Dropout is amazing! I feel like it used to be a bit of the Brennan Lee Mulligan streaming service, especially because of his prominence in Um Actually and Dimension 20, but honestly their other...
Dropout is amazing! I feel like it used to be a bit of the Brennan Lee Mulligan streaming service, especially because of his prominence in Um Actually and Dimension 20, but honestly their other shows are just too good even if you're not into DnD and Nerd Culture. Breaking News makes me laugh out loud every time, Game Changers and it's spinoffs are really amazing and unique, and even their smaller series are really good (Total Forgiveness actually made me cry)
@aphoenix is also a Dropout proponent here :) Would recommend for the 5ish bucks a month for sure!
Cosign completely, though I was very much in favor of a Brennan Lee Mulligan streaming service, he was initially the only actual employee, and may still be based on how they operate. But what I...
Cosign completely, though I was very much in favor of a Brennan Lee Mulligan streaming service, he was initially the only actual employee, and may still be based on how they operate. But what I really love is how they keep expanding on successful ideas and bringing new people into the dropout fold
Yes indeed, and the new episode is all queued up and ready after a day out in Toronto and I'm about to watch Wayne Brady do improv; Dropout is my favourite streaming service, just ahead of Nebula....
Yes indeed, and the new episode is all queued up and ready after a day out in Toronto and I'm about to watch Wayne Brady do improv; Dropout is my favourite streaming service, just ahead of Nebula.
I'll add in that Sam Reich on twitter is pretty great to follow, and I've linked directly to a thread to talk about the strikes and how Dropout can continue in the face of them. And he talks a bit about the philosophy of Dropout there.
There's been a lot of bad news for large media companies running streaming services lately. Disney, Netflix, and Warner Brothers are all struggling to make streaming pay. Meanwhile, a large reason for the strike that's paralyzing Hollywood is the way these streaming services take away the payment system writers and actors used to survive on. But amidst this chaos some smaller streaming platforms, like Dropout, are finding the space to thrive.
If they start sharing profits from streaming to their writers & actors, etc., I'll try it. I usually torrent, but I'll pay for good content that pays the right people for a change.
If they start sharing profits from streaming to their writers & actors, etc., I'll try it. I usually torrent, but I'll pay for good content that pays the right people for a change.
“Though they're not required to by unions, he said Dropout is working to become one of the first streamers to pay residuals to their writers, actors, and crew members.” Seems like they’re at least...
“Though they're not required to by unions, he said Dropout is working to become one of the first streamers to pay residuals to their writers, actors, and crew members.”
Wonder how much of this is sheer stupidity on their part? They saw Netflix and just saw mad returns and thought, "WE CAN DO THAT!" and didn't take into account any OPEX to do so. Wonder how much...
There's been a lot of bad news for large media companies running streaming services lately. Disney, Netflix, and Warner Brothers are all struggling to make streaming pay.
Wonder how much of this is sheer stupidity on their part?
They saw Netflix and just saw mad returns and thought, "WE CAN DO THAT!" and didn't take into account any OPEX to do so.
Wonder how much more profitable they would have been giving licencing to Netflix et al instead?
You don't want to be fully reliant on a single monopsony buyer to distribute your stuff so it makes sense to want to diversify. But I think regulators really should have stepped in and forbade...
Wonder how much more profitable they would have been giving licencing to Netflix et al instead?
You don't want to be fully reliant on a single monopsony buyer to distribute your stuff so it makes sense to want to diversify. But I think regulators really should have stepped in and forbade distributors (streaming services) from also being producers, similar to how they banned the old Hollywood studios from owning the theaters and having exclusive contracts with the talent.
Streaming is a highly technical thing and the ideal streaming service should try to differentiate itself based on its competence at being a fast, high-quality, reliable data pipe. Content production/distribution is a highly creative thing and a production company should be trying to differentiate itself by producing/distributing stuff they think people want. You shouldn't be able to force a specific streaming platform/technology to success off the strength of a content library. That just dooms people to suffer through shitty infrastructure to watch what they want.
It's fine if that's a small part of the bottom line to understand or demonstrate some technical prowess, similar to how HBO was before it got digested into Warner Bros or how AppleTV+ is, but if your business model involves making up for shortcomings in one are with market dominance in another we've got a problem.
Is that how that worked? I had absolutely no idea. That's really cool. Honestly, it felt more like they wanted their cake and eat it? That's why we've got this deluge of failing streaming...
You don't want to be fully reliant on a single monopsony buyer to distribute your stuff so it makes sense to want to diversify. But I think regulators really should have stepped in and forbade distributors (streaming services) from also being producers, similar to how they banned the old Hollywood studios from owning the theaters and having exclusive contracts with the talent.
Is that how that worked? I had absolutely no idea. That's really cool.
Honestly, it felt more like they wanted their cake and eat it? That's why we've got this deluge of failing streaming services. I'm not against streaming personally, I have Spotify... but so much content is now just 'on licence, until it isn't' and that rubs me up the wrong way.
Streaming is a highly technical thing and the ideal streaming service should try to differentiate itself based on its competence at being a fast, high-quality, reliable data pipe. Content production/distribution is a highly creative thing and a production company should be trying to differentiate itself by producing/distributing stuff they think people want. You shouldn't be able to force a specific streaming platform/technology to success off the strength of a content library. That just dooms people to suffer through shitty infrastructure to watch what they want.
Spot on. I work in Data Eng and my God... it's not easy provisioning data streaming across thousands of devices, let alone millions.
But I wonder how much of that simply is down to "There's only so much talent" and Paramount/HBO/Whoever simply can't foot the bill like Netflix can. I still see Engineering roles at Netflix going at $500K... which is just abhorrant sums of cash to me.
Same. And once you get into some of the experimental stuff they played around with, like the "choose-your-own adventure" type movies, it gets even crazier. They have some insane system for...
Spot on. I work in Data Eng and my God... it's not easy provisioning data streaming across thousands of devices, let alone millions.
Same. And once you get into some of the experimental stuff they played around with, like the "choose-your-own adventure" type movies, it gets even crazier. They have some insane system for seamlessly updating their servers as well.
But I wonder how much of that simply is down to "There's only so much talent" and Paramount/HBO/Whoever simply can't foot the bill like Netflix can. I still see Engineering roles at Netflix going at $500K... which is just abhorrant sums of cash to me.
Yeah early on they said their goal was to "become HBO before HBO can become Netflix." They knew it was just a matter of time, once they developed the technology, for it to diffuse throughout the ecosystem.
I'd assume it'll be multiple kafka streams, something like Kinesis just from numerous points. Even worse when you think of geolocation... Thing is. Even with the modularisation of cloud...
Same. And once you get into some of the experimental stuff they played around with, like the "choose-your-own adventure" type movies, it gets even crazier. They have some insane system for seamlessly updating their servers as well.
I'd assume it'll be multiple kafka streams, something like Kinesis just from numerous points.
Even worse when you think of geolocation...
Yeah early on they said their goal was to "become HBO before HBO can become Netflix." They knew it was just a matter of time, once they developed the technology, for it to diffuse throughout the ecosystem.
Thing is. Even with the modularisation of cloud engineering, we're just seeing the same companies who fucked on-prem up do the same with cloud because... "Well, how hard can it be if startups can do it?"
I've only experienced Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, and they were all reliable, competent products. Are other video streaming services struggling at the actual streaming part - I'm not talking...
Streaming is a highly technical thing and the ideal streaming service should try to differentiate itself based on its competence at being a fast, high-quality, reliable data pipe.
I've only experienced Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, and they were all reliable, competent products. Are other video streaming services struggling at the actual streaming part - I'm not talking about whether their interfaces are competent here, rather just the raw once you're in video playback, how does it perform?
HBOMax is an awful app. Inconsistent resolutions, crashes constantly, doesn’t properly track how far you are on any show and randomly restarts you on episodes if you start again after leaving the...
HBOMax is an awful app. Inconsistent resolutions, crashes constantly, doesn’t properly track how far you are on any show and randomly restarts you on episodes if you start again after leaving the app, among a bunch of other issues.
The Peacock app is okay, though a little slow at times. But the video compression is TERRIBLE. The artifacts are extremely obvious and it does not track movement well.
I have other niggles with lots of other apps as well. Netflix is probably best in class, with Apple TV+ close behind and Disney+ being pretty decent.
Almost none of them have what I’d call a good UI/UX though. I actually think the public library one,Kanopy is really good for that.
I think that is the issue. Folks don't want to have spend like $20/month on each on 8 different streaming platforms. If they dropped their prices to $3/month they would all get more customers. As...
I think that is the issue. Folks don't want to have spend like $20/month on each on 8 different streaming platforms. If they dropped their prices to $3/month they would all get more customers. As it stands I have Netflix, Disney and Prime. If it isn't on there, I don't watch it.
Dropout is probably my only non-negotiable streaming service right now. The only other possible exceptions are CrunchyRoll and maaayyybbbeeee Netflix. My wife watches a lot of Korean, Chinese, and...
Dropout is probably my only non-negotiable streaming service right now. The only other possible exceptions are CrunchyRoll and maaayyybbbeeee Netflix. My wife watches a lot of Korean, Chinese, and I think Thai(?) dramas, and Netflix is currently the best western streaming service for that (though we're trying out Viki right now so even Netflix might be gone soon). IMO, it is the best bang-for-my-buck service. A lot of really funny and unique shows, diverse, quirky, hilarious cast, and last I checked it was like $60 for the whole year? Plus from everything I've been able to find, they're one of the media groups that value, respect, and compensate their employees.
I can see space existing for niche services if they're actually sustainable. For example, I've tried out the Criterion Channel because my wife had access to it for work purposes. It absolutely...
I can see space existing for niche services if they're actually sustainable. For example, I've tried out the Criterion Channel because my wife had access to it for work purposes. It absolutely appeals to film buffs with the director interviews and favorites/inspirations lists, and having guest curators create movie lists to take you down a rabbit hole, and even has some film class things on there I believe. But it has a limited appeal because it's only going to be for film buffs, and it is only film content, no TV.
It's not necessarily something I'd subscribe to today but 10 years ago as a younger me with more time I would have been all over it.
Browsed their top shows to see if I'd be interested and it definitely seems like there's a specific type of content you need to enjoy to like this service, and I'm not into that type of content. I...
Browsed their top shows to see if I'd be interested and it definitely seems like there's a specific type of content you need to enjoy to like this service, and I'm not into that type of content.
I guess it makes sense to play to your strengths when it comes to something like this, but its definitely going to be "you like almost everything on here or nothing", glad it exists for those who do like this brand of entertainment though.
Dropout's about the only subscription service I pay for, save my student Spotify subscription (which includes Hulu). Big fan of Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Breaking News, Dirty Laundry, and...
Dropout's about the only subscription service I pay for, save my student Spotify subscription (which includes Hulu). Big fan of Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Breaking News, Dirty Laundry, and other shows.
I've never heard of Dropout before, and looking at the content on their app it seems interesting enough. Anyone got recommendations on where to start? Looks like I can download episodes, would...
I've never heard of Dropout before, and looking at the content on their app it seems interesting enough. Anyone got recommendations on where to start? Looks like I can download episodes, would that work offline or does it need Internet access to play? Going on a few plane trips and need stuff to watch/listen to.
You can download on the app and watch in airplane mode no problem. Game Changer is a great place to start. With Make some Noise being a nice follow up as it's a spin off. It's worth popping around...
You can download on the app and watch in airplane mode no problem.
Game Changer is a great place to start. With Make some Noise being a nice follow up as it's a spin off.
It's worth popping around and seeing what vibes for you. They have a decent back catalog.
If you're interested in Dimension 20 I'd either start with Dungeons and Drag Queens, Fantasy High (everyone's pretty new to 5e), Starstruck for wild SciFi shenanigans, or Crown of Candy for serious Candyland ala Game of Thrones. Also a huge fan of A Court of Fae and Flowers but it doesn't just use D&D
Some of their shows have a few episodes on YouTube if you want a sample without signing up for a trial. Game Changer - Mystery Lie Detector Um, Actually, where nerds correct trivial mistakes...
Some of their shows have a few episodes on YouTube if you want a sample without signing up for a trial.
Um, Actually, where nerds correct trivial mistakes hidden in statements about pop culture
Breaking News, where players are newscasters that aren't allowed to laugh or smile at the nonsense on their teleprompter.
Dimension 20 - The Unsleeping City, a D&D campaign set in modern a New York where most of the population is unaware of the magical happenings around them. D20 actually has several campaigns in various settings (Candy Land meets Game of Thrones is my favorite), but this one has the entire season on YouTube.
Dropout is amazing! I feel like it used to be a bit of the Brennan Lee Mulligan streaming service, especially because of his prominence in Um Actually and Dimension 20, but honestly their other shows are just too good even if you're not into DnD and Nerd Culture. Breaking News makes me laugh out loud every time, Game Changers and it's spinoffs are really amazing and unique, and even their smaller series are really good (Total Forgiveness actually made me cry)
@aphoenix is also a Dropout proponent here :) Would recommend for the 5ish bucks a month for sure!
Cosign completely, though I was very much in favor of a Brennan Lee Mulligan streaming service, he was initially the only actual employee, and may still be based on how they operate. But what I really love is how they keep expanding on successful ideas and bringing new people into the dropout fold
Yes indeed, and the new episode is all queued up and ready after a day out in Toronto and I'm about to watch Wayne Brady do improv; Dropout is my favourite streaming service, just ahead of Nebula.
I'll add in that Sam Reich on twitter is pretty great to follow, and I've linked directly to a thread to talk about the strikes and how Dropout can continue in the face of them. And he talks a bit about the philosophy of Dropout there.
If they start sharing profits from streaming to their writers & actors, etc., I'll try it. I usually torrent, but I'll pay for good content that pays the right people for a change.
“Though they're not required to by unions, he said Dropout is working to become one of the first streamers to pay residuals to their writers, actors, and crew members.”
Seems like they’re at least trying.
I do know they already pay above SAG minimums per Sam's previous communications
Wonder how much of this is sheer stupidity on their part?
They saw Netflix and just saw mad returns and thought, "WE CAN DO THAT!" and didn't take into account any OPEX to do so.
Wonder how much more profitable they would have been giving licencing to Netflix et al instead?
You don't want to be fully reliant on a single monopsony buyer to distribute your stuff so it makes sense to want to diversify. But I think regulators really should have stepped in and forbade distributors (streaming services) from also being producers, similar to how they banned the old Hollywood studios from owning the theaters and having exclusive contracts with the talent.
Streaming is a highly technical thing and the ideal streaming service should try to differentiate itself based on its competence at being a fast, high-quality, reliable data pipe. Content production/distribution is a highly creative thing and a production company should be trying to differentiate itself by producing/distributing stuff they think people want. You shouldn't be able to force a specific streaming platform/technology to success off the strength of a content library. That just dooms people to suffer through shitty infrastructure to watch what they want.
It's fine if that's a small part of the bottom line to understand or demonstrate some technical prowess, similar to how HBO was before it got digested into Warner Bros or how AppleTV+ is, but if your business model involves making up for shortcomings in one are with market dominance in another we've got a problem.
Is that how that worked? I had absolutely no idea. That's really cool.
Honestly, it felt more like they wanted their cake and eat it? That's why we've got this deluge of failing streaming services. I'm not against streaming personally, I have Spotify... but so much content is now just 'on licence, until it isn't' and that rubs me up the wrong way.
Spot on. I work in Data Eng and my God... it's not easy provisioning data streaming across thousands of devices, let alone millions.
But I wonder how much of that simply is down to "There's only so much talent" and Paramount/HBO/Whoever simply can't foot the bill like Netflix can. I still see Engineering roles at Netflix going at $500K... which is just abhorrant sums of cash to me.
Same. And once you get into some of the experimental stuff they played around with, like the "choose-your-own adventure" type movies, it gets even crazier. They have some insane system for seamlessly updating their servers as well.
Yeah early on they said their goal was to "become HBO before HBO can become Netflix." They knew it was just a matter of time, once they developed the technology, for it to diffuse throughout the ecosystem.
I'd assume it'll be multiple kafka streams, something like Kinesis just from numerous points.
Even worse when you think of geolocation...
Thing is. Even with the modularisation of cloud engineering, we're just seeing the same companies who fucked on-prem up do the same with cloud because... "Well, how hard can it be if startups can do it?"
I've only experienced Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, and they were all reliable, competent products. Are other video streaming services struggling at the actual streaming part - I'm not talking about whether their interfaces are competent here, rather just the raw once you're in video playback, how does it perform?
HBOMax is an awful app. Inconsistent resolutions, crashes constantly, doesn’t properly track how far you are on any show and randomly restarts you on episodes if you start again after leaving the app, among a bunch of other issues.
The Peacock app is okay, though a little slow at times. But the video compression is TERRIBLE. The artifacts are extremely obvious and it does not track movement well.
I have other niggles with lots of other apps as well. Netflix is probably best in class, with Apple TV+ close behind and Disney+ being pretty decent.
Almost none of them have what I’d call a good UI/UX though. I actually think the public library one,Kanopy is really good for that.
I think that is the issue. Folks don't want to have spend like $20/month on each on 8 different streaming platforms. If they dropped their prices to $3/month they would all get more customers. As it stands I have Netflix, Disney and Prime. If it isn't on there, I don't watch it.
Dropout is probably my only non-negotiable streaming service right now. The only other possible exceptions are CrunchyRoll and maaayyybbbeeee Netflix. My wife watches a lot of Korean, Chinese, and I think Thai(?) dramas, and Netflix is currently the best western streaming service for that (though we're trying out Viki right now so even Netflix might be gone soon). IMO, it is the best bang-for-my-buck service. A lot of really funny and unique shows, diverse, quirky, hilarious cast, and last I checked it was like $60 for the whole year? Plus from everything I've been able to find, they're one of the media groups that value, respect, and compensate their employees.
I can see space existing for niche services if they're actually sustainable. For example, I've tried out the Criterion Channel because my wife had access to it for work purposes. It absolutely appeals to film buffs with the director interviews and favorites/inspirations lists, and having guest curators create movie lists to take you down a rabbit hole, and even has some film class things on there I believe. But it has a limited appeal because it's only going to be for film buffs, and it is only film content, no TV.
It's not necessarily something I'd subscribe to today but 10 years ago as a younger me with more time I would have been all over it.
Make Some Noise is absolutely hysterical and is a must-watch imo.
Browsed their top shows to see if I'd be interested and it definitely seems like there's a specific type of content you need to enjoy to like this service, and I'm not into that type of content.
I guess it makes sense to play to your strengths when it comes to something like this, but its definitely going to be "you like almost everything on here or nothing", glad it exists for those who do like this brand of entertainment though.
Dropout's about the only subscription service I pay for, save my student Spotify subscription (which includes Hulu). Big fan of Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Breaking News, Dirty Laundry, and other shows.
I've never heard of Dropout before, and looking at the content on their app it seems interesting enough. Anyone got recommendations on where to start? Looks like I can download episodes, would that work offline or does it need Internet access to play? Going on a few plane trips and need stuff to watch/listen to.
Game Changer is great fun. Every episode is different.
You can download on the app and watch in airplane mode no problem.
Game Changer is a great place to start. With Make some Noise being a nice follow up as it's a spin off.
It's worth popping around and seeing what vibes for you. They have a decent back catalog.
If you're interested in Dimension 20 I'd either start with Dungeons and Drag Queens, Fantasy High (everyone's pretty new to 5e), Starstruck for wild SciFi shenanigans, or Crown of Candy for serious Candyland ala Game of Thrones. Also a huge fan of A Court of Fae and Flowers but it doesn't just use D&D
Some of their shows have a few episodes on YouTube if you want a sample without signing up for a trial.
Game Changer - Mystery Lie Detector
Um, Actually, where nerds correct trivial mistakes hidden in statements about pop culture
Breaking News, where players are newscasters that aren't allowed to laugh or smile at the nonsense on their teleprompter.
Dimension 20 - The Unsleeping City, a D&D campaign set in modern a New York where most of the population is unaware of the magical happenings around them. D20 actually has several campaigns in various settings (Candy Land meets Game of Thrones is my favorite), but this one has the entire season on YouTube.
I've been enjoying the clips forever. I really should just subscribe. Gotta check if it's available in Canada.
It is available in Canada, and it's also better and cheaper to subscribe directly through the website (and not through the Apple or Google apps).