Hacker Cinema
Peacock
2022 · TV series · 25 min episodes · 2 seasons
Created by Steve Stamp, Ben Murray
A trainer tries to make his way as an instructor at a gym where the clientele doesn't take physical fitness very seriously.
3 negativefrom 3 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
3 comments on Hacker News
I'd note that there is Netflix for Meta Quest but it gets 2.5 stars
https://www.meta.com/experiences/2184912004923042/
I haven't tried that one but I have tried Peacock and some others my reaction is "meh". Not so much that it a bad idea because it's not, but because as Karl Guttag has pointed out, apps like that seem to have had no thought into the user interface to control the location of the "screen". I find it baffling because it doesn't seem to be a hard problem.
In my case I have 2 TVs and I'm still most likely to watch TV on my tablet half because my XBOX sucks (doesn't like the coding tools used in many video files I have) and half because I like to get full-on cozy and lay on my side on the couch or the bed and hold the tablet size. If I could lock the screen to my head and do the same w/ VR that would be a reason to use VR.
The one thing that would get me to watch movies in VR is stereoscopy, if this list of 3D titles on Netflix is current
https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/library/3d-titles-on-netflix/
the pick is pretty dismal.
As an alternative to your anecdote I pirated media heavily from my teens into my mid 20s. Then I graduated college, got a job, and streaming came out.
I basically stopped piracy entirely because it was pointless at that point. It was reasonably priced and easy. The only time I pirated things was when I wanted something niche that wasn’t available on platforms. Like an art house film with weird distribution rights or an mtv cartoon from the early 2000s with the original soundtrack that still can’t be released that way because the song clearances aren’t happening
But now it’s like $60+ a month for Netflix/hulu/disney+/peacock. A lot of the time they don’t have what I want, that’s on paramount plus, appletv, max, crunchy roll, etc and I’m not spending another $20+ a month to add yet another. They almost all have intrusive advertisements that get longer and longer. The ads are somehow worse than cable because they can’t seem to sell the ad space. I only seem to get the same 4-5 ads over and over which is torture. The apps are all ugly with awful ui/ux and the library organization is completely arbitrary. There is rarely an ability to filter or sort the library and they are always loaded with filler content to pad the numbers.
So a decade or so later I’m strongly considering a media server. It was plex last time but I think jellyfin now. Better ui/ux than streaming apps, better video quality, better library sorting, no ads, and all I need is relatively cheap hardware and a Usenet subscription. This wasn’t worth the bother when the alternative was $20/mo for Netflix/hulu.
Consider music piracy too. I can’t ever see myself pirating music again even though I grew up in the Napster era where downloading mp3s was entirely normalized and the thing to do. But the idea of downloading albums, ensuring I get the correct quality, they have correct album art/id3 tags, etc for the amount of music I listen to is a goddamn chore. I would much rather just pay Apple Music. They don’t have these issues. They don’t have fragmented libraries. They don’t force ads even though I already pay them. They don’t hide half the library behind “curated content”. Its not 100% perfect by any means. Sometimes I get censored songs, sometimes I can’t find remixes, alt takes, or live versions I want, etc. but 99% of the time it does what I want and it’s just easier than managing my own library. Unless they fuck this up I will never pirate music again. Tv/movie companies don’t seem to get this.
It's not like AWS controls the sole source of fire. Companies these days have wised up and know they can roll their own 'good enough' solution and customers won't have much choice to do much about it but keep feeding the beast. I remember when I genuinely believed the netflix creation myth, of this fabled streaming service that would swallow up the world and have all movies and TV in one place. Companies who ultimately hold all this IP and have these heaps of cash wised up, wait on the sidelines, poach people, and come out with stuff like Peacock thats good enough, and customers have no alternative if they want to watch stuff that only comes to that particular platform. Streaming services are the most visible examples of companies rolling their own solutions to not be beholden to other companies, but its extending to all sectors of tech.