Streaming films

[The_Lhc]

I did like the phrase "forced" :boohoo:I commented earlier today and have stewed on it all morning!

Yeah must admit that wound me up as well, I had to be VERY careful with what I said in reply. It's times like these I wish I was a mod, I'd have passed his IP address straight onto the relevant authorities...

 

[MajorFubar]

Indeed - why should you have to be able to watch a film instantly all of a sudden, just because, on a whim, you've suddenly decided you would like to?

What a peculiar question. You may as well say why should we be able to pick up the phone and speak to a relative who lives at the other side of the planet, or why should we be able to flick a switch and a light come on, or why should we have broadband internet...and so on. The answer is "Why shouldn't we?"

As for bandwidth and our infrastructure not being up to it, in most cases I'd be more than happy with the quality provided by iPlayer and YouTube. They also seem to be able to make it pay.

All it needs needs is one rental-firm to go at it in a big way and crack the market, then they'll all be at it. It will happen.

 

[Lee H]

Indeed - why should you have to be able to watch a film instantly all of a sudden, just because, on a whim, you've suddenly decided you would like to?

What a peculiar question. You may as well say why should we be able to pick up the phone and speak to a relative who lives at the other side of the planet, or why should we be able to flick a switch and a light come on, or why should we have broadband internet...and so on. The answer is "Why shouldn't we?"

As for bandwidth and our infrastructure not being up to it, in most cases I'd be more than happy with the quality provided by iPlayer and YouTube. They also seem to be able to make it pay.

All it needs needs is one rental-firm to go at it in a big way and crack the market, then they'll all be at it. It will happen.

Because you'll pay for the phone call.

 

[BenLaw]

Indeed - why should you have to be able to watch a film instantly all of a sudden, just because, on a whim, you've suddenly decided you would like to?

What a peculiar question. You may as well say why should we be able to pick up the phone and speak to a relative who lives at the other side of the planet, or why should we be able to flick a switch and a light come on, or why should we have broadband internet...and so on.

Unlike illegal downloading of films, none of the analogies you give involves infringing intellectual property.

And as Lee says, you pay for the service you receive in each of the analogies you give. The direct comparison is 'why should I pay for flicking this switch? I know, I'll bypass the electricity meter. Because I can. And it's in my house. And I'm only one person, I'm bound to get away with it.' Do you think the individual who happily accepted illegal downloading would post on a public forum about doing that?

 

[MajorFubar]

Sorry but just to clarify I most certainly was NOT talking about doing it illegally.

If there was any misunderstanding about what I meant, I'll take that on the chin.

I'm very happy to pay for the service I want, as long as the price isn't silly, it's reliable and there's a good choice of current (and maybe some back-catalogue) films.

 

[Lee H]

Sorry but just to clarify I most certainly was NOT talking about doing it illegally.

If there was any misunderstanding about what I meant, I'll take that on the chin.

I'm very happy to pay for the service I want, as long as the price isn't silly, it's reliable and there's a good choice of current (and maybe some back-catalogue) films.

The price normally is high at the start of a technology. Not enough of us have the bandwidth to support decent movie streaming. Lots have a capped download allowance. We still live in a world where many ISPs shape traffic at different times of day. Look at your mobile phone. 10 years ago, £30 a month would have got you around 100 minutes just to your network. Cross network calls were much higher and not included. As capacity and technology improves (not to mention competition and regulation) prices fall, quality improves and so on.

What you're looking for will come. Just not today.

 

[professorhat]

Sorry but just to clarify I most certainly was NOT talking about doing it illegally.

This somewhat contradicts...

if only the rental companies would advance into the 21st century, they are just sticking their heads in the ground with these old business models.

yeah and on the other hand the movie studios and copyright holders are up in arms that the 'net is awash with sites offering illegal downloading. Well duh, does that not say something to them? Seems like if you want a film *now* and not tomorrow, your legal options are a bit limited, so is it any wonder some people download illegally?

I suspect your average film torrenter (or whatever) is no master criminal distributing illegal downloads by the shedload; more than likely just some regular guy who decides he wants to watch a film tonight without having to either find time to join and visit a rental-store or wait for the damn thing to arrive by snail mail...

Although not saying you'll do it personally, you seem to sympathise with people who do. However, their justification for not using legal services (like iTunes or other paid download sites) is it's too expensive to do it through the legal channels - sorry, that just doesn't wash. It's too expensive for me to own a Ferrari - am I therefore justified in stealing one? Of course not, so why would this same argument justify someone illegally downloading a film?

If you really want to watch a film you don't own right now, then there are options for doing so which have been pointed out. The ability to watch that film right now costs a certain amount. If you consider that too expensive, then you'll just have to go down the traditional route i.e. renting through the post, or making your way to a rental / DVD shop until the price lowers to one you do find acceptable I'm afraid.

 

[MajorFubar]

Although not saying you'll do it personally, you seem to sympathise with people who do.

No not at all; what I was really saying is , because there's a 'gap' in the market, you can see partly why illegal torrenting is so popular. I don't agree with it, I don't do it, but if you do want to stream the latest films, legal options are few and far between. So for some, the temptation to stream illegally is increased because there's no great legal avenue at present. Some illegal steamers will only be doing it because there's no proper legal option, some will still do it even if there was, because they just don't want to pay. But I am certainly not one of them.

Thanks for allowing me to clarify my position