Thanks a bunch, Netflix – its Windows app is about to lose downloads
www.techradar.com
But ad-supported plans will now be catered for

Netflix has managed to annoy a good number of its users with an announcement about an upcoming update to its Windows 11 (and Windows 10) app: support for adverts and live events will be added, but the ability to download content is being taken away.

Netflix must realize that it’s a huge frustration for people who relied on offline downloads to watch content without internet access: on planes, trains, and campsites, and anywhere else where Wi-Fi is unavailable or unreliable.

There’s a small chance that Netflix will change its mind if it gets enough complaints, but the streaming service seems determined to add as many money-making features as possible, while taking away genuinely useful ones.

  • @[email protected]English
    6•6 months ago

    The one value streaming services provide is subtitles in languages other than English. Unfortunately there aren’t enough pirates in a lot of countries to make foreign media viable.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•6 months ago

      My small ass original country with 9m pop has its own subtitle pages for pirated content. You just need to search by title + release group (+episode, if a TV show).

      I’m guessing most of them are created by some auto-subtitling services, because most are pretty horrible quality. But still better than nothing.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•6 months ago

        Is the release group the name of the people who usually upload subs? How would I find that?

        For example, I’ve been trying to find Japanese subs for the show American Horror Story, but the only way I know to look is to search for the title plus subs. But the only result that even comes close is the opensubs site, which doesn’t have much Japanese content.

        • @[email protected]English
          3•6 months ago

          The release group or person is usually a tag at the end of the file name before the extension.

          You could try auto-translating the subtitle files content, see how well a job some of the translation services do.

    • morriscoxEnglish
      4•6 months ago

      Try https://github.com/morpheus65535/bazarr

      Bazarr is a companion application to Sonarr and Radarr. It manages and downloads subtitles based on your requirements. You define your preferences by TV show or movie and Bazarr takes care of everything for you.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•6 months ago

        How does it find subs if no one’s created the sub file? Does it auto translate them from the original language?

        • morriscoxEnglish
          2•6 months ago

          No*. You can add providers which will automatically check for and download (all of) the available subtitles and it can automatically check for new and updated ones so that you don’t need to. It can also do synchronization and modifications like fixing uppercase and OCR. It greatly reduces the amount of work that you have to do.

          *I just checked the OpenSubtitles.com provider and it has an option for AI translated subtitles in search results.

    • NoIWontPickAName
      4•6 months ago

      That’s hilarious, I used to have trouble finding the stuff I wanted in subbed English, could only find dubbed that was changed in significant ways usually.

      Yes I was an anime nerd in the late 90’s and 2000’s