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Show HN: Stremio – watch movies, series, YouTube channels, live TV (strem.io)
116 points by ivshti on Dec 21, 2015 | hide | past | favorite | 30 comments


Heads up for any one grabbing the Linux dist -- this tarball just took a shit all over my homedir.

It's 2016. Why do we still suck at distributing software?


I'd say we mostly suck at distributing Linux software. I'm not sure if improvements have been made recently, but I remember reading the docs on how to create .deb bundles a couple years ago, and the impression I got was that it had a somewhat steep learning curve. Considering not everyone runs Debian or Ubuntu, you also either need to provide other package formats as well, a tarball with instructions or (even worse) a weird install script for them to `curl | sh`.

OS X doesn't have this problem: .app bundles are just directories following a convention of where to put binaries/resources.

Windows is a mess under the hood with all the registry fiddling an installer has to do, but there are dozens of existing alternatives out there already, both free and commercial which abstract that away.


> OS X doesn't have this problem: .app bundles are just directories following a convention of where to put binaries/resources.

It surely trades this with a bunch of other problems, such as excessive embedding of third-party code copies.

(This is particularly problematic for video decoder code given the number of exploits in this area.)


> ...I remember reading the docs on how to create .deb bundles a couple years ago, and the impression I got was that it had a somewhat steep learning curve

Checkinstall makes building debs pretty easy if you're using make to build the app.

https://www.debian-administration.org/article/147/Installing...


checkinstall installs the software in order to build the .deb, so it is sort of dangerous in that regard. It would not keep your home dir safe. I would recommend running it in a virtual machine.

Building .debs is not all that difficult, just sort of an archaic and not particularly well-documented process. fpm (Ruby Gem) is worth looking into if you want a quick'n'dirty way to create packages.


If anything distributing Linux software is leaps and bounds ahead of any of system. Just apt-get/yum or whatever your distro uses and you get the app all installed, configured, files tracked. Easily updated.

And making a package from a source tarball is as easy as checkinstall.


Doesn't tarball unpack only under current directory? Don't unpack it in $HOME (that's already asking for trouble). Try $HOME/tmp.

You can also check the contents before unpacking with mc or using tar directly if you prefer.


i got burned a lot by these kind of software, so now i untar everything inside a tmp directory inside my home. it's just a pita when people archive stuff with a main dir.


It looks quite nice, but I am wondering if this is like a popcorn time kinda thing where I can stream any show that may not even be on my harddrive, or if this is a product meant for indexing my harddrive and streaming it to any device like Plex?


Both, depending on what add-ons you have activated.

When you don't have any activated, it relies on local indexing.

On the other hand, the default add-ons suggest to you links to iTunes/Netflix/etc.

There are third-party add-ons that use torrents, those can be shown in the product if they are popular in your area.


yes you can steam any tv show or movie without it being on you HDD to be honest its hell of a lot better than popcorntime and safer as it uses add-on's for the torrents and if the movie or tv show you want is not their simply drag the magnet link into stremio :-) and the team on facebook are very responsive if you ever need help or have any questions :-)


And from the sounds of this peer to peer networking is being used. Does that mean that when I use the program I am acting as a peer? Or did I misread this?


Windows version : virus alert reported. Artemis!F9DDCC2E5FB8


This reminds me a lot of Boxee. It basically did what it looks like Stremio did- aggregates video content from multiple streaming services. Maybe this will be more popular though because we definitely have more streaming options than we did back in 2008.

But why is it a desktop app? It looks like most of the content is available on the web. I think I'd rather just use that than download some app like this.


Are you planning to get the Android version compatible with Android TV? I bought an amazon fire TV for my dad, who can't handle tech very well, and a running streamio with subtitles working would be the greatest Christmas gift ever for a movie aficionado.


What's with disabling pinch zoom on mobile devices?


Site design probably did not take mobile zoom into consideration, so it's to prevent reflow and layout issues. Granted, reflow issues are usually preferred over the inability to see/read something.


I wonder if the iOS app is made with React Native. It's scroll performance is horrible. iPhone 5, iOS 9.


Is it totally legal?


Stremio is a 100% legal, unlike Popcorn Time it's not designed and distributed only for infringement use cases.

Of course, just like Plex, you can use torrent add-ons with it.

Something to point out is that we do suggest to the users add-ons which are popular in the area, so it makes any experience very streamlined.


How does it compare to Plex? Seems very similar.


If you test it out, you'll find out. It's much easier to setup & use.

Besides the usability and ease of use, it's pretty much the same concept :)

Plex cannot solve these issues easily, because of it's technical design, the add-ons system / concept itself and the server architecture that is so important for their users

Think of Stremio as a possible Plex for the masses.


Installed it. Works well. Comes up with a list of movies/shows similar to how popcorn time did. If you click on one, it shows you options for viewing like netflix/amazon, but also a link to JC Torrents to stream it.

So my quick review: It's like Plex with popcorn time built in.


Ask the popcorn time guys.


in a way yes as its using an add-on called JC torrents to get all the tv shows and movies on the app the app it self dose not make any add-on's and its open sourced if you want to have a look and you can ask the devs questions on facebook the are very responsive :-)


But, your app, your marketing on the site(the movie & tv show images of copyright content) and comments here is called contributory infringement. https://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Copyright:_Infringement_Issues.

So, sorry you are making yourself liable by trying to do a work around what popcorn time was doing, as well your marketing on the site and the comments you leave here and elsewhere on the iNet makes you culpable no matter what country your in.

Overall your site looks awesome and I miss popcorn time and happy to see another similar app pop up. No doubt there will be tons more similar apps after yours gets shut down by the copyright dummies; dummies because they need to change their game/business model. Make the social experience of going to a movie theater something that makes that experience piracy proof and let piracy run rampant but they make money from it somehow. Let all of us hackers create amazing innovation around their content and they buy/own the best inventions... not sure, but they need to do something different if they are concerned about piracy. Though Star Wars did just make a half a billion dollars in one weekend and other films did similarly this year too, so they aren't suffering!


Keep in mind mckie41 is a user, not part of the team :)

Also, have you checked out the app from the US/UK/anywhere where Netflix is supported?

Using movie/series marketing materials to promote links to Netflix, Hulu and iTunes - I don't think that's infringement in any way.

Also, we cannot control what OTHER add-ons appear in the app. If we receive complains we'd be happy to stop them.

We're trying to build the next Plex, not the next Popcorn Time.

Otherwise good points about the industry, but that's not our war to fight :)


Hmmm, but Netflix, Hulu and iTunes all have the proper licenses from the copyright cartel. While you awesome people do not and you are promoting watching the copyright cartel's content at no cost. It's not like you are blogging about a movie that you just saw and using their marketing materials for that... no and again you allowing people to watch their content at no cost.

Hey, Im all for this ... copyright will soon get fed up with the constant whack a mole and embrace all the hackers/innovators for the better of their bottom lines. They just need to bring on tech/entertainment talent to run their companies ... it will happen one day.


this release is for 64bit assholes, i need 32bit


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