DRM Company Releases One-Sided Study On DVD Copying
from the let's-pick-this-apart dept
The MPAA has probably been the worst of the various Big Copyright industries in terms of the level to which their studies exaggerate the negative impact of unauthorized copying, while totally ignoring any positive impact. For example, it likes to widely cite a study (which it paid for) that triple- and quadruple-counts "losses" by noting the ripple effects. At the same time, it totally ignores the same positive ripple effects (the ones that cancel out the negative ones, and may even outweigh them). Of course, a big part of this is the claim that an unauthorized copy is a "lost sale."Now it appears that Macrovision, the big DRM company that supplies DRM to movie studios has cooked up its own study trying to support the MPAA in this argument, claiming that lots of people are copying DVDs and that most of them would buy the DVDs they copy otherwise. However, the LA Times' Jon Healey does an excellent job pointing out the many significant weaknesses in the study, starting, of course, with the fact that it was paid for by Macrovision, with a clear intent in the results. And while Macrovision hypes of the fact that many people in the survey said they would have bought the DVDs they copied, it ignores the fact that the majority of folks they spoke to said the DVDs they made copies of were ones they already legitimately owned.
Even then, the results really aren't as significant as Macrovision would like you (or, rather, Hollywood) to believe. As Healey notes, the study completely ignores the positive impacts of being able to make a copy of a DVD. In fact, the most common reason for making a copy was for perfectly legal time-shifting or back-up purposes from DVDs they legitimately own. In other words, being able able to make those copies is a valuable part of the DVD. Take that away and people will buy fewer DVDs because you've made them less valuable. But, of course, that doesn't show up anywhere in the results, because that's the last thing Macrovision wants people thinking about.
While the study also hypes up the fact that more TV shows are being copied via DVD, it ignores the fact that this is probably quite beneficial. Since TV shows are ongoing experiences, you want more viewers -- and if a copy of a DVD gets someone new hooked on the show, they're more likely to start watching it on TV or to buy a future DVD. But, again, that's not mentioned at all. Either way, props to Healey and the LA Times for digging into the numbers a bit and not just parroting the press release findings, like many other news sources.
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Filed Under: copying, dvd, losses, mpaa, piracy, statistics
Companies: macrovision
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DVD burning software
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Re: DVD burning software
If you want true unbiased info go to Doom9.net
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Dubious survey
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Working Backwards
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time shitfting?
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Re: time shitfting?
Q "how do you time shift a DVD?"
A: instead of watching it when you are at your home in front of your dvd player tv hook up, you rip it and watch it on a computer, ipod or other device when you are not home
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Re: time shitfting?
My provincial government used to offer free DVD movie rentals, almost like Netflix, to parents of handicapped children. The content was educational and narrow in focus, designed specifically for children with developmental disabilities, and it couldn't be purchased anywhere. The other problem was that we could only keep the DVDs for a week and then they had to be returned, because there were other parents on the waiting list.
We were receving an average of five to seven DVDs every week, and no child can possibly watch that many DVDs at once. So my husband made copies and immediately returned the DVDs, and he built up a library of educational material that will last our son for years.
Also, he was really pissed when he saw that the crown had smacked copyright infringement warnings on the front of all these DVDs. He said that our tax dollars paid to develop and produce much of the content on these DVDs, and he was going to be goddamned if anyone told him that he couldn't make a copy. Especially since we were using the content as it was intended, to provide stimulation and home learning for our son.
My husband also believed that when budget cuts hit, this program would be viewed as an expendable resource, and that's exactly what happened. Now, the Federal government has taken over the program, and only institutions qualify to borrow materials.
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Re: time shitfting?
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Why copy...
Attn: MPAA, "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US"
Fucking Retards :)
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Re: Why copy...
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Re: Why copy...
1. Because it is in your best interest to support quality. I often rent movies from Redbox even though they are available online. It is a convenient service at a fair price, which is what I demanded from the industry for years. Now that it is available, I will support the service by renting movies I want to see rather than downloading them. Also, I own many DVDs that I first downloaded, and most of the DVDs that I have from that process are the super special editions that the studio makes the most money from. I found that I really liked the movie, so I bought the best possible edition.
2. Sometimes copying is easier. I rent a Redbox movie, but something comes up so I don't get to watch it that night. I could spend a lot of time downloading it on my crappy 1MB connection. Or, I can copy the disc I have in hand. That, BTW, also answers the above question about time-shifting. I paid for the rental and the 'right' to watch the movie, but external forces interfered. So, I time-shifted that right to another time slot. In most cases, I never watch the movie again. If it's crappy, I will often throw the disc away rather than store garbage.
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Re: Re: Why copy...
plus the ones i want good just DL the video_ts version, i don't care much about the slightly lower quality, I have about 3TB connected directly to the TV and flip thru like an ipod, try that with reg dvds.
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Re: Re: Re: Why copy...
For me, downloading has its place mainly in finding old, rare, and out-of-print titles. No video store in my area has a selection that goes back more than a couple years. For newer movies, I rent, but always from Redbox. They charge $1.00 (or free with the coupons they scatter everywhere), not 4 or 5. For Weinstein realeases, I generally skip them or, in rare cases, download them. Their monopoly agreement with Blockbuster pisses me off.
I also must ask...20+ vids a night? Why? Quantity does not equal quality. I understand the addictive nature of it, though. Back in the DirectConnect days, I spent a ridiculous amount of time downloading stuff I would never watch because it was there. But I have come to realize that, if I am never likely to watch it, why have it? DVDRs may be cheap, but they're not free. If I am not going to watch it, I am throwing money and resources away. You can't possibly watch 20+ vids per night. If I don't rent, I download what I intend to watch. If I really like it and will watch it again, I will buy it (if it is available on DVD) to support the movie and gain the increased quality.
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Increased Value
I have no problem paying for the content, but once I've paid for it, let me consume it as I wish.
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What I Do
1. Rip the movie and save it on my hard drive
2. Burn a copy to a DVD and put away the original
3. Convert it to Xvid and later burn that with other Xvid movies onto a single DVD for the portable DVD players.
That is what is valuable to me. MPAA stop treating me as a criminal. I already paid for the DVD, go bugger off.
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Re: What I Do
anywho back to topic I also keep a digital copy of all dvd's I have, and burn a copy for view occasionally. (though full rips and images are getting taxing have been transcoding to h.264 lately), but with the speed and regularity that the shiny plastic things get damaged I would laugh at anyone who didn't archive at these prices.
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Stupid movie companies
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Re: Stupid movie companies
One you've just said -- get rid of all the stupid advertisements.
The other is so that my autistic daughter can watch the movie over and over without worrying about how badly she treats it. If she trashes a DVD, hey, I can just make another copy from the original.
Of course, the MPAA would rather I kept buying new copies. But, guess what? I can't afford to. Sorry, forcing me to keep replacing those wouldn't make me buy more. Can't squeeze blood etc.
BTW, most of the DVDs will let you either FF or skip through, or use one of the menu buttons. Try all of them before you give up.
The long drawn-out main menus are oh so clever and all, but it gets really tedious going waiting through that every time you want to watch Harry Potter. I've seen it, just let me get to the freaking movie!
(Sometimes the menu buttons can bypass that too. Sometimes it just makes things worse. *sigh*)
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Hayooo
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Re: Hayooo
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Re: Hayooo
Likely, they do. And they don't care. They have your money instead of Wal-Mart, so they're happy. They are distributors who make money when you rent. What do they care what you do with it?
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DVD burning software by DVD Copy Software
But it angers me that I have to put up with some cretin trying to cash in on something like this.
This is just whores' spam, everyone knows that free software is out on the net that does the same job.
If you want true unbiased info go to Doom9.net/forums
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STOP THAT! UNFAIR
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Re: STOP THAT! UNFAIR
Shortly there will be an implant chip that will go into your inner ear or right nostril that will monitor your thoughts and make sure you pay.
Data will be shared with the RIAA so you pay royalties any time you think of a song or arrangement or, heaven forbid, sing "Sympathy For The Devil" in the shower.
ttfn
John
PS: ET call home...the MPAA wants to discuss royalties owing because you took copies of your movie back home with you.
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What I think is funny...
To quote the famous yellow dude, "Doh!"
EtG
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att's putting macrovision on broadcasted fiber optic cable-digitized to prevent dvd copying.
it really gets me angry when regular tv programs have macrovision. You pay big bucks to watch tv that used to be free, paid for by commercials, but those greedy a-holes are even using macrovision on local network programs. Come on, they made their money from the commercials we are forced to watch that interupt the programs, PLUS we pay high fees to watch them so they make even more money, but like the old comic books that I collected as a kid and liked to read over and over, I like to select a few favorite shows and make a dvd to collect it for my personal use, afterall, they were paid to make it, paid by bogas advertisers, and by the viewers, thus they were paid 3 times already for a show that was suppossed to be free to view to start with. Almost every local channel has macrovision. That really sucks the big one in my opinion! I have stopped watching Heroes, Smallville, and several others to hope their ratings suffer enough to wise them up or bankrupt them, their choice. I think we paid not once but 3 times already just to watch it, and if I want to make a copy for future viewing when nothing good is on, or I just miss it because it was one of my favorites & want to see it again, that is my right that I paid for. If people didn't like to watch programs or movies more than once they wouldn't have old programs on some networks, or premium channels, or video oldies tv networks, or sell dvd's of the series. My making a copy does NOT stop me from buying them as they claim. For example, try to buy Heroes or Smallville in the video store. Yes I've seen smallville advertised on tv as being for sale, but every video store I callled didn't stock it or else in smallville's case they wanted over $500 for the series which isn't even over and would have to special order it which they say would take a few months to get, but most didn't offer it at any price. Hey, charge a resonable price and I will be first in line to buy it, it's alot less work than having to be there to copy it every week or miss a week because the network showed some dumb special instead one day so you missed an episode that might be important to the overall story! BUT $500??? And then they copy protect the dvd's to add insult to injury? That is just bullshit and why I refuse to even watch those programs anymore or anything on that channel. If we could all do that maybe those dumb ass's would figure it out, they are only hurting themselves and their ratings. An analog vhs recorder will copy the digital macrovision programs so I can copy them with a slightly inferior picture, but cannot make a dvd. You would need a digital to analog converter and a macro scrubber, unless someone knows where I can buy a digital macro scrubber or remover. If you do please respond. Thanks
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RESPONCE TO ANGRY AND PISSED OFF-ATT MACROVISION
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