Could the MPAA benefit by allowing movies for legal downloading?

B

Bob002

Gawd
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
884
The thread on LokiTorrent got me thinking (and reading).

If Hollywood were smart, they would start to offer their movies for download, don't you think?

Sure, someone will eventually crack it, but it's a way for them to make a little more money, vs. suing people who probably wouldn't have the ability to pay in the first place.

Sure sure, you can sit there and say "don't do the crime, blah blah blah", but that's not what this thread is about.

If Hollywood came up with some sort of distribution software that would allow you to download a movie and view it at home, would that would be a good idea? Like if it were a newer movie, vs one that came out 4-5 months ago.

I know I would be interested in something like that. I have younger kids, and that sometimes makes it harder to go see movies than if I didn't. They already tried the discs that once exposed to air started to degrade after 24 hours or whatever. I think that was actually a pretty decent idea, but poorly executed. I would think it could be made to work.

Thoughts?

Please don't start to talk on the evils of filesharing, blah blah blah.
 
my take is that all media companies better prepare to have all there media distributed via the net. The tech is there, it's just that they do not know how to make $ off it. but as I have learned, technological determinism is a very real thing. If the tech exists, and it is viable, than it *will* be used.

I predict that within 20 years or less, everything data will be "on demand" usage, no more disks or anything material.

so yeah, they can benefit from it, and even if they don't think they can, they better start figuring it out, because there's no stopping it really.
 
darw_n said:
my take is that all media companies better prepare to have all there media distributed via the net. The tech is there, it's just that they do not know how to make $ off it. but as I have learned, technological determinism is a very real thing. If the tech exists, and it is viable, than it *will* be used.

I predict that within 20 years or less, everything data will be "on demand" usage, no more disks or anything material.

so yeah, they can benefit from it, and even if they don't think they can, they better start figuring it out, because there's no stopping it really.
Click to expand...

Well, here's kinda my take on it. And I also discussed this with the Lowkee, of LokiTorrent.

There would be 2 versions. I low-quality, small file one that would be cheap. Or, a higher quality, more expensive one. Now, you could take the route of Apple with their AAC format, or leave it in a generally accepted format. Either way, someone will find a way around it eventually.

Make the cost like 3 dollars for the crappy version, and maybe 10 bucks for the high-res. Distribute over BT. Do this with either new releases a few weeks after they come out, rather than multiple months later. My logic on the pricing is that the company no longer has to pay for packaging or the DVD itself, which would easily save them 5-6 dollars, minimum.

Sure, people will eventually start burning them to DVD, etc. But, you're still making more money than you would if people just keep downloading.
 
Bob002 said:
Well, here's kinda my take on it. And I also discussed this with the Lowkee, of LokiTorrent.

There would be 2 versions. I low-quality, small file one that would be cheap. Or, a higher quality, more expensive one. Now, you could take the route of Apple with their AAC format, or leave it in a generally accepted format. Either way, someone will find a way around it eventually.

Make the cost like 3 dollars for the crappy version, and maybe 10 bucks for the high-res. Distribute over BT. Do this with either new releases a few weeks after they come out, rather than multiple months later. My logic on the pricing is that the company no longer has to pay for packaging or the DVD itself, which would easily save them 5-6 dollars, minimum.

Sure, people will eventually start burning them to DVD, etc. But, you're still making more money than you would if people just keep downloading.
Click to expand...


If it's a rental thing all they have to do is look at the websites that rent out adult streaming movies. The quality is not there, but thats just the limitation of how much the website doing the rental is willing to spend in my opinion.

Now, unless its a movie I really care little about seeing, I'm going to see it in a theater first. It's all about the experience. Something most people aren't getting by downloading rips or video cam captures. If it's a movie I don't care much for seeing in the theater, I'll wait until it comes on HBO or something. (Which for the latter is the equivalent of downloading and watching them. Thats just my take on it.)

On the other hand if it's a foreign film that the U.S. will probably never see the release of, then in some ways I'm for downloading them. It just boils down to availability. (This is what we are really missing out on. Instead of getting movies that are remade for the U.S. audiences, The Ring, The Grudge, etc.., we can watch them as they were meant to be.)

I would prefer to own the DVD if it's a movie I like. Plus I like the extras & what not on DVD.
 
yeah, but your still thinking in the terms of owning something material, and that data transfers will be slow still.

I say that we, and the industry should stop thinking in terms of "material objects" and look at things in terms of just data

with the advent of SFF and HTPC and the home terrabyte+ server, that crazy 8 core chip, I think it would be more exciting to have the ability to pick and choose at will instead of having a physical "library" of DVD's to pick from.
 
darw_n said:
yeah, but your still thinking in the terms of owning something material, and that data transfers will be slow still.

I say that we, and the industry should stop thinking in terms of "material objects" and look at things in terms of just data

with the advent of SFF and HTPC and the home terrabyte+ server, that crazy 8 core chip, I think it would be more exciting to have the ability to pick and choose at will instead of having a physical "library" of DVD's to pick from.
Click to expand...


To me anything consisting of 0's and 1's does not exist. Until it is on something I can hold in my hand...it ain't there. Text documents need to be printed. Filmstock I can hold, DVD's I can hold, 0's and 1's slip through the fingers. I would rather have the physical library, because the way things are contained change all the time. Filmstock, to video, beta/vhs, laserdisc/CD/DVD, etc...Filmstock deteriorates, as does video and discs. The technology in which to encode movies to digital changes all the time, not every few years like their physical cousins. Until there is a final version, you're going to continually have the Real vs. Quicktime vs. Avi vs. Divx or what have you. A monopoly will never exist for that format. THX vs SDDS...I think you get the point.

The thing is the quality is not there either. You're still missing that point. It's not about the speed, but the quality. We still have a long, long way to go to get to that point where we can have our instant gratification when it comes to movies.

Just because I like technology does not mean I trust it to never fail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top