Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: A visit to the local bootlegger

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-26-2003, 02:09 PM:

From this week's Las Vegas Weekly:

Ill Gotten Bootlegs--Visit a cineplex? Why, when you can catch current movies--on bootlegged DVDs?

The pirate didn't look nearly as deadly, devious or delicious as Johnny Depp. But, sitting at the prow of his booth at the Fantastic Indoor Swap Meet, this man—talking on his cell phone all the while—proved to be the far craftier buccaneer. And making plunder of Depp and the other pirates of the Caribbean turned out to be only one of his fantastic feats. Some of this man's other miracles (displayed on televisions arranged around the shop): He'd plucked Sinbad from the Seven Seas, kicked the ass of the hot-blond Terminator, bagged Charlie's Angels and even found Nemo. Holding the bootlegged treasures in my hands, their allure was irresistible. I knew it was wrong, but I needed some of this desert pirate's ill-gotten booty.

"How much?"

"Three for $39. I don't charge tax." Of course you don't. I chose six.

Things got dicey when I asked for a receipt.

"You don't need one; I guarantee every item." What a prince!

"But if one of these doesn't work, how will you know I got it here?"

"I am the only one who sells these." Of course you are.

A few hours later, I was back in the comfort of my apartment with DVD versions, all in professional-looking packaging, of the hottest summer blockbusters.

Then the problems started. A close examination of the boxes quickly revealed the non- Hollywood origins of my new DVDs. The description offered of Disney's latest effort began: "Den Kleinen Fisch Nemo…." Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was not rated. And why wasn't Blonde capitalized on the cover of Reese Witherspoon's new movie?

But those were nothing compared to the flaws revealed when I actually tried playing the discs. It took a dozen tries to get my player to stop telling me "No Disc" when I inserted Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Then, once I got it going, the disc played for a few minutes and skipped back to the first scene. After the problem repeated itself a few times, I found a way to scan through the rough spot and was able to watch the rest of the movie. None of the others skipped around like that, but all of them contained some obvious and distracting defect. On my version of T3, in every scene where the lighting was dark, the movie turned near invisible. Despite being clearly labeled as the Widescreen Edition, my Pirates of the Caribbean seemed to be missing a bit from the sides as well as the bottom of the frame. Whenever the action heated up, the motions began to blur and trail like I was watching a fight scene in a Matrix future instead of a sword battle meant to replicate the past. The result at times could be hard to follow.

Still, there were compensations. I didn't have to check theater listings. I didn't have to drive, walk or wait in a ticket line. I was able to watch Pirates of the Caribbean without commercials, previews or irritating children sitting next to me. When I felt like running to the bathroom, I hit pause, and when I felt like a snack, I discovered my refrigerator offered far more reasonable prices than any theater concession on planet Earth. Best of all: 20 minutes into Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, I discovered just how much easier it is to eject a DVD than it is to walk out of a theater. That provided such a sense of empowerment that I did the same thing 10 minutes into Legally Blonde 2 just for the thrill it gave me.

My verdict: Given a choice, I will never go to a movie theater again, ever. Of course, I am not a movie connoisseur and couldn't even define cinematography. I don't own a large screen TV or a home-entertainment system. (The truth is that if I had any sort of technical fetish for movies, I would find these bootlegs unwatchable and a desecration.) The audio was fine and at worst the picture quality was like the occasional vagaries of TV without cable. Over time, these sorts of bootlegs will almost certainly mature technically and the movie industry might face similar woes to the music business. Still, middle America watches movies, and could suburbanites really be comfortable stealing movies as readily as their kids file-share Eminem songs?

I called my mom, a lawyer, to tell her about my discovery. To my surprise, she wasn't at all surprised.

"Oh, yes, there is a store out here that sells them. We got My Big Fat Greek Wedding when it was still in theaters. The picture was a bit odd at times, but the sound was fine."

She asked me to mail her my bootlegs.

"But don't you have a problem with that? Isn't it stealing?"

"I don't know. You paid for it, right? It's not really my area of law." Answered like a lawyer.

And all around the country, the real pirates are smiling.

Contributing editor Richard Abowitz covers entertainment for the Weekly.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 07-26-2003, 05:06 PM:

I always enjoy articles that fairly explore both sides of the issue [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 07-26-2003, 05:37 PM:

There is only ONE side of the issue! Duplicating and selling copyrighted material without permission is a CRIME!

I must admit I had copied many of my CDs on to minidiscs but it was only for personal use at the gym or when I travel. As I understand, this is allowed under the copyright laws of the United States. When I flew to Sacramento two weeks ago, I took "PHONE BOOTH", "THE MISSION" and "LA BOHEME" with me and they were all ORIGINAL DVDs I bought at stores to play and watch on my portable Pioneer DVD player on the plane.

-Claude

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-28-2003, 05:16 PM:

Bootlegged DVDs are crap. So are the VCD files people download off the Internet. With quality of such unbelievable shit, I cannot believe people actually waste 2 hours of their lives watching that garbage.

My time is valuable to me, so if I am going to spend 2 hours of it watching a movie I want good presentation quality --either from a legit DVD at home or Film Done Right at a reputable commercial movie theater. Those who download and buy pirated DVDs need to be ridiculed.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 07-28-2003, 06:23 PM:

I dont understand people who find enjoyment in watching bootleg dvds of blockbusters. Forget the ethics of it. What about the aesthetics? It is worse than watching even a legal pan and scan VHs copy of the movie. You could pay 13 dollars for a movie and get two tickets at the theater. No one DEMANDS that you buy popcorn when you watch a movie. Go to a matinee and three of you could go for a little above that price.

And as far as the ethics of it, this is not comparable to students file sharing. Students dont download and sell these songs for a profit to some student who does not have access to these filesharing programs. The pirate is worse than a scalper and needs to be arrested.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 07-28-2003, 07:31 PM:

I will say something that I have said before:

Pirating angers me because the MPAA, the studios, and everyone else for some damn reason thinks that all movies that get downloaded off the 'net come from a local multiplex. 99% of the time - it is a stupid studio employee opening a port and allowing some friends access to studio .DAT files.

I have never EVER had to have anyone arrested for trying to tape a film in any of the 30+ locations I have worked at. Can't someone get the picture here?

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-28-2003, 10:19 PM:

There is really only one good reason to copy a movie to/from DVD. That reason is "Geek Value". People who like to play or experiment with technology might like the challenges and learning experiences gotten from "tinkering" with multimedia content on their computers.

Face it, there just ain't no way that the quality of something that you copied is going to compare to the original. Not by a long shot. Furthermore, it takes a lot of effort to copy and burn a movie from one format to another. If you think you're getting something for nothing then you are sorely mistaken!

I like to copy parts of movies and DVDs onto my computers and then play with them. Sometimes I make frame grabs of my favorite scenes. Sometimes I make sound clips and turn them into alert sounds. My computer's alert sound is, "Nee!" (As in the Knights who say...") I clipped it from the DVD that I bought. Other times I take video clips and make them into "Mini Movies". I might take my favorite scenes from several different movies and edit them together into a new (hopefully funny or entertaining) movie.

Whatever the source; whatever the result; I play with my creations for a while and then move on to the next thing. I show them to my friends; my friends sho their creations to me and we laugh about them. When the fun is over, most of them are deleted and a new crop is born.

Virtually every piece of material that we copy comes from a source that we are legally entitled to possess. It's usually from a DVD or video that we own. Sometimes it's from something we rent. Since 90%+ of the things we do eventually get deleted and they never leave our personal sphere of control I don't believe there is anything wrong with what we do.

Now... If somebody is copying material that they DON'T have the legal right to posess in the first place, be that material a DVD a film, a video, a CD or an MP3 then their ass(es) should be grass, legally speaking.

If you have the legal right to posess a piece of multimedia material then you also have the right to "manage" that material on all the equipment that you own that is capable of "handling" it, provided that you maintain control of it and you don't use it to make money or pecuniary gains.

If you felt the need to make 50 copies of a DVD and then rub them on your bare bum, that is your right. If you let others rub those copies on their bare bums then you are wrong.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-29-2003, 02:44 AM:

Randy, you obviously do not realize how evil you are. I called the MPAA and RIAA and they are going to rip you a new asshole AND sue every member of your family.

Money is the most important thing on the planet.
Corporations rule. Individuals do not.

Corporate entities sure whine when individuals defeat their lame ass technology *cough* Macrovision *cough* that DVD encryption code thingy *cough* etc *cough* etc *cough*.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-29-2003, 09:14 AM:

The only way to win this situation is to keep doing what people have been doing for 20+ years... Ignore them and keep doing what you want to do with your DVDs and CDs. (Caveat: The results of your efforts must stay with you.)

People have been copying their music and videos for YEARS! And, don't give me that old line that, "Now, we have the technology to make perfect digital copies", crapola! You KNOW that's bullshit! It's a bald-faced lie dreamed up to make you think that those poor multi-millionaires who don't have enough money to snort that one last line of coke and fuck one more teenage boy up the ass should deserve to take even MORE money from you than they already do!

Somehow, they have gotten media attention and have been able to get the word out. As you know, people will believe anything they see on TV. Copying multimedia in your home will cause the world to come to an end! This is totally untrue! People should just keep doing what they are doing and proceed through life normally (relatively speaking) and pay no attention to these buggerers!

I think this is all coming about because they have come to the realization that they are poweless to prevent piracy (under the circumstances as they are now) and have turned toward the general public in frustration. It's EASY to pick on the little guy!

I say, FUCK 'EM! Let them snort coke and fuck each other until their noses rot away and their assholes fall out! Nothing in their shabby little lives has ANY bearing on mine!

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-29-2003, 11:28 AM:

Some links to information about "fair use" and rights of legitimate purchasers of copyrighted materials to make working copies for personal use:

The US Copyright Act

TechTV article

IEEE Spectrum article

Legal Opinion

Wayne Law School