Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ @lemmy.dbzer0.com

1y ago

Pirate Netflix

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?

172 comments

Protip - If you like scrolling for inspiration on what to download, check out JustWatch. It's a site with clean UI that catalogues shoes across streaming platforms.
No piracy, you do that yourself with Plex and the *Arr.
- The URL provided was missing the https:// portion. Here's a working link.
  
  Oops, thanks for the heads up, fixed on my end.
- The only one here answer the question about looking for content. The rest are great (plex + *arr stack myself) but it didn't solve the issue of WHAT media to add to plex/kodi/stremio/etc.
  Need to be an *arr or another program we can docker to basically be Just Watch with a click and torrent search.
  
  Jellyseer does just that. You browse popular media and click request and the torrent stuff is handled by the arr's
  
  Overseerr is the “*arr” you’re looking for.
- This is the answer to the actual question. JustWatch to scroll for shows and piracy to watch them. Came to say it if no one had and scrolled way too far to find it.
- Similarly, ReelGood is another real good option. But there are many sites where you can track what you watch and get suggestions on what to watch next.

Front End:
Plex
You can have multiple users,
tracks your progress in a series,
gives you imdb and soundtrack info,
metadata and cover art.
Automatically handles discoverability - Log in with your account and it'll find your server wherever you are in the world!
Great app support across mobile, tv, web, and desktop.
Automatically syncs to films/tv folder(s) when new shows are downloaded.
Back end:
qBitTorrent
Versatile and stable torrenting client.
Can control up/download speed
Online front end can be a lifesaver when diagnosing issues remotely.
FOSS
Sonarr, Radarr
Automatically discovers torrents for your chosen shows and movies, and forwards them onto torrent client.
Can track unreleased content, downloading it as it becomes available.
Supports user-configurable quality formats to weed out torrents that don't meet your quality or space requirements.
Automatically searches multiple trackers - If one tracker lacks a show, it can try another!
FOSS
Prowlarr
Indexes thousands of known torrent trackers for all kinds of content, with sonarr/radarr-ready configs.
Add tracker to Prowlarr and it syncs to Sonarr/Radarr clients automatically
Add your own private trackers too with a simple interface
FOSS
Operating System:
DietPi
Debian-based server OS with powerful terminal interface for managing and starting your first streaming server
Rock-solid stability of debian, paired with a curated packaging system that reduces risks of breaking configurations
Popular services are auto-configured to align with best practices, such as Nextcloud, Plex, Sonarr etc. all installing and configuring their own databases at install
Powerful utilities for managing disks, files, power management and other server necessities with minimal existing knowledge of the command line
Can be set up in a day on a raspberry pi, and be streaming torrented content by the evening!
Great support, both with hardware and software. The devs are active and helpful on github if you have problems.
Loads of tutorials for installing every single service you could need for a piracy server, from VPNs to linking services together and accessing them remotely.
FOSS
DNS:
freedns
Link your IP to a friendly domain name for free.
Like, free. I can type in my domain anywhere on earth and access my rpi server easily.
Loads of choices available
Just log in once every 6 months to keep the DNS listing active.
- Very detailed, thank you!
- Is it possible to have such a setup without the torrents but rather using a streaming website? Also does are there prepackaged setups with all these ready to use for example a raspberry pi os built with everything. I just hook it up with my NAS for storage and am good to go?
  
  Dietpi is pretty good to get up and going in a day or so. Loads of videos on youtube for setting up various services too :)
  Open media vault might be an option over dietpi but I've never used it myself. Again, lots of youtube documentation:)
  If you want to stream torrents, you can use stremio and torrentio which let you stream the content of a torrent instead of download, but depending on the media you watch youll find it difficult to get enough seeders to download it fast enough to stream.
  The benefit of running the downloads over streaming is that a poorly seeded torrent won't ruin my viewing experience since by the time I view it's stored locally.
  
  Using docker containers is a lot easier to manage than installing all the packages directly to the OS. Using docker compose simplifies this even more. You have a simple docker-compose.yml file and it's usable to any other Linux environment! Just have to be aware of where your drive mount mappings are.

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.
- I cna vouch for fmovies and there's also goku dot SX. Firefox plus adblock is the way to go. A lot of these sites also give you imdb ratings and a bunch of other things that regular streaming sites don't.
- 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.
- I second the first, haven't used the others.
- 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.
  
  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.
  
  The option to cast a stream from a phone to a Chromecast, Roku, etc has been pretty functional for quite some time now.

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.
- As far as I know it has no vpn option build in right? And getting a VPN on regular smart TVs is not really easy

You could install Overseerr which also integrates nicely into sonarr & radar
It doesn't have a TV app though.
- You can set it up to monitor your Plex watchlist, which essentially turns Plex into your Overseerr TV app
  
  TIL
  Thanks! I still kind of like the overseerr UI but a great option to have.
- For the tv app part:
  You can use jellyfin to host your media, it has apps for many types of television. The jellyfin-specific fork of overseer is called jellyseer.
  
  Yeah but you have to delve into developer tools and build the app from source for TizenTV
  That was the reason I went with Plex instead of jellyfin for me
- 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!

I use jellyfin and it has a really nice ui

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.
- 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.

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.
- Any android TV compatible streamer can get Kodi from the play store.
  
  It's also on F-Droid if your TV doesn't have the Google Play Services - I run LineageOS on my TV box!
  
  Or this. Forgot about android TVs. Used to have an nVidia shield, are those still around?
- And with this setup you don't need a VPN? I just checked what debrid is and it still downloads illegal files but it isn't a torrent or something similar, right?
  
  While a vpn is never a bad thing, no you don't need a vpn if you are watching debrid sources. Your ISP will see you connect to your debrid but it won't see the vídeos you're watching or anything like that. All Debrid (At least Real Debrid, the service many use) sources are encrypted and wont be picked up.
  
  No. Since you aren't seeding the files, or are in the swarm, you are fine without a VPN. This is especially popular in Germany where you get fines of upwards of 500€
- 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.
- I have Kodi on my Android TV. How do I add this debrid thing to it now?
  
  https://www.kodi-guide.com/seren-kodi-addon/

You’re looking for Stremio / Syncler.
- I've got Stremio + Torrentio on my NVIDIA Shield and haven't subscribed to any streaming service in literal years. Optionally add Real-Debrid for more/faster streams.

You could try Stremio with the Torrentio add-on, it works really well and it's simple to set up
- I second this
  
  Third
- Had to scroll down way too far to find the answer
  
  It's "the best".

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.
- ya honestly my letterboxd watchlist is immaculate
  
  Care to share?
- I have, among other things, set up auto download lists that just get any new releases with a >7/10 on IMDb.

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.
- I would add jellyseer as a nice option to request movies rather then doing it directly through so are/radarr
- 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.
  
  Kind of amazed Usenet is still a thing, I assume all the info is somewhere in the megathread how you find your nzbs and whatnot these days?
  My favorite period of piracy was back when I did private trackers, and it seems like they're still around but back then I didn't have to use a vpn, can you get credit for your seeding through a vpn? I recall them requiring I actually forward a port back in the day. Not getting into any of that mess lol
- Not heard of prowlarr before! Any comments on using it over Jackett?
- If you have all these setup I'd recommend getting NZB360 on Android. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kevinforeman.nzb360

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:
- Are you able to filter it by language? My parents are old, and they did not have a chance to learn any other language like English
  
  You could create different libraries for different languages.
  Also helps with auto metadata fetching.
  
  Sonarr and Radarr can be configured to only download torrents available in your chosen language.
- This is a cool setup. But torrents in Europe? Too many horror stories.
  
  seedboxes are my way. Download through a provider that doesnt care.
  Am downloading from public and private repos.
  
  Usenet is a good option then, although not completely free
- Where/how do you find private trackers?
  
  Kind of luck based but you can read up online on how to get into private trackers. Some have open registrations which will get posted to places like here. Some are invite-only.
  But Prowlarr lets you add a bunch of public trackers to cover most new stuff. I find that private trackers are better as archives for less popular stuff.
  
  Earlier you could find temporary open trackers on r/opensignups
  Now it's a bit more difficult.
  Torrentleech is a good beginner tracker. Usually opens around Eastern, Summer, Black Friday or Christmas.
  You could aso search "open signups torrent" online and try to find something with enough content.
  
  Use usenet over torrents. You're downloading the files from a server rather than peer to peer so you avoid the issue of not having any seeders. There is usually a fee associated with registering with a usenet provider and indexer, however, you can sometimes get a free trial or a limited number of "grabs" per day to test it out.

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.
- This is the right answer.

FMOVIES
Streaming is the way to go.
No need to download anything and watch anywhere you have Internet with a UI comparable to any popular streaming service.
- +1 for fmovies
- also sflix

I had a lot of success with StremIO and the TorrentIO addon, that allows me to stream directly from the torrents of various sites with autoplay, IMDB, remembering where I am at and all that good stuff
- This. Stremio is great for discovering content.
  
  Another +1 for stremio and torrentio. Their popular lists don’t update as frequently as I’d hope, but all other debrid solutions require either a learning curve or a bunch of automation. Stremio just works.

So I am wondering if it's possible to have a Netflix like GUI but powered by piracy?
It's called Plex.
Check out Sonarr and Radarr to automate downloading.
Then there's tools like Ombi that work with those and Plex to allow your users to make requests that can download automatically

Use Plex, and the *arr apps along with a usenet subscription. When I add something to my watchlist in Plex, it automatically downloads. It takes a little work to set up but it's pretty seamless.
- I didn't know you could do this... shit there goes a bunch more hours of my life...
- Voting this over Jellyfin. Plex actually has good apps for the end-users to stream from. Jellyfins apps are iffy at best and awful at worst
  
  Agreed, BUT: I am really concerned about how much data Plex has, especially with their push to go legit. I set up a pi-hole and plex sends out a good amount of analytics. They know what you're watching, which means it's possible they'd have to share that information.
  Also, if plex goes down so does your server. I love plex but if any of the 100% self hosted stuff catches up I'm absolutely jumping ship.
- How did you setup the plex watchlist download? I use overseerr for that now, but if I can just use Plex that makes it easier..
  
  The integration is built in. Just go into the settings.
- Oh that sounds a lot nicer than having to add them to sonarr/radarr. Very interesting.

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.
- Best setup imo.

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

Stremio with Real Debrid is enough for me.
- This is the correct answer. Kodi+fen+RD is my choice but it requires a bit more maintenance.

Get stremio.
- This. Stremio is exactly what you're looking for OP. Works just like Netflix, runs on your TV. Every show/movie from every streaming platform is there.
  Just make sure to install the Torrentio and Streaming Catalogs plugins to get the free content to show up. I also recommend a Real-Debrid subscription cause it it allows you to stream instantly without delay. (In fact, you can download any torrent you want instantly with Debrid.)
  
  Is this possible without torrents? Like getting content from a streaming website rather than torrents?
- Is streamio similar to Kodi? I used to use that back in the day and it was good, then suddenly it got super popular and a bunch of the plugins were taken down/blocked by ISP's and I moved back to torrenting
  
  Not really. Is like Netflix but it streams torrents. You just need the toreentio or tpb plugin. And then take all the normal torrent precautions.

Overseerr is good. nzb360 (android app) is also good in browsing upcoming or popular movies/shows.

Setup a jellyfin server, and then you can use custom CSS options to outright make jellyfin look and function like netflix.
Example: https://github.com/Automationxperts/jellyflix
There are many more options to completely customize the look and feel. Also you can do this system wide (meaning all clients get what you set up, or you can set it up per client since its just CSS)

Kino.pub. it costs around £2 per month, but you get all the video content from all over the world, apps for TV and Android, multiple translations and subs, as well as 4K and HDR for some content. And you don't need to search anything manually all over the torrents and hope for quality.
- website doesnt even have a valid ssl cert...
  
  It does, but you need to manually open the https website, they don't automatically forward your request.

So you want to be able to browse films and TV shows to add to your queue?
I use NZB360 for that. It has upcoming for me to schedule, recently released and popular for me to add to sonarr or radarr.
Is that what you are looking for?

I really like Jellyseer for this. Occasionally browsing around with different filters, auto add to the arr services (which I only use for keeping track of what's currently in the cinema and what is released on streaming/bluray)

I have plex and emby servers I run off my PC and it's has everything I have pirated and I can just scroll through it on my TV app. You still have to have is downloaded but otherwise it's pretty similar. I try to torrent a bunch of shoes and movies in big chunks then I have a bunch of media to go through for a while.

It's written specifically for unraid, but given they are mainly python scripts, it may work on other systems.
Requires plex and the *arr stack.
https://www.reddit.com/r/unRAID/comments/14f2bzb/movie_churn_solution_on_plex_autogetautodelete/

Streamio is the best option in my experience, especially if you don't want to download whole shows and keep them in a server

Basically Plex. Throw in sonarr, radarr, and overseerr for automating the content acquisition.

Try Plex its free for tv, available even for ancient smart tvs like mine (12 years old samsung)

I highly recommend cloudstream. Join their discord or dm me for the set up if you dont know how to or stuck. It works on android and android tvs (sticks, boxs or tv itslef). Its also available on windows 11 and 10 via the android system that it introduced recently. The Ui is very nice and there is a plugin that works most of the times with 1080p and 4k if lucky. It also displays the newest and trendiest content from all platforms.
- I do use cloudstream. Its good but often the links don't work and (being very choosy) it doesn't work on Samsung TVs. The casting from a phone is hit and miss as well. Part of the appeal of Netflix was the ease of use. If I struggle to play something I want to watch or can't cast it to my TV, then it misses the point.
  
  I see...

Cloudstream.

Plex has this, but not sure if you have to have an active account signed in for the other streaming services or not.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/5/23012425/plex-discover-source-watchlist-cross-streaming-service-compatibility-beta

Omby+Emby+Sonarr+Radarr+BitTorrent= Best Streaming Service

https://seez.su for web https://hdo.app for TV

Funnily enough this is what I absolutely loved about using my google tv with chrome cast - content discovery. Others called it “ads” but when I’m looking for things to watch I fail to see how suggestions for what to watch based on my viewing history is a bad thing.
Plex is slowly getting better at it, but I really wish Overseerr was integrated into it.
- This is what’s stopping me from using another launcher on my chromecast. I get the disdain for ads in the community, but it absolutely has its uses. Browsing is a huge part of consuming content. This is why I use stremio over some of the more attractive options because they at least have what’s popular, even if it’s not as heavily curated as the streaming services.

Isn't popcorn still a thing?

A lot of people recommend Plex, which I'm sure is great, but if you want an actual Netflix GUI, Titan Bingie Mod for Kodi is the way to go. From what I understand about Plex, Titan Bingie on Kodi provides all of the same features.

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.
- Yeah, problem is if you want a modern TV, you don't have a choice. You either get a smart TV or suffer
  
  just never connect your smart tv to the internet
  
  Just don't enable any network connections, and it's just a big monitor.
  
  I think you can jailbreak lots of them, although I've never tried
  
  I bought second-hand and got a wicked deal (cause they thought the audio was gone, but for me it a quick fix). :)
- 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.
- Dumb question: Is the video resolution limited by the laptop display resolution? What if LCD has a higher available resolution?
  
  you can set separate resolutions for your laptop's built-in screen and your external display, unless you're just mirroring the display to both.
  
  If I'm streaming a 4K the resolution is limited by my non-4K tv. Other than that the resolution is dictated by the stream itself (ie: some are DVD quality, some are low res for those who have poor bandwidth, etc).
  Many of the streams I access show the size of the file stream so you can choose the best one for you.

for a streaming solution i like seez and smashystream since they're both kinda tv friendly ui's

Plex has recommended lists based on what you watch and what’s popular.
I save those as a list of things to find later.

"Discovering the best budget-friendly streaming services has been a game-changer for me. If you're looking for cheap streaming options, my go-to page has a curated list of affordable platforms. Say goodbye to expensive subscriptions and hello to quality entertainment without breaking the bank! Check it out!"

No there's nothing like this. You'll still have to search and download stuff before watching it.
You can have your setup auto download lists and try to mimic things. But you'll never be able to have the mindless scrolling like Netflix. Don't let anyone convince you there's a solution out there currently.
Netflix UI, sure. Plex does a great job with showing content from all over. But it's still not the same cohesiveness.
- You forgot about Stremio. It's exactly what OP is looking for. Every show and movie from every streaming platform, all in one place.
  
  So you're telling me Stremio let's you stream anything from any platform, for free?
  This is based on torrents, this is terrible advice for the basic user because they won't be using vpns to mask anything. There's literally no solution that will suffice for OP if they're looking to be safe.

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