Where to get movies now my local video store closed

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Where to get movies now my local video store closed

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#1679599 29-Nov-2016 16:28

networkn:
davidcole:
networkn:

I just feel it would be in the interest of everyone concerned if there was a (legal) android app that allowed the playing of iTunes movies on Android Devices. Surely most companies want more sales. I advocate for the same in reverse. It annoys me I can buy a movie on iTunes, but can't play it via my FireTV seamlessly.

But with thosechardware options wouldn't you be better off with google play movies and Amazon? Vudu might be another option.

Right, but like with everything, choice is nice. I can use google play, but sometimes each of the vendors will have a good special, like iTunes the other day had a BUNCH of movies for $3 google play had them for $8

I suspect only some dodgy airplay streaming might be your only option. But I doubt then it would support the audio/video quality required. Apple being the winderful walled garden. Plugging computer to the tv and playing in iTunes the other avenue..

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Oriphix

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#1679609 29-Nov-2016 16:54

We use Netflix at home for the same reason as the video store closed and Sky was just to expensive.
Since we are on unlimited data internet plan streaming videos was the best option.
Granted it doesn't have all the movies and the excitement of browsing through shelves of videos but they do constant updates and getting there.

happyfunball

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#1679615 29-Nov-2016 17:01

Appletv solves this problem $269.

networkn

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#1679619 29-Nov-2016 17:07

happyfunball: Appletv solves this problem $269.

Wow does it? So I can play my Google and Amazon Content on it?

JimmyH

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#1679628 29-Nov-2016 17:34

Blurtie:

nickrout:

It seems to me though that these solutions still drive serious watchers to torrents and/or newsgroups. Not that I am advocating or engaging in piracy, but I know what exists out there,

If all these online services are offering limited choice and/or limited video|audio quality, those who want choice and quality will go to piracy where they can download anything from a crappy version with stereo sound, right up to a bitwise (but unencrypted) copy of the Bluray ISO.

Interesting you say 'serious watchers'.. now i might be looking too much into this, but what gives the serious watcher the right to torrent (i.e. illegal streaming) over others? What did these 'serious watchers' do before the internet age? Either go to the movies, video store or wait to free to air...

In my personal opinion, the services offered by SVOD providers at present is very reasonable. The general rule is, you want something (i.e. a good or service) you pay for it.

The argument around online services offering limited choice (and therefore ppl won't sign up and keep torrenting) doesn't make sense to me and is just an excuse for legitimising their behaviour. There is never going to be one service provider that will have everything a consumer wants. That's called a monopoly. We all know how great monopolies are right....? There has to be niche content that a content provider offers to get the punters in. It offers competition, which arguably keeps prices down.

At the end of the day, ppl just love to get something for nothing, which has been made a lot easier thanks to the internet...

I think @nickrout is right on this. And, in fairness, I think he was making an observation about likely behaviour rather than advocating piracy or claiming it was justifiable.

The reality is that piracy is quick and easy, and typically yields a file in a standard format that is playable on pretty much any platform. Whether or not they like it, legitimate vendors ave to respond to, and compete with, that alternative. It exists, it won't go away, and simply ignoring or railing against those who use it is not likely to be a productive response.

It's not just about pricing. Many people are happy to pay a fair price for content if it is easy and painless to locate, pay for and play. If vendors continue to persist with incompatible platforms, intrusive and annoying DRM, and other things that make the use experience less satisfactory then they will simply encourage people to consume pirated product instead. They need to make it seamless and easy to "do the right thing".

It's not necessarily about having a monopoly provider. But they do need standards and compatibility to make the user experience better. There is no technical reason why, for instance, all of the major services shouldn't be on all of each others set top boxes (eg Apple TV, Fire TV). The reasons they aren't are corporate games to try and hold customers captive in a variety of incompatible walled gardens which, ultimately, means that pirated product remains more attractive than it should be.

richms

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#1679629 29-Nov-2016 17:37

Pirated content has never told me I have too many devices registered. Till that BS goes away I won't be using services that have that limitation.

Richard rich.ms

Rikkitic

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#1679732 29-Nov-2016 19:02

JimmyH:

I think @nickrout is right on this. And, in fairness, I think he was making an observation about likely behaviour rather than advocating piracy or claiming it was justifiable.

The reality is that piracy is quick and easy, and typically yields a file in a standard format that is playable on pretty much any platform. Whether or not they like it, legitimate vendors ave to respond to, and compete with, that alternative. It exists, it won't go away, and simply ignoring or railing against those who use it is not likely to be a productive response.

It's not just about pricing. Many people are happy to pay a fair price for content if it is easy and painless to locate, pay for and play. If vendors continue to persist with incompatible platforms, intrusive and annoying DRM, and other things that make the use experience less satisfactory then they will simply encourage people to consume pirated product instead. They need to make it seamless and easy to "do the right thing".

It's not necessarily about having a monopoly provider. But they do need standards and compatibility to make the user experience better. There is no technical reason why, for instance, all of the major services shouldn't be on all of each others set top boxes (eg Apple TV, Fire TV). The reasons they aren't are corporate games to try and hold customers captive in a variety of incompatible walled gardens which, ultimately, means that pirated product remains more attractive than it should be.

Very well said. I don't pirate but I have no problem using geo-unblockers to get the content I want and specialised software to download it for my own personal use only without all the playback restrictions. Paying for it isn't my issue. Being able to get it at all, and being able to play it whenever I want on whatever device I want, is.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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happyfunball

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#1679751 29-Nov-2016 19:58

Rikkitic:

I don't pirate but I have no problem using geo-unblockers to get the content I want and specialised software to download it for my own personal use only without all the playback restrictions.

Technically, viewing copyright material without a license is Piracy, even if its ridiculously easy :)

JimmyH

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#1679752 29-Nov-2016 20:05

Personally, I regard it more as parallel importation of legally purchased product than piracy.

It's no more piracy than bypassing the local Nike distributor by buying shoes from a US retailer.

richms

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#1679753 29-Nov-2016 20:05

Not this again!

Richard rich.ms

nickrout

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#1679994 30-Nov-2016 11:28

JimmyH:

Blurtie:

nickrout:

It seems to me though that these solutions still drive serious watchers to torrents and/or newsgroups. Not that I am advocating or engaging in piracy, but I know what exists out there,

If all these online services are offering limited choice and/or limited video|audio quality, those who want choice and quality will go to piracy where they can download anything from a crappy version with stereo sound, right up to a bitwise (but unencrypted) copy of the Bluray ISO.

Interesting you say 'serious watchers'.. now i might be looking too much into this, but what gives the serious watcher the right to torrent (i.e. illegal streaming) over others? What did these 'serious watchers' do before the internet age? Either go to the movies, video store or wait to free to air...

In my personal opinion, the services offered by SVOD providers at present is very reasonable. The general rule is, you want something (i.e. a good or service) you pay for it.

The argument around online services offering limited choice (and therefore ppl won't sign up and keep torrenting) doesn't make sense to me and is just an excuse for legitimising their behaviour. There is never going to be one service provider that will have everything a consumer wants. That's called a monopoly. We all know how great monopolies are right....? There has to be niche content that a content provider offers to get the punters in. It offers competition, which arguably keeps prices down.

At the end of the day, ppl just love to get something for nothing, which has been made a lot easier thanks to the internet...

I think @nickrout is right on this. And, in fairness, I think he was making an observation about likely behaviour rather than advocating piracy or claiming it was justifiable.

The reality is that piracy is quick and easy, and typically yields a file in a standard format that is playable on pretty much any platform. Whether or not they like it, legitimate vendors ave to respond to, and compete with, that alternative. It exists, it won't go away, and simply ignoring or railing against those who use it is not likely to be a productive response.

It's not just about pricing. Many people are happy to pay a fair price for content if it is easy and painless to locate, pay for and play. If vendors continue to persist with incompatible platforms, intrusive and annoying DRM, and other things that make the use experience less satisfactory then they will simply encourage people to consume pirated product instead. They need to make it seamless and easy to "do the right thing".

It's not necessarily about having a monopoly provider. But they do need standards and compatibility to make the user experience better. There is no technical reason why, for instance, all of the major services shouldn't be on all of each others set top boxes (eg Apple TV, Fire TV). The reasons they aren't are corporate games to try and hold customers captive in a variety of incompatible walled gardens which, ultimately, means that pirated product remains more attractive than it should be.

Thank you for actually reading and understanding my post, you hit the nail on the head.

trig42

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#1679999 30-Nov-2016 11:44

On the platform note - I cannot understand why Amazon do not have a Prime Video app for the AppleTV. They have it for the iPad/iPhone. I wonder if it is Apple stopping it, or Amazon being stubborn?

networkn

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#1680019 30-Nov-2016 12:19

I think @nickrout is right on this. And, in fairness, I think he was making an observation about likely behaviour rather than advocating piracy or claiming it was justifiable.

The reality is that piracy is quick and easy, and typically yields a file in a standard format that is playable on pretty much any platform. Whether or not they like it, legitimate vendors ave to respond to, and compete with, that alternative. It exists, it won't go away, and simply ignoring or railing against those who use it is not likely to be a productive response.

It's not just about pricing. Many people are happy to pay a fair price for content if it is easy and painless to locate, pay for and play. If vendors continue to persist with incompatible platforms, intrusive and annoying DRM, and other things that make the use experience less satisfactory then they will simply encourage people to consume pirated product instead. They need to make it seamless and easy to "do the right thing".

It's not necessarily about having a monopoly provider. But they do need standards and compatibility to make the user experience better. There is no technical reason why, for instance, all of the major services shouldn't be on all of each others set top boxes (eg Apple TV, Fire TV). The reasons they aren't are corporate games to try and hold customers captive in a variety of incompatible walled gardens which, ultimately, means that pirated product remains more attractive than it should be.

Consumers have this view, it's probably fair, but the reason they aren't getting what they want is because the people who decide about distribution don't look at it like this.

They work off spreadsheets, they look at profit yields on expenditure, they look at complex financial models, and they adjust columns to get the yield they want. It's why in large corporations, a local NZ operation will be sent an edict about "we need 3 staff gone from your cost center" and despite the fact it makes no sense, it's still required.

From large content owners perspective, piracy is an illegal activity, they don't factor this into decision making as far as distribution goes. They see increasing profits by preventing piracy as a more productive use of their resources. If piracy was at 2% and profits still sucked, they would then look to fix it.

It's short sighted, but until the current generation of older CXO's from these organizations retire or move on, and are replaced by forward thinking execs, I don't forsee this being moved to a consumer centric view.

What is good news, is that Netflix and Amazon are making content now, and making it's globally accessible, and this IS putting a dent into the older and more established studios profits because the actors themselves would rather work for Amazon/Netflix, where they likely earn a little less money up front, but more in distribution rights.

happyfunball

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#1680039 30-Nov-2016 12:41

networkn:

What is good news, is that Netflix and Amazon are making content now, and making it's globally accessible, and this IS putting a dent into the older and more established studios profits because the actors themselves would rather work for Amazon/Netflix, where they likely earn a little less money up front, but more in distribution rights.

Is Amazon video legally available in NZ now? I thought the only way to watch their stuff was with Piracy?

Last time I checked (a year ago), even with a Prime membership I had to use a VPN to get around their copyright license restrictions.

networkn

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#1680042 30-Nov-2016 12:44

happyfunball:

networkn:

What is good news, is that Netflix and Amazon are making content now, and making it's globally accessible, and this IS putting a dent into the older and more established studios profits because the actors themselves would rather work for Amazon/Netflix, where they likely earn a little less money up front, but more in distribution rights.

Is Amazon video legally available in NZ now? I thought the only way to watch their stuff was with Piracy?

Last time I checked (a year ago), even with a Prime membership I had to use a VPN to get around their copyright license restrictions.

Amazon ORIGINAL Content is available anywhere (assuming a prime membership), content they resell for other studios aren't accessible.

Netflix Original Content is available in any region (Netflix membership required obviously.

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