This perhaps belong in another category, but I think we can start the discussion here as most of us are into movies.

Just as the topic says, what is your opinion on piracy? I'm not talking about the kind of piracy when people burn movies on Dvd-R's and sell it, I'm talking about piracy on the internet. Illegal file-sharing would perhaps be a better word to use.

In Sweden, piracy is common and it's hard to find people at age of 25 or below who doesn't download movies, games and music. Because of this, the majority at least doesn't seem to be against it. It wasn't until 2005 that it became illegal to download copyrighted material for free and many people here just think it's ridicilous to pay for what they're using. Most people says that they wouldn't have bought the movie anyhow and that most of the movies they're downloading are impossible to find.

But really, is that really some good reasons? Maybe they wouldn't have bought one specific movie that they've downloaded, but they would've at least bought something rather than nothing! And when you're looking at the top lists over the most downloaded movies of the last weeks (or of all time), I sure as hell can't see any movies by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergei Paradnajov or such in those lists. All I can find in those lists are the latest movies from Hollywood such as Battleship and Warrior, and those movies are about as far away from rare or uncommon as can be.

What ruins it for the rare movies around here is that it's hard for the company to release them on Dvd or Blu-Ray. There are quite some people here who are into anime but few are buying the series. A couple of series have been released here on Dvd and that's a tough sell for the companies as it's so easy to find anime on the net and the chance they'll find the file-sharers are low.

Personally, I'm a collector and have honestly never downloaded a movie. I have downloaded some SRT-files for some french films I've bought on Dvd that turned out not to have any subtitles. I used to download music when I made my own movies, but now I have a CD and vinyl collection of about 200 albums that I'm using, for music I don't have I use Spotify. I used to be a collector of video games but I've sold off just about everything.

The biggest problem to me with file-sharers is that I don't get a serious impression from them. Don't you think that Andrei Tarkovsky, Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman deserves something better than some illegal .avi-files circulating on the net? I know that they're dead, but the work they're putting down on restoration is worth paying if you ask me.

Tarkovsky once said that film is a sad kind of art as it's all about money, not that a movie is very expensive but that it's made and marketed as cigarrettes. To the companies, a good movie has to sell. If it doesn't sell, it isn't good.
But honestly, would he say that file-sharing is a better alternative?

I used to download alot when I was young and in school, and I undestand still today that young people with no jobs download most their entertaiment.

But if you have a job and income you have to support the industry. I got a saying that is pretty easy to follow: If you want to watch or hear the product, pay for it. If you dont think its worth the money then dont see it, but ffs dont download it.

I think its the smaller companies that have taken the hardest fall, and like said. Also the music industry have the hardest fall off the 2. It used to be released alot of interesting music from indie labels which you know would be good but now its pretty much impossible to find the gems. I was involved with a big indie label and since 5 years ago we coudlnt sign any bands becouse it didnt matter how good they were, you cant sell the music. We have turned down so many great artists that still are unknown for the public. And the most funny thing is that everyone was complaining that the record industry was making so much money so we can download the music becouse they dont deserve the money. Then spotify came along, 10 euros a month and its legal. 99% of the money goes to the larger record companies, but thats ok becouse its now cheap for me.... Dont get me wrong, spotify is a good service and legal, but its wierd that the ones that blamed the companies of making to much money now are on spotify. It gives me the feeling that it was more about that they wanted a underpriced service, not that the big companies made to much money. but i guess it was an easy way of defending your own downloading.

I cant remember that Ive downloaded anything in the last 5 years. One of my friends though, that makes more money than me downloads everything. Paying is for stupids.

And about the know laws, I might not agree that I like them all. But I do understand why the industry is trying to defend its chance to make money. Becouse it now about how much money thay make, as long as you can get their product for free they will loose money, that is now an argument its a fact. I also stand by that if you got nothing to hide you got nothing to worry about eithee, so I dont really see the harm.

Its sad to see that japan have now started to catch up with the rest of the world. The music industry have started the fall, shops closing everywere and sales going down. Japan have really been a mecca for entertaiment and have long been left out of the heavy piracy. Lets up they have been acting in time and not 10 years to late like in europe,

Sorry for my english and I do relize that this might not be shared be many, but you are free to have your own opinion.

I don't download movies or music. If I do it's usually fansubbed anime that hasn't been released in the US yet. And when they are released in the US, I buy the DVD or blu-ray and delete the downloaded version. Unfortunately, not too many follow the same suit (which has hurt the anime industry in the US.)

It also annoys me that people think they can just download anything they want and think that it's okay that they're not paying for it.

Sorry to annoy Elah but I download like a crazy MoFo. In fact, I haven't watched a laserdisc in weeks cause I'm trying to get through the back log of s**t that I'm continuously downloading.

Sometimes downloading is the only way to get your hands on a movie, just because it is not (yet) released on DVD or possibly never will be.

Just think about fan-edits, like the original Star Wars trilogy, of which there are now several edits in very good quality that come very close to the originals the way they were in the late seventies.

I download. A lot. And I do it in the Netherlands, where it is legal to download music and films. It is just the uploading that is illegal over here, so P2P is not the proper way to do it. Just get yourself a newsleecher and search the binaries. Simple as that.

For me this was the only way to get hold of the Moroder-version of Metropolis remade by Gil Anderson.

Downloaded stuff is usually junk. I've seen some stuff that looks really really bad. People holding cameras in a theater and I don't think the movie industry has anything to worry about in these cases. If it's a movie that's still out in theater I would just shut it off and delete it right away. I need at least DVD/LD quality if I'm going to see it. Music is that way too. There's a difference between CD quality sound and your average bit torrent variety. I never listen to anything on CD any more. But I better be the one encoding it. 256kbs is pretty good and you won't be able to tell the difference on most systems. But there's a lot of junk out there. Again, the industry doesn't have anything to worry about on those.

Lately I've been going after some music LD's and have really enjoyed the visual quality and crisp cd sound as compared to watching bits and pieces on CrapTube. I find myself bringing home more original stuff now as compared to when downloading was big.

When I was in grade 10, about 10 years ago, I was big into Kazaa and downloading movies, which were split into 2 avi files, around 150 megabytes each, and they looked like crap. But it was what kids were doing. That lasted for maybe a year. All that time I was downloading music, but I had been doing that since grade 7 or so, when Napster hit the scene.

But after 2003 or so, I really stopped downloading much of anything. I got a job, and started buying things. DVDs, records, CDs, games. No more downloads or emulators or burned games.

Since then I have continued to buy pretty much everything if I want to watch/listen to it. If one of my favourite bands comes out with a new album, I more often than not buy the CD. I can't bring myself to pay for digital downloads of items.

The only times I download anything now are if a movie is out of print, not available in this region, or just not available on DVD or Laserdisc. The only exception is I will download episodes of TV shows that aired the night before. I keep those downloads until the DVD or Blu-ray comes out, then I delete them and buy the official release.

I only ever download mp3s if I am making a ringtone out of them.

hehe that reminds me of a friend of mine that complained on the PQ on lasers and explained that blurays are so much better, then he downloading TSrips jsut so he can watch them before they hit the market =)

I dont download anything that I can buy. If I want a movie and it wasnt available on DVD or Laser I would download it. Once it became available then I would buy it. People have to make money or they will quit making things. You download anything and dont pay for it it is stealing, plain and simple. I dont care where you are. You listen you pay, unless it is Metallica, then you can download all you want. Seriously, that is my opinion. You want the movie and music industry to stop producing things just keep it up. We will then continue to get crap like Battleship and whatever and no one will want to film or record anything. As was stated about the indi recording studio, how much good music did we miss out on because jackholes would just download it and not pay. That being said, you buy something you can record it, you cant sell it but you can duplicate it. I rip every movie I buy and put it on my computer to watch elsewhere. I rip every cd and record I buy and put it on my music players. I physically own a copy and feel I can rip if for personal use.

The Original Fantastic Four - One of my guilty pleasures.
Vampires in Retreat - Owned a burned copy for years and it finally came out on DVD. I bought it.

Like a good few others who have posted on this thread I'd much rather own the physical item than have a hard drive filled with files.
In fact I'd sooner buy a used VHS tape of a title that hasn't been re-issued yet and digitize it myself than resort to buying a bootleg or download.
I know I could do a better job transferring it and I'd have the satisfaction of still owning the original item which still holds some value unlike digital downloads which are worthless.

For that reason I still buy loads of CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, laserdiscs, VHS and vinyl LPs. I've always loved collecting music from a very young age and still have every item I ever bought. That will continue for the rest of my life. I'm all for supporting the film and particularly the music industry in whatever way I can.

Agreed, now if you can find a copy of the original fantastic four on vhs let me know, lol. Now to find a copy of decline of the western civilization part 3

i download once in a while, i got bit torrent lol but i hardly ever use it. Once in a while I'll use it to download a computer game or something, and yes sometimes I'll get music and movies too... I collect most of my music on record though, and I don't have a USB turntable so I kinda have to download music to listen to it in the car.. I don't feel bad if I have the record! I don't really download movies much though, but I do go to tube plus or hulu sometimes to watch a movie on my computer that I wanna see once but know i wouldn't want to see again!

As a whole though I do agree with everybody else here, film makers need to make money, and so do music artists. I'm actually freinds with quite a few local bands and they'd kill me if they caught me downloading!

I download DVD-Audio discs made from quadraphonic albums that have never been officially released in a digital format - stuff like the soundtracks to Earthquake and Jaws in quad - they come from quad open reel, CD-4 Discrete LP's and SQ Quad LP's, plus some from record company insiders with access to the masters. Since the record companies won't release them, they are losing nothing from my downloading. If its not available in a modern format, it's fair game. I would buy them if they were commercially sold, but they aren't.

That is fair. If you cant buy it as a first sale person you should be able to download it as the companies are not losing money.

Unreleased music is the only stuff I would also buy on bootleg CD for the same reasons as disclord. If it ever gets issued I always buy the original CD.
A classic example is the series of unreleased Stevie Nicks material that has been available in bootleg form for many years.
Another example being the 4th Mr. Mister album - 'Pull' which was eventually released by the band themselves. I have both the original bootleg and the band's release which is vastly superior.

I think we should download everything that isnt avaible on laserdiscs =)

If a movie isn't available on Dvd, Blu-Ray, Hd-Dvd or Laserdisc, I'll search forever to find an original copy of it. I don't know how long I've looked for a copy of Dead Man's Letters. I'd even buy it without subititles just because I've wanted to see it for so long. And I searched for years to find Raven's End (Kvarteret Korpen) on Vhs as the movie has never been released on Dvd. I always stay as far away from file-sharing as a I can, just because I'm a crazy cinephile...

I have 0 interest in illegal files. I prefer to buy them with artwork I'd rather hold the product than it being on the computer in ones 1111 and zeroes 0000.

Pirate films always first time and every time look and sound rubbish they'd be better off using DNR on them.

There's a few things I hate about dvds and blurays when purchasing the discs (I don't own bluray, so there may be other nuisances that I haven't discovered yet) :
1. Promos and other film's previews.
2. Disabling remote control functions.
3. Some DVDs nag you to install software when the disc is used with a pc
4. Way-over-the-top menus
5. Although I could tolerate the FBI messages, others may find it annoying. I'm not a fan of multilingual FBI messages, if the DVD player is set to display text/menus in spanish, the spanish FBI warning should be displayed.

Some of my DVDs are so annoying that I download a copy and reburn a new DVD without all the features (most importantly the previews). The Patriot is a good example, it has a ton of previews before getting to the main menu and it disables the Menu key on my remote. So in order to watch The Patriot I have to hit fast forward about 12 times before getting to the disc menu.

Some DVDs have the "Pirating is bad" PSA which disables all remote control functions. I paid for the DVD, why am I being punished to watch this PSA?

Imagine if CDs made you listen to previews of other artists before listening to the music...
Imagine if iTunes did the same thing after purchasing a song/movie/tv show...

Life would suck.

The joy about Laserdiscs is that there are no preview and you can skip through the FBI warnings if you wish.

Some of us have grown accustomed to popping some popcorn and gathering snacks while the DVD plays all of its previews. That's kinda sad.

DVDFAB is your friend, lol. I agree, rip away if you own it. I do and put the movies on my computer to watch on my xbox.