow continued
seeding for a while afterward.

------
soared
> The addition of BayStream links to The Pirate Bay isn’t the first time that
> the world’s most famous torrent site has dipped its toes into streaming
> waters. In 2016, the site experimented with ‘Stream It!” links next to all
> video torrents, playable via a browser plug-in called Torrents-Time.

I thought this seemed familiar! I'm curious if anyone knows the history of
their last attempt.

------
weystrom
There are so many streaming providers right now, no wonder people are turning
to torrents. It's almost easier UX-wise to set up Transmission and Plex once,
than manage 5 sets of subscription, apps on all your devices and credentials
to log into each one.

They will have to consolidate eventually, to keep the customers, or lose to
piracy yet again.

------
thomasfl
Streaming videos via The Pirate, is probably legal in many countries.
Copyright means you are not allowed to make a copy. Streaming is not the same
as making a copy. At least in norway.

~~~
gamblor956
Who told you that?

A streamed copy of is still a copy for purposes of copyright laws.

~~~
thomasfl
You are nor creating a copy when watching a stream.

~~~
gamblor956
Yes you are, because that is exactly how you are able to watch the movie in
the first place.

Copyright law focuses on the content that is copied, not the specific
mechanics of the copying, because it is technology agnostic.

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bluedino
How do streamers affect the seeders? I'm guessing that they don't keep the
entire video file in the browser and contribute 'their share' back to the
torrent, do they?

~~~
ripdog
Honestly, I'm not seeing any signs of webtorrent usage at all. It appears to
be a normal stream from a normal server. Even if they don't store all the
video, and just proxy the torrent sessions, I'm not sure how they could afford
that.

The video loaded very fast for me. It's quite impressive.

~~~
trevyn
Actual cost of bandwidth is approaching zero, fwiw.

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bigpumpkin
So do you upload when you're using this?

