home theater, cord cutting, video streaming, a/v tech, and more!

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 10:41 am

I have a request to purchase a single TV episode for one of our faculty. He wants to show it to his online class, meaning we would host it in our CMS (Blackboard) or on Google Drive.

How does purchasing TV episodes work for the various streaming services? Are they only available on the streaming platforms' player? Or can I download a MP4 or MKV and watch it via Plex or watch it on VLC etc?

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:02 am

I highly doubt any of them would provide an actual content download. All of the ones I've used stream the content using their app - even when you 'download offline', like in the Netflix app.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:12 am

Yeah, that's what I thought. So Plex is purely for pirates and people who rip DVD/CD/Blurays?

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:13 am

Arrrr.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:15 am

I love Plex btw. I really enjoy the auto-subtitle addition, so I don't have to go hunt down good subtitles for each film or show.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:53 am

Netflix is set to prevent users from sharing accounts and restrict people from swapping passwords.

Greg Peters, chief product officer at Netflix, announced in an interview for the streaming platform's Q3 2019 earnings it is looking for ways to limit password sharing.

Currently, multiple users can share one account by setting up different viewing profiles using one login. Users must purchase premium plans to watch Netflix on more than one screen.

A basic plan costs $8.99 a month and the user can stream on only one screen at a time. A standard account costs $12.99 and allows users to watch on two screens simultaneously, while a premium plan costs $15.99 a month and allows users of one account to watch on up to four screens.

However, these plans are intended for users in the same household and Netflix requires each household to set up its own account. Some users are avoiding this by sharing passwords with family and friends outside of their household.

Netflix's terms and conditions currently state: "The Netflix service and any content viewed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household."

In a section on Passwords and Account Access, Netflix suggests that they may terminate an account thought to be used by members outside of the user's household: "The member who created the Netflix account and whose Payment Method is charged (the "Account Owner") has access and control over the Netflix account and the Netflix ready devices that are used to access our service and is responsible for any activity that occurs through the Netflix account.

"We can terminate your account or place your account on hold in order to protect you, Netflix or our partners from identity theft or other fraudulent activity."

Netflix, if you think cancelling my account because I share my password with people outside my household is going result in me re-subscribing AND three new subscriptions well then I got something for you

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:32 am

We have students that share accounts with their parents that live hundreds of miles away. How are they going to police that?

I think Netflix is finally starting to feel the heat from the other streaming services.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:36 am

They admitted in their earnings call last week that they're probably too expensive and don't have the back catalog to compete with the upcoming streaming services.

Postby **nocera** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:48 am

Yeah, there's no way they actually police that. It's too difficult and will piss too many people off. The second they start cancelling accounts due to password sharing, their days are numbered.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:55 am

They would have to be able to link IPs to physical locations. Never gonna happen.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:56 am

They can easily start policing that. They already track where people login from. I don't think they'll start cancelling accounts, but for example we share our Hulu login with my brother-in-law; last week he went to sign in via his iPad and received the following message:

Sorry, Hulu is blocked on this device. To unblock, open Hulu when you're at home. Do this at least every 30 days to refresh your device's connection to your home.

So because he hadn't accessed Hulu from somewhere in the Pittsburgh area in the past 30 days he was blocked. Netflix could easily start doing something similar that would effect out of household sharing.

Postby **Ted** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:59 am

Sirius implemented allowing streaming for a single account from one location at a time probably 10 years ago. Not quite the same as Netflix setup, but not far off.

Postby **nocera** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:59 am

They can easily start policing that. They already track where people login from. I don't think they'll start cancelling accounts, but for example we share our Hulu login with my brother-in-law; last week he went to sign in via his iPad and received the following message:

Sorry, Hulu is blocked on this device. To unblock, open Hulu when you're at home. Do this at least every 30 days to refresh your device's connection to your home.
So because he hadn't accessed Hulu from somewhere in the Pittsburgh area in the past 30 days he was blocked. Netflix could easily start doing something similar that would effect out of household sharing.

That's odd. I've been sharing my sister's Hulu for years and have yet to receive anything like this.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:03 am

His BIL responded to spam and now Russia has his Hulu account creds.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:11 am

That's fine. My Netflix account already was hacked. Might as well add Hulu to the list.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:13 am

Sirius implemented allowing streaming for a single account from one location at a time probably 10 years ago. Not quite the same as Netflix setup, but not far off.

What's funny about this is that someone over at LGP.com gave me his Sirius streaming credentials 8 years ago. I use it all the time, and never had any warnings or kicked out of the app etc.

Postby **dodint** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:14 am

They can easily start policing that. They already track where people login from. I don't think they'll start cancelling accounts, but for example we share our Hulu login with my brother-in-law; last week he went to sign in via his iPad and received the following message:

Sorry, Hulu is blocked on this device. To unblock, open Hulu when you're at home. Do this at least every 30 days to refresh your device's connection to your home.
So because he hadn't accessed Hulu from somewhere in the Pittsburgh area in the past 30 days he was blocked. Netflix could easily start doing something similar that would effect out of household sharing.
That's odd. I've been sharing my sister's Hulu for years and have yet to receive anything like this.

Playstation Vue has the same policy. It also switches my locals when I use it on vacation.

Postby **tifosi77** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:46 pm

PS also has a goofy policy of not allowing address changes for your Network account more than x number of times (I think it's twice, but I forget now). When we moved back to LA, I didn't communicate the change of address to our temp apartment, knowing that I was going to have to burn my last change of address when we got a house. Sure enough, 30 days in Vue got geo-blocked because I hadn't logged into it from me 'home' location. It took a (thankfully) very brief customer service call to sort it out.

The address policy is solely a convenience thing, so if you run into that issue in the future, just give them a call and they'll sort it out. Why this makes more sense than simply allowing consumers to change their home address online, I cannot say.

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:31 pm

Vizio's M-series Quantum 4k TVs are on sale everywhere, so I may snag a 43" set for my bedroom. $50 off and another 5% for Target's RedCard is a nice little deal.

Postby **eddy** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:32 pm

Vizio's M-series Quantum 4k TVs are on sale everywhere, so I may snag a 43" set for my bedroom. $50 off and another 5% for Target's RedCard is a nice little deal.

best buy is selling TCL 6 series 55" for $400 today

Postby **eddy** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:34 pm

https://www.techradar.com/news/our-favo ... t-best-buy

Postby **tifosi77** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:34 pm

That's absurd pricing.

Postby **eddy** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:35 pm

yeah it is, I'm tempted to get one just to have for something I don't even know what yet

Postby **NTP66** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:51 pm

My wife would kill me if I tried to put a 50"+ set in our bedroom, especially after buying the 75" Sony only a few months ago.

Postby **eddy** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 4:01 pm

Soar like an eagle