'Are you a knock-off Nigel or Nigella?' poll discussion

charlie53_2

I’m not too sure if this has been posted yet (I had a quick flick through the posts and couldn't see anything), but it is not an offence to buy pirated DVDs. Those who purchase pirated DVD’s aren’t breaking any law. The only people who are committing an offence are those who produce, distribute and/sell the DVD’s.

As for how I watch DVD's, I currently rent them for free using my 90 day lovefilm trial

lauzjp

I voted 'e', as I wouldn't want to waste my money buying something that might not work! Pirates I have been lent by other people - although are of 'watchable' quality, always have little niggly things that are wrong with them. they stop working, they're out of focus, someone's eating right next to the camera, etc. :rolleyes:

I do purchase cheap films from 2nd hand shops, but I have never downloaded anything like that - don't think our pc could handle it for one thing, and I haven't the patience!

diamondgirl78

foreversomeday wrote: »

I don't know why quality is an issue because I've never seen a bad copied disc - digital media copies much better than tapes, that is why cassettes never lasted very long! You can get bad downloads but if you wait until the film is out on DVD anyway that very rarely happens.

It is possible to get bad quality issues if the films have been obtained via CAM (camcorder in cinema) or TS (Telesync - camcorder visual with proper audio added later). You generally won't get a decent copy until the film is released either as a screener (which could have an annoying timestamp) or an R5 DVD (Russian release). That said, it is sometimes possible to get DVD-quality films before they hit the cinema :j

As far as I know, you don't lose any quality whatsoever by copying a DVD from one disc to another, nor straight to DVD from a digital file.

Sheepster

Something that really REALLY annoys me, is you pay to buy a legit DVD, then you are forced every time you want to watch it, through that "you wouldn't steal a car etc" trailer. It's a forced watch - there is no way to skip it, no way even to stop it without ejecting the disc.
The first thing a pirate would do is remove this - and it would then be a better dvd for it. All it does is annoy those of us who want to support legit copies.

Well in the past, I've copied dvd's I'd be playing often, so this annoying trailer wouldn't keep rearing it's ugly head.

Natalie6999

If you think you are above buying fake dvds, how often have you bought cheap "designer" clothes & handbags when abroad or from market stalls.

A certain market at a popular Lincolnshire holiday resort has several stalls where you can buy copy designers goods, yet nothing is ever done to stop the traders.

If the genuine manufacturers want everyone to stop buying fake/copy goods then they should make their prices more realistic & stop ripping off customers.

24ctu_2

Sheepster wrote: »

Something that really REALLY annoys me, is you pay to buy a legit DVD, then you are forced every time you want to watch it, through that "you wouldn't steal a car etc" trailer. It's a forced watch - there is no way to skip it, no way even to stop it without ejecting the disc.

That annoys me too, but with the vast majority of DVDs and players, they can be skipped just by pressing the 'chapter forward' button on your remote.

bradhadair

(Quote from hbl) In fact, Jeffrey Robinson (you can google him), speculated in his book The Sink, about 4 years ago, that the reason why the UK didn't suffer a terrorist attack in the aftermath of September 11th was because the embedded cells operating in the UK were making too much money and siphoning it out of the country at such a rate that the heads of the organisation would never dare order an attack and "kill the cash cow".

Actually... they tried to in this country... however our experiences with the IRA has made our security more-or-less tight... and it was the Americans who funded the IRA... can anyone say IRONIC???

I definately download or buy illegals... and I know for a fact that mine doesn't go to terrorists or any such organisation... an ex-collegue sells them as he is in a minimum wage job paying £90 a week in child support payments and still has 2 children living at home with him to support. He works 60 hour weeks and can only supplement his wages thru selling pirates. I have no problem with him screwing the system when the system systematically screws everyone else over including me and my family. If I like the film I'll go out and buy it. I am also currently downloading House MD season 5 as it becomes available as I don't think its fair that we have to wait until next year for it to be shown here.

I don't know how many of you can afford to buy DVD's as they are released but I for one certainly can't afford to (let alone buy blu-ray?!?! what a waste of money).

If films released were at an affordable REALISTIC price (its costs approximately 10p to produce each DVD last time I checked) then perhaps most people would stop being a knock-off-nigel/nigella... I do it out of principle personally - why should I line the pockets of already obscenely rich actors/actresses some of whom act like a piece of wood (ie CANOE Reeves)

I hate to rant but I really believe in this strongly and can't understand the whole "we must support these actors with money cos otherwise they'd stop acting..." because they obviously aren't passionate about what they do cause they'd do it for pittance...

Rant over lol...:mad::rotfl:

PrinceGaz

I would have voted G on this- which I guess makes me a Knock-off Nigel.

Actually I took the test on the official Knock-off Nigel website and at the end was greeted to a chorus off "You're a knock-off Nigel, you're a ..." I've a feeling that was entirely because the last question they asked was something like "do you watch pirated movies?" (I can't remember exactly what it asked) and I replied 'Yes'. If anyone else actually wants to visit that website and take the test or see any of the other rubbish on it, visit
http://www.knockoffornot.com/
but it really is bad, even worse than the TV adverts.

I would *NEVER* buy any pirated material; anyone who does so is encouraging scammers to produce poor-quality tat they can sell in pubs, car-boot sales, market-stalls etc. Even worse, some of the proceeds of pirated material for sale does actually go to support other much more illegal activities, such as terrorism and child pornography. Stay well away as at best it is a waste of money, and at worst will result in people being killed or harmed.

However, I have no problem with downloading a free unrestricted "try-before-you-buy" sample of a newly released film or whatever, and then deciding whether to watch it and bin it, watch it and *burn* it for future further evaluation, or watch it and actually buy it. By downloading from a reputable source, you are guaranteed good quality, and no money is changing hands which could end up funding illicit activity. Those movies I burn to disc are probably legal anyway as they are for later educational evaluation reasons, which I believe is allowed under some law. Those which I bin after watching once are definitely legal because of the "24-hour rule" which allows you to either delete or purchase the content within 24-hours of downloading it.

So I buy what I can afford to and feel is really worth my money, keep a significant amount for future further evaluation for personal educational purposes, and delete the rest after watching legally in compliance with the 24-hour rule.

Therefore although I voted G, I like to think I'm not actually breaking any laws.

BigC+WeeS

Time to come clean for me too.... I'm at work tonight, 24 hour stint in the hospital lab I work in. At home my laptop is busy downloading whatever I've set it up to get via Usenet newsgroups and Virginmedia's 20Mb broadband. I pay a tenner a month for a premium Usenet service as Virgin's is poor, and of course the cost of my broadband connection. All in all it comes to the price of 2 or 3 DVD's from the shops... whereas I can download say 50 or more movies a month, store them on my external drive or burn to DVD to watch later. I still buy stuff I really want anyway, so I'm not doing anyone out of any money by what I do. I'm not supporting some eastern mafia types into drugs and prostitution either. No one else gets hold of what I download, so although I guess what I'm doing isn't strictly legal, as far as I'm concerned I'm doing no one any harm at all.

As for buying pirated stuff - I never do that anyway. I think the last time I bought anything in that vein would have been a couple of very nice Marillion bootleg albums on vinyl that I bought at a record fair 25 years ago, and still have them.

Rabiddog_2

24 hour rule ? I only RENT the pints I drink! come on .. A lot of people are pirates but seem to have a blind spot on free films. Get real, lay off the excuses.. I don't have much respect for the people trying to side-step the issue.
No grey area.. Admit or Deny .. I do watch others cheapo DVd's, but wouldn't buy myself, (too much of a skinflint) becoz it'll be on Telly soon enough.