Personally I wouldn't want to own any "copies" of a DVD/CD when I can buy the real thing for a reasonable price What about you?
My brother said you can advocate piracy (or words to that effect) because of the prices companies charge for their products, like DVDs..
IMO that is nuts, firstly who pays shop prices for a DVD/CD, if people pay the RRP of £19.99 for some DVDs more fool them IMO. If people resort to piracy/downloading which harms the industry, because of the high prices for legit product, then won;t prices have to keep going up, thus people download, thus prices go up, etc... that's a loop that just goes on and on.
I will admit though I do have copies of some films on DVD-R like say Fist of Legend (when no uncut subbed in English version exsists legally) or Kill Bill Volume 1 uncut (not paying Japanese prices).
But really I would prefer to own genuine DVDs, I know not everyone has a computer but I'm sure a lot of people do. Why would anyone pay £45 for the R2 of say, Lost when the R1 is £15 cheaper? Or pay full price for the lavish Gone With the Wind 4 discer?
I only buy cheap bootlegs when I have no other choice.
Blade Runner is the only movie that I didn't pay for (It was OOP when I wanted to buy it, so I just downloaded and burned a DVD-R).
All my other DVDs are legit.
I do download loads of DVD-Rips to see if the movies are worth buying.
But I'm not a big fan of piracy.
P.S: and I don't care about the price. As we say in France:
"When you love, you don't count".
I don't mind paying 120€ for a japanese DVD.
*Hears an angry cry coming from inside his wallet*
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
Downloading to check a film out, like renting Fair enough. Like you, I have DVD-R's of FOL as I have no other choice.
It's the people who ONLY download/pirate and copy stuff and sell it on we should be targeting.
In answer to the question, I would say no. You can come up with rationalisations to do it, but it's not really justified, given that DVDs can be so cheap.
However, I will say I've done it as a preview method before. Before spending cash on the film, I have watched 'em. My Sassy Girl is an example that springs to mind. After watching the film, it's one of the few films I have two versions of. However, watching something like Kiss Of The Dragon is something that saved me a tenner . I was ready to buy it, but I thought I'd watch it first. I'm so glad that I don't own that film.
For a standard DVD, £20 doesn't need to be spent. However, I've spent, er, over £50 before on a DVD. I'm pretty sure My Sassy Girl was in that kinda region. My Ninja Scroll was pretty pricey, if I remember rightly.
Grim wrote:if anyone pays £20 for them, I'd have to say "You sad muppet"
Then I am an EXTREMELY sad muppet. (Most french DVDs are around 30€ / £20 ).
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
CD's: I've stopped buying music cd's completely since they introduced those copy-protected CD's that won't play in certain devices, and some wont even play in your carradio or PC. Fuck that shit. I'll just download the MP3. Besides: Music CD's are wayyy too expensive. No way I'm gonna pay over 10 pounds for a 10-12 song album of which I'll probably only like 3-4 songs...
Yeah there are way around the copy-protection so I CAN listen to them on my PC, but I dont wanna go through all that trouble when I buy a legal product.
I dont download that much music btw. The stuff I download is mostly soundtracks which would otherwise be very hard to find anyways, or old cd's that I already own...
I think the lastest album I downloaded was Kanye West or something, and again it wouldnt have been worth the money. Some very good songs, but also some very mediocre stuff.
Ow wait, Gnarls Barkley was my last download... same thing applies though. Good CD, but not worth over 10-12 pounds.
Games: I buy all my Xbox games and Gamecube games new. PC games, IF i even bother with them, I'll download. I would never BUY a PC game because you already know in advance that the legal copy is just going to cause you trouble anyway, with registration shit and patches and updates and passcodes etc.
Plus many times you dont know in advance how a certain game will perform on YOUR PC. it might not be compatible with your graphics card, or you dont have the right drivers, or the sound is off, or whatever else shit is going on.
So i just download the PC games that I MIGHT be interested in (not much, as I'm not really a PC gamer; hardly ever play) and see if they work on my PC and if they do: great. If they dont: adios.
Half Life 2 and it's 'Steam' is a great example of why I'm not going near legal stuff again. It only caused me trouble, and didnt even work. Even the demo I didnt get to work...
If i had a modded Xbox I would still buy certain games, and download the ones I have a mild interest in. But i'm a real budget-buyer anyway. Bought Ninja Gaiden Black for 11 euro, Psychonauts for 7 euro, Rallisport Ch. 2 for 10 euro, Burnout 3 for 5 euro, etc etc. All brand new. I'll always just wait till they come down in price and only then will I buy. Only 3-4 games that i bought at full price (Jade Empire, GTA DP, Pro Evo 4+5)
Professional Software like Photoshop, 3d Max etc: Always download illegally. Those prices are WAY too high for non-commercial students like myself. Those prices are high for a reason, because many companies use the software and make a lot of money by using it. Plus they can get it back from taxes. Ofcourse individuals like myself and all my collegue students wouldnt pay 2000-3000 euros for 3d max or something.
Windows I do have the legal version, mainly because it comes free with most new PC's. If it didnt come with the PC, I'd probably take a free 'windows'
Dvd's: Always buy legal, except when a certain movie is only available 'properly' on a bootleg. Most famous examples ofcourse are all the stuff Miramax/Weinstein is holding out on us...
I would never ever buy a dubbed Drunken Master 2 or Fist of Legend, so if they wont release those movies properly, they also arent losing any money on my bootleg versions. Ong-Bak I have both the proper DVD releases, as well as a bootleg.
If a movie has a good DVD release for a good/normal price: I'll buy it.
Also, the difference between a music cd and a DVD is that the price for a DVd is usually 'right', while the price for a music CD feels way overpriced.
Besides, I'm off the opinion that bootlegging in many ways is good for the industry: people will try new genres, new artists, new whatever... and willbecome interested in more stuff. Just look at how anime fan-subs have opened up the market in the west for anime. People playing old games on emulators made developers realize theres still a market interested in the old stuff, if it wasnt for the download success of shaolin soccer we might not have had a proper release of some other big asian movies here in the west, etc etc. People download shaolin soccer for fun, like it, see kung fu hustle in the shop and impulse buy it.
I'm also not of the opinion that whatever we download, would otherwise have been bought in the shops legally.
If I didnt have an illegal version of photoshop, would I suddenly buy it for 500 euro in the shop? hell no: I'd find a free alternative.
Would I buy Elder Scrolls in the shop for my PC if I wasnt able to download the illegal version? hell no, I'd probably wait till I have a Xbox 360 and buy it once it's in the budget bin.
I also dont notice that I'm downloading stuff that I would otherwise buy. I download anime, but would I pay the ridiculous prices they ask for anime in the shop? No. I'd probablyw ait till I was in HK and buy some bootlegs there, as anime in Holland is way overpriced. The music I download I wouldnt have bought in the store (also because of that 'protection' stuff they include on cd's).
I hardly ever download movies though. And it's even rarer that I would actually watch movies on my PC. I downloaded Born to Fight to see if it looked entertaining, still have it on my HD, only glimpsed at it, think i'll like it, gonna buy the DVD once it's 6,99 euro...
Ah well, there will always be people that think pircay is theft, and others like me who say it's a bit like a library, where we sample stuff...
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
Grim wrote:if anyone pays £20 for them, I'd have to say "You sad muppet"
Then I am an EXTREMELY sad muppet. (Most french DVDs are around 30€ / £20 ).
I was really talking mostly about UK customers who just buy DVDs at full price, don't shop online or look for bargains, pay £13 for a CD when CD WOW has them for under £9, etc Even if you buy things at a discount, some money still goes to the industry. Download/copy and no one gets anything.
French DVDs are often extremely good though Tom
LD, isn't the Ritek disc hard to find? No decent DVD of the HK version exsists (for English speakers). Its' my fault for not saying what I meant.
Anyway, what I REALLY hate are those anti-piracy ads at the start of DVDs "You wouldn't steal a car.. you wouldn't steal a movie".. WTF would I copy the DVD? I've BOUGHT IT! (Or rented it)
Yi, the sampling thing is an interesting argument. I can understand sampling/checking out stuff that is rare or not easily available (music or DVDs) but its those who download stuff which is easily available or reasonably priced in their country that gets me (ie when there is a legit alternative).
Also if piracy is illegal then why are the following willingly sold:
VHS/DVD recorders
CD re-writers
DVD re-writers
Tape recorders
.. etc
grim_tales wrote:LD, isn't the Ritek disc hard to find? No decent DVD of the HK version exsists (for English speakers).
Yes, it is very hard to find. I got it when it was still in print. And it is not of decent quality at all. Hence, I'm really looking forward to that US 2-discer Brian White and Bey Logan are working on for Dragon Dynasty.
grim_tales wrote:but its those who download stuff which is easily available or reasonably priced in their country that gets me (ie when there is a legit alternative)
but then again, what about those who dont get much money and cant afford to buy every cool looking film that comes out of the movie world? i can afford to buy every movie i want to watch no matter how cheap they are, so i often download them. if i like a movie then i'll go out and buy the dvd more often than not.
as for music Cd's fuck that never will i buy a music CD. not only do they rip you off, they rip the artists off as well, out of a £14 Cd the artist gets around £1 or less.. the rest goes to those fat cats in the music business. recording studios, agents, etc. i'd hardly call that fair. they work their assess of, writing, singing etc. and get paid barely anything whilst those people higher up get all the income...
i mean personally i dont mind that people do it for their own use...its when you go onto the market stlls and see 100's of Cd's/DVD's that are clearly pirated, for sale at "3 for £10" and all that shit. for me yeah thats not right, but if its for only your own use then i really dont have a problem with it.
if i never downloaded any movies that were "mainstream" then i'd barely see any movies at all.
Yeah I see what you mean. I mean all of us (nearly all) have taped songs off the radio and stuff like that. Not wrong with that, IMO. The only difference is we don't see the tapes on and try to make money. Large scale pirates do and must be stopped.
i agree with the large scale pirates, i mean theres nothing more annoying than when you buy a dvd thinking its real and its a pirate.
i mean what i download is only for me to watch/listen too. with movies my dad watches too, sometimes my aunt but its not like i copy them for friends and such, i wont even copy music for my siblings to give to their friends and stuff. personal viewing only basically. and i dont have a problem with people doing that lol
(incidentally yesterday i was in the market and some idiot had dvds for sale...wrapped with the WHSmith security tags still on them, some people are just too dumb )
Last edited by Shen on 18 Jul 2006, 15:56, edited 1 time in total.
I dont agree with selling downloaded stuff either, and I dont agree with people making a profit out of illegal stuff.
However, there was a girl at school who was interested in ong-bak, and wanted to buy it, and I told her to save her money cause it doesnt have a good DVD release, and provided her with a bootleg (for free ofcourse)
Same goes for other movies that arent available on a decent DVD: If I can then help them out I will...
Never ever for money though.
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
I don't pay for pirated goods. I'll trade to see if I like what it is I'm watching - and if I do I'll go buy an original, if not I'll trade it on for someone else to view. I only keep them when I can't get an original (this happens a lot with Kung Fu movies).
What about you?
if people pay the RRP of £19.99 for some DVDs more fool them IMO. If people resort to piracy/downloading which harms the industry, because of the high prices for legit product, then won;t prices have to keep going up, thus people download, thus prices go up, etc... that's a loop that just goes on and on.
Fair enough. Like you, I have DVD-R's of FOL as I have no other choice.
(Most french DVDs are around 30€ / £20 ).
