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by josteink 1270 days ago
> And by in large I still agree with it. For me I've only ever turned to piracy when the legitimate service has become a complete mess of red tape and user frustration.

I think service quality is an issue too, at least for me.

Recently I wanted to rewatch Twin Peaks on TV. I found out I can stream it on Sky Showtime, which also has an AppleTV app. Sounds great!

I sign up, pay the cash and start watching.

And they are sending me a 1080p video stream with stereo audio.

This show has 5.1 and 7.1 DTS-MA audio-mixes on Blu-ray, so official surround-mixes definitely exists.

It would have perhaps cost Showtime 200kbps extra to offer me a 5.1 AC3 track?

But instead they will nickel and dime me to save some measly amounts of bandwidth and only give me a 128kbps stereo-track.

I’ll be honest and admit I went out and downloaded a “proper” release for this instead, and the subscription is now cancelled.

Because the service quality was not on par with a pirated alternative.