With the recent password sharing crackdown, I decided to ditch my Netflix subscription and try piracy. What I miss about Netflix is scrolling through content and finding something to watch. With piracy I need to know exactly what I am looking for.

So I am wondering if it's possible to have a Netflix like GUI but powered by piracy? And as this is the pirate world, it shows shows and movies not just from Netflix but also from the other streaming services? And finally it is available on TVs ( Samsung tizen in my case). Something like this would be the best case scenario. Wondering if someone has a similar setup?

  • emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de
    ·
    1 year ago

    Everyone always recommends the torrent solutions, plex and the arrs, but unless it's something I'm really excited about or want in extra high quality, I find it's easier to just use the browser streaming sites. In Firefox with ublock there's no ads, it has subtitles for multiple languages loaded automatically usually, and a nice ui that shows most popular show/movies, and has a good catalogue. There's lots to choose from, I think the guide has a list, but the ones I use are:

    Bflix.gg Hdtoday.cc Fmovies.to

    Quick, simple and painless.

    • Ilandar@aussie.zone
      ·
      1 year ago

      The files these sites rely on are generally the lowest available quality in their resolution, that's why they aren't recommended often. Fair play if you don't care about visual and audio quality, but I find them unwatchable most of the time. The artifacts and distortion detract from the experience significantly.

    • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      This is fine but doesn’t work unless you’re watching on a device with a decent and usable web browser. Most people are using android boxes and Apple TVs etc so that’s not a viable solution.

      • DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de
        ·
        1 year ago

        There is an app called OnStream that works on Android. If you are okay with putting third party apps (non open source) on your device, that is.

      • scottywh@lemm.ee
        ·
        1 year ago

        The option to cast a stream from a phone to a Chromecast, Roku, etc has been pretty functional for quite some time now.

        • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
          ·
          1 year ago

          That’s just another not ideal situation though. Casting is crap, that’s why people buy media boxes. They get a remote, a UI, apps, etc.

          • DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            I'm having a good experience with Samsung DeX on an 7 year old TV. Gives me a trackpad with keypad on my phone to navigate a full OS on a large screen. In a pinch, I connected a Bluetooth keyboard to my phone and have even used it as a document editor using Google Docs without any hitch.

          • scottywh@lemm.ee
            ·
            1 year ago

            You don't forego any of those things when you cast.

            Your remote still works, you're in the same media box UI, still only a click away from other apps.

            Maybe slightly imperfect, sure. But it works great and I see no reason to act like it isn't a viable workable option.

    • RedCypher@lemmy.ml
      ·
      1 year ago

      That can be solved by connecting a computer to the tv via hdmi. My main tv has a computer that connects is jellyfin to my home server than runs radarr, sonarr and lidarr. I have not seen a commercial in years!

  • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
    ·
    1 year ago

    https://github.com/popcorn-official/popcorn-desktop/releases/

    It's a torrent client with a Netflix-like interface. It hides all the torrent stuff from you and just shows movies and shows in a nice format. It downloads and plays on the fly, it also grabs subtitles as needed, you can pick 720 or 1080, and you can choose to keep or delete the stuff you watched after you're done.

    Keep in mind that under the hood it's still a torrent client, so if you have trouble with that kind of thing in your country you may want to use a VPN and all that jazz.

  • kostel_thecreed@lemmy.ca
    ·
    1 year ago

    Kodi is what your looking for. A debrid + kodi is basically netflix with shows from around the world, in high quality, on demand.

    But, it is not available on TVs as a seperate app. Companies do not like piracy, so many applications that are related to it do not make the appstores. A cheap and easy way to get Kodi would be to simply buy a Intel NUC, or a similar mini-pc.

    • btfod [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Android TV may or may not have Kodi on the Play Store depending on your location. I've got it on my 'smart' TV, no sideloading required.

      Of course the TV itself is a POS and stutters during playback so I never use it. YMMV on that front as well.

  • onescomplement@lemm.ee
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    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Amassing a media library is simple enough, and software like jellyfin can pull in media info and make your media streamable on various devices with a polished UI.

    However, finding good quality (in terms of merit) movies and shows is difficult.

    Maybe start with movies critics or a movie discussion platform like letterboxd to see what others are watching/rating movies.

  • jpants@lemm.ee
    ·
    1 year ago

    Stremio with an addon like Google Drive or Real Debrid (torrentio).

    You can set up Couchmoney through trakt to get similar recommendations algorithms.

    Stremio has a UI which works amazingly on TV, and should be familiar to Netflix.

  • JVT038@feddit.nl
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    My setup:

    Jellyfin for the frontend. Has apps for android, iOS, windows, android TV, bunch of other platforms as well..

    Deluge as torrent downloader. It's old, but it just works without the (in my opinion) complicated configurations of qbittorrent.

    Prowlarr to search a bunch of sites simultaneously for torrents.

    Radarr to add movies, search them with Prowlarr and add the best torrent to deluge, eventually moving the downloaded content to Jellyfin to view.

    Sonarr to do the same as Radarr but for TV shows instead.

    • Diffuser5593@aussie.zone
      ·
      1 year ago

      Nice list but sub out torrenting for usenet. There's a fee associated with usenet but worth it imo as you get higher quality releases, more likely to find niche stuff and don't have the issue of no seeders.

    • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.ca
      ·
      1 year ago

      If you have all these setup I'd recommend getting NZB360 on Android. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kevinforeman.nzb360

  • flynnguy@programming.dev
    ·
    1 year ago

    I think what you want is either plex or Jellyfin which will give you a nice UI to browse your already downloaded files.

    Now how do you browse new releases and figure out what you want to download? I just setup https://overseerr.dev/ to go along with sonarr, radarr, prowlarr, nzbget, transmission... it's a lot of different services but they all work well together. Now to look for new movies, I or my family goes to Overseerr to request downloads, then plex to watch.

    • inflatablerobot@lemm.ee
      ·
      1 year ago

      I set up plex, overseer, sonaar and radaar to let my family request videos and stream from me when Netflix kicked them off my account. My boomer dad hasn't had any issue using overseer to request stuff to watch. I even overheard him kinda bragging to a friend of his about the setup.

      Overseerr pings me on discord when someone makes a request. I auto-approve movies but require approval for series to keep from them from downloading every episode of Grey's anatomy all at once.

  • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    ·
    1 year ago

    What you need is Jellyfin, around 2-5TB (depending on your quality) and access to a private torrent tracker, usenet or DDL site.
    Then you can stuff like this:
    *removed externally hosted image*

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
    ·
    1 year ago

    My set-up doesn't include a smart tv ... I specifically stayed away from buying one because of the monitoring they can do on my usage.

    So mine is a good LCD > HDMI'd to my laptop > running a good VPN > links to multiple streaming sources that offer everything from live sports to new movies/TV shows.

    Been running this way for over 20 yrs now and it works for me.

      • culpritus [any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Just don't enable any network connections, and it's just a big monitor.

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
        ·
        1 year ago

        I bought second-hand and got a wicked deal (cause they thought the audio was gone, but for me it a quick fix). :)

    • RedCypher@lemmy.ml
      ·
      1 year ago

      You can have a smart tv and not connect it to the internet or lan. My workaround was to attach a computer and use the tv as a monitor.

    • powers@lemmy.ca
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is the correct answer. Kodi+fen+RD is my choice but it requires a bit more maintenance.

  • ludik0@lemm.ee
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I would suggest Stremio, it needs the torrentio plugin and it streams from the torrent itself. It also has playlist plugins from most commercial steaming services (netflix included) . You wont find it for Samsung tvs natively, but it works with casting.

  • inflatablerobot@lemm.ee
    ·
    1 year ago

    Check out overseer, it's a request system that has a streaming service like UI that pairs with sonaar and radaar.