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Review - Is DVD Digital Copy worth the trouble?
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 18 November, 2009
Last year Hollywood introduced a new feature called the Digital Copy. It's supposed to be a solution for watching your movies on your portable media player, and has been promoted as the legal alternative to ripping and encoding movies at home.
To date, here at Afterdawn we have been generally dismissive of the entire idea of Digital Copy. It has always seemed like a solution to the wrong ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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18. November 2009 @ 06:08 |
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"In the nearly two years since the first Digital Copy enabled DVD went on sale it has become a common feature on new DVDs, and even spread to Blu-ray discs. So instead of just poking fun we're going to take a serious look at the Digital Copy included with the Watchmen Director's Cut DVD to give you a more accurate assessment."
"There's also a time restriction to think about. You can play a Digital Copy forever (or at least until you upgrade your computer or portable device), but you have to copy it to your computer within a certain timeframe or else lose the capability to do so forever. Typically there is a window of one year from the DVD's original release date. Wait a day longer and authorization will fail.
This generally shouldn't be an issue for a DVD, but Blu-ray discs may be another matter. With significantly lower sales numbers than DVD, Blu-ray discs often take much longer to sell. The chances of getting a Blu-ray disc with an already expired, and therefore useless, Digital Copy are not insignificant. "
So there are DVDs with this feature that have been out for about two years; and this shouldn't be an issue with DVD, despite dismal sales due to the economy, and more people than ever buying from the discount racks?
"And if you don't happen to live in the United States or Canada they're all useless. "
-I'm sure that the rest of the world is just thrilled about that! No, seariously...they don't have to deal with this BS, they must be thrilled!
What a joke, DRM sucks, and the files would be terrible quality even if the DRM was stripped. My favorite part about DVD & blu-ray is the ease of DRM stripping, we don't need more DRM.
FAIL
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5fdpfan
Member
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18. November 2009 @ 10:32 |
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Luckily for me I don't encounter the issues discussed in this article.
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spartybob
Junior Member
2 product reviews
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18. November 2009 @ 12:29 |
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Yeeaahhhh, me neither. :)
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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19. November 2009 @ 00:17 |
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Originally posted by 5fdpfan:
Luckily for me I don't encounter the issues discussed in this article.
Thanks to AnyDVD, I have not had to worry about these problems either. :-)
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Staff Member
2 product reviews
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19. November 2009 @ 00:36 |
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Originally posted by KillerBug:
So there are DVDs with this feature that have been out for about two years; and this shouldn't be an issue with DVD, despite dismal sales due to the economy, and more people than ever buying from the discount racks?
Since Digital Copy is only available on a given movie's initial pressing or 2 it's generally not a problem with DVDs, which in fairness I probably should have mentined. There will obviously be exceptions, but in most cases the initial run of DVDs will be sold long before the first year is up. Having said that, I'd be curious to see how many of these discs end up being bought by rental shops and sold used after the Digital Copy expires.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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19. November 2009 @ 04:41 |
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Quote:
Originally posted by KillerBug:
So there are DVDs with this feature that have been out for about two years; and this shouldn't be an issue with DVD, despite dismal sales due to the economy, and more people than ever buying from the discount racks?
Since Digital Copy is only available on a given movie's initial pressing or 2 it's generally not a problem with DVDs, which in fairness I probably should have mentined. There will obviously be exceptions, but in most cases the initial run of DVDs will be sold long before the first year is up. Having said that, I'd be curious to see how many of these discs end up being bought by rental shops and sold used after the Digital Copy expires.
I was just thinking about all the new releases that they print too many of, then they sell them off over the course of 2-3 years...the second pressing can be as much as 4 years after the first. I guess it does not matter anyway...if they are not even going to include this "feature" on the second pressing, then it won't catch on...even if the DRM and quality problems were fixed.
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Staff Member
2 product reviews
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19. November 2009 @ 08:02 |
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Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by KillerBug:
So there are DVDs with this feature that have been out for about two years; and this shouldn't be an issue with DVD, despite dismal sales due to the economy, and more people than ever buying from the discount racks?
Since Digital Copy is only available on a given movie's initial pressing or 2 it's generally not a problem with DVDs, which in fairness I probably should have mentined. There will obviously be exceptions, but in most cases the initial run of DVDs will be sold long before the first year is up. Having said that, I'd be curious to see how many of these discs end up being bought by rental shops and sold used after the Digital Copy expires.
I was just thinking about all the new releases that they print too many of, then they sell them off over the course of 2-3 years...the second pressing can be as much as 4 years after the first. I guess it does not matter anyway...if they are not even going to include this "feature" on the second pressing, then it won't catch on...even if the DRM and quality problems were fixed.
To the best of my knowledge Digital Copy isn't pervasive enough to be used on those sorts of titles yet. If anything the complaint (about the DVDs) is that they've been gone within a month or 2 after release. But it's certainly valid to suggest it eventually would be part of those lower volume releases if, as the studios suggest, it's such a big part of their strategy.
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Senior Member
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19. November 2009 @ 10:40 |
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Digital Copy is a joke why would one waste their time when you can use better alternatives. And if you had to use this garbage you would be screwed in the long run.
I would NEVER buy a used barely playable movie from a rental shop that really isn't too bright when you think about it. So your example wouldn't apply and for those that would they probably wouldn't know how to even use Digital Copy anyhow.
Watchmen Director's Cut, who would want to copy that horrible worthless movie anyhow. That has to be the absolute worst movie I have seen in a very, very long time. It was so bad I couldn't watch it further then half way through and wanted my money back for renting the garbage, it would have put me to sleep forever, I've seen bad B movies that were much better.
Other then the poor choice in movies you did a very good job on the artical, good job in that sense.
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FoilWrap
Newbie
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19. November 2009 @ 11:37 |
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I stead of downloading a Digital Copy with Sux Fer Sure compatibility, I opted to rip and encode my own copy. But Star Trek was only about 50% as good as I expected, and I'm not really tempted to watch the movie on my netbook after all. Oh well.
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salsa36
Member
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19. November 2009 @ 11:51 |
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Interesting article.
I love digital copy, it is so much better that to try to rip the DVD and so much faster.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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19. November 2009 @ 12:44 |
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I bought "Star Trek" the other day. I laughed when I saw that it had a digital copy. Im thinking to myself, "I can make my own"! And probably be better quality, and the size that I want it to be...
I think digital copy is a waste of effort. But I don't speak for everyone...
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Staff Member
2 product reviews
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19. November 2009 @ 12:57 |
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Originally posted by salsa36:
Interesting article.
I love digital copy, it is so much better that to try to rip the DVD and so much faster.
Good to see someone with an opposing viewpoint joining the discussion. Which type of Digital Copy do you use (iTunes or Windows Media) and what type of device(s) do you use for playback?
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getanacct
Junior Member
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19. November 2009 @ 20:06 |
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Nice try movie studios. I'll stay with either DVDFab or the combination of AnyDVD and CloneDVD (and CloneDVDmobile when I want it on my cell or iPod) thanks.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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19. November 2009 @ 23:29 |
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While I would have no use for digital copy, I just realized their strategy:
-They release movies that are not very good, and that most people will watch only once or twice.
-They add digital copy to the disc, so you can watch the movies on your iPhone, at a resolution so low that you can't tell how bad the acting is.
-You watch the movies 1 or 2 times each, then try to forget about them and never watch them again.
This scenario will probably account for about 95% of all movies. For those who want to have higher quality or drm-less freedom, they can always do it the old way.
So I guess my only complaints about this features would be:
1.) If they try to up the price for a movie because it includes digital copy.
2.) If they try to outlaw usefull rippers like AnyDVD on the grounds that they do the same thing.
3.) There is very little space on a DVD9. If they have to lower the quality of the DVD video to make room for the digital copy files, then it is certainly bad.
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CRW9
Newbie
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24. December 2009 @ 00:53 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:
Digital Copy is a joke why would one waste their time when you can use better alternatives. And if you had to use this garbage you would be screwed in the long run.
I would NEVER buy a used barely playable movie from a rental shop that really isn't too bright when you think about it. So your example wouldn't apply and for those that would they probably wouldn't know how to even use Digital Copy anyhow.
Watchmen Director's Cut, who would want to copy that horrible worthless movie anyhow. That has to be the absolute worst movie I have seen in a very, very long time. It was so bad I couldn't watch it further then half way through and wanted my money back for renting the garbage, it would have put me to sleep forever, I've seen bad B movies that were much better.
Other then the poor choice in movies you did a very good job on the artical, good job in that sense.
Since you don't know the difference between "than" and "then" I'm not sure why anyone would think you are smart enough to decide what's a good movie.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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22. August 2011 @ 15:50 |
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That's actually a fairly common mistake amongst the masses. Hardly worth insulting the man...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22. August 2011 @ 15:50
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luckykaa
Newbie
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12. December 2011 @ 15:35 |
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I'm most grateful for this. I recently bought my first "Triple Play" disc and was intrigued.
Now, what I want to do is download a High Def digital copy onto my main PC, have a copy I can carry about with me on my netbook, and copy it to a network media player I have in the weekday accommodation I use when working. It appears that I can do absolutely none of this. So I'll take your advice and rip the DVD copy.
You've saved me a lot of time and hassle:)
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FoilWrap
Newbie
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14. December 2011 @ 06:23 |
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Originally posted by luckykaa:
I'm most grateful for this. I recently bought my first "Triple Play" disc and was intrigued.
Now, what I want to do is download a High Def digital copy onto my main PC, have a copy I can carry about with me on my netbook, and copy it to a network media player I have in the weekday accommodation I use when working. It appears that I can do absolutely none of this. So I'll take your advice and rip the DVD copy.
You've saved me a lot of time and hassle:)
In fact these days I use several programs to rip Blu-rays to movies I can watch on my netbook. It's much the same as I did with DVDs.
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ErinB
Newbie
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28. December 2012 @ 09:40 |
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Totally worth it!!! We have an appleTV and it was amazingly simple to take the new movies the kids got for Christmas, pop them in iTunes, and then play on the Apple TV! So glad Disney has this feature in all their new movies!!!
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Newbie
1 product review
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11. January 2013 @ 19:29 |
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Any DVD is the way to go.
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