The MPAA....

Nitemare · Posted: Jun 17, 2003 01:41

OKay, I accept everything you say about Korean piracy as truth because I've no reason not to. If the piracy is so prevailant overseas, why not hammer on them over there instead of raking us over the coals here?

I also accept (to a point) your comments about mark-up pricing. There is certainly enough evidence to support it. New release DVD at WalMart- $20 The same DVD at Blockbuster? $25-$30.

The point many of us are trying to make is that a VHS of the same movie is much cheaper and there's no plausible or acceptable reason for it since we KNOW that it's actually cheaper to produce the DVD. Making a telcined VHS is more expensive than a DVD that doesn't need that expensive conversion. So why are they $5-$10 more than a VHS and how do they justify that pricing?

The answer is that they can't. Real or alleged piracy has nothing to do with this pricing discrepancy.
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txpharoah · Gone Fer Good! Joined: 07 Dec 2002 Location: Texas USA

txpharoah · Gone Fer Good! Joined: 07 Dec 2002 Location: Texas USA

shochan · Posted: Jun 17, 2003 07:10

overloaded_ide · Member Joined: 13 Mar 2003

First it depends what gas is higher priced if they take the lead out or put it in

Leaded gas was higher because they had to put the lead in once upon a time, then later...
When unleaded gas first came about it was higher priced because they had to take the lead out supposedly! At least that was the claim in the 70's! Just depends what they want to charge more for.

It cost $20 bucks for our family of 3 to go to the theater, no extra's, we smuggle in our soda's and candy bars in the wife and kids purses the rare times we go! We also take our trash out with us the same way! Check the purse and tell me I can't take it in I won't go period at all, period!

The only real cost for the movie is making it, the disks it's on cost very little, so it's nearly all profit! I saw looking of Grelims (1984?) it cost 11m to make, grossed 130m at box offices alone! Costs $20 candian (not sure us where I am) on DVD as new realease in 2002? Duhhh, 20 year old movie was paid for in box offices, then VHS sales for nearly 20 yrs, now $20??? Yep they would go broke if I stole a copy of that somehow

As for mark ups, ya same as anything else the store is in business to profit, but I have a wholesale account at several large distributors and I still got to pay more wholesale than at wallmart if I can find it there. So the stores may or may not be gouging you themselfs!
Snow White platinum DVD I bought wall marts for $20, would have cost me $18.95 and buy at least $1,000 minimum total order of anything wholesale. Though I am sure I could have gotten better pricing on a $50,000 order or more.

It's all theft, just that the big companies and goverment are organized crime and we little people are not organized!

And as far as ART, yes it is! And just because the owner says it's not profitable to sell one copy to just me, why should I not be aloughed to have it. Case in point, original Ghost riders in the Sky? Not sure the artist, but was a great song on 78 RPM record! Rehased recently by some big name group, not nearly as good as the real thing. Can I buy the real original though? And that is public domain!
And I want the real thing, not enhanced the way they think it should be or colorized! I want it the way it was made!
As for restoring the decayed public domain movies, is it my fault they did not take care of them properly to begin with?
And whats with the public domain moivies being released with copyright 1998 by some studio? Sorry, but Laraul and Hardy died before 1998, don't think they actually were making movies then!
Big trend in theft by the biggies, release public domain movies with new copy rights????
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arcorob · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2001 Location: New York

Hey Tex, you and I agree on something...LOL Oh Well , miracles happen.
I am glad you posted what you did. It really sums up alot of things.

The biggest is the bogus numbers the companies post as their 'losses via piracy' each year. Come on, Billions ? At an average loss of 5 dollars each they are saying there are 200 million +/- pirated DVD's ? Thats laughable.

And one of the best is who is screaming and what they are doing. Sony is one of the screamers...but who would love to to corner the DVD burner and media market ? Thats right Sony. So Sony the movie company wants copying outlawed but Sony the technology company is raking it in.

I will not advocate illegal processes however, I am of the opinion that even copying rented movies should be allowed. Why ? You have paid for the rental. You will continue renting. The fact you want to have a copy for your collection is irrelevant. You paid, they paid. They lose NO MONEY because other than the rental (which you paid) most people will not run out and buy it anyway unless they intended to in the first place...Uggg.

pablo180 · Member Joined: 16 Jan 2003

corwin102 · Member Joined: 14 Nov 2001 Location: Upstate NY

I agree with pretty much all these comments, however about the leaded gas thing I have to jump in. Leaded gas contains an additive called tetraethyl lead. This increases the octane number of the gas. As a result, when leaded gas is used less "pure" gasoline can be used to get say an 87 octane rating. Now that the catalyst is not added, the gasoline has to be further refined to get the same 87 octane rating and this of course would lead to an increase in cost. By the way this does not mean that I think the oil companies have a fair priceng practice, as in my opinion they are ripping off the public even more than the entertainment industry.

pacmania_2001 · mmm...bop Joined: 04 Apr 2001 Location: Australia

Personally I dislike the MPAA from a movie going standpoint but from a business standpoint they are simply doing what's in their best interest.

It's the principle of the invisible hand in free markets. If they can get away with selling a DVD for $20 they will. If no one purchased the DVD at $20 then they would have to reduce the price.

Are you going to go tell your boss that you will work for him for say $40,000 instead of $60,000 because you only $40,000 to live on? No, you try and get as much as possible because it is human nature (for most people anyway) to be greedy and selfish (not always a bad thing).
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pacmania_2001 · mmm...bop Joined: 04 Apr 2001 Location: Australia

Also the members (the movies studios themselves) that make up the MPAA aren't created to service the customer. They are created to maximise profits as much as possible for shareholders whilst keeping the customer reasonably happy.

To shoot down what many of the above posters have said about lowering the price to increase profits this isnt always the case. Any well managed company (which judging by the sucess of the studios, they are) would have done market research into the price elasticity (how much they can raise or lower the price of their product in relation to the increase or decrease in purchases) of their product and seen that lowering the price of their movie wouldn't have had a worthwhile increase in the purchases to carry out such an action.
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dbaker6165 · Member Joined: 21 Mar 2002 Location: cleveland/cincinnati

Blockbuster and hollywood video (just to name a few) are the real criminals! They make people duplicate copyrighted materials by having new releases and those awsome classic movies. Damn them!

pablo180 · Member Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Cyrax9 · Member Joined: 14 Sep 2002 Location: NJ

*Sigh* I'll admit it, I despise the MPAA, granted I hate the RIAA even more, but then again, they're ripping me off at $20 a CD unless it's a disc on sales bcause they're TRYING to get rid of it since they know the music sucks.

I could go on an RIAA rant but the MPAA is crying wolf trying to keep up with the RIAA on reasons to copy-protect anything and everything. They may be two difernt associations but they both seem to enslave the entertainment industry, namely with DVD.

Let's see DVD-Audio, I love the idea but I already know they're going to encrypt it to the point where only 5 players will be able to handle it that are commerically avilable just to make sure you can't copy it, likewise the MPAA has done the same thing, let's look at DVD-Video.

Regional encoding so you can't play an imported movie, even if you've PAID for it and gotten it legally. I hate regional encoding for the sole fact that it keeps me from importing movies not encoded for All_Region's or Region 1 and that means I miss a lot of ASnime that I would love to import.

Macrovision is another thing I hate. If I want to put my DVD onto VHS to take somewhere, like vacation because I don't want my precious Disc getting damaged I should be able to do so! I also shouldn't have to redo my entire setup so the DVD Player can fit into the system I have because I can't just run the darn thing thorugh the VCR!

Ok that one realy cheeses me, I hae not being able to run a DVD Player thorugha VCR, it'd make life a LOT easier if I could in the smaller rooms and on TVs with only one input, my smaller sets.

Encryption BS woes. If I don't want to haul VHS bricks with me on vacation I should be able to burn a DVD 1:1 by sticking a DVD-R in the burner and a DVD-Video in the DVD-ROM Drive and hitting "BRUN" just like I do with CDs. Unfortunatly I can't, first I have to rip it, tha reencode it usually and then after I'm burned out I can burn the DVD.

Honestly! I just want to back up my favorite videos I don't want to pirate them, I just want a back-up to take on trips with me so my good Discs don't get damaged!

The greedy little snobs at the MPAA have turned DVD into fort knox, it's next to impossible ot copy a DVD even for home use, I belive the VCR ruling siad you could mkae ONE archival copy of a VHS Tape, ut the MPAA is still sour about that and is trying to mkae it impossible for DVD. They're using rgional enocding as another "Line fo defnese" who do they tink they are? Donald Rumsfield? I don't think it maters where I bought the DVD as long as I PAID for it, nor who makes it as long as the owner gets thier royalites. If I want a movie from the UK or Japan I should be able to buy it and play it like I could with VHS Tapes.

The MPAA whines about bootlegger's when most peopl don't even want to bootleg movies, they don't have the time, they just ant a back-up for themselves, if they're worried about Piracy online or off they've managed to do fine with offline piracy for years, and if they're encrypting video so you can't copy it at all why can't they make it so you just can't distribute it online to prevent "Napster-style" piracy?

I honestly could care less about ho makes what as long as I pay for the Disc and get to use it without hassle, I don't care if it was made in the USA or Made in Japan, o Made in the UK as long as it PLAYS. I don't care who gets the money in the end as long as I've paid for it and it's not pirated.

I want to copy a DVD for myself to take to the beach with me since I don't want my disc getting full of Beach "junk" such as sand, but the MPAA is trying to stop even that.

I would honestly like to know how many peopl are really "bootlegging" videos and selling them compared to how many want a back-up copy of somethng they paid for or a region-fre copy as well.

If the MPAA put half as much effort into picking a recordable DVD Standard and real piracy issues like bootelgging rings as they do into people making a back-up Disc, they'd have half their problems slaved already.

MPAA = Making Pain As Always.

These guys have one thing done right, a ratings system that works, but they're at a point where they're starting to grind my nerves when I can't make a back-up of a DVD witout 50 PC programs, or I can't watch an out of region DVD and I think that the RIAA actually as a reason to be angry where as the MPAA is just sounding every false alarm they can to "prevent" piracy that may not even excist in most cases, if piracy is so bad, why aren't people being shown on the news arrested for it the way they are for murder? I mean, I figure if there are so many peopole bootlegging videos out there the MPAA would notice a sales drop or this would be on the news, all I'm seeing is more ways to complicate watching a vdieo I paid for, and while I don't support piracy, I think evertyone is entitle to a back-up of anything they can pay for.

I still wish it was easier to back-up a DVD but I can't change the mistakes of the past, hwever I'm hoping HD-DVDs aren't as annoying to back up, bcaue if they are, I'm probably going to avoid them unelss I see something truly spectacular.

MPAA wants money and noting mre, they could care less how they get it as long as they do, and the reional enocding ona DVD is the same as the stupid Lisence Keys on PC software which can date back to the old wheel or red pape with a magnifying glassd to rpevent piracy, please! Give me a break, I buy movies at $20-$40 a pop usually don't tell m I'm not paying when these DVDs/VHS Tapes used to cost me $25.0 maximum and usually less, unless everyboyd gets a raise pretty soon DVDs will be unaffordable from this.

Don2050 · Member Joined: 10 Aug 2002

Here is a link to the MS investigation Pablo180 made mention of before:

The Darknet and The Future Of Content Distribution

http://msl1.mit.edu/ESD10/docs/darknet5.pdf

It is definately a good read on the subject.

pacmania_2001 · mmm...bop Joined: 04 Apr 2001 Location: Australia

MOVIEGEEK · Member Joined: 08 Mar 2002 Location: CA,USA

Consumers vs.
M.P.A.A et R.I.A.A

We the consumers hereby find the MPAA and RIAA guilty of:

Racketeering(multiple counts)

Price fixing(multiple counts)

Bribery(multiple counts)

Tampering with private property(multiple counts)

We sentence the defendants to reduce CD's,DVD's and tapes 50% from their retail price and force music and film studios to only sign artists that have talent and are worth listening to and watching.

j1d10t · Human Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: California, USA

"We sentence the defendants to reduce CD's,DVD's and tapes 50% from their retail price and force music and film studios to only sign artists that have talent and are worth listening to and watching."

MOVIEGEEK, I like the first part, but I'm not sure that last part "...and force music and film studios to only sign artists that have talent and are worth listening to and watching." is an achievable goal for them

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Nitemare · Posted: Jun 18, 2003 01:29

shocan, I see your point, but once again I respectfully disagree with parts of it. In the process of backing up DVDs, many of us ditch the DD 5.1 because we can't afford a Dolby system any more than we can afford $25 DVDs. Another item on the list of things that we can't afford? Widescreen TVs and/or digital TVs.

Many of the people I talk to can see no real difference from VHS to DVD. Most of us concede there is a quality improvement but we're not blown away by it. It only looks so good on our 25" cable-ready TVs (no S-video for us poor bastards)

(I've already been told to buy a new TV ... maybe in 10 more years)

Don't even get me started about the "extras". There's a reason that most of us omit them in our backups. I may not be in a majority but I was quite underwhelmed when I saw my first DVD. Frankly, I expected more after all of those "Have you SEEN it?" ads.

I do agree with you that people are stupid though...

So there's SOMETHING!

Peace brothers!
Nitemare
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