• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

Token Conservation and Reclamation

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and you seem to not understand no matter what you say it's not going to happen. 500 a week, let see there are 24 hours in a day, thats a bit excessive,:p

As a moderator you should really read the FAQs of the site you are moderating.
So our discussion is not trying to convince you as moderator as we know you cannot (and apparently really, really do not want to) change anything, we are trying to converse with the developers.

As long as forum users does not contravene the site rules, then your job as moderator is not to shutdown requests or ridicule them or make judgement calls on how the software is used, but to bring it to the attention of the developers for them to maybe comment.

When most users purchased the software, the only providers offered was NF and AP.
The developers did a great job in adding more providers and we do salute them for that.
With the adding of the additional providers the following is the portion we think the developers might revisit to see if it has merit to change the token system:

The FAQ page:
https://forum.redfox.bz/threads/faq-please-read-this-before-you-post.79043/

Q. Are there any download restrictions?
A. Yes, unfortunately due to massive abuse of the trial version in the initial versions of AnyStream. Download restrictions were forced to be put in place. These limitations are as follows (and will be re-evaluated after a while)

We, the users who bought the software, are merely suggesting to the developers (not to the moderators) that with adding additional providers the time might have come to re-evaluate how the token system was implemented.

If it really will not be re-evaluated, then remove it from the FAQ, but also know that it would be changing the Terms of Sale post-purchase and some users might not look kindly on that too.
 
As someone else said earlier, stealing is stealing .. black and white.
The only differences around 'how much' is your willingness to rationalize the size of your theft.

But I'm watching the same content I would be able to watch without AnyStream, from the same source, paying the same amount of money. Netflix has no right to care what player I use to watch their videos. (And I literally didn't use Netflix because of how much I hated their player and its spoiler-filled episode descriptions; I waited years for Stranger Things to come out on BluRay before I saw it.)

Is downloading Youtube videos stealing? Is blocking ads stealing? Is using a region-free DVD player stealing? Is TIVO'ing a show stealing? I don't think there's anything remotely black and white about this—the TIVO question was actually fought out in court for years.

---

One of my big principles for deciding whether something is ethical is, "If everyone did what I'm doing, would the world be better off, or worse off, or the same?" This has changed my behavior. Note this is just where I personally land, these are grey areas and I'm not going to get on anyone's case about them.

  • Ad Blockers. I don't like ads, they're super irritating. However, I also like free online news websites. If everyone uses an ad blocker, news sites will need to either do more sponsored content deals (bad, I don't want corporate interests to drive reporting), or they'll need to institute paywalls (bad, I'd have to choose a single paper to subscribe to and I'd miss out on a wealth of perspectives). So as much as it sucks, I don't use an ad blocker. ⓧ
  • Video game emulators. I don't know if you've ever played Mario Galaxy in HD, but it looks really great! I'm able to play it in an emulator because I ripped the disc myself via a hacked Wii U. If everyone ripped their personal game collections to play them in emulators, the world would be exactly the same as it is today, except people would be able to re-experience the old game collections they bought in full HD glory. ✓
  • AnyStream. If everyone used AnyStream responsibly, only downloading videos they were about to watch anyway, why would content providers care in the least? People need to stay subscribed either way. ✓
 
and the funny part about it is, its the same 5 or 6 people, all the others are fine with 280 downloads a week, 24 hours in a day, but we give them 40 downloads a day. But still, it's not enough for those few people. smh

Not once have I complained about the number of downloads available. I am merely making an enhancement suggestion.


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You keep on misrepresenting what people are asking for.

The argument is to get 100 tokens per provider. With the same restrictions as currently.
Not unlimited.
Not a combined pool.

Thus:
100 for NF
100 for AP
100 for DP
100 for HU
100 for HB

If you only subscribe to NF, then you only use the tokens allocated to that pool. You are still limited to 100 until they limit it to 1 additional token every 35 minutes.
Your pool for AP and DP and HU and HB will then stay on 100 and "not used".

People are not asking to have the all the providers combined into one huge pool from which you can pull tokens. Just for the limit to apply per provider.

AS will still be "protecting" the user base by not allowing them to download more than the allowed limit per week.

It is really not that hard to understand.

Agreed that my enhancement request is being misunderstood. Hopefully you explained it better.


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As a moderator you should really read the FAQs of the site you are moderating.
So our discussion is not trying to convince you as moderator as we know you cannot (and apparently really, really do not want to) change anything, we are trying to converse with the developers.

Clearly what you don't understand is that there is an implicit no-criticizing rule. Only circle jerks allowed. The moderators are here, not to moderate, but to convince you why you should be 100% happy with the status quo. If you're not happy, it's because 1) you don't use the program like they do and/or 2) you are the wrong kind of person. Also, if only 5-6 people give feedback, then only those 5-6 people have that opinion. /s

If the reason for the limit is to prevent detection (or "abuse" in the FAQ section), then a tokens-per-provider system makes sense. If the reason for the limit is so Redfox1 can tell you an appropriate number of downloads, then the current system is perfect.
 
One of my big principles for deciding whether something is ethical is, "If everyone did what I'm doing, would the world be better off, or worse off, or the same?"
The world would be many, many, many times better off if corporations like Amazon and wealth hoarding billionaire owners like Jeff Bezos didn't exist. Stealing from them is literally one of the most ethical things you can do.
 
No it doesn't need to be removed. There is no fixed period that determines "a while".

Ch3vr0n, please don't misrepresent what I said. Don't take it out of context. Please.

The comment was in response to moderator "Redfox 1" which on multiple occasions comment that it simply "Is not going to happen". He (a RedFox moderator) said that a couple of times in this very thread.
Instead of saying he will try to get a definitive response from the developers. It is just a blanket NO.

Thus, last line of my post stating that "If it really will not be re-evaluated, then remove it from the FAQ, but also know that it would be changing the Terms of Sale post-purchase and some users might not look kindly on that too."
is totally valid. If then RedFox (the company that is), decides that it will really not be reevaluated, then it should indeed be removed.

Also read my earlier statement in that same post more carefully.

"We, the users who bought the software, are merely suggesting to the developers (not to the moderators) that with adding additional providers the time might have come to re-evaluate how the token system was implemented."

I think that should be pretty clear that there is no timeframe attached to when it should be implemented, just that they might look at the suggestion, evaluate the merits of it and then make a call. Then they can put it on the "long term list" or they can remove that part in the FAQ and say that it will not be changed.

Good grief. We have on numerous occasions been told that RedFox does not give timeframes, so why would we insist on one.
We are just making a request for consideration on something that is in the Official FAQ already.

I find it annoying that people twists a post to say something else that it does not say. It is building a strawman. It is disingenuous and attempts to discredit the initial poster.
 
I'm not taking anything or of context. I wrote the FAQ.

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Then please get clarity from the Developers if it should stay in the FAQ you wrote or if it should be removed from the FAQ you wrote.
Seeing that "I do NOT work for RedFox. Please DO NOT pm or email me with problems you may have!"
 
It's sometimes recommended to think about what you got - and reflect about it if it would be gone....
If you’re talking about losing your account on a streaming provider then lol. If you’re talking about anystream getting shut down, well then that could happen regardless of 280 tokens or 2800
 
If you’re talking about losing your account on a streaming provider then lol. If you’re talking about anystream getting shut down, well then that could happen regardless of 280 tokens or 2800

But if one provider decides to increase security measures/encryption in a way that the AnyStream devs cannot work around (may the day never come :rolleyes:), just because there is an exessive amount of downloads, then that provider is lost for everyone, not just the ones that downloaded "too much"
 
But if one provider decides to increase security measures/encryption in a way that the AnyStream devs cannot work around (may the day never come :rolleyes:), just because there is an exessive amount of downloads, then that provider is lost for everyone, not just the ones that downloaded "too much"

Your argument if fatally flawed.

You know that Anystream emulates a browser? To the Streaming provider it is exactly the same as any browser accessing the service - which might download content for later watching.
Mos online streaming services allow "watch later" so you can download content to your device to watch later (offline).

The same as millions of other concurrent users streaming services via their browsers. They would not be able to distinguish Anystream.

Providers does indeed increase security measure constantly. It is always a race between encrypters and those who strive to break the encryption. AS recently suffered the same on AP when they Upped the Encryption level.
So that part of your comment could become a reality in future, but it would not be due to excessive downloads, it would simply be the DRM being naturally updated in the race mentioned above.

In any case, you are missing the point again. No one is asking for UNLIMITED downloads. The token system works fine. The 100 tokens you get works fine to stop you abusing ONE service. That was deemed to be acceptable when AS only catered for one provider.
What the suggestion is, is that the token system should be per provider. To allow one who has access to more services to download up to 100 tokens from all of them.

Redfox should also know better. I saw he 'liked' your reply. Learn the software.
 
Not after July 31st.
Hulu announced it is leaving the service, and Hulu (Disney) owns the broadcasting rights.
hence why I'm downloading it, instead of streaming it.

Just went through this with Prime dropping the series, but managed it (as I had 13 days warning and 2 seasons under my belt, but it was still a massive effort). It is still available on Disney+ at the moment, but only in 720p (Prime had it in 1080p 5.1). I missed entire seasons, most of the series, back in the 90's, so this is my first chance to see the complete series in proper order (thanks to AnyStream temporarily caching it for me).
 
...is also given with the download speed option and it says something along the lines of "You shouldn't use unlimited speed because it could lead to you getting banned" but then it still lets you select it.

Perhaps the intent is to allow you to grab a single download quickly and then watch or shut off your PC, but it would still be prudent to wait an episode length gap before downloading the next one? I stick to 1x to avoid accidentally starting another one too soon, but even at 1x they sometimes come in a little early, so you still have to be careful.
 
Limit should be by provider and not a total by program. With more and more providers being added and the ability to download from all providers at the same time this makes more sense.

But what if some providers share the same 3rd party CDN servers? There would be two potential abuse alarms that could be triggered, one with the provider and one with the CDN they are using to deliver their content (who then notifies the provider). Of course, I don't know this is the case, but I'm just saying the underlying assumption that the bucket can be made "per provider" may turn out to be incorrect. Perhaps there are more issues behind the design decision than meet the eye.
 
There is absolutely no acceptable reason to download several hundred hours of video in a single week.

Nailed it. In fact that suggests the intent might be to amass a huge collection in a month or two and then stop subscribing, or perhaps collect an entire library of titles during the free trial period without paying a cent (even worse).

Although, to be charitable, it might be that there is a window to download stuff that won't be available later (eg: pandemic lockdown).
 
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They would not be able to distinguish Anystream.

And you know that because ... you work for one of the providers? ... because you work for Redfox?
How do you know it's indistinguishable?
Using browsers is no one-way, a browser always sends some data to the providing site.
If AnyStream devs would change the way AS identifies itself at the provider with every release (which I doubt) then you're right, then the provider will not be able to distinguish AS.
If not ... then there is an increasing number of one special browser downloading lots of stuff, which MIGHT get the attention of someone looking over statistics.

Oh well, it's getting way to technical again, and since that is kind of prohibited in the forums, I'll better stop.

I just want to say, better safe than sorry.
 
With AnyStream, I can bypass all of this, and watch pre-downloaded videos on my preferred hardware and player. I've actually subscribed to several new streaming services over the past few months, because AnyStream allows me to watch their content without pulling my hair out!

This is my primary reason for using AnyStream as an intermediate step for viewing content. It allows color-managed playback with high quality scaling and proper frame rates on my calibrated monitor and precision EQ correction for my headphones (with an option for simulated virtual surround). Not possible with the official apps, which can be so bad at getting the video to the monitor that it is often posterised/banded in darker scenes, has motion artifacts and incorrect gamma and color gamut. Given that I only have a 2K monitor, I would rather have clean accurately displayed 720p/1080p than badly displayed 4K.
 
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