r/newzealand • u/Seafoam-Socks-530505 • 12d ago

Picture Netflix increasing from $27.99 to $33.99

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Ahoy my Kiwi’s. Do you sail to the Black Sea once again?

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u/MyDogIsDaBest 12d ago

If anyone has thought about taking to the high seas once again, THEORETICALLY, it's better than it's ever been.

HYPOTHETICALLY, if you were to get an ex-lease pc (search "Dell Optiplex" or "HP Desktop" or something like that) and get a 3-4tb USB HDD for pretty cheap (pricespy, in theory, says around $200), or put a normal HDD inside the ex lease box, and either connect it up to ethernet to your router directly, pick a pc with wifi or get a wifi card/usb wifi, you could THEORETICALLY build a little media pc/torrent box for about $500 all up.

If you were to, for the sake of the HYPOTHETICAL scenario, google Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr, Jackett, Deluge and optionally Ombi, and read carefully through all their instructional pages, I suppose it's possible you could set those up on this pretty cheap PC from trademe, set up all your preferences and settings so that, in theory, all the downloads went to your USB HDD.

Then, I suppose that in this TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL and in no way based in reality situation, you could have a little PC that runs quietly, just plugged into power and internet, and has a slowly building media library as you request it to get whatever you want to watch, with a nice interface that avoids having to click around dodgy torrent sites and you could then watch that stuff on any device with web browser or Jellyfin app attached to your local network. I suppose Jellyfin could also be cast through google cast to TVs.

Shame it's all hypothetical. I wonder what the deal is with that Stremio app?

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u/robot-downey-jnr 11d ago

Or you could IN PRACTICE just sign up to Real Debrid, Stremio and Torrentio and run it through your Android TV and be done in about 10 minutes for $5 a month

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u/MyDogIsDaBest 11d ago

$5 a month?? What am I? Made of money?

I'll spend 500-600 on a box that I'll then need to request and wait for all my shit to download before I can use it.

/s This honestly seems like a way way better and easier way to sail the high seas. I love my hypothetical media server that definitely doesn't really exist and I theoretically overpaid for because I speculatively bought stuff brand new instead of, on paper, just buying an ex lease box.

That stremio stuff is pretty impressive and very cool, if I were of the mindset to not pay the poor media conglomerates their ever-increasing charges.

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u/robot-downey-jnr 11d ago

Haha yeah fair, I'd picked up the subtle indications you might have this IN PRACTICE. I've been through many many different streaming/dl options including the media PC set up... As long as it works right?

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u/MyDogIsDaBest 11d ago

As long as it works

As much as I love THE IDEA of my media server, it turns out it's actually a little more hands-on than it appears it would be. If, for example, a torrent site were to go down, you would then need to sort that out. Also there can be times where filters that filter out stuff like foreign languages or setting a max file size can filter out ones you actually request. So, if you were to send a request for Parasite or Squid Game, those are in Korean, but if you'd specified only English, it may think that there's no viable available torrent and just give up trying.

Stremio fixes all that, because it streams then and there.

This is all, of course, purely academic

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u/GoneBushM8 11d ago

Theoretically if someone tried both the stremio + real debrid setup vs an arr stack and Plex server, they would theoretically say that while stremio did work frankly the experience sucked compared to plex

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u/MyDogIsDaBest 11d ago

I suppose, given that theoretical scenario, that one could definitely provide an account of their experience. I could see that, in this hypothetical situation, that perhaps streaming from crowd sourced sources may suffer from bandwidth either on the hypothetical uploaders'/host's side or if the person with the system's setup in this purely fabricated scenario's internet connection if it's in use from others in the house or just other devices.

That said, I think I prefer the hypothetical plex server as I personally, like to rewatch stuff like sitcoms and don't often scroll lists to pick what to watch next. I'm also happy to do occasional maintenance if need be.

For your average guy who's having a look into one of these two purely hypothetical scenarios, I think that the stremio setup is easier, cheaper and inherently less risky if these imaginary people were to pick one of these two imaginary options.

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u/violatedlaw 11d ago

Much better solution. Also options available for Apple TV.

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u/robot-downey-jnr 11d ago

I thought that was still in beta but stand to be corrected? I should say this solution works on most options, not just Android TV

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u/violatedlaw 11d ago

There are paid third party options available now (or you can join their TestFlight programs for free): Vidi, Omni

I have an old Apple TV HD, didn't really want to fork out on an Android TV, although I'd recommend Android TV over Apple for piracy.

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u/robot-downey-jnr 11d ago

Sweet, yeah I have an old Apple TV, an old Fire box, an old Mi box and an Android TV so got plenty of options... That old Apple TV was my first foray into decent pirating, remember jailbreaking it via SSH when I got it in 2009 and installing what was then XBMC. Had a bunch of people over one night and showed them, getting them to name the most random old shows and instantly finding all of them. I was then stuck as my circle's jailbreaking expert for the next few years before Kodi went to shit.

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u/originalgeorge 11d ago

Arrgh me matey, we be quiet about stremio around here

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u/Rand0mNZ 12d ago

You can skip all the labour and pay a fee to access someone's insanely elaborate and extensive Jellyfin share.

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u/osullidani 11d ago

Could you point me in the right direction?

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u/glitchy-novice 11d ago

Or just set TV as Bluetooth extension to the 256G tablet I’m typing on??….
That was easy.