Fewer and fewer movies and TV series are being released in physical format, but streaming platforms do not provide enough for some film buffs, who miss the extras they offered
Finding a MKV with the audio tracks (english and french) as well as embedded subtitles for the languages I want is often more work than just ripping it myself.
It’s definitely nice to have exactly the copy you want. Plus (and decidedly more on topic) you can rip any extras you want… although the naming scheme is a bit of a headache, that’s the part that really delights me.
That’s all well and good, but physical media is selling less and less as the average person moves to streaming.
Sooner or later, there will be a tipping point where media industry execs just stop selling physical media altogether to deny pirates a source, as the profits no longer outweigh the “downsides”.
Webripping is unlikely to stop for as long as streaming options exist, but then we’ll be stuck with low quality bitrates as enshittification ensures every penny is pinched when it comes to bandwidth.
High quality drm-free file downloads, available online, officially, would be ideal.
Considering the movie industry is currently at a point where it’s even punishing paying customers with low-quality 720p for daring to use the “wrong” browser, I don’t think the industry will figure out that there’s a market out there for high quality drm-free media anytime soon.
There’s something like Plex, but for rich people and with DRM.
You buy some kind of stupid expensive home theater appliance that’s basically just a NAS, and it downloads movie releases that the company licenses. I think it was a subscription service that includes basically all theatrical releases you might want to watch, even before blu-ray releases are out.
But you have to use their box, and it costs “fuck you” money.
So the general idea for high quality media that gets downloaded onto local hardware is out there, but not exactly peddled to middle class consumers or with open DRM.
Good news! You can pirate high quality blueray rips from the internet and since you already own a license to the content it’s not even a crime ;-)
Finding a MKV with the audio tracks (english and french) as well as embedded subtitles for the languages I want is often more work than just ripping it myself.
It’s definitely nice to have exactly the copy you want. Plus (and decidedly more on topic) you can rip any extras you want… although the naming scheme is a bit of a headache, that’s the part that really delights me.
That’s all well and good, but physical media is selling less and less as the average person moves to streaming.
Sooner or later, there will be a tipping point where media industry execs just stop selling physical media altogether to deny pirates a source, as the profits no longer outweigh the “downsides”.
Webripping is unlikely to stop for as long as streaming options exist, but then we’ll be stuck with low quality bitrates as enshittification ensures every penny is pinched when it comes to bandwidth.
High quality drm-free file downloads, available online, officially, would be ideal.
Considering the movie industry is currently at a point where it’s even punishing paying customers with low-quality 720p for daring to use the “wrong” browser, I don’t think the industry will figure out that there’s a market out there for high quality drm-free media anytime soon.
There’s something like Plex, but for rich people and with DRM.
You buy some kind of stupid expensive home theater appliance that’s basically just a NAS, and it downloads movie releases that the company licenses. I think it was a subscription service that includes basically all theatrical releases you might want to watch, even before blu-ray releases are out.
But you have to use their box, and it costs “fuck you” money.
So the general idea for high quality media that gets downloaded onto local hardware is out there, but not exactly peddled to middle class consumers or with open DRM.
Edit: Found it, it’s called Kaleidoscape