DVD Pirate Co-Workers

[Andara Bledin]

Our local Bianchi does Super Tuesdays, where regular moves are $5, and it's another $2 for 3D. We've seen a lot more movies in the theater of late purely due to that.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

bootlegs made inside theatres? meh. rather wait for dvd or just see it.

but part of the issue is that after it hits dvd it's not illegal to rip it to digital format. Actually I had a weird case on my old laptop where some DVDs wouldn't play but... if I ripped them to .dvdmedia format I could play the digital copy. weird.

and the ripping itself isn't illegal because it's a carryover from VHS. When the industry tried to outlaw it, it was shot down because VHS doesn't necessarily mean "bootlegging". It may be used to record from the TV, but doesn't necessarily mean it's being used for it.

Kinda like... using a stick to beat someone up just because you're in a bad mood. The act of beating them up is illegal, but the stick itself isn't inherently illegal.

so while yes, recording in the theatre is illegal, ripping your own isn't. whether or not you share it is a different story of course.


Although to be honest I wish I'd had my DVD ripping program a long time ago. why? Because it's much easier to take .dvdmedia files on deployment than it is to take DVDs. storage space and all. same reason why I fell in love with www.webscription.net - digital book downloads. much easier to take those vs actual books.

[TheHuckster]

and the ripping itself isn't illegal because it's a carryover from VHS. When the industry tried to outlaw it, it was shot down because VHS doesn't necessarily mean "bootlegging". It may be used to record from the TV, but doesn't necessarily mean it's being used for it.

The same arguments were used about ripping CDs into MP3s... having a digital version of music you paid for, used for only yourself personally on an MP3 player or computer, is legit.

The industry really shouldn't give any shit how to listen to music or watch movies you pay for. If you redistribute it or have public showings of it, that's when you've broken the law, and you can do that whether you used the original media format to do so (i.e. opened your own DVD rental store/movie theater) or a ripped copy.

[Andara Bledin]

so while yes, recording in the theatre is illegal, ripping your own isn't. whether or not you share it is a different story of course.

I'm fairly certain that these aren't theater recordings, but review copy copies. Which means that the act of copying them is a contract violation right there, on top of the piracy from selling them.

For some reason, in my mind, the fact that they're violating a contract they actively signed makes it much, much worse than regular piracy. >_<

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[TheHuckster]

For some reason, in my mind, the fact that they're violating a contract they actively signed makes it much, much worse than regular piracy. >_<

For me I already know my personal reason: Someone who is in a professional position of reviewing others' works is violating a code of ethics that, if breached, may cause the industry to lose trust in others.

I actually work as a engineer for music software and I think that loss of trust is already prevalent and it really makes our lives difficult because if we are developing something that includes pre-release content, but we don't get that content until a week beforehand (and even then, it's packed to the brim with DRM crap that further complicates our work), we're left with 5 all-nighters and a weekend to put it together, even if we had previously signed an NDA promising we won't leak the content... and, yes, they indeed have the content at least a month in advance.

They don't trust anybody with this stuff... hell, if they could, they'd probably wipe the memory of anyone who worked with the content before release, up to and including the artist him/herself.

[PepperElf]

I'm fairly certain that these aren't theater recordings, but review copy copies. Which means that the act of copying them is a contract violation right there, on top of the piracy from selling them.

well technically that applies to both formats. but yes, the "advanced copy" for review is suppose to go with a NDA I think.

although the trick I guess is figuring out where the leak comes from. Kinda hard with movies.

(saw it happen with books though. twilight book 5 (midnight sun). afaik the author gave out different versions of the book, so she pretty much knows who leaked it online... but i don't know if she ever ratted them out publicly.)

[Ginger Tea]

The most circulated bootleg of the broken movie had the video to help me I am in hell just show as a blank screen so Trent Reznor knew which friend had released it into the wild another would have another music video blanked and a third a different one etc.

With books, does that mean that she wrote different chapters and plot point's, who knows maybe the fake stories end up being better than what is official (jk)

Floppy disk media used to get digital fingerprints so games publishers knew which magazine or reviewer let a disk escape into the wild before returning it back after the review was over, not sure if any action was taken mind or how widespread the fingerprinting method was implimented, but with pressed media like a DVD it's a bit harder to make one unique edition (save for DVDr) when you have hundreds to issue, the first LoTR was iir leaked by an oscars review copy.

I saw the 2nd or 3rd underworld movie 'online' and it had an intermitant copyright warning not obscuring the view, tbh it should have stayed on the screen for the duration of the movie

[Andara Bledin]

although the trick I guess is figuring out where the leak comes from. Kinda hard with movies.

Actually, from what I understand, review copies have digital serial numbers built in so they know where each copy originated.

I keep considering buying one just so that I can get the leak busted. >_>

^-.-^

[Canarr]

What Nekojin said.

Plus, just because something is out of someone's price range (either means or willingness) doesn't mean they get to pirate it, instead. They need to either go without or pony up for a legitimate copy.

I know that. Said as much in my post, actually.

And yes, I understand the pricing dynamic of movies, shows and music. I understand that, because some people are willing to shell out 50 Euros for the new season of their favorite show on release day, I need to wait for months until it comes down to the price I'm willing to pay for it.

Yes, releasing a new season at 20 Euros instead of fifty means that people who would've paid fifty are now getting it for less, leaving money in their pockets. But how many more people might buy that same season or movie right away for twenty who wouldn't have paid 50 Euros? And how many of these people would never have bought it at all if they'd had to wait a year or more before they could (or wanted to) afford it? There are many legal ways of watching a movie or show; borrow it from friends, get it from a library or from (your local version of) Netflix.

Every month that you keep a group potentially interested in your product from purchasing this product by inflating the price is another month that you lose some of that group to other means of obtaining the product. Doesn't have to be piracy.

[Ginger Tea]

I'm hoping that if HMV does close it's shops that it's online business stays open, I could buy from Amazon, but now there are too many 'shops' within Amazon that I have no idea how new anything I am buying is, whereas I know HMV's online store is brand new stock (even if some might be gatthering dust for a year or more due to demand or the lack thereof).
Inbetween HMV's closure and reopening (May-Sep) my only choices retail were Sainsburys and Tesco's (Asda too if I was willing to go the extra distance) and for those not in the UK all 3 are supermarkets first and others second so the stock is always iffy outside of the charts.

Granted since reopening in September or October (I forget which) I have not had chance, due to work, to actually go to HMV and shop, but I have had 4 days off this week to browse and not done so, as I daren't, Id see a tonne of stuff I want to buy and find myself with little funds (till pay day) and perhaps a closed shop when I got there, that and it doesn't help that the weather has been shite and I'd rather stay in bed.

But the TL;DR version
If I run out of avenues to purchase physical copies, I am in that grey area where it seems too bloody odd to pay for digital media, all my mp3's have been ripped from CD's (save for the odd free download from artists themselves) and the threat of licence's being revoked either due to distributers and online store having a falling out or other DRM malarky, well why pay too much for what might be a 'rental' the idea of netflix is ok, but streaming youtube can be shitty sometimes, so if they offer a download and watch whenever, well thats all good n all till you watch it and poof it's gone.