How popular are iTunes etc paid for movie downloads?

I really would not mind downloads as long as they didn't lock you in with DRM. Blu-ray and DVD have DRM too, but at least you can watch those on pretty much any Blu-ray or DVD player in the same region code.

 

I primarily mind downloads because I'm already having a hard time saving up for an 8TB hard drive and a second 8TB hard drive to use as backup.

Spending $500+ dollars up front for the kind of storage space I'd need for downloads is a lot more painful than buying a $20 BluRay every few weeks!

But I know that is the wave of the [strike]future[/strike] present, so, eventually I will have to do so.

I am looking forward to how I'll finally be able to have high-definition versions of shows like Covert Affairs and Defying Gravity and My Name Is Earl and Don't Trust the B in Apt 23 - gosh the list goes on for pages and pages - shows that the studios never bothered to release on BluRay.

 

Yep. WD Red or HGST are the only drives I trust for backup. WD Red 8TB is $323.00 on Amazon currently. HGST Ultrastar is ~$400. There is also the Seagate Archival 8TB for ~$230, but Seagate looks to score the highest in failure rates.

I'm not moving over to downloads until the quality is equal to that of Blu-ray and I can get them without the restrictive DRM. I want to be able to watch them on many devices, not just whatever ecosystem the download is designed for. The music industry has done away with DRM on its products and it isn't bankrupt.

Also, encoding something with a program that uses x264 can save you a lot of space while retaining a good amount of quality, but it is a very time-consuming and resource-intensive process - even with a powerful i7 CPU.

 

This conversation prompted me to get season 1 of Arrested Development on iTunes, because it is on sale for $10. And that is pretty much what I'll pay for a download.

However, I know that in Germany, the show is on BluRay. The German BluRay of Arrested Development is region-locked so no point importing it… but it does mean that POSSIBLY the show may be released on BluRay in the United States someday, at which point I will regret having wasted $10 today on a download.

But… that point might be in several years when BluRays are a budget product produced by obscure labels who have licensed shows no one will (at that point in the future) care about anymore, sold mainly in cardboard standees in Bed Bath & Beyond…

 

Biggest concern I have as well. I don't like the idea of being locked into one vendor and then never being able to close my account. Ever.

Don't get me wrong...I have an Apple / Google / MS account. I just have few actual purchases on there...mainly store apps that I may not even need, down-the-road. But for movies and TV shows I want to keep around long-term, it's physical media + ripping them, no different than what I do for CD's.

 

This is the reason that prompted me to think Apple could keep it's iPhone users & lock new users in too. A bit of a stretch but still a thought I had.

 

For how long? That train is running out of tracks.

 

If you closed your Apple ID, I think your downloaded movies would continue to play, because the decryption key is kept on your computer - which is why they play now even if your internet is down.

But, without an AppleID you could not authorize a new device such as a new computer when your old computer wears out …so you would have to keep your Apple ID.

Then again an Apple ID is free, so, not a big problem.

 

They're doing that now, but selling directly on the net and on Amazon.

 

It's possible, but long-term I'd still be screwed - eventually I'd retire the old system / buy a new one.

Granted, it's not like Apple is going out of business tomorrow and it's not like I plan to retire my account either. I just like the idea that my old DVD's from twenty years ago still play, even though the company I bought them from many have gone out of business long ago. And I can rip them to a tablet or phone or my Roku. It's not impossible(?), but definitely harder to do that for an iTunes download.

 

Vudu is owned by Walmart, and this isn't the first time they've delved into online services with DRM (I think they had both music and movie downloads in the past).

I rent from them but I think I trust them even less with purchases as I would with Apple. Maybe if there was a reliable DRM ripper for my purchases I wouldn't care, haven't really looked into it however.

 

Then you are going to be waiting a long, long time. Basically, it will never happen. The only way you will be able to do that is if you take matters into your own hands.

No, the 'industry' isn't bankrupt, but the non-mega artists are. Also, music is a vastly different animal to video, as are their consumption patterns.

 

Too bad the release of feature films in 16mm never took off as home media. Much like vinyl, a contingent of people would be lusting for that analogue 16mm format today. Can you imagine being able to purchase such copies of Stanley Kubrick films?

I've really grown tired of digital nothingness.

 

Honestly, my response was more geared towards rentals. I thought the VUDU rentals looked and sounded better than any other streaming service I've used.

 

It's strange to see an old thread of mine pop up again.

Mistress America has still not been released on a physical format in the UK. I'm not paying £9 for a DRM locked digital copy; and I'm not renting it again at £4.49 (I think I paid about £2 to rent it just after Christmas last year using a money off voucher code).

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PS Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015) doc on Film4 tonight in the UK.


Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015) - IMDb »


11.10pm - Thursday 15th September 2016

The story behind a meeting of minds that changed the world of cinema forever. Kent Jones' documentary recounts the historic meeting between directors Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock, and explores the enduring influence that their weeklong conversation - published in the book Hitchcock/Truffaut - had on subsequent generations of filmmakers.

 

I don't think "young people" actually are the ones buying movies from iTunes. They either use Netflix (or similar), stream illegally, or download through torrents.

 

Me (at a bus stop, on the phone) on Tuesday: "Hey, remember that documentary series they played on the ABC about 10 years ago? 'Love Is In The Air: The Story Of Australian Pop Music'. We watched it on DVD from the local library"

Other end of the line: "Yeah! I'll see if they still have it. *clickety-clackety* Nope. Hang on, I'll try Quickflix [online DVD rental] *clickety-clackety* Nope. iTunes? *clickety-clackety* Nope. ABC iView? *clickety-clackety* OK, then , eBay! *clickety-clackety* Yes, there's a copy for $20 including shipping!"

Me: "And we have $20! Get it!"

Me on Thursday: "Wow! That was quick!"

Two things: (1) It originally retailed for $60-$75, depending on the exact shop, and (2) there is something to be said about physical media and second hand purchases!

P.S. Yes, in my world, keyboards getting typed on go clickety-clackety

 

But the demise of KickAss may have ended the majority of that. I suppose there may still be private trackers, but with the big famous ones all gone now the landscape has changed.

 

I think it's more about portability and not having a lot of stuff to tie them down.

 

Not really. According to TorrentFreak, TPB is back on top and many smaller sites have increased traffic. Private trackers and trackers in general don't matter so much anymore as distributed hash tables do the same job. What's had more of an impact is google search result down-ranking and dmca takedowns. But even so, pirating has an insignificant impact on overall industry profitability. Indeed, the global introduction of Netflix streaming is directly correlated with decreased piracy in the markets where it's become available.

 

My review in case anyone cares:


It’s a great book. There’s a lot to learn from the book about the manipulation of space and time, story construction, the impact of editing and other technicalities of filmmaking. It can almost be read as a ‘how to’ manual. Sadly this film has very little to say. I don’t think I learned anything. It basically says these two people sat down and talked. That’s about it. There’s a lack of insight beyond that. The film felt pointless with nothing of value to add to the book. So what that we can hear the actual voices of the people talking while clips from the movies play? It’s too short to go into any detail on anything, and when it does you get a load of meaningless tosh spouted about Vertigo by Martin Scorsese. The movie barely scratches the surface of what was said in the original interviews.


The other directors (Wes Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher etc) have nothing to say, and the tone is super respectful so nothing critical, and therefore interesting, is uttered. If you’ve read the book you can safely ignore this documentary as it contributes nothing extra. Also note that the book isn’t overly respectful and has criticism of Hitchcock’s films (whole movies are dismissed as uninteresting, Gregory Peck is called miscast as an un-Hitchcockian actor, mistakes are admitted to).


It was watchable enough so it’s far from a bad film, it’s just lacking in any real substance. It just feels like a superficial movie that exists for the sake of it rather than because there was any actual need for it.

 

There are some films I've bought from the iTunes store that aren't on blu-ray or DVD. Or it's on DVD, but it's somehow sub-par or pan and scan.

Multiplicity is one good example. It looks like it came straight from the mastering used for laserdisc and DVD, but I at least have it in widescreen nonetheless.

 

It was the studios' decision to add the DRM, because they're keenly aware of how digital files can spread like wildfire on the net. One stray copy could yield 100,000 viewers in less than 24 hours. Read the book How Music Got Free, which goes into detail about a decade-long escapade with music & video pirates in the late 1990s-early 2000s.

I remember when Steve Jobs spoke out against DRM for music in February 2007. Within a year or so, they had removed it, so finally music files were easily transferable between devices and between computers. But even he admitted that there's no way he could win that fight against the Hollywood studios and TV networks.

One reason for country-coding (or even forbidding download sales at all in some countries) is that there are films where one studio does not own the rights in every part of the world. For example, Warner Bros. may have the U.S. domestic rights, but Fox may own the rights in Europe and then another company has the rights in Asia. WB would be understandably pissed-off if you downloaded the movie from a Hong Kong sales site, since that's a loss of income for them.

 

I bought less DVDs after replacing my VHS collection, and then less Blu rays after DVD, and i’m pretty sure I won’t even get into UHD. I too, am content with Netflix or other streaming/downloads.
But then again, doing the same with my music collection.....

 

I guess that Major Kong couldn't be listening in on his earbuds then, and the music playing before he ejects had better not be from his iPod!