If it's crap... We'll tell you
He's just NOT that into movie bootlegs: Video Piracy: Friend or Foe of movie-aholics?
Okay, in all my 30 plus years of watching movies, I gotta start out by saying I've seen my share of bootlegged movies. Mostly friends/family members lending me movies they got at the flea market or swap meet in town.
And with maybe a few exceptions, all have been grainy or you see silhouette of somebody's head, like in Mystery Science Theater 3000. Nothing to the level of factory quality. Plus I'm one of those movie geeks that loves to listen to the audio commentary tracks on the movie right after I view the film for the first time.
I understand the arguments that not all movies get theatrical releases where one lives. Many have shared that they've seen Rec even though the movie hasn't been released here in the U.S. I'm suspecting that they mean they actually saw a bootlegged/pirated copy or over the net somewhere.
The price of going to the movies is expensive, and people just want to see the movie either free or for a substantial lower cost , keeping the movie and not racking up video rental fees, or people just want to relax at the comfort of their own homes and watch the latest films out there without having to get a babysitter or whatever.
I dunno, I do stress that for the bootlegs I've seen, the production quality always lags. I guess I like all the bells and whistles that come with a factory made DVD film, that doesn't skip in my movie player or gets that crazy mosaic pattern every ten minutes.
Movie studios are using new technologies such as watermarking their films in such a way as to be only visible to a video camera and not the human eye. Some studios are planning internet distribution of current films simultaneously with their theatrical release in the next few years. As far as DVD screeners getting leaked out, I have no idea how that could be stopped, but every time I see a copy of one, those words "SCREENER ONLY" or something like that, at the bottom popping up kinda annoys me while I'm getting into the movie.
So am I alone in saying that "I'm just not that into bootleggs" or are there others like that feel the same way too? Just throwing the topic out there. What are your guys opinions on this controversial topic.
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Comment by Rolland on February 15, 2009 at 9:26pm - In Mexico, Going to the Multiplex is not as expensive as in the US, but still most people would rather shell out 30 pesos (about 2 dollars) for a couple of poor quality DvDs than 50 pesos for a movie ticket. I guess such a habit is for people who don't love movies as much as many of us here. I don't like Piracy because I think it's a swindle to pay for something the quality of which isn't certain.
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Comment by keyser soze on February 15, 2009 at 8:11pm -
I totally dont like dirty low quality bootlegs..not because they are illegal...why should me...a guy making 8 or 9 bucks an hour...care for someone making 5 milliion instead of 10 million?? ...awwwww....one convertible instead of two... poor guy.
However Im totally down with burning movies after renting them. My entire collection is based on that.
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Comment by tibbs on February 15, 2009 at 7:45pm - Anybody remember old VHS bootlegs? Those were really awful to watch, especially the two VCR dubs people got, then copied again off of that. Put you still watched it because you really wanted to see the movie.
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Comment by stilgar on February 15, 2009 at 12:26pm - bootlegs suck ...wait for the dvdrip :D no but seriouslly if the movie is awesome and it gets a decent release date(Romania....so we usually have to wait a few mounths some times example :punisher us 5 december ,romania 20 feb) i preffer to see it on the big screen if not ....dvdrip with friends :D
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Comment by tibbs on February 15, 2009 at 10:06am
- ha ha heh heh
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Comment by Itchinader on February 15, 2009 at 6:39am
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Comment by tibbs on February 14, 2009 at 11:04am
- I perfectly understand what you are saying, a friend of mine from Pakistan told me something very similar.
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Comment by mythcaller on February 14, 2009 at 10:27am -
I'm from Vietnam and am a big fan of Hollywood movies. Truth is, the most accessible form of entertainment here is pirated movies. There few main reasons why as a movie fan that regardless of how bad the quality might be, I still download them or buy the pirated ones.
Firstly, movies reach theaters here 1,2 months after their U.S. or worldwide release, I can't go into forums and avoid someone spoiling something for me.
Secondly, movies that do get here (R-rated or NC-17 is one of a dozen or less or not at all some years) are censored to whatever it is our government thinks might provoke a revolution or disturb the one-party-ruling regime.
Thirdly, 1/3 of movies are shown with their original audio with subtitles. Otherwise we get some woman translating (mostly reading out the lines for every character) for the entire movie in Vietnamese. I can understand english pretty well so it's very annoying. I can understand why it will take time for this situation to improve. Lastly, a DVD in the U.S. is something >&10 on average...that is roughly 200,000 VND (vietnam dong, our currency). This is very expensive. Probably why in vietnam there's no legitimate distributor/retailer of Hollywood films or any foreign at all because unless it's price competitive to pirated ones (which is dirt cheap and sometimes if you wait long enough, you get the copy of the original DVD release which you can't tell the quality difference) then things will remain as they are.
So if the issue is boycotting pirated films, I personally think you guys in the U.S. have more options (not saying that some movies are awful and a waste of money) when it comes to your buying options.
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Comment by c_bear on February 14, 2009 at 12:14am - I think I've seen 1 whole movie on bootleg. That was a long time ago. the other...the person dropped the camera and left it filming the ceiling for 5 minutes. I love going to the movies and all the stuff about it and the experience so I really hate bootlegs. It's just not the same.
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Comment by Gabriel on February 13, 2009 at 11:41pm -
I'm not that into them because of their quality, and also because I enjoy being in a movie theater. Going to the movie is an experience, and you can't get that with the bootleg. I only watch bootlegs if:
- It's not a film I'm 100% excited to see.
- If it's the DVD quality version, the Screener Only type bootlegs.
That's it.
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