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How many of you have actually used Digital Copy? (1 Viewer)

Rick Thompson

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Originally Posted by Bryan X

Reflected light is what our eyes are designed for, not back-lit computer screens. Therefore, print absolutely print -- less eyestrain and no worries about malfunctions or dead batteries!

Then you would like the e-books like the Kindle which use e-ink. E-ink is not back lit but requires reflected light just like a printed page.

[/QUOTE]

That still leaves the batteries. Books are best!
 

Thomas Newton

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1. There's not much involved in transferring the "Digital Copy". You insert the disc, iTunes usually recognizes it and prompts you for a code. Then you wait while iTunes copies the "Digital Copy" from the local disc to your hard disk (probably locking it to your machine or account in the process). Afterwards, you can play the copy or transfer it to iPhones and iPod Touches as if it were any other video. I presume that the Windows process works much the same way.


2. Expiration dates are a big FAIL. I wasn't interested much in "Digital Copy" until I got a 64 GB iPod Touch, and finally had enough space to use some on video. Four movies transferred OK, but I found at least one whose code had "expired". Another one was only available in the Windows DRM format, which is useless on an iPod. And of course, most of my DVD-Video collection doesn't have "Digital Copy" (expired or not). (If not for DRM and the DMCA, anyone with a fast enough computer could make their own "Digital Copies" from their "old" DVDs.)


3. I just looked at the technical data for two "Digital Copies": they both run around 1.33 GB, using H.264 and video dimensions of 853x480. That's, what, 480p (same as DVD-Video), at something like 7x the compression ratio that would be in use on a single-side, dual-layer MPEG-2 DVD?
 

Stephen_J_H

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Re: your point #3. Yes, but H.264 (Apple's flavour of MPEG-4) is a much more efficient codec than MPEG-2. That's why pirates can cram 3 or 4 movies onto a single layer DVD in DivX with little perceivable quality loss.
 

cafink

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Also, how long were the movies? A 2-hour with no supplements and a stereo soundtrack can fit quite easily on a DVD 5, so the digital copies would only be compressed to about one-half or one-third of their DVD equivalent, not one-seventh. Combine that with the more efficient codec, and there should be a minimal loss of quality if there's any at all. On a portable device of the kind one would typically use to watch a digital copy, it should be undetectable.
 

Finn

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Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein


I'm also leery of the format because

if you don't take advantage of it quickly the ability to

view it expires. I would be more excited about the

format if I had the ability to view it forever (even

if I was limited to a certain # of viewings) rather than

just short-term.

Some studios don't put a deadline to transfer your digital copy (ahem), but also if you transfer the digital copy as soon as you get it you'll be able to have a digital version FOREVER, most other studios have a 6 month to 2 year timeframe from street date before it expires.
 

DaveF

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James, I've bought all 8 seasons of "24" and season 1 on "Prison Break" on DVD, so I can rip them to my iPod for watching at the gym And on business travel. If your tv shows had digital copy, I'd buy future shows on Blu-ray. until then I have to decide which I'll watch on the mobile screen, and buy on DVD, and which are for home viewing and can be bought on Blu. :)
 

Douglas Monce

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Originally Posted by Finn



Some studios don't put a deadline to transfer your digital copy (ahem), but also if you transfer the digital copy as soon as you get it you'll be able to have a digital version FOREVER, most other studios have a 6 month to 2 year timeframe from street date before it expires.

I'm not clear on why it should expire at all. If I'm paying for a feature, ie the digital copy, Why limit my ability to use it at all?


Doug
 

Thomas Newton

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Originally Posted by cafink

Also, how long were the movies? A 2-hour with no supplements and a stereo soundtrack can fit quite easily on a DVD 5, so the digital copies would only be compressed to about one-half or one-third of their DVD equivalent, not one-seventh. Combine that with the more efficient codec, and there should be a minimal loss of quality if there's any at all. On a portable device of the kind one would typically use to watch a digital copy, it should be undetectable.

Between 1:34:39 and 1:42:33. As far as DVD-5s go, doesn't a maximum-bitrate (~10 Mbps, sustained) movie run out of time on a DVD-5 disc in somewhere around an hour? You can fit a 1:30 movie onto a DVD-5, but only by reducing the average bitrate (increasing the average amount of MPEG-2 compression).
 

greelywinger

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If a DVD I own has it, I'll use it.

Why not? I paid for it.

i just won't go out of my way looking for it.

I just consider it a bonus extra.

Esp. on the movies that me & my wife like.


Darryl
 

cafink

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Originally Posted by Thomas Newton

Also, how long were the movies? A 2-hour with no supplements and a stereo soundtrack can fit quite easily on a DVD 5, so the digital copies would only be compressed to about one-half or one-third of their DVD equivalent, not one-seventh. Combine that with the more efficient codec, and there should be a minimal loss of quality if there's any at all. On a portable device of the kind one would typically use to watch a digital copy, it should be undetectable.

Between 1:34:39 and 1:42:33. As far as DVD-5s go, doesn't a maximum-bitrate (~10 Mbps, sustained) movie run out of time on a DVD-5 disc in somewhere around an hour? You can fit a 1:30 movie onto a DVD-5, but only by reducing the average bitrate (increasing the average amount of MPEG-2 compression).


[/QUOTE]

Is there a detectable difference in quality between those two bit-rates, though? Certainly not on a display of the sort one typically uses for watching a digital copy (such as handheld devices, laptops, etc.), and probably not on 99.9% of other displays, either. It's way past the point of diminishing returns.
 

Sam Posten

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Sorry for top posting, this software sucks sometimes for editing out large quotes.


But: Pandorum.




Originally Posted by Brian L

Mac compatibility via iTunes works just fine with every Digital Copy I have. Not sure why you would think otherwise, although perhaps there are some titles out there that do not include an iTunes version.
 

Todd Stout

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I have quite a few Blu-ray discs and DVDs with Digital Copy and I have never once used any of them and really have no desire to do so. I do own an iPod (a 5th generation 80GB model) but I only use it for music. What I find the most useful when I buy Blu-ray discs is including a DVD copy. I only have one Blu-ray player at the moment but I do have several DVD players available to me. I wish that all of the Blu-ray discs that I purchased included a DVD copy.
 

Gregg Loewen

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James Finn, thanks for the tip.


I use DC alot while flying.


For some reason though I can never get the WB stuff to run. argh!!
 

Gekkou

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Digital Copies are great for when I think my TV is just... you know... too big, or something.
 

ManW_TheUncool

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Originally Posted by Gregg Loewen
For some reason though I can never get the WB stuff to run. argh!!

Do they usually expire on you before you get to transfering them?


I'm not too sure at the moment, but I seem to recall that the WB DCs I've encountered tend to expire sooner than others *AND* are actually fairly strict about the expiration date. Some others that expire w/in say 6 months are not so strict (or they probably just get extended). I remember trying one of the later Harry Potter DCs that expired within 6 months after release date, and I was maybe a couple weeks too late. Don't recall having trouble w/ any other studios' DCs unless they expired more than a year already or expired after a pretty long allowance period.


_Man_
 

Rick Thompson

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Originally Posted by Gekkou
I love it when a movie comes with a DVD and Digital Copy or whatever because it requires the studio to use a 3-disc case instead of one of those God-awful "eco" cases.

I'm with you. I replace all the "eco" cases with ones I purchase separately in bulk.

The "eco" cases? They go in the trash.
 

Charles Smith

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Which, amazingly, is exactly where they belong. Isn't that just wonderful?


Had my first ever cracked DVD in an "eco" case a couple of weeks ago. I blamed the case for offering no protection whatever to the product that it exists only to house and protect. However, it was also very difficult to wrestle the disc off the spindle because of how tight the spindle was and how bend-y the case was, and I think it's equally possible that I cracked it myself in simply trying to remove it. And I don't break anything like this. Ever.


They are total trash. Eco, my ass. They're cheaper for the manufacturer.
 

Gekkou

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Originally Posted by Rick Thompson
I love it when a movie comes with a DVD and Digital Copy or whatever because it requires the studio to use a 3-disc case instead of one of those God-awful "eco" cases.

I'm with you. I replace all the "eco" cases with ones I purchase separately in bulk.

The "eco" cases? They go in the trash.

[/QUOTE]


I plan on doing the exact same thing now that I have accumulated enough to make a bulk order worth my while.



Originally Posted by Chas in CT

They are total trash. Eco, my ass. They're cheaper for the manufacturer.

My thoughts exactly.
 

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