Paying customer v. Pirate
If you are paying customer:
(a) If you have bought a disc, you insert the disc. Then wait for a studio logo promo to finish. Which then goes to a movie trailer that you have to press a button to bypass. If you are lucky, there isn't another movie trailer or two. But only if you are lucky. Then you get to a menu which takes at least 15 seconds before you can do anything. Finally after selecting to play the movie, you get an unskippable anti-piracy warning. Followed by an unskippable screen as to why this movie was rated the way it was. Followed by an unskippable legal disclaimer about the opinions of the commentary not being the opinions of the studio. And then finally the movie starts.
(b) If you bought a digital copy, you have to sign in to an account. Which then verifies that you can use and download the movie you bought, while making sure you didn't download too many times. At least it lets you stream, provided that the movie studio still has a contract with Apple, Amazon, etc. Which is not guaranteed, so your money may go bye-bye at the whim of a movie studio. And every time you stream or play a downloaded copy, the video has to check in to make sure you are authorized to play that video. An authorization that can be revoke by Apple, Amazon, etc or the movie studio as it suits then.
But if you are a pirate:
(a) You insert your disc, USB drive, or similar, push play and enjoy.
(b) You load the Plex app on your smart TV, Roku, TiVo, etc, find your video file, and enjoy.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
