The deception of “buying” digital movies • Hacker News Board

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#151

Post by reaperducer » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #109

kranke155 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny if the poster is actually complaining about grain. Digital compression, like the one that Netflix uses, will often clean up the image of grain as a secondary effect of the compression algo. Essentially grain is a lot of detail that video compression algorithms have been taught to ignore/remove. H.264 was notorious for virtually removing all grain making it impossible to have authentic film grain on YouTube…

I wonder: If film grain never existed, would we invent it? If we had originally developed film technology where everything looked completely clean, would anyone have thought "Hey I've got a great idea, let's figure out how to make this look grainy"?

If film grain never existed, would we invent it?

Yes, but it wouldn't be used across an entire film. Likely just in flashbacks and other dramatic scenes, the way it's applied to digital productions today.

Similar to how in the 2000's, hipster bands added photographic pops and crackle to their tracks as an artistic measure.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#152

Post by maerF0x0 » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

misterbishop wrote: post #122

I hate this as much as anyone, but it's wild that nerds make their stand on the sacred right TO WATCH A MOVIE. We face incredible political oppression and extreme economic exploitation in the context of global capitalism melting down. There are more important things than whether your $10 Hercules purchase still works in 20 years. By all means be angry about this, but try to connect it with things that have actual sta…

> There are more important things than whether your $10 Hercules purchase still works in 20 years.

How you handle the small things is how you handle everything. I'm glad to see something breaking their trance. Let's hope they keep going!

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#153

Post by mttjj » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

abruzzi wrote: post #145

mttjj wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy digital movies all the time. Not often at full price because there are sales and deals on iTunes weekly (daily). To me, "buying" a movie for $4.99 or even $8.99 (which is only a dollar or two more than the rental price) is worth it on the off-chance that I may want to watch it again in the future. My digital iTunes movie library is nearing 900 movies at this point. All backed up and downloaded locally so I redu…

damn, you're way ahead of me, almost double my number. I haven't looked into local backups. I'll have to see how that is done (and buy a bigger harddrive.) I didn't really realize that Apple made this possible since I only use an AppleTV to purchase and view movies.

Yeah, unfortunately you can't download the 4K versions. But for me that's an OK tradeoff since I've never once had to use the downloaded version to actually watch something on my AppleTV; everything has still been available in my account for streaming. Not to mention that over half of my library is movies from the 1930s to 1960s - way before 4K was even a concept. So except for a handful of recent movies, I've got the highest form downloaded anyway.

I have a Mac mini that exists almost exclusively to be the backup for all my digital content should I ever need it. All the movies are downloaded to a 14TB external drive which is then cloned to another 16TB external drive and also fully backed up to Backblaze.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#154

Post by makeitdouble » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:42 PM UTC

astorsnk wrote: post #58

stewx wrote: post #7

One under-appreciated limitation on digital movies is geographic restrictions. You buy a bunch of iTunes movies in Canada, then move to the USA, and you no longer have the right to watch them anymore due to licensing. Another significant issue with digital movies and games is the inability to resell the content once you're done with it. You can sell your DVDs at a yard sale or on eBay but not your iTunes movies. IMO,…

>> You buy a bunch of iTunes movies in Canada, then move to the USA, and you no longer have the right to watch them anymore due to licensing. Maybe this is true from the perspective of the license but it's not something Apple enforces through tech. For example, I have a two iTunes accounts for two countries. I can purchase content through both and use that content anywhere without restriction. They make it a big pain…

I am on the same boat but found it more and more a PITA to manage as Apple started to push for 2FA (that damn prompt every fucking login to "upgrade" your account). Switching account is now way more burdensome, and it's also a pain to get the password prompts on updates as apps are still bound to your logged out account.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#155

Post by toastercat » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:43 PM UTC

If I can't buy a movie or album DRM-free, I won't buy them at all. This is an area where piracy ironically offers a better experience than the legitimate route.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#156

Post by maerF0x0 » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

boros2me wrote: post #36

One idea I keep thinking about (which I'm sure interferes with some sort of copyright law) is: 1. User buys a physical copy of a movie/music 2. Instead of sending the disc to their house, it's sent to a storage facility 3. In the storage facility a digital backup is made and uploaded to a cloud storage 4. User is given access to the backup which they can watch/listen to 5. User would be the owner of said physical cop…

One thing to note is this would be very expensive from a bandwidth perspective, of course depending on streaming quality. A 2 hour 4k video is about 40GB of data transfer, I'm presuming if someone buys something over rent they're going to watch it at least 3x... A quick google suggests 120GB can cost $6 to move.

happy to hear if my math is off and learn more about the pricing structures

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#157

Post by dqpb » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

josh_fyi wrote: post #10

Has anyone tried a legal challenge to the word "buy"? It seems like a straightforward case of misrepresentation.

If you sue Amazon, can they ban you from using their services?

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#158

Post by chordalkeyboard » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

astorsnk wrote: post #58

stewx wrote: post #7

One under-appreciated limitation on digital movies is geographic restrictions. You buy a bunch of iTunes movies in Canada, then move to the USA, and you no longer have the right to watch them anymore due to licensing. Another significant issue with digital movies and games is the inability to resell the content once you're done with it. You can sell your DVDs at a yard sale or on eBay but not your iTunes movies. IMO,…

>> You buy a bunch of iTunes movies in Canada, then move to the USA, and you no longer have the right to watch them anymore due to licensing. Maybe this is true from the perspective of the license but it's not something Apple enforces through tech. For example, I have a two iTunes accounts for two countries. I can purchase content through both and use that content anywhere without restriction. They make it a big pain…

in 2010 I bought an ipod touch at the px in Afghanistan and Apple wouldn't even let me create an account; without an account most of the features were not accessible.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#159

Post by scarface74 » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

JohnTHaller wrote: post #22

ezfe wrote: post #2

The iTunes Store continues to be the only reputable place to buy movies, mainly because they allow downloads (except 4K...but I digress). In the past, redownloading movies wasn't even permitted. You download it and save it somewhere yourself. You can still do that to avoid any issues in the future, but I suspect the few incidents that have affected the iTunes Store are unlikely to re-occur. Why? For exactly the reaso…

Can you play those downloaded movies outside of Apple hardware/software?

Others have mentioned that the AppleTV app is ubiquitous across every major streaming platform - Roku, Amazon, Samsung Smart TVs, etc.

A little known service in the US is “Movies Anywhere”. Four of the major studios participate in as well as does Apple, Amazon, Google, Vudu and other platforms. You link all of your accounts and a movie bought on one, automatically is credited to the other accounts as a purchase.

https://help.moviesanywhere.com/hc/en-us/articles/1150045768...

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#160

Post by chiefalchemist » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 2:46 PM UTC

rthomas6 wrote: post #47

I have started a modest Blu-Ray/4k Blu-Ray collection. For me, it is by far the best movie experience I've had with any format. It takes maybe 90 vs 20 seconds to get the movie playing, but in return I get noticeably better quality. 4k Blu-Rays' bitrates are around 128 Mb/s. For comparison, Netflix tops out around 17 Mb/s. It really does look and sound noticeably better if you have the TV and surround setup to take a…

I've been doing similar (i.e, growing my collection of physical medium entertainment). I also prefer physical medium and my own player because I don't feel comfortable with someone else (unseen) recording my every pause, rewind, login, etc.

I get a better quality experience and no one is probing my psyche.