I got an 18TB HDD for $360 and threw it in my $80 Dell Optiplex server running Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS. I continue to seed everything I've ever torrented and have only filled 4TB. I probably won't have to start deleting things for like 2 years.
Depending on the hardware you're running. I'll definitely never break even, at least in a reasonable amount of time. Doing a very rough estimation of $23/month of just Netflix, versus the 5 grand I've spent on my server over the years, it would take EIGHTEEN YEARS to break even.
I pirate because I like having everything in one place with no restrictions, not because it's cheaper and easier.
Ironically, centralizing it back when Netflix was the only company doing it made it so convenient, it was "in one place" with little restrictions other than having a good pipe.
Now with the fuckery of so many services, it's across many places, each of them enshittifying with ads or obtuse announcements.....it's not a little easier to pirate, it's a hell of a lot easier. Half the work to stream something legally now is just finding out what service hosts it, then debating burning the free trial for the one thing you really wanted to watch on there.
Yeah, it's definitely a clusterfuck now of "where do I find this". Back when Netflix was the only game in town the problem was just "what looks interesting" and the answer was usually "not much" 😂
I bought a NUC and 2x4TB HDDs + USB enclosure for a total of 600€, plus an easynews sub for $3/mo. Everything works great, transcoding and all.
I canceled prime and my 3 other streaming services, it should take less than 2 years to break even, and I've got access to a much larger catalog much sooner than if I subscribed to all streaming services available in my country.