downloading movies

[JeffW 14]

Does anyone here have a membership for one of the many sites on the internet for downloading movies and tv shows?Just curios about these sites and whether they're legitimate and how extensive of a library they have.They seem to range from $25.00-$40.00 a year.Just looking for a little input and/or personal experiences.Thanks!

[Adrian 155]

I do the netflix thing right now.

But....... if you have the hard drive space then they are worth it because you can download and burn to dvd (if pc is equiped ) and then you own forever!

think about what you would pay for a flick at the store to own and 40.00 bucks is chewed up within 2 or 3 dvd's. But the rate of membership is worth it because after you burn to dvd you can delete the flick , recover your space on hard drive and do it all over again.

just my thoughts

ac

[JeffW 14]

AC New guy,...thanks man,that's the kind of info I was looking for.

[Curb Appeal 14]

Google the word TORRENTS and you will find out more than you ever wanted to know about FREE downloading of movies. The sites that you are referring to are usually just newsgroup server companies that keep the binary files for an extended period of time and offer you software to facilitate downloading.

I used to be a member of Netflix but they got too expensive. I also used to be a member of Blockbuster's monthly rental program ($24.99/month = unlimited rentals). Currently I'm a member of Hollywood Video's MVP program. $14.99/month gets me as many movies as I want each month (up to 3 out at a time). I usually get at least 3 movies each day, sometimes 6 or 9.

And in case you're wondering, Yes I copy almost all of the movies I have rented. Right now I have almost 1000 titles.

Joel

[Tronman 14]

What software are you using to copy the movies? I have tried just copying the files form the CD to a file on my hard drive but they seperate the video from the audio and you do not have one controlling mechanism to put the two together.

[PLD 14]

At the risk of getting flamed...

I'm not a hardliner or anything, I will download an old song that I want to hear once or twice, cannot locate the original (or it's on a dead media type like vinly), etc. Stuff that I would NEVER re-buy a whole album for a mere 3 minutes of entertainment. But downloading is stealing... And wholesale rip off of video's, CD's, etc is wrong. How would you like it if people found a means to steal your services...

FWIW, I own a DVD burner and a DVD recorder. It's simply not worth the time and effort to buy blanks, buy cases, rip the DVD, burn a DVD, print a

label, etc all to save $15.00.

[Curb Appeal 14]

What software are you using to copy the movies? I have tried just copying the files form the CD to a file on my hard drive but they seperate the video from the audio and you do not have one controlling mechanism to put the two together.

Movies that you rent or buy usually come on a dual layer DVD. That is, There are two layers of data on the DVD for a total of 9.4GB of data. You can buy dual layer blank discs for your burner but right now they are too expensive and you have to have a dual layer DVD burner on your computer, which some people do not have. Therefore, you have to "shrik" the movie to fit onto a 4.7GB single layer blank DVD.

I use a program called DVD Shrink. It is very easy to use and it does everything that you need. It is a free program and you can get it here from the creator:

http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html

I won't go into details about how to use it here, but you can visit this site for all of your questions about DVD burning. Do a search for DVD Shrink and you will find illustrated guides on how to use the program.

http://www.videohelp.com/

Hope this helps

[Curb Appeal 14]

At the risk of getting flamed...

I'm not a hardliner or anything, I will download an old song that I want to hear once or twice, cannot locate the original (or it's on a dead media type like vinly), etc. Stuff that I would NEVER re-buy a whole album for a mere 3 minutes of entertainment. But downloading is stealing... And wholesale rip off of video's, CD's, etc is wrong. How would you like it if people found a means to steal your services...

FWIW, I own a DVD burner and a DVD recorder. It's simply not worth the time and effort to buy blanks, buy cases, rip the DVD, burn a DVD, print a

label, etc all to save $15.00.

No, no flames here.

You are right, downloading movies is stealing. I don't download that much, just documentaries that aren't out on DVD or foreign movies that do not get released in the States.

As for copying rented movies, I'm not sure. In the strictest sense of the word, it probably would be considered stealing. But think about this. If you record a movie or program from cable on your DVD recorder or PVR and then burn it to DVD, is that stealing? You've paid for the service through you cable but now you have the movie to watch as many times as you wish. Just insert video store for cable company in the above senario and it seems to me that they're pretty similar.

Just my .02

[CCPC 26]

My problem with it is that the people who pay for their movies/music have to compesate for those who choose to steal the movies/music. I'm sure if there was know illegal downloading going on at all, the movies and music we by would be quite a bit cheaper. As always the actions of a few ruin things for everyone else.

[RyanH 14]

Just wait 4 weeks after the video is released and go to Blockbuster. They can be had used for about $8. That's MUCH better and cheaper to me than renting and burning. 90% of the DVDs I now own came from used bins.

[jason c. 14]

i'm not sure i agree ccpc. i have been buying c.d.'s since early 90's, and have noticed more of a decrease in prices for them. i also think that if you are paying for a membership to rent movies and you copy them for your private re-use, it shouldnt be a problem. as long as you are not reselling them or re-renting them out to your friends, no big deal. i'm in no way trying to cause a huge argument, just stating my take on things. void where prohibited!

[CCPC 26]

The decrease in prices for cds and dvds has more to do with the technology becoming more of the norm. Same reason why a new dvd player 10 years ago cost 5 times what it does now. If people wern't ripping off cds and dvds, the decreases over the years could have been a bit more substantial. It only makes sense. Its just like any product you buy, part of what your paying for item helps to compensate for the fools that hurt themselves using the item, and in turn, sueing the company. The company isn't going to say "oh well, I guess we just lost a couple of million". Heck no, the're going make that money up one way or another.

[Curb Appeal 14]

Remember when buying a movie on video tape would set you back $80-$100. Back then most people didn't even have the capability to make copies.

The record and music companies will price their product at whatever price point the market will bear and still make them a profit, a nice one at that. If it costs me $0.15 to copy a DVD, imagine what it costs per DVD churning them out by the millions from a factory. There has been a trend in the last couple of years, at least on the CD side of things, of prices falling. That's because the record companies are trying to make it more attractive for you to buy the CD instead of illegally downloading it. Notice all of the online music sellers that have popped up where you can DL a song for as little as $.50 or pay a monthly fee for unlimited DLs.

In the years to come, I see both movies and music moving to this business model. It's cheaper for them and cheaper for the consumer. If I could buy and DL a movie for 1 or 2 bucks I wouldn't hesitate at all.

Think about it, it costs what $100 million or so to make a decent movie? Most if not all of that and more is made through box office sales. The DVD market is just gravy after that. How many more movies would you buy if you could get them for under $5? How many more people that normally don't buy movies would buy them at that price?

Just something to think about...

[CCPC 26]

I buy them all the time at that price. Stella and I pick them up every weekend for 1 or 2 dollars at garage sales. We've bought hundreds of cd's that way.

[jason c. 14]

and you have a problem with downloading???

[CCPC 26]

Um...Yeah.buying second hand and stealing are two completely different things.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Think about it, it costs what $100 million or so to make a decent movie? Most if not all of that and more is made through box office sales. The DVD market is just gravy after that.

I think the word you're looking for here is PROFIT, not "gravy".

How would you like it if a homeowner sat down and said "Hey, it only cost that guy $75.00 in expenses to wash my house...the rest is just "gravy". I think I'll pay him the $75.00, and maybe a couple bucks for his "gravy" and that's fair!!!"

I agree with Phillip and Lance here..stealing is stealing. Whether it is music, movies, software, cars, or money...if it isn't yours, and you didn't pay for it, don't take it!

[Curb Appeal 14]

The only difference between movies/music/software and cars, money, etc... is that when you buy the movie/music/software. you are not buying the physical thing. You are buying the right to use the 1s and 0s that compose that movie/music/software.

I'll refer back to my original analogy. If you subscribe to cable and pay for the right to view a program or movie and then record it and watch it again, is that stealing? Or maybe the new Video on Demand services would be a closer analogy. If you request a movie that is offered by your cable company as part of your monthy subscription and then record it and watch it again, is that stealing?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not begrudging the movie industry, or anyone else, of making all of the profit they can by whatever means they devise. If they can make $200 million profit on each and every movie (I have no idea what the real world numbers are), then I say more power to them. That's just more capital to use for making more higher budget movies.

In my case, they've made their money selling the movie to the video store. If any one is being cheated out of profit, then I guess it would be they, not the movie studios (though it's difficult to see how). If the movies store chooses to allow me to check out 180 movies per month (6 movies/day x 30 days), for the same price as renting 4 movies, does it really make a difference if I check out 180 different movies or the same 18 movies 10 times, or any other combination? That is their right under the agreement that they have with the movies studios.

One final point, I don't think that my sitting in this grey area is draining the movies studios of profit. A bigger problem is the blatant copying and selling of the movie by individuals and companies overseas. There are companies with manufacturing faciilities whose sole reason for being in business is to copy and sell pirated movies at almost the capacity of the legitimate distributors and manufacturers. The same goes for music and software.

As the saying goes, there is only one legitimate copy of Windows in China...:)

[JeffW 14]

When I started this thread I was looking to download the t.v. show "Alice".I have purchased other old t.v. shows like "Barney Miller" and "Green Acres"at Wal-Mart.But "Alice" is not available on DVD or VHS.It has never been on the market.I see a few different sites that offer t.v. show downloads and these are what I was referring to.I could care less about movies.Buy the way,are the music downloads at Wal-Mart illeagal?Thanks!

[Curb Appeal 14]

No, the music downloads at Wal-Mart are not illegal. They usually run $0.88 per song. They may have some kind of monthly subscription rate also.

Good luck finding Alice. It might be difficult since it's never been released on DVD. The only way for you to get it would be for someone to record all of the old re-runs onto their PVR (usually in Xvid or Divx format) from cable or satellite and upload them to one of the filesharing communities or to a newsgroup. You would then have to download them, convert them to DVD format, and then burn them to a blank DVD. Encoding or re-encoding video takes some serious computing power as well, or lacking that, a LOT of time.

[Mike Williamson 198]

In my case, they've made their money selling the movie to the video store. If any one is being cheated out of profit, then I guess it would be they, not the movie studios (though it's difficult to see how). If the movies store chooses to allow me to check out 180 movies per month (6 movies/day x 30 days), for the same price as renting 4 movies, does it really make a difference if I check out 180 different movies or the same 18 movies 10 times, or any other combination? That is their right under the agreement that they have with the movies studios.

I don't have a problem with renting movies, or even with copying them after you've rented them...though technically that is still legally stealing. It is a victimless crime, since no one is out any money, since you aren't going to re-rent that movie later (or at least you likely won't) even if you didn't copy it. I used to do the same thing, until I realize that I never re-watched the movies and copying them was a waste of my time and a small amount of money. The problem I have is with those who download music/movies for the express reason of avoiding paying for them in the first place. The concept seems to be "Why pay to buy, rent, or even go see a movie in the theater if I can download it free off the internet and burn a DVD of my own" or "Why buy the CD or pay to download it from the internet if I can download it for free?" The point is, you didn't pay for it, you don't have a right to it, even if you weren't going to buy/rent/go see the movie or album in the first place.

[Mike Williamson 198]

When I started this thread I was looking to download the t.v. show "Alice".I have purchased other old t.v. shows like "Barney Miller" and "Green Acres"at Wal-Mart.But "Alice" is not available on DVD or VHS.It has never been on the market.I see a few different sites that offer t.v. show downloads and these are what I was referring to.I could care less about movies.Buy the way,are the music downloads at Wal-Mart illeagal?Thanks!

I doubt that Walmart is offering illegal downloads. The music downloads I think most are referring to here are illegal downloads from peer-to-peer services like Kazaa and others.

I wouldn't even have a problem with downloading something that isn't available for purchase...again, no one is harmed. Yes, it is still technically illegal, but then again, there are lots of stupid laws out there. :)

[PLD 14]

if you are paying for a membership to rent movies and you copy them for your private re-use, it shouldn't be a problem. as long as you are not reselling them or re-renting them out to your friends, no big deal.

Read the fine print...

Rental price $3 = one time use license.

Purchase price $15.00 = many time use license.

You just stole $12, so why not go for $3 more and just swipe the disc and save yourself the grief of copying it.

The reality of the whole thing is that the owner will ever know. But, does that make it right? Would it be wrong if I stole from you so long as you never knew? Something like stealing 1qt of gas from you car every other night. No. It's still stealing.

[jason c. 14]

if you pay for a membership and copy movies for your own reuse i dont see a problem with that. now, i rarely watch t.v.(maybe 2hrs a month...maybe) and go to the movie theatre 2-3 times a year, but i do pay a subscription fee to comcast. on demand has a ton of movies that are available any time you want, at no extra cost, because your a subscriber. is this o.k.? is it o.k. for me to buy a dvd for 15 bucks then sell it a year later to someone? that possibly could have been a sell to a retail store. hollywood wont see any extra coin from this transaction. what about disk go round? is that illegal? record companies arent paid royalties on these used cd sales.

what about tivo? say im going miss an episode of desperate houswives and i record it to watch later, is there anything wrong with that? i dont. and if recording dvd's or tv shows were a major problem they would encode them so they are not recordable.

i realise that alot of these points are weak but i always enjoy debating

[PLD 14]

is it o.k. for me to buy a dvd for 15 bucks then sell it a year later to someone? that possibly could have been a sell to a retail store. hollywood wont see any extra coin from this transaction. what about disk go round? is that illegal? record companies arent paid royalties on these used cd sales.

Yes. You purchased a license, and you are now reselling that license to someoen else. The question is not whether you cost anyone a sale or not. If the vendor makes it available to you, and you take it without paying, you have stolen it. You can argue all you want about deep pockets, victimless crime, etc. But the fact of the matter is that stealing is stealing. In our profession a relevant example is taking water from a hydrant w/o a meter. Victimless: Arguably, yes. Stealing: Definitely, Yes.

what about tivo? say im going miss an episode of desperate houswives and i record it to watch later, is there anything wrong with that? i dont. and if recording dvd's or tv shows were a major problem they would encode them so they are not recordable.

The content producers are working VERY hard to accomplish that now. HDTV is encoded and requires a special decoder to receive. Manufacturers of HDTV decoders that are placed into Tivo's, dish receivers, cable boxes, etc. pay a license fee to produce that card. In the end, you pay that license fee and it isn't cheap.

That's why most 1st generation HDTV's were sold as "HDTV ready" (i.e. Hi-def screen, no decoder card). They were already expensive, and the cost of the decoder card made them above the reach of even the early adopters.

Very early on as they were stabilizing standards and opening the market, anyone could produce an HDTV decoder. As of late 2003, it is illegal to produce non-licensed HDTV cards. And they are NOT granting licenses to manufacturers of products that can be used to save perfect copies to removable media. Take Tivo for example, Tivo (HDTV and non-HDTV) will now send your recordings to your PC. But it's in an proprietary encrypted format and marked with your Tivo ID#. Without breaking encryption (a violation of the DMCA), you cannot play that movie unless you have installed the Tivo software with the same ID#. The end result is that you cannot record a movie to archive unless you use their approved mechanism. And when you buy the device, you paid a license fee...

What about VHS? It has already been announced that 2006 will be the last year that VHS movies will be produced. VCR's are expected to follow shortly thereafter...

What about DVD recorders? Viable as long as analog signals persist. The end result will be that all future programing will be encoded and in order to get a HDTV decoder license, the manufacturer will have to comply with a list of standards. Among those standards will be denying the ability to record a program to removeable media unless the producer permits it. And HDTV signals contain the data to communicate that info to the recording device on a program by program basis. Even if permitted, the recording devices will likely be required to make the recording with Macrovision enabled so as to prevent making more than one copy.

Anyway, I could go on much longer, but do a little google'ing and you'll see that the content producers very much want to stop you from recording CSI. They just don't have the means *today* to make that happen. Tomorrow, however, is a whole different ballgame.

[JeffW 14]

I'm learning way more than I ever wanted to know about right and wrong.....And still no "Alice".