Anime streaming sites

myskaros

and they apparently use my subscription money toward other avenues--their own convention, some original series that they told us nothing about, etc.--instead of improving the streaming service/website/apps.

They've always used your subscription money in whatever ways they saw fit, your preferences be damned. If you don't like the direction they're going, fine, but this argument of "my money can only be used for things I want" is ridiculous. You paid them for a service, and they gave you that in spades. What they then do with that money is their decision.

TremorC

@myskaros I never said "my money can only be used for things I want," and that's not the argument I was making. I'm saying that I'm paying for a service that I've had several issues with for a long time now, that still haven't been addressed. Like you said, I paid them for a service, but it has been lousy, so I'm not going to pay for it any more.

I suppose their ventures into the convention and original programming spaces stick out more than they should because of the ongoing problems I've had with their service. If I didn't have the issues that I do, perhaps they wouldn't be as big of a deal to me.

myskaros

@tremorc I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to interpret "I will no longer spend money on a service because they're using that money for other things instead of things I want." Either way, if that's not what you meant, then just take my rant as directed at all the other people on the Internet who are saying that, because there are a lot of them.

Khaos

@myskaros I somewhat see where you a coming from but don't necessarily believe that is argument that @TremorC is making. Crunchyroll is first and foremost an anime streaming company(currently), in other words anime streaming is their product.

If you are giving a company money for a product you expect that product in return, if the company fails to deliver said product with no explanation/admit to fault/attempts at a solution or some sort of reimbursement it is only natural to no longer do business with that company.

Also if the company does produce the product, if the product is not up to par one way or another it is only natural to look for other companies producing that product up to your standards.

Jason Maranto

@myskaros And what I do with my money is my decision -- I am not required to have any reason at all to cease giving them money, but in this case I have all the justification I need.

You act as if they have the right to do whatever they want without losing customers... but I bet you would change your tune if they were engaging in something you personally felt was wrong. The difference between us here is a matter of value judgement. Your lecturing over my reasons(or anybody elses) is pointless -- we are all free to support or not as we see fit... we owe NOTHING to CrunchyRoll (and nothing to you either).

LegitPancake

The thing is, there are very few active fan subbers anymore, unless Netflix is involved. If you watch on a pirate site, it’s more than likely that it is simply a rip from Crunchyroll. I honestly have no problem with fan subbers, but I find ripping off of official sources just plain lazy and scummy. Therefore, my CR sub will remain.
Not to mention, I’ve never had a buffering problem on my phone, Roku, or laptop after I got the chrome extension, and CR has even rolled out their new html5 player for a lot of users, and a full rollout is expected to come in September.

Yea, I’m not happy about High Garden Spice, but CR still pays sizable license fees and about half of their streaming revenue still goes back to Japan as royalties. What they do with the other half isn’t really up to us.
I encourage everyone to read Justin’s article on ANN: http://4NN.cx/.136030

Khaos

@legitpancake

I just read that article earlier today and was quite impressed with the numbers. It's unfortunate that I can't stand behind Crunchyroll with the issues that I have with them. As far as buffering specifically, I have a gigabit connection and have had my fair share of issues. The times I have really noticed it, is once an episode is just put up - so seems to be a server/demand issue.

myskaros

@khaos said in Anime streaming sites:

Crunchyroll is first and foremost an anime streaming company(currently), in other words anime streaming is their product.

If you are giving a company money for a product you expect that product in return, if the company fails to deliver said product with no explanation/admit to fault/attempts at a solution or some sort of reimbursement it is only natural to no longer do business with that company.

Sure, but the main reason this conversation is even occurring isn't because they've somehow failed to deliver the product they promised, it's because they've announced they're doing something new. The anime subscription still costs the same amount of money, and they're still licensing anime every season and even adding older shows to their catalog. The service is not being compromised in any way, at least not on the surface. People are complaining because they're afraid something will happen in the future that hasn't happened yet, and conflating that fear with the current service, which has not changed.

@jason-maranto said in Anime streaming sites:

And what I do with my money is my decision

Yes, I agree. What you do with your money is your decision. What they do with their money is their decision. Once you give them your money, it's no longer your money, it's their money. So the idea that "I'm giving them my money, but expect them to do something with it that I approve of" is ridiculous.

You act as if they have the right to do whatever they want without losing customers

I did not say that anywhere. I did say if you don't like the direction they're taking, then fine. Unsubscribe, that's what you should do. But to whine that they shouldn't pursue potentially profitable business ventures because "it wasn't something I asked for" is childish and not how business works. As I said above, the service you are paying for has not changed at all.

Your lecturing over my reasons(or anybody elses) is pointless -- we are all free to support or not as we see fit...

You're posting your reasons on an Internet forum for some reason, one that gets nonzero traffic, so I assume you're doing it either for attention or simply to express yourself. So, I am choosing to challenge those reasons. You're absolutely right, you're free to do whatever you want, but you still chose to respond to me, so...

Khaos

@myskaros said in Anime streaming sites:

@khaos said in Anime streaming sites:

Crunchyroll is first and foremost an anime streaming company(currently), in other words anime streaming is their product.

If you are giving a company money for a product you expect that product in return, if the company fails to deliver said product with no explanation/admit to fault/attempts at a solution or some sort of reimbursement it is only natural to no longer do business with that company.

Sure, but the main reason this conversation is even occurring isn't because they've somehow failed to deliver the product they promised, it's because they've announced they're doing something new. The anime subscription still costs the same amount of money, and they're still licensing anime every season and even adding older shows to their catalog. The service is not being compromised in any way, at least not on the surface. People are complaining because they're afraid something will happen in the future that hasn't happened yet, and conflating that fear with the current service, which has not changed.

But at the same time it is because they failed to deliver the product they promised, at least to an expected standard. So whether they are or they are not, reasonably working on the issues but at the same time doing new things - is unknown. Therefore people believe they are investing money that was intended for a product that they were not satisfied with on other endeavors instead. So what follows is people looking for somewhere to voice their complaints....

Much could be avoided if things like this were communicated prior or just more transparent overall.

(Though since all the backlash I think they came out with a statement saying where original series funds came from - but don't remember exactly where it was or what was said)

Rahul Balaggan

Let’s all keep this civil, it is a topic about discussing where we all consume Anime, trying to speculate on the inner workings of Crunchyroll and other similar compaines is not what this topic is about.

cosm1cfall

I'm gonna veer away from that incendiary thread and just throw in my two cents. I don't use Crunchyroll because they treat the non-Japanese Asian market poorly. It was mentioned above that CR has the largest library available but not the case here in my country. A lot of series are region-locked, so I don't bother.

Jason Maranto

@myskaros Once my pre-paid subscription (which is non-refundable) runs out I could care less what CrunchyRoll does with (what is at that point) its money. Until that happens both they and I consider us engaged in a current transaction... and as such I will continue to express myself as a dissatisfied customer.

If they were to issue me a refund for the remainder of the year I would cancel my forum access there immediately... never to be heard from again.

I have taken as much action to remedy the situation as I am able -- which included getting a 1-year HiDive subscription. I wholeheartedly recommend HiDive as an alternative. I said nothing about CrunchyRoll here in this thread until you posted your reply.

Jon Mitchell

I stream via my ROKU on my TV (generally not on a pc/tablet)

crunchyroll (free w/ commercials) is tolerable not enough I care deeply about to pay

Amazon/Netflix has a few hidden gems (I just discovered Sagreda Reset on prime)

hidive BETA works on my Ipad- has some free episodes but overlaps w/ HULU/Crunchyroll -so don't use it much VRV seems to crash

Jaquobus

Currently my only streaming service is Amazon. Mostly for other things, but considering that they have the Noitamina and Animeism blocks, I'm quite content with the offering.
I used to have Crunchy, but I won't subscribe again until they finished rolling out a good HTML 5 player - their catalogue in Germany doesn't contain the generally most beloved shows anyway. Though they still win on quantity compared to everyone else.
Speaking of beloved shows, many of those can be found on Wakanim and anime-on-demand.de. But their catalogue is comparatively small, so I subscribe every now and then for 1-3 months, catch up to everything that interests me and drop the subscription afterwards until enough new content is available.

OT: @jon-mitchell If you liked Sagrada Reset, may I direct you towards https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/1372/sagrada-reset-aka-sakurada-reset/

Drone205

It sounds like CR will FINALY get a decent video player. Though that has not changed my mind about unsubscribing. I could just sub whenever there is a big show like heroaca or something and Hidive has a ton of shows I love and many more shows that I know are great or have wanted to watch for a long time now that I have not yet like K-on for shows I have not watched and Log Horizon or NGNL for shows I have and would like to watch again.

smashman42

It's all what someone individually values & what region screwage they suffer through.

I honestly haven't ever used CRs web player to watch a full ep so it is irrelevant to me. Between Chromecast, Apple TV & game consoles, I don't understand why anyone would even want to use the web player cause surely the majority have a way of getting it on the big screen. Do people use their PCs to watch Netflix too? Its an alien concept to me, it's streaming TV so if you intend to use it find a way of putting it on your TV.

alocervancouver

@tremorc I've had to talk to HiDive technical regarding some matters, and a lot of their streaming problems over the cellular networks are netcode protocol problems (namely TLS ones). This comes up at my workplace as the workers have to use company internet at home rather than their usual ISPs.

You might also want to check your phone security settings about what protocols you enable and allow more of them to run.

And I agree, I dropped Crunchyroll over those issues myself. I've also heard about the licensing complaints they had and the personnel issues.

Timmaaah

@smashman42 I use my PC to pretty much watch everything. I haven't turned the TV on in years since everything i watch is internet based and the TV is too old to use without having to purchase something to access the net. I don't use it enough to warrant purchasing, and also, the computer chair is more comfortable than the couch.

Different people watch things in different ways, and having a dodgy web player on a web based service doesn't exactly help.

alocervancouver

@jaquobus @Jon-Mitchell The genre that Sagrada Reset belongs to is somewhere between the local form of sci-fi and something called a honkaku (loosely translated as "orthodox") mystery. They are on the older side, but Goth: A Novel of Horror and HaruChika are also in the same area (I highly recommend both, especially Goth). "Another" is a good series, but I get nightmares from it.

Nico

@smashman42 I do use Netflix on my laptop. Personally, and can answer the why with simply: headphones. Especially if it's a dub and there could be some weird shit.