Netflix Canada is done with being basic. The streaming giant says it's phasing out the $9.99 'basic' option from its price plans, taking away the cheapest subscription without ads.
I should probably thank Netflix for helping me save money. Their shenanigans pissed me off enough that I’ve entirely withdrawn from all paid streaming - I have a media server and a VPN now. Total media cost, $70 /year or ~$5.83 /month. For that, I have:
Access to any movie or t.v. show any streaming service has ever provided
No ads
Shows/films don’t get removed from from the platform without warning.
A couple of people have asked for more info about my setup, so here’s what I did. I’m on mobile, so forgive any typos:
I bought a refurbished Dell mini PC from some website or other - if you Google “refurbished Dell mini PC” it’ll probably be the top result. It doesn’t need to be fast or have too much memory, but I’ve got a 2TB hard disk in mine, which is surprisingly cheap. Also needs at least one HDMI port.
I installed Ubuntu 20.04, and made a single user with no password, then set it to boot straight to the desktop. Plugged it directly into the t.v. with an HDMI cable.
I bought a cheap wireless keyboard with a roller ball in it that (barely, need a better one) can be used from my couch.
Installed Jellyfin and set it to run as a background service on boot. It has two directories it cares about: ~/Videos/Film and ~/Videos/Television
Set up ssh so that I can use scp to push files from my personal laptop to the server without having to dick around with thumb drives etc. I also have a script that checks how much disk space is available on the media server so I don’t run out (that 2TB drive fills up fast).
Got a NordVPN subscription and use Transmission on my personal laptop to download anything I want to see, push it to the server.
For a while, I also had an external domain name and IP so I could watch my videos on my phone while travelling, but I switched routers recently and something broke. I haven’t set this back up, but there are services that will give you a static IP and route requests to your actual IP so you can have a static domain name without having to pay your ISP for a static IP.
EDIT: also, you can set commands to run at login, so it boots directly to Firefox running in kiosk mode on the Jellyfin web app. The end result is that on boot, I get the Ubuntu symbol, a brief flash of desktop, and then I’m browsing my media library full screen.
Right there with you! Though I must be honest, I spent a lot more time and energy on automating the thing than I expected. Now that it’s up and running, it’s bulletproof and very low touch. I’m now permanently out of the streaming ecosystem. Which is really testament to how badly these companies screwed up. I still subscribe to Spotify because I get access to everything for a fair price. Visual media streaming could have been the same thing, but no. They created 10 different competing services, constantly switching where content could be located. All the apps are different and many suck. They’re full of DRM so I struggle to watch them on planes or car trips, depending on the service. They gave us a terrible experience and continue to jack up the prices. I’m out.
Yes, Plex, and a super cheap Intel G5400 plus some disks running Unraid. Very low energy so I can keep it running 24x7. It also supports QuickSync, so can transcode x265 content easily without a GPU.
My two favourite pieces of software in the world are Sonarr and Radarr. And they’re free! They’ll automate everything for you. Then you just tell them which movies and shows you want and they’ll do all the heavy lifting for you.
I’ve got them set up with some public trackers, but I also pay for a cheap Usenet subscription ($3/m). Between these I grab almost everything I want.
Look up Plex. And then look up Plexshares. Unfortunately the subreddit is private at the moment so I’m not sure where else to look but I am a part of one and I pay 18AUD, have access to all the latest movies Anne TV shows that are on streaming or have been on streams.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !canada@lemmy.ca
I should probably thank Netflix for helping me save money. Their shenanigans pissed me off enough that I’ve entirely withdrawn from all paid streaming - I have a media server and a VPN now. Total media cost, $70 /year or ~$5.83 /month. For that, I have:
A couple of people have asked for more info about my setup, so here’s what I did. I’m on mobile, so forgive any typos:
I bought a refurbished Dell mini PC from some website or other - if you Google “refurbished Dell mini PC” it’ll probably be the top result. It doesn’t need to be fast or have too much memory, but I’ve got a 2TB hard disk in mine, which is surprisingly cheap. Also needs at least one HDMI port.
I installed Ubuntu 20.04, and made a single user with no password, then set it to boot straight to the desktop. Plugged it directly into the t.v. with an HDMI cable.
I bought a cheap wireless keyboard with a roller ball in it that (barely, need a better one) can be used from my couch.
Installed Jellyfin and set it to run as a background service on boot. It has two directories it cares about: ~/Videos/Film and ~/Videos/Television
Set up ssh so that I can use scp to push files from my personal laptop to the server without having to dick around with thumb drives etc. I also have a script that checks how much disk space is available on the media server so I don’t run out (that 2TB drive fills up fast).
Got a NordVPN subscription and use Transmission on my personal laptop to download anything I want to see, push it to the server.
For a while, I also had an external domain name and IP so I could watch my videos on my phone while travelling, but I switched routers recently and something broke. I haven’t set this back up, but there are services that will give you a static IP and route requests to your actual IP so you can have a static domain name without having to pay your ISP for a static IP.
EDIT: also, you can set commands to run at login, so it boots directly to Firefox running in kiosk mode on the Jellyfin web app. The end result is that on boot, I get the Ubuntu symbol, a brief flash of desktop, and then I’m browsing my media library full screen.
Interesting, do you mind elaborating? I’ve been contemplating something similar but not sure where to start.
https://lemmy.fmhy.ml/comment/408263
Right there with you! Though I must be honest, I spent a lot more time and energy on automating the thing than I expected. Now that it’s up and running, it’s bulletproof and very low touch. I’m now permanently out of the streaming ecosystem. Which is really testament to how badly these companies screwed up. I still subscribe to Spotify because I get access to everything for a fair price. Visual media streaming could have been the same thing, but no. They created 10 different competing services, constantly switching where content could be located. All the apps are different and many suck. They’re full of DRM so I struggle to watch them on planes or car trips, depending on the service. They gave us a terrible experience and continue to jack up the prices. I’m out.
Are you using Plex or something else? I’m looking at options atm and curious what’s out there.
Here is a good matrix of which media server app supports what.
That being said, I’d still recommend Plex for anything more than just a project.
Your link links to this post.
Whoops! Fixed
Exactly
Plex is what I’m using.
I use Jellyfin. It’s better than Plex and doesn’t steal your data.
Second Jellyfin. It’s what I use.
Yes, Plex, and a super cheap Intel G5400 plus some disks running Unraid. Very low energy so I can keep it running 24x7. It also supports QuickSync, so can transcode x265 content easily without a GPU.
My two favourite pieces of software in the world are Sonarr and Radarr. And they’re free! They’ll automate everything for you. Then you just tell them which movies and shows you want and they’ll do all the heavy lifting for you.
I’ve got them set up with some public trackers, but I also pay for a cheap Usenet subscription ($3/m). Between these I grab almost everything I want.
@blackstampede any guides you would recommend? Asking for a friend
Look up Plex. And then look up Plexshares. Unfortunately the subreddit is private at the moment so I’m not sure where else to look but I am a part of one and I pay 18AUD, have access to all the latest movies Anne TV shows that are on streaming or have been on streams.
Out of curiosity, which subreddit is it?
R/Plexshares i think
https://lemmy.fmhy.ml/comment/408263
Plex with paired with apps like Sonarr and Radarr (*arr family: https://wiki.servarr.com/ )
Didn’t use one, but I can give help and advice if you want to dm me.
Hey @blackstampede now that is impressive!!
Edit: Also wondering if there are any guides, for a friend also.
I didn’t use one, just figured it out on my own. If you want to dm me, I can give you a little help and explain what I did.
https://lemmy.fmhy.ml/comment/408263
That’s awesome thank you very much.✌🏼
No worries. Good luck!
You can get cheap shared (99p per month) or private netflix (with PIN) by checking out https://payhip.com/chillzone
Message me if you wanna test it out. it works so far worldwide,