Illegal downloading dvds - MGM adds reminder on their latest releases (1 Viewer)

[Brent Avery]

I don't know if this will be an industry standard or something each individual Studio will tackle in their own way - such as MGM has. I have not come across anyone else doing this up until now - not that I am against it of course. It was included at the beginning of the four titles I recently bought and at least you can skip it. The idea of course is equating the illegal downloading with theft. Any comments?

 

[Jesse Blough]

I dunno, it seems like they're preaching to the choir so to speak. If you have the official DVD in your hands, it's not like you downloaded it (of if you did, you ended up buying it anyway).

I think it's rather useless, and it's just another thing you have to skip over so you can watch the movie you BOUGHT.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Why should anyone apologize for being against it?

If you buy a car, it doesn't come with a sticker implying that buyers are thieves and joyriders, let alone a video that tries to auto-play each time you start the ignition.

The local supermarket doesn't preach against growing food ("stop thief! don't copy that tomato! you will hurt the sales of our produce department!"). They even sell seeds to help you do the job!

Books are much more amenable to Internet distribution than movies are; yet most books just contain a copyright notice and a short "all rights reserved" statement. No preaching against the Internet and the public library.

When I purchase something, I expect a product or service, not a lecture.

 

[Casey C.]

Fox put a similar anti-piracy piece (or maybe the same one?) on the "Sideways" DVD. It's also skippable -- although after that I also have to skip the gratuitous "yay we make such cool movies at Fox Searchlight" promo.

The most recent MGM disc I bought was the Hoosiers CE last month, and there's no anti-piracy piece on that.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I don't have any discs with this message- can I download it somewhere?

I've got a VCD of "Dancer in the Dark" from Japan that has this funny anti-piracy commercial at the beginning- it's all in Japanese but it shows people who look like they are supposed to be in the mob thanking you for buying their bootleg VCDs.

 

[Daniel Windsor]

Strange that.

The last owners of MGM (MGM/Pathe Communications) were linked to the Italian mob.

Outstanding arrest warrants for a few of them are still sitting on prosecutors' desks.

I never mentioned Giancarlo Paretti



I hate 'warnings' on DVDs. Get's right up my arse.

 

[Thomas Newton]

How about the "Video Pirates" segment in "Amazon Women On The Moon"? (I think that was the movie...)

Real pirates plunder a video store. One of them finds a bunch of LaserDiscs, but another one tells him that those are no good.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

You can't record on 'em! They're not compatible with my equipment!

 

[Brent M]

I'm with Thomas on this one.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

There was a funny bit on Rick Mercer's Monday Report on CBC where he made fun of the trailers they were showing in theatres with members of film crews talking about how piracy was bad -- basically, he pointed out that here they were, lecturing you because you paid fifteen bucks to see the movie instead of downloading it for free.