So don't pay the streaming providers if you want 4K.

Vote with your wallet and dollars.

Sail the high seas.

Just need to support media servers like Plex and Jellyfin at 4K.

In fact needing to access a streaming service, instead of a local server, sounds like a feature people don't need, even if it would be nice.

At this point, I think pirating is more moral than actually paying for your digital media. The digital media scene for shows/movies is so incredibly hostile to consumers that not giving them money feels like the moral position. I don't feel it's necessarily the case for music (Qobuz) and especially games (GOG, hell even Steam). Not sure on books since I mostly read blogs, scientific articles (that definitely _should_ be pirated) and freely available math/crypto texts.

Owning and running a local media server at home doesn’t automatically make one a pirate, there is free content and some laws allow for ripping and streaming your copy to your tv or other device.

There is not a lot of free content out there comparatively. As for ripping yourself, that's fine, but usually it's:

1. Takes a lot more time. 2. Costs _a lot_ more money than streaming services. 3. Is _often_ illegal.

You could say price shouldn't be an issue here, if we're talking about morals, but a single season on BLU-RAY of shows can easily cost ~70 USD (at least here in Denmark), compared to a ~10 USD streaming service. The idea is, of course that the largest fans and collectors are willing to purchase these, but it's not doable for replacing a streaming flow. So practically, it's a large consideration.

And principally I really can't blame pirates when they get their stuff, cheaper, better, faster and more easily. Again, Steam represents a nice counter-balance, Steam is much easier, while still being very affordable, than pirating. I haven't pirated a game in 10 years, even for studios who I would rather not have my money (Disco Elysium), I still purchased the game on sale, just for the convenience.