I almost wrote "just wait for people to say 'no it's easy'" but I thought surely we are over that now.
I want to watch The Climb 2023 S01E01. I Google "The Climb 2023 S01E01 torrent"
First result is www.stagatv.com/series/the-climb-s01 (not linking because it is spam)
Hmm nothing else useful on the first page except this: In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at LumenDatabase.org.
Ok, lets look at that. Hmm a random list of very spammy domains like 123movies dot unblockall dot org. Hmm these don't seem to work.
Ok what about my old torrent sites. No, they are all down.
Opens Netflix, but it’s not there? Huh, this show is licensed by BarBaz company, so goes to their website.
Good, it’s here. Wait… “Watch” button is greyed out? “Content is not available in your region”?
Or simply the company decided that your device is not good enough to play the video at full resolution (e.g. Apple TV does that in LG TV app), and standalone device is like 3x overpriced in local stores?
OK, searches for some random VPN (that’s the part where spammy domains and adware come into play). Finds something that seems to be working.
Or not? Searches for the problem, and oh no, the region lock is actually based on the account, and to change that you need to use a card or ID from that specific region or whatever.
Searches for this stuff (more spammy domains), finds a marketplace, gets scammed but luckily there is a buyer protection so gets refund.
Gives up, opens some popular torrent tracker/forum, downloads 2160p HDR/DolbyVision WebRip/BDRip, can watch with friends offline at a local party.
First, Google heavily censors results nowadays. You will get much more results with say Yandex.
Second, TPB is no longer the best public torrent host. For public sites rarbg and 1337x are better alternatives.
Also, for anyone actually doing this kind of stuff regularly, the key is to enter the world of private sites. There is more than enough public discussion around them on sites like reddit. https://old.reddit.com/r/trackers/
So, it's still really easy. Your knowledge (like TPB) is just outdated. However for people who have equivalent modern knowledge, things are simple.
See this is actually the point: It might be easy but it's going to take time. Even more-so with all the people suggesting setting up a whole software stack.
Again, it's all easy enough, but..
It's not time I'm not prepared to invest anymore.
And to go back to the point: this inconvenience is why Netflix keeps DRM.
You could google "top torrent sites", enter one search and be watching that show in less time than it took you to write that comment.
As others have said, it would take me a lot longer to find out which of the myriad streaming services actually have that show, and what device/app I need to actually watch that streaming service.
I could connect to my Iranian VPN which it's VPS I bought through portals available in English, type "The Climb 2023 دانلود", Click on first google Link and use google translate to find the download link in the page. Or use private trackers like IPTorrent or TorrentLeech through leecher (torrent to direct link) providers available in said countries. Will probably work on any other country/language combo with out copyrights law.
Piracy has become slightly more difficult, mostly because of the difficulty finding good torrent sites.
I've set up Prowlarr with the recommended torrent sites and have found two torrents (h264 with 4 seeds and h265 with 9 seeds at 1080p, or h264 with 3 seeds at 480p) for your query; it took me no more than five seconds. A torrent client isn't enough these days, unless you like wasting your time on Google, but there are technical solutions for that!
Combine this with Sonarr and you can simply add "the climb". It'll download all the episodes for you, and optionally start downloading new ones once the next season comes out.
I can't find where I would watch this show legally. The local copyright lobby has set up a nice website where you can look up legal sources for TV shows, but it doesn't even list the show, let alone show the normal "not available right now" message. With legal-ish access to Amazon, Disney+, HBO, and Netflix through my accounts or those of friends, I'd expect to find it somewhere but I'm not going to bother manually searching through all that.
There's an opportunity for media companies to take Sonarr and make a version that just redirects you to the services you're already subscribed to. They'll have to find some data source for situations like "season 1 is on Netflix, season 2-4 are on Amazon, season 3-5 are on Disney and the specials are on Paramount+" but the industry have done that to itself so it may as well fix it.
Piracy is still often the easy way out for me now that I have the *darr collection set up. There was a short time where practically every streaming show was on Netflix and piracy was the stupid, difficult way to watch shows, and I actually kind of liked it. Then the industry had to fuck it up for itself by splitting off in a million different subscription services.
Hell, nontechnical people still resort to piracy despite their inability to use torrents. For many, 123-super-movie.entertainmenttonite365.biz or whatever you call it is good enough. These websites, seemingly designed as a benchmark for adblockers, are hard to find or navigate but are still considered better alternatives than the restrictive, annoying, often expensive streaming services.
My theory is that that's for one simple reason: you can find a link on Google and just start watching. No need to open seven different apps and do the search over and over again, waiting several seconds for animations and sign-ins.
Some people may do it purely because they don't have the money to spend 20 dollars on watching two episodes of a show, but the same was once true of music and Spotify mostly fixed the music streaming market for consumers, and youtube caters to the rest. Even the people using weird streaming sites don't download mp3s anymore!
I want to watch The Climb 2023 S01E01. I Google "The Climb 2023 S01E01 torrent"
First result is www.stagatv.com/series/the-climb-s01 (not linking because it is spam)
Hmm nothing else useful on the first page except this: In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at LumenDatabase.org.
Ok, lets look at that. Hmm a random list of very spammy domains like 123movies dot unblockall dot org. Hmm these don't seem to work.
Ok what about my old torrent sites. No, they are all down.
ThePirateBay! Yes I remember this....
Oh where has it gone... Oh I need "The Pirate Bay Mirror" now? Oh there is a Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TPB/
Ah.. I need invites. No, maybe mirrorbay dot org?
Ok, search here: Yes, found a WebRip! I remember this...
Oh.. zero seeders? Ok try another? 1 seeder? Hmm
Can I use this in WebTorrent? Hmm doesn't seem to do anything.
Ok, I give up.