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UK ISPs told to block 21 pirate sites. Do you download illegally?

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    #92
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    Which part of "exactly the same as what's on your disc" is unclear? What do you think these 20GB+ downloads are?

    Go test it out for yourself, look at the file sizes on the downloads. Yes there is some rubbish online that claims to be BR quality but is just normal hd instead, but this is just badly labelled.

    BD25 and BD50 are the magical tags you are looking for...


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    #93
    CrazyRabbit
    Registered Users Posts: 8,659 ✭✭✭CrazyRabbit


    Good luck to them blocking these 21 sites. And the 30 + replacement sites that would spring up if they were closed. And the replacement for those...and so on.

    Even if they made torrents illegal, something else will replace it. And with each new file sharing technology, it becomes harder to stop. E.g...TPB got into legal trouble because it hosted the torrent files. So they responded with magnet links, so nothing is stored on their servers.

    The only way to beat the pirates is to offer a service that is cheap, higher quality, more intuitive, more feature rich & offers everything the customer wants. But so long as a movie studios and record labels are around, they will try to stick with the current system because they make vast profits from it and don't want to risk losing their power/control.


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    #94
    IvaBigWun
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭IvaBigWun


    CrazyRabbit wrote: »
    The only way to beat the pirates is to offer a service that is cheap, higher quality, more intuitive, more feature rich & offers everything the customer wants. But so long as a movie studios and record labels are around, they will try to stick with the current system because they make vast profits from it and don't want to risk losing their power/control.

    How can they really compete with it though?

    In the sense that if they were to go as far as a film being legally downloadable 2 weeks after its cinema release they would need the file to be encrypted so as the file couldnt then spread for free.

    Such an unhackable encryption cant come cheap


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    #95
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,146 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Music: I tend to download a lot of albums and, if I like the artist then I go see them live. I've seen all of my favourites live except Metallica who I'm not overly keen on due to their obsession with profits.

    Films: If it's on Netflix, I'll watch it there. Otherwise, I tend to go for the download option.

    TV Shows: I really wish HBO Go was available over here. Aside from that, Love/Hate is the only thing I've downloaded recently as I can't get RTÉ over here.

    Games: I've forgotten the last time I downloaded a game. They're available so cheaply and legally on the likes of Steam and it's ilk. Plus, if it's not great, I can get them dirt cheap on Amazon second hand the the publisher doesn't see a penny.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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    #96
    COYVB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,660 ✭✭✭COYVB


    _Redzer_ wrote: »
    Nope. High compression degrades the quality a lot

    There's no compression in a 1:1 rip, which is what he's talking about. You're talking about mkvs, avis or mpgs. He's talking about a complete dump of a disc


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    #97
    Duggy747
    Registered Users Posts: 13,295 ✭✭✭✭Duggy747


    XBMC + plugins.

    Pretty much eradicates the need for downloading while I buy my games nowadays.
    _Redzer_ wrote:
    Nope. High compression degrades the quality a lot

    You can get perfect rips of Blurays, they're referred to as Untouched and not BRrips of which you seem to be thinking of. People do it all the time for backing up their own copies, they just rip the main video + audio and cut out all the extras to reduce size though they're still massive.


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    #98
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    _Redzer_ wrote: »
    I buy blu rays and I buy music. The quality of the movies just can't be replicated in a download. It's not even close. Plus I like physical discs.
    I hate disks, seems pointless having a collection of plastic with pictures on them.


    _Redzer_ wrote: »
    Yeah because a 5GB download is the same as a 50GB blu ray. If that was the case blu rays would never been invented as a 7GB DVD would be sufficient.
    You seem to be very generous with your disk capacities. A DVD is less than 5gb, a blue ray is 25gb unless it's double layered. Once you remove all the anti piracy stuff, ads and stupidly long intros the film is probably using less than 20gb of space.

    Modern movies are digital data, you can download an exact copy of a movie (maybe not so easily done legally, but it's very easy to do it illegally), most people just download the compressed version because you're not going to miss the THC dolby 7.1 surround track being reduced to a more basic surround sound.
    Downloads can't beat out blu rays when it comes to sound and image quality. That's a fact.
    Of course they can, it's just data.


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    #99
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    No no guys, there is magic pixie dust on the actual Bluray disk itself - this is what gives it superior quality. The movie industry has spent years perfecting this magic. When you pirate the movie the pixie dust falls off, leaving you with worse quality.


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    #100
    batistuta9
    Registered Users Posts: 8,088 ✭✭✭batistuta9


    srsly78 wrote: »
    No no guys, there is magic pixie dust on the actual Bluray disk itself - this is what gives it superior quality. The movie industry has spent years perfecting this magic. When you pirate the movie the pixie dust falls off, leaving you with worse quality.

    i wonder how many people would actually notice a difference or think they notice a difference


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    #101
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    Well not the people that have "hd ready" tvs that's for sure.


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    #102
    batistuta9
    Registered Users Posts: 8,088 ✭✭✭batistuta9


    srsly78 wrote: »
    Well not the people that have "hd ready" tvs that's for sure.

    :pac:

    i was looking into something like that not that long ago & if you've a 32" TV, you've to be sitting 4 foot from it to notice the the real benefit of HD

    that's the only one i can remember but you've to be ridiculously close to the TV, also you can be sitting too far from it to notice it


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    #103
    Fighting Irish
    Registered Users Posts: 7,065 ✭✭✭Fighting Irish


    lol pointless, never even heard of them websites


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    #104
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Block 23 out of thousands? I've not even heard of most of those. Can't they just stick 1000 mirrors up?
    _Redzer_ wrote: »
    Nope. High compression degrades the quality a lot

    jaysus, at least learn about these things. Of course you can download blue rays and have been able to do so for many years. It doesn't even take long with new high speed net.


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    #105
    Paramite Pie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,312 ✭✭✭Paramite Pie


    I've used the several of the sites listed, such as torrentz, torrenthound and a few others.

    I don't download often (nothing in the last 6 months) but I mostly download tv shows, which are aired on tv anyways eventually. I just want to blitz through the show more quickly.

    But yes piracy is wrong, and not the ideal solution to corporate greed. Rather piracy is a symptom of the problem and it will decline as affordable sites like netflix and others grow.

    Alot of the music I like isn't every mainstream so I buy that to support artists I like.


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    #106
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    batistuta9 wrote: »
    :pac:

    i was looking into something like that not that long ago & if you've a 32" TV, you've to be sitting 4 foot from it to notice the the real benefit of HD

    that's the only one i can remember but you've to be ridiculously close to the TV, also you can be sitting too far from it to notice it

    The joke is that "hd ready" actually means "not hd at all".


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    #107
    batistuta9
    Registered Users Posts: 8,088 ✭✭✭batistuta9


    srsly78 wrote: »
    The joke is that "hd ready" actually means "not hd at all".

    720 is classed as HD


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    #108
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    By marketing people, it's ancient at this stage and not really high definition at all anymore.

    If 1080 is "full hd", is 720 only "half hd"?


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    #109
    CrazyRabbit
    Registered Users Posts: 8,659 ✭✭✭CrazyRabbit


    ancapailldorcha wrote: »
    Music: I tend to download a lot of albums and, if I like the artist then I go see them live. I've seen all of my favourites live except Metallica who I'm not overly keen on due to their obsession with profits.

    Films: If it's on Netflix, I'll watch it there. Otherwise, I tend to go for the download option.

    TV Shows: I really wish HBO Go was available over here. Aside from that, Love/Hate is the only thing I've downloaded recently as I can't get RTÉ over here.

    Games: I've forgotten the last time I downloaded a game. They're available so cheaply and legally on the likes of Steam and it's ilk. Plus, if it's not great, I can get them dirt cheap on Amazon second hand the the publisher doesn't see a penny.

    Yup. Steam and Humble Bundle completely changed how I get my games. A huge variety of games with about 1500 for less than a €5. Quick to download and install, trustworthy and good forums.

    I don't own a TV as I refuse to pay for tv stations that I would never watch. And even if they have the shows I wanted to watch, it would be months after being shown in the US etc. So I 'acquire' TV shows via other means.

    Movies I know are going to be good, I watch in the Cinema. 2nd rate/mindless action movies are not worth the price of cinema tickets so I acquire them elsewhere also. The very best movies get bought on BR. I like to support the very best artists/directors.


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    #110
    IvaBigWun
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭IvaBigWun


    CrazyRabbit wrote: »
    Yup. Steam and Humble Bundle completely changed how I get my games. A huge variety of games with about 1500 for less than a €5. Quick to download and install, trustworthy and good forums.

    Im not a gamer but surely that cant be legal?


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    #111
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,146 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    IvaBigWun wrote: »
    Im not a gamer but surely that cant be legal?

    It is. Steam sales in particular are notorious for this. Recent titles tend to only get reduced to only about £10-£20 but you can get the likes of Skyrim for well under a tenner in a Steam sale. There's also midweek sales every week. In short, purchasing games legally is actually more convenient than piracy. The head of Valve, Gabe Newell has said that the way to beat piracy is to offer a better service than the pirates which is exactly what he has done.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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    #112
    Calibos
    Registered Users Posts: 7,796 ✭✭✭Calibos


    He thought you meant 1,500 games, all for a fiver, when what you actually meant was a catalogue of over 1,500 games available @ €5-10 each


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    #113
    Maximus Alexander
    Registered Users Posts: 13,080 ✭✭✭✭Maximus Alexander


    I used to pirate music, movies, tv shows, video games. Then Netflix, Spotify and Steam came along. Now I don't pirate anything.

    Offer me a better service than the pirates and I'll pay you for it. Blindingly obvious when you think about it. Adapt or die.


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    #114
    Calibos
    Registered Users Posts: 7,796 ✭✭✭Calibos


    Never pirated games.

    Never pirated music but my brothers do but only a tiny amount tbh.

    Download Movies and TV shows like and for the reasons I explained earlier in the thread.

    However, give me access to every Bluray Movie and TVshow released to date on a cloud server viewable as many times as I want, whenever I want, wherever I want (wherever I log into the service be it on any media device in my own home or someone elses) and I will pay you €50-€100 per month.

    The powers that be need to realise that they'll lose a lot less from the people who now buy more than €50-€100 a month in Bluray's and TVshows (Premium TV subs) than they will gain from the 100's of millions of people who download everything and pay nothing now but who would give the powers that be €50-€100 every month for what I described above. Netlix still has too many restrictions still


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    #115
    Cantona's Collars
    Registered Users Posts: 33,709 ✭✭✭✭Cantona's Collars


    srsly78 wrote: »
    Well not the people that have "hd ready" tvs that's for sure.

    All HD tv's are HD ready.They don't display HD pictures unless connected to a HD source.

    I agree with what Scumlord said earlier,I gave up buying dvd's & blurays.They simply took up so much space & were possibly watched once.Everything I have now is digital,connect a portable hdd to my tv & choose what I want to look at.Before it was buy dvd,put it in dvd player,watch a load of crap before the movie,watch movie then put it back into the box & then onto a shelf to gather dust.

    I also use XBMC a bit as does the missus,so long as stuff is available free online people will download/stream it.


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    #116
    fasttalkerchat
    Registered Users Posts: 5,652 ✭✭✭fasttalkerchat


    IvaBigWun wrote: »
    It just so happens that carte blanche Netflix would cost around 2 euros more than that. 7 for Netflix and 5 to a website that makes your ISP go to America.

    I havent tried it yet and of course we cant give out links here but there's plenty of info online, on YouTube especially

    Do they have films as soon as they are released in the USA too?


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    #117
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Calibos wrote: »
    However, give me access to every Bluray Movie and TVshow released to date on a cloud server viewable as many times as I want, whenever I want, wherever I want (wherever I log into the service be it on any media device in my own home or someone elses) and I will pay you €50-€100 per month.
    A month! Such a service would have pretty low overheads, all they'd be doing is hosting files for streaming. You can get sky packages for much less than €50 and it's a much more expansive service so nobody should be paying €50 or more for access to a streaming service.


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    #118
    shruikan2553
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,113 ✭✭✭shruikan2553


    I buy all my games from steam or amazon and most TV and films from netflix. The odd time something isn't on netflix (game of thrones) I will stream it online. If they offered me a way to stream it for 10 euro a series I would pay that but they dont so I have to go elsewhere.
    IvaBigWun wrote: »
    It just so happens that carte blanche Netflix would cost around 2 euros more than that. 7 for Netflix and 5 to a website that makes your ISP go to America.

    I havent tried it yet and of course we cant give out links here but there's plenty of info online, on YouTube especially

    There are free ways to watch the US netflix. I use a google chrome extension for my PC.


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    #119
    kingtiger
    Registered Users Posts: 1,740 ✭✭✭kingtiger


    _Redzer_ wrote: »
    Downloads can't beat out blu rays when it comes to sound and image quality. That's a fact.

    pure and utter bull

    tell me the difference between the encode and the source

    example

    http://imgbox.com/acstRzlz


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    #120
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    The rays coming out of the encode aren't as "blu" as the original you see, this is related to the magical pixie dust previously mentioned.


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    #121
    joostl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 58 ✭✭joostl


    fasttalkerchat wrote: »
    Do they have films as soon as they are released in the USA too?

    Some yes and a lot are pretty close


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