buying mp4 films, movies etc

bruneythedog

Hello, hope you're enjoying your weekend :-)
I bought a Genus Vizo 1GB mp3 (mp4) player recently - does anyone know where I can buy films on the internet??
Cheers,
BTD

Sir_Bargains-A-Lot

iTunes offers some programs for download and charge per episode - they're for iPods really, so I presume they may be a similar format.

But I'd say don't bother buying them - get DVD Decrypter and PSP Video 9 (both free - do a Google search to find them) for your PC and convert DVDs to MP4s. Much easier, and probably cheaper too.

There is a site somewhere that offers old, public domain films in a number of formats - including MP4 for portable devices. But the name of the site escapes me - again, Google for it and I'm sure you'll find it!

bruneythedog

Thanks, I'll check it out!

bruneythedog

Hmm - one thought, though - if I were to rip DVDs (and, ahem, there are legal implications for that) - I'd just be ripping DVDs for that I already own, right? Am I missing something?
BTD

trigger_mike

I buy mine of ebay for my psp, brought the full only fools and horses collection last week for £6.95 and 35 new movies for £7.50 as well, of course you need to 'own' the movies before you purchuse them because it's illegal if not.
They come ready formated and you just click and drag them to your mp4 player/psp card.

nickmack

bruneythedog wrote:

Hmm - one thought, though - if I were to rip DVDs (and, ahem, there are legal implications for that) - I'd just be ripping DVDs for that I already own, right? Am I missing something?
BTD

Morally I can't see a problem with ripping your own DVDs to watch. As long as you don't distribute them.

Legally it's a bit less straightforward, but as with music CD's, you are allowed a backup copy. I'm not a lawyer, but I'd be amazed if any distributor took action against you.

Sir_Bargains-A-Lot

I agree with nickmack...but as for trigger's advice - if you're buying the full Only Fools and Horses for 7 quid, then it's probably dodgy to begin with!

Darksun

nickmack wrote:

Legally it's a bit less straightforward, but as with music CD's, you are allowed a backup copy.

Actually, you're not allowed backup copies of any copyrighted material other than Software, in the UK at least.

Making any copy of a copyrighted material without permission is strictly speaking a breach of copyright. This included ripping CDs and DVDs you own. However, as you say, I doubt a distributer or publisher would try and sue someone for ripping a CD they legally own, and if they did I'd hope the judge would laugh in their face.

nickmack

Darksun wrote:

However, as you say, I doubt a distributer or publisher would try and sue someone for ripping a CD they legally own, and if they did I'd hope the judge would laugh in their face.

I wonder if there's been any test cases? It would be utter waste of time and money to persue this.

-TangleFoot-

Sir_Bargains-A-Lot wrote:

There is a site somewhere that offers old, public domain films in a number of formats - including MP4 for portable devices. But the name of the site escapes me...

Could it have been the Internet Archive?

bruneythedog

Thanks all. Actually I did a test run of the DVD decoder and PSP and it worked great (if SO SLOOOOOW!). Although, for any legal types out there, it was purely a test... Anyway, I'm still hoping iPod (or whoever) do open up the movie mp4 market. I'm quite willing to pay for things I haven't seen - I'm just surprised it's taking so long (in digital terms!) to kick off.