Saving my dvd's

ver0776 said:
I only have one argument against Dixv. Encoding time!

Wanna know how I do it? Download them! Pre-encoded by the pros who have no problem making a 700mb movie look just like the original.

Isn't that illegal? Hell no, it is perfectly legal if you own the original. Don't share your movies or you'll be on some news site about how MPAA is cracking down on piracy.

If you accidently *cough* download a few movies you don't own, screen them and determine if they were worth buying, buy the original, or delete it... If you have 500 Divx movies and 430 DVDs backing them up, I consider that pretty upstanding and I think you might still go to heaven.
Pretty much any p2p application nowadays will automatically share any data you are downloading. Downloading a movie is illegal, but they nail you mostly for the uploading, so I would stay away from this solution. Plenty of people have been sued, it just isn't worth it.

I still wouldn't go with DivX compression if you are serious about quality, but if you have to, it shouldn't be too hard to automate this process so you can encode a few movies per night, without too much interaction.
 
ver0776 said:
Wanna know how I do it? Download them! Pre-encoded by the pros who have no problem making a 700mb movie look just like the original.

Isn't that illegal? Hell no, it is perfectly legal if you own the original. Don't share your movies or you'll be on some news site about how MPAA is cracking down on piracy.
Your arguments for Divx were fine, until this comment.

For the most part, it's not legal (in the US) to copy a DVD that you own (to another DVD or to a hard drive) - except for the rare unprotected DVD. Saying that it's legal to download them is not only wrong it's incredibly irresponsible.

I don't agree with what the DMCA has made illegal - invalidating prior fair use laws - but it is still illegal.
 
I'm not sure that copying a DVD is illegal. Here is what I do know:

1) Consumers have a legal right to make backup copies of content that they own.

2) It is illegal to make or distribute hardware or software that can circumvent the copy-protections placed on content.

So there is a legal conflict that has yet to wind through the courts. Though it is illegal to CREATE or DISTRIBUTE software that will copy a protected DVD, it is not illegal to USE that software (stupid, isn't it?). Fair-use is still alive, although it's been beaten to a pulp.
 
smee said:
My understanding is that circumventing the copy protection is illegal.
Yes, this is why the courts have to decide the issue. It's a definite conflict.

Although it is claimed that circumventing the copy protection is illegal, it is also explicit in the fair use doctrine that any copy-protection that prevents you from making backup copies for your own use is in violation of the fair use doctrine, and therefore illegal.

The wording of the DMCA dances around the issues of fair use, and it will be years before the courts sort it all out. I would bet that it is what congress and the MPAA had in mind.
 
Its an art for sure. Don't blame the codec. Local friends have worked on it for a long time, and they rip 2g DIVX movies to make them look good. But the good ripping groups can make 700mb movies look as good as my friends 2g movies.

For reference, I have two Pioneer 720p 50" Plasmas, a Toshiba 50" HD rear-view and a pioneer 42" plasma at 720p and I am very happy with MOST of my collection. I have some DivX 3.11 stuff, and some stuff encoded by amatures, but overall, the Divx5.1 or newer, done by the pros, are perfect.


WAIT a second, it is about time to replace everything with HD-DVD content and all this is mute... All the numbers are gonna change... Which is better MPEG2 or MPEG4, well it will all look bad compared to HD quality encodings...

OH my, an editorial just came over me. It is titled THE CURSE OF THE CD!!!!

Why do Divx movies suck sometimes? DivX/MPEG-4 is simply better, it is the extreme shrinking cause by the desire to make a movie fit on 1 or 2 700mb CDs that degrades them. If the optimal size to encode a movie is 900mb, you are going to suffer by losing 200mb of valuable data. If there were no CDs and only HDD & DVDs, this magic 700mb number would not exist and DivX/MPG4 would get far more respect.

Keeping pure VOB files IS perferable, but in this day and age, it is not financially practical. New parallel alignment technology in new hard drives will keep the sizes growing fast though and soon when we have 2.4tb in a single drive, the size of current day VOBs would be pretty irrelevant, but the whole DVD format will be irrelevant by then too.


Vaughn
 
Wow, I missed a few responses in this thread. I did not see the Legal issues last time.

I am no lawyer and don't even really want to particiapate in the legal arguments because it does not do much good. The laws are twisted right now. But I will make a couple points:

1) Has anyone ever been sued for DOWNLOADING content that they already own? NO, not that I have ever heard of. They would never be able to make a case, it would link into the fair use issues and be tabled 'till the supreme court. If I scratch a DVD, do I not still own it? I feel entitled to replace it.

2) If you are downloading Screeners or CAMS, well then you know you don't own a license and it is easy to spot you as a theif. If you are stealing, you deserve what you get...

3) By downloading DivX movies you already own, you are not bypassing copy protection, THE GUY encoding it did. So he broke the law, and you own the title, so how is downloading it illegal?????????????

Really though, I am fighting against myself, because I believe the best way to store anything is unmodified in it purest form. But what we collect today will be obsolete with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and storing old MPEG-2 files is just too expensive. I keep the DVDs in boxes where they are safe and portable (In case I have to haul them into court =)

If this was politics, and I had to pick a side, I am of the school that "If I bought it, it is mine and get out of my life. I will handle my possessions however I feel". I will never be involved with ANYTHING that has DRM built in (well, until fair use is protected).

Really though, everyone walk your own path, do what you feel is ethical and I will not pass judgement on you. Oh, and never take legal advice from a punk like me =)

Love ya,
Vaughn
 
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