Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

No I don't. Now that my server is setup (which it has been for 7+ years), I spend 0 time or effort searching for media files or sources for them.

As I said, I open my own self-hosted web page, search for a title (results from IMDB, The TVDB, and TheMovieDB), and click 'add'. The software does all the rest: from finding a download link to actually downloading the files, to renaming and sorting them into my media library, even grabbing all the metadata like synopsis, cast, ratings, posters, and a trailer to present it in a netflix-style interface.

My users can also open a webpage hosted by me and request media with the same lack of effort, to be acquired automatically, typically ready to watch in under 15min.

Half the time we don't even have to do that as the software is also monitoring various lists from IMDB, automatically adding media that gets added to those lists, as well as grabbing every new episode of every show in my library as they release.

My library literally builds/expands itself. Most of the time whatever we wanted to watch has already been grabbed, and the few times it hasn't, it'll be available in as little as 3min once requested. (note: just because it's been downloaded, doesn't mean it's gotta be kept forever. Some stuff does get rotated out.)

Instead of going to a known service which has everything for you in one place at all times. This is particularly important for non tech savvy people

I am the known service my users come to. They don't have to trust a third party, deal with their restrictions/whims, or worry at all.

That third party could at anytime remove your access, disappear/go offline, decide to (intentionally or accidentally) host malware, fall prey to the law, remove the content you wanted, or any other plethora of problems with dealing with third parties.

As long as I've got power; I've got literal years (played back to back, no breaks) of content to entertain me and my family. I'm dependant on nobody in that aspect.

has everything for you in one place at all times.

Unless all you ever watch is newly released mainstream media this is blatantly false. I have never ever encountered a streaming service with anything close to the range of media my cricle enjoys.

Ontop of all this; my server will also transcode between formats and quality settings on the fly so users with poor connections or device's that can't directly play the stored format can still stream without buffering. I've never known a service outside the big name streaming platforms to do this (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, etc). Several of my users have garbage internet, but will happily watch media in a reduced quality to avoid buffering. Awesome for mobile data too; I regularly watch media on my bus ride home from work.