jbone

This is a very strong list, I mean you have jpeg, PNG and flac on the list.

But yes, .lnk has no legitimate use cases in a torrent.

This is not an issue on Linux or Macs.

Even on windows, if you play the movie (so M2TS with external audio and subs), you would simply get subtitles with the PowerShell code as subtitle text at one point.

They are way over hyping this issue.

Based on the title, I first thought subtitles embedded in a container (like MKV) could be used to launch malware.

Thankfully this is not the case. I was really worried for a second.

This honestly has nothing to do with video formats or even torrents.

If you are pirating you should have enough common sense to not click on random .lnk files.

Most reputable trackers/indexers don't allow .lnk files or even random raw M2TS files.

Not unless the artist is selling directly

More often than not, for niche and/or non-english content, this is indeed the case. I also don't see the big deal with supporting a smaller publisher.

Does the future seem bleak? Are we going to be stuck with shitty WebDLs for most new content?

For mainstream content and somewhat well known content, both regular BD and 4K BD rip are widely posted shortly after release.

You do have some truly niche content and non-english content where it's difficult to find BDRips / BD Remuxes, but you can usually access older DVDRips. If you're into this kind of content (as I am), you might as well just buy the BD (or stick to the DVDRip which is fine as far as I am concerned).

These days, torrents are honestly not as big of an issue from IP holders perspective as you would think.

In the mid 2000s, torrents accounted for 30% to 50% of all internet traffic (with higher share during peak hours). It was a big deal.

Nowadays, there are other priorities and torrents are seen as less pressing challenge.

No.

An alternative that hasn't been presented yet.

Why not use less well known foreign public trackers? Rutracker has a stupid amount of content, including a lot of niche music content.

If you are worried about Rutracker being too well known, you can try Mazepa Torrent. This is only relevant for movies and shows. Their collection isn't as good as rutracker, but they have most new releases. While the default audio language is Ukrainian, English is always included (this would an issue for non-English language movies/shows, but English subtitles are usually included).

Let's hope it doesn't get that far.

No idea what this from, but it looks very cool.

They could potentially do an adaption of one of the novels.

For example, Alien: Out of the Shadows, which is set between Alien and Aliens.

As brickfrog mentioned, you can stream MP4 easily if you enable both sequential download and first/last piece (any torrent client worth its salt has these options).