What is the privacy act on dvd ??

[Gladd8tor]

Hi ... I am curious as to what the law is when copying dvd movies , Is it okay to copy a movie from the rentel places onto a dvd disc ? What I mean is , lets say that I have a dvd player that records and , I have the movie channel on TV , Is it against the law if I copy the movie onto a dvd disc ? Or even from the rentel places ( Blockbuster ) Can someone please explain how it works ? Reason as to why I am asking is that someone mention to me its against the law to do such , I didn't believe the person because it wasn't never against the law to copy a moive from the TV onto a VHS cassettes , So whats the rules nowadays ? Thanks

[richdvd]

Hi ... I am curious as to what the law is when copying dvd movies , Is it okay to copy a movie from the rentel places onto a dvd disc ?

OMG...you can't be serious.

[dvdguy4]

What kind of question is that? Thats almost as bad as can I put macrovision protection back on my backup

[waheed]

The law for copying dvds varies from country to country.

You cannot copy rental dvds

You can copy from TV, (known as time shifting) to watch at a later date.

You can only copy dvds that you own. This is to make a personal backup so you can preserve the original (keep it from getting scratches and damaged)

[hudsonf]

1. No! You are not allowed to copy movies you rent. You don't own them so you are only allowed to watch them then return them.
2. You are allowed to record from TV for time shifting purposes (Record now watch later)then erase it.

[snooker]

Hi ... I know how it sounds but , The real reason as to why I am asking is because I have a friend at work and we were arguing over and over on this matter , I told him its against the law and he keeps telling me its not , I told him you can't copy any dvd movie that you don't own the original , He comes back at me with why then is it okay to copy onto a VHS and not onto a dvd disc ... Thanks everyone so far for your input

[richdvd]

You are right...it is against the law.

[pfh]

Tell your freind he can also keep his Blockbuster rentals as long as he wants now too!!

pssst- they'll never know- it's a secret.

[shieldsmedia]

The law for copying dvds varies from country to country.

You cannot copy rental dvds

You can copy from TV, (known as time shifting) to watch at a later date.

You can only copy dvds that you own. This is to make a personal backup so you can preserve the original (keep it from getting scratches and damaged)

When you buy or rent movies you are also limited to how many people can view it with you. ie. you cannot show it to 100 people. I'm not sure what the actual cut-off is. And you cannot charge people to view it.

As for TV, you are recording a lower quality and often edited film, so you're not getting the best quality. You are also bound the the above rules about public display.

[richdvd]

When you buy or rent movies you are also limited to how many people can view it with you

That's not really a big issue.
Copying rentals is a much bigger concern.

[lordsmurf]

Read:
http://www.copyright.gov/
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
http://www.whatiscopyright.org/
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
http://www.eff.org/IP/
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/
http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/

Terms you'll want to learn and remember:
- timeshifting

As well as the forum rules:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=124514

Yes, record for yourself from tv. Timshifting.
No, cannot copy rentals.
No, cannot downloads movies, etc. Unless specifically started otherwise.

Those have always been the rules, at least for as long as we've been alive. They have been extended a few times, but that did not change much in the present, affected the future mostly.