4 ms·

When your hourly pay gets high enough and/or you get interested enough in other things, it's cheaper & easier to just shell out $175 for the complete BD package

When your hourly pay gets high enough and/or you get interested enough in other things, it's cheaper & easier to just shell out $175 for the complete BD package. Fiddling with torrents (with corrupted/bogus links & content, delays, technical obscurities, assuredly illegal activity, etc) is not free, it's spending time & resources & risks which could be used for earning more than $175.

baddox 12y ago
It's pretty difficult for me to imagine getting paid enough that purchasing the Blu-ray would be easier. I would basically have to have an assistant who can place the order, receive the discs, and rip them into a (DRM-free) digital format so that I can watch them on a computer or mobile device, which is how I prefer to consume all of my content (except for the cinema).
derefr 12y ago
I think the more immediate point here is that if you want to watch it right now, the $175 won't get you anything at all; it's not for sale yet. BitTorrent might be less convenient than just buying something, but it's much more convenient than being legally unable to buy something because it hasn't been released yet, and might never be in your market.
deleted 12y ago
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teh_klev 12y ago
If the studios allowed me to copy their content to my media server so I can stream on any device in my house then I might agree 100%. It doesn't need to be HD or even 720p, I'd settle for your bog standard ~220MB/episode x264. But their efforts to frustrate my efforts doing that means I still hit up the torrents to get my DRM free digital copy - despite paying for the media.
- Consultant32452 12y ago
  I'd settle for a fast enough internet connection and Netflix. I SHOULD have Gigabit to my house for cheap but.. reasons.
ctdonath 12y ago
Dissenters: yes, there are exceptions. I might absolutely insist on particular formats, spending more to hire an assistant to transfer discs to DRM-free despite the package including iTunes/Windows-Media/UltraViolet downloads providing clean transfers in convenient formats. I might have a sudden compulsion to watch 120 episodes of a half-century-old TV show right now (overnight delivery for $4 intolerable!), crappy amateur transfers from pre-VHS videotape being entirely tolerable on my HDTV. But nigh unto all customers aren't so pedantic and technical. Most don't even know what "torrents" are. Most have a library of DVD/BD discs & multiple players and few qualms about expanding it. Most of those wanting digital versions are capable of following simple directions to download the included high-quality digital transfers, and find little value in DRM-free versions when the provided formats work just fine on what most people have. And most viewers won't be squeamish about shelling out a buck-fifty per episode. Yeah, I used to share such pedantic geeky views. Then I discovered I had other things to do and get wound up about, having been burned too often by technical difficulties and crappy rips. For a few taps and a few hours' pay, I'll get the complete collection - in convenient & pristine form - in time for a mind-searing weekend of '60s campy superheros. ETA: ok, it releases 11/11. We're talking '60s Batman, I can wait a couple weeks. For those vanishingly small number of people who can't, well, there's always torrents of crummy transfers from ancient videotape recorders.
shitehawk 12y ago
Exactly. If your time has so little value that you will jump through hoops to get it for free then there is no money there, you will never be a customer. You can be disregarded from a business perspective. It is a strange win-win.
- deleted 12y ago
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thret 12y ago
I think - I hope - that downloading a show you already own on BD is legal. I buy the DVD/BD's but I only watch shows I have downloaded. It is just more convenient, I hate fussing with DVDs.

baddox 12y ago

It's pretty difficult for me to imagine getting paid enough that purchasing the Blu-ray would be easier. I would basically have to have an assistant who can place the order, receive the discs, and rip them into a (DRM-free) digital format so that I can watch them on a computer or mobile device, which is how I prefer to consume all of my content (except for the cinema).

derefr 12y ago

I think the more immediate point here is that if you want to watch it right now, the $175 won't get you anything at all; it's not for sale yet. BitTorrent might be less convenient than just buying something, but it's much more convenient than being legally unable to buy something because it hasn't been released yet, and might never be in your market.

deleted 12y ago

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teh_klev 12y ago

If the studios allowed me to copy their content to my media server so I can stream on any device in my house then I might agree 100%. It doesn't need to be HD or even 720p, I'd settle for your bog standard ~220MB/episode x264. But their efforts to frustrate my efforts doing that means I still hit up the torrents to get my DRM free digital copy - despite paying for the media.

Consultant32452 12y ago
I'd settle for a fast enough internet connection and Netflix. I SHOULD have Gigabit to my house for cheap but.. reasons.

ctdonath 12y ago

Dissenters: yes, there are exceptions. I might absolutely insist on particular formats, spending more to hire an assistant to transfer discs to DRM-free despite the package including iTunes/Windows-Media/UltraViolet downloads providing clean transfers in convenient formats. I might have a sudden compulsion to watch 120 episodes of a half-century-old TV show right now (overnight delivery for $4 intolerable!), crappy amateur transfers from pre-VHS videotape being entirely tolerable on my HDTV. But nigh unto all customers aren't so pedantic and technical. Most don't even know what "torrents" are. Most have a library of DVD/BD discs & multiple players and few qualms about expanding it. Most of those wanting digital versions are capable of following simple directions to download the included high-quality digital transfers, and find little value in DRM-free versions when the provided formats work just fine on what most people have. And most viewers won't be squeamish about shelling out a buck-fifty per episode. Yeah, I used to share such pedantic geeky views. Then I discovered I had other things to do and get wound up about, having been burned too often by technical difficulties and crappy rips. For a few taps and a few hours' pay, I'll get the complete collection - in convenient & pristine form - in time for a mind-searing weekend of '60s campy superheros. ETA: ok, it releases 11/11. We're talking '60s Batman, I can wait a couple weeks. For those vanishingly small number of people who can't, well, there's always torrents of crummy transfers from ancient videotape recorders.

shitehawk 12y ago

Exactly. If your time has so little value that you will jump through hoops to get it for free then there is no money there, you will never be a customer. You can be disregarded from a business perspective. It is a strange win-win.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

thret 12y ago

I think - I hope - that downloading a show you already own on BD is legal. I buy the DVD/BD's but I only watch shows I have downloaded. It is just more convenient, I hate fussing with DVDs.