Trout

iTrader: (1)

There seem to be a lot of sites allegedly offering downloads of contemporary movies such as M:I3, Da Vinci, X men. For example there seem to be a lot of torrents available for these.

I am intrigued as to how/why FACT are not on top of this as it seems to be very publicly available, indeed there seems to be whole BBS communities into how to do this.

If it is so illegal - how is it so easy - allegedly

Also why don't FACT go after the owners of the IP addresses doing the upload?

Rannoch

Petem95

Because ISP's wont release this information freely.

And also the problem is huge, and tends to be lots of people ripping DVD's and uploading movies onto servers which are often located in places like the Far East etc. Its not like theres only a few people to go after, its hundreds of thousands.

FACT are a needle in the haystack of pirate movies, and cant really do very much other than try and scare people into not downloading movies.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Of course the other obvious question is how something like the Da Vinci code can be available online within 24hours of theater release!

16vmarc

Often inside people are leaking the films out. Theres still preview showings, but since they started doing simulatanious releases I don't think its as common. Theres still people that manage to film inside the cinema too!

Another problem lies where these torrents don't stay on line very long either

I think its like the TV licence van thing, unless they see you and check, theyr'e never going to know!

SiDHEaD

As they always point out on the adverts at the start of the cinema, the pirate copies can sometimes be rubbish compared to the cinema. So it's ok for them to be free.

If you want to see it in decent pic/sound go pay over the odds and sit with chavs at the cinema i say.

Torrents don't have central servers for the files themselves, only the torrent "link" files. Therefore the business of prosecuting is even more difficult, than say someone who uploads a film to their webserver to share.

16vmarc

"Its the experience that counts"

GC8

The quality is usually shocking; Id sooner go to the cinema or wait for the DVD.


Simon

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

the quality is'nt alway bad some times dvd quality, you just need to know what to download(allegidly). in some countys its not illigal to download material, think its sweeden???

16vmarc

Quite a lot of things are legal there though!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Allegedly I would suggest you are looking in the wrong places

A telecine copy gives a quality easily good enough for watching on PC, PSP or Smartphone, allegedly

paulr

Why bother spending ages downloading a poor quality copy to save a few quid when you have spent £xxx000's on a decent av system?

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

Allegedly if you look for screeners you get dvd quality, or some cases allegedly you can get a dvd rip because its out on dvd in another county before its relised over here

ron

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

Allegedly

EXSCOOBY

or you could download or "leech" as im told the term is
pure high def ts files which make the shoddy matted stuff you see in the cinema look terrible
some of the dvd9 files look spiffing on a 2 metre screen being fed by a hd projector too
all alledgedly of course

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I guess the FACT propaganda has been successful in persuading people that downloadable material is someone holding a VHS cam in the back of the pictures.

Oh well I will just wait for six months for the film that I have already paid to see come out on DVD then

JackClark

Leech is the word and quite fitting it is too. Sucking the blood of others who've worked to provide entertainment.

Geezer

The quality of stuff you download form the internet is the same as the quality you get with retail DVDs, usually because they have been ripped from retail DVDs! Some are screeners, but still the same quality.

It's the crap you buy from dodgy market traders that is rubbish quality. Usually filmed in a theatre.

Geezer

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

If you want to be first to watch every thing then sure, if you download it, it could well be a mpeg recorded by a camcorder in the back of a cinema.

However, seeing that many other countries get films primered before the UK, so by teh time they are shown here they are on DVD in the states, it is quite possible to download a dvd version of a film which usually is about the same quality as digital TV (i.e Sky movies ).

Also if you wait a while or pick a film that has been out for a few months, then you will find much better quality ones than what would be on offer on the same week as the premier.

Me? I don't bother downloading flims, just can't be bothered with it hogging my bandwdith (even with4mb), and I only have a 40gig hard disc and it's pretty full now.

But I do stream live football matches and download the odd episode of top-gear that I've missed (The Top Gear torrents are excellent quality too)

Legality, well until we have a big brother capeable of looking at evey single individal computer, any official body looking for a prosecution has a task on their hands. Many torrent sites are based in countries that US-based lawers and associated laws does have any juristiction, and they do not actually host any illegal content - just telling you where to get it. So unless they want track down every individual downloader and uploader of a torrent, then they have a mammouth task.....and that's before I've got to talking about the use of anonymous proxy servers and IP address spoofing

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

the other thing is the mppa(what ever its called) get a cut of the profits of the films so its no wonder they're so bothered about piracey and i think the bbfc are also on the payrole

ron

Markus

OK, here's a question for anyone who has downloaded a movie, regardless of location. What's the sound quality like, for example, would you have DD/DTS encoding present?

The only .avi I've watched in recent years was "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars" which a friend downloaded a few days after it aired in the US. The quality was ok, but the sound was not up to scratch. It was watchable, but I went out and purchased it on DVD, partly for better picture quality, but mainly for better audio.

If the downloads contain DD/DTS soundtracks then perhaps I might consider downloading the odd movie, but to be honest I'd need to check that my dvd player will handle the file before I burn it, or get a machine that'll output DD/DTS and hook that up to the amp and tv, but that is far to much hassle to be honest.

Echo

Having experienced the damage downloading of illegal music has caused at first hand I can only warn that the net result of people stealing and not buying the DVD's or going to the cinema will be worse and worse films with lower and lower production values. It's robbing people, many in this country, of their jobs.

Markus

Care to elaborate on how it affected you?

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

all the films i download are full dvds, i would rather not spoil my viewing watching some stupid cam version, and dolby digital is very important to me for watching a dvd as thats why i paid a fortune for my home cinema setup

Ray_li

do you pay for these?

Trout

iTrader: (1)

In principle I agree - however if I have paid to watch a film in the theatre than I feel that to download a copy to watch on PC (I am away on business a lot) for personal use and then to buy the DVD when the release comes out for my high performance home system is probably rewarding enough people in the chain.

All hypothetically of course

PS I bet that massively inflated Hollywood salaries and the hegemony of global distribution has done far more damage to the independent film industry than piracy has. Indeed some great independents have only blossomed as the web enables distribution that was previously off limits. Same goes for the new generation of musicians.