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In article <3900smF5rfcgmU1.TakeThisOut@individual.net>, Boots Blakeley says...
 > On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 15:30:02 -0000 in uk.rec.motorcycles, Bear says:

  > >By posting DVDs in DVD9 format there's the problem that a) someone has
  > >now posted an *exact* copy of a DVD, rather than cut-down version and b)
  > >it is (obviously) usually twice the size of a DVD4 copy. Neither help
  > >the cause along, as they say.
  > >
  > >Opinions?
 >
 > It becomes worse from the DL POV as well, IIRC the actual size will
 > then be 30% or so bigger plus what ever overhead splitting it into 300
 > or so chunks causes. Binary news is a far from ideal way to share
 > large files.

Agree.

 > No one ever watches the extras do they?

Er ... yes ... me. Sometimes. But I can live without them, and they're
usually not worth the effort. My fave exception to this rule is Mel
Brooks' excellent commentary for "Blazing Saddles", which is not only
very funny in places, but is also very touching and informative too. The
bit where he describes how Gene Wilder managed to get the part of the
alky sheriff has me in stitches every time I listen to it. Ditto the
section on getting Richard Pryor in as co-writer.

 > so why bother with the whole
 > disk. Unless it's to make exact copies and wind up even more the
 > copyright owners. On the use of DVD5, I am giving some consideration
 > to shrinking my legit disks just so I don't have to watch the theft
 > warning at the beginning and can skip other bits I don't want.

heh, IKWYM on that score; it infuriates me sometimes; some discs seem
much worse than others. I mean, part of the reason DVD took off was the
promise of instant access to any part of the disc.

 > As for the pirating issue, I know of people signing up for this
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.blockbuster.co.uk/BandSignup/WhatsItAllAbout.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.blockbuster.co.uk/BandSignup/WhatsItAllAbout.aspx</a> and using
 > that as source material. I've no idea if their copies are personal use
 > of if they are being sold on. A quick chat with the sprogs suggests
 > that there's a market for ripped DVD at around £3 a disk, often copies
 > made before the real release. I guess IMO online is not the real
 > issue, just easier to target hence the demise of the P2P networks.

I agree. When you say "the demise of the p2p networks", is not someone
at BitTorrent in the process of developing a non-traceable (for source)
p2p client? I'm sure I read something about the balance of power
shifting against the copy-chasers.

I can certainly see why the film companies are upset about things; given
the "signal to noise" ratio of good films to shite ones, the *last*
thing they need is a public aware of the quality of a given film. I'm
also fairly sure that the Net is not how professional pirates get their
source material. ISTR reading somewhere that most of them obtain their
advance copies from people working within the film industry.

I've also grown highly irritated by the copyright warnings on some discs
these days, where anyone who has ever copied a disc is equated to
someone who supports international terrorism and drug cartels. The first
time I saw one of these warnings I fair busted a gut laughing, but the
message is beginning to irritate these days. The plain truth is that
people copy for several reasons, including in my case the fact that a)
there is no logical reason why I should have to sit in a sodding cinema
with the proletariat in order to see a film first; I should be able to
buy a DVD the day a film is released in cinemas, but of course that
would reduce another revenue stream for the film industry, b) ditto the
fact films are released in the US first; we live in a global economy and
should be treated equally and c) the majority of work produced by
Hollywood these days is utter drivel, and I'm buggered if I'm going to
spend my hard-earned on the off-chance something is ok.
--
Bear<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->