Nearly Half of 'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Has Leaked Online

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
Messages
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Well, that’s going to make a short season for Game of Thrones. :D HBO has a serious case of leakage which put nearly half of the upcoming current season in the hands of 800K torrent downloaders yesterday and today and still counting. This fact doesn’t seem to even faze HBO as much as it does other companies, since HBO seems to consider it a form of advertising and promotion. :eek:

“Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy.”
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All the cool people are watching Daredevil instead.
 
I'm an avid shooter, so on Monday I'll just have to bring a pair of my ear muffs with me to block out all the SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE spoilers. :D
 
I've heard rumors that there is up to episode 6 leaked actually, also in 720p. But will be released slowly or whenever the dude gets off on the hype of it.
 
Im a paid sub specifically for GoT... and for some reason I am inclined to download all of these episodes now just to spare myself the pain of everyone @ work spoiling everything... SELF PRESERVATION GOD DAMMIT!
 
350MB video files, ya pure crap quality there, unless you are watching it on your phone don't even bother...
 
I was surprised at how good Daredevil is. As for GoT season 5 it is pretty good. Except I remember things differently in the book. The turned most of it backwards.;)
 
I hope HBO will continue to have such a progressive outlook on piracy. I'm an HBO subscriber through FIOS - I'm "paying" for these episodes, no matter how I download them. Likewise, all the people who are HBO Go subscribers (it took HBO long enough to allow GO to be purchased separately. Now they need to bring down the price). Nobody is going to stop their subscription because of a few leaks and hardly anyone will not re-up - after all, anyone subscribing is doing it for more than one show.

The smartest thing for HBO to do right now? One up these leaks. Release full 1080p versions via HBO Go (and HBO on demand) for immediate streaming. Hell, do that for at least half the season, if not the entire one!
 
MrGuvernment said:
Because the resolution is 1280 x 720 it is considered HD, problem is the bitrate sucks donkey balls...
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At least those I've seen are in 480p - 720x392. Truly SD, not halfassed HD. Though for what its worth, it certainly isn't perfect, but with a decent player you can upscale watchably enough to 1080p. If there are some floating around at any HD resolution - even upscaled (and I've heard rumors of this in "the places we dare not speak of", along with Episode 5.) then lots of people will be very excited.

As I said before, this would be perfect for HBO to take advantage of the SD quality and one-up the links with an easily available full HD version. Hell, I'm pretty sure that out of those who have downloaded a SD copy, if they were told "You can have a 1080p edition of the first 5 episodes tonight, plus a lot of great stuff for like $8/monthly..." they'd subscribe immediately. Convenience, quality, value! Time to strike when the iron is hot, HBO!
 
Meh -- was tempted to download them, but I have no problem waiting for the HD versions week after week.
 
I downloaded 3 episodes last season of GoT from a torrent site and recieved a cease and desist from HBO in under 24hrs of it taking place. I don't really think of them as that progressive IMO. Not that I have anyone to blame but just don't want people to think they don't care.
 
“Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy.”
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Sure they say that now that Top Gear has been canceled...
 
you know what else would be good for market penetration? Release the whole season at once like Netflix. Watching HBO GO feels so oldschool now having to wait week after week for a new episode.
 
If its a reviewer copy... i wonder if they can trace who is the reviewer.
 
Oh man that's just terrible. Disgusting really!

There's so many of those sites out there....so which one was it...?? ;)
 
The Gonz said:
Oh man that's just terrible. Disgusting really!

There's so many of those sites out there....so which one was it...?? ;)
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As my income has increased over time there have been many shows that I started watching through downloads and then switched to paid subscriptions. If you can afford it, it's much easier and convenient to just pay the $15/month - HBO gets it! I'm not condoning piracy although it's a useless battle, you might as well look for the positive.

Kudos to HBO for accepting it for what it is instead of threatening a bunch of college kids with legal action for watching it in their dorm room while eating ramen :D
 
It stands to reason that the leak was intentional by HBO. Like a drug dealer giving you the 1st sample free so you keep coming back for more. Like he said "Better than an Emmy".
 
we tried to pay for HBO through sling tv, but had to cancel as there was no back view. you are stuck watching it in real time like live tv.. um no. that and no DVR ability, its like its the 90's all over again

WTF?


$15 a month to be forced to arrange my schedule around yours?

no thanks
 
HBO Exec said:
"Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy."
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It is refreshing to see a large media enterprise embracing this understanding. Yes, this is piracy, but if you look at the research, it does promote product revenue.

The way I look at it, the more consumers you get talking about the product, the more word of mouth advertising you get. Most companies understand that word of mouth advertising is best form. So embrace Piracy, by understanding it is out there and at the same time providing a easier, more efficient solution. That way when the pirates are talking about it, the people who either don't know how or don't want to bother with the effort to pirate or simply going to subscribe to the business model as a service.
 
kattana said:
we tried to pay for HBO through sling tv, but had to cancel as there was no back view. you are stuck watching it in real time like live tv.. um no. that and no DVR ability, its like its the 90's all over again

WTF?


$15 a month to be forced to arrange my schedule around yours?

no thanks
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Are you serious? I wonder if the Apple version is the same way.
 
kattana said:
we tried to pay for HBO through sling tv, but had to cancel as there was no back view. you are stuck watching it in real time like live tv.. um no. that and no DVR ability, its like its the 90's all over again

WTF?


$15 a month to be forced to arrange my schedule around yours?

no thanks
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Can you set up media center to download the stream?
 
VitaminTee said:
As my income has increased over time there have been many shows that I started watching through downloads and then switched to paid subscriptions. If you can afford it.........
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Anybody can afford it. If you can afford a computer and internet connection you can afford a fucking $5 movie. If you cant afford it, then you have bigger issues like quitting your part time job working the fryers at McDonalds and getting a real job like cashier at Wal-Mart.
 
DocSavage said:
Are you serious? I wonder if the Apple version is the same way.
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Nope, that's just Dish failing to undestand the importance of "on-demand" when it comes to streaming and not the mere act of just streaming over the internet.
 
There's got to be a better reason for why HBO's streaming service sucks. Or maybe it really is just easier to let the Internet deliver your content to customers.
 
To be honest, this year, thanks to HBO launching HBO Now - I will happily pay HBO and wait until they become available on HBO Now "legit."

Their policy has worked perfectly. I "acquired" previous seasons episodes the day after broadcast (or even sooner, I'm on the West Coast of the USA, and there were often times my wife and I had finished the latest episode before it had even started airing locally.)

But now? I want to reward HBO's behavior - forgiving/accepting the sharing, and finally allowing those of us who don't want to pay Comcrap $60/month just so we would THEN have the ability to pay HBO...
 
McFry said:
Anybody can afford it. If you can afford a computer and internet connection you can afford a fucking $5 movie. If you cant afford it, then you have bigger issues like quitting your part time job working the fryers at McDonalds and getting a real job like cashier at Wal-Mart.
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How is that working out for you, McFry?
 
Kueller said:
How is that working out for you, McFry?
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I'm now head cashier and even get to train people how to sack for me (cashier training is reserved for team leaders) plus my boss says I do a good job picking up random items customers throw on the floor and just need to work on actually putting them back in the proper locations.
 
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