Disney is treating me like crap for buying Wall•E

[Sijmen]

I went to the store, forked over one and a half hour worth of salary, and bought the Wall•E DVD. I think it's a great movie so I happily paid that.

Before I continue, you should know that I have pirated absolutely nothing in the past years. No CD, no movie, no software. I paid for everything.

Then, back home, I used Handbrake to put it on my own computer for my own use, and for watching it on my own iPhone. The ripping seemed to go fine so at one point I sat down to watch some of my favorite scenes (“directive?”).

I skipped a bit through the movie and the scenes were in all bad order! What the heck? So I went and looked it up online and many people had the problem. Apparently, Disney is keen on upsetting their very own customers.

I'm mad at Disney for pulling this trick on me. I freaking paid for this movie, let me watch is the way I want! I feel like I'm being treated like absolute crap while I don't deserve it – in opposite: I'm your customer Disney! I pirated nothing! Why did you do this to me?!

 

[neiltc13]

You didn't buy the movie, you bought a licence to watch it.

 

[Sijmen]

You didn't buy the movie, you bought a licence to watch it.

What else would I do with the movie? Eat it? Also, here in the Netherlands we have a home copy tax on blank media, like DVDs and others. And, we have the right to make home copies.

Where can I buy a license to watch it on my phone?

I really don't feel like I did anything wrong, or am doing anything wrong by trying to put it on my computer and/or phone. If it were technically impossible to do so with movies, that'd be a shame but not the publisher's fault. Now, they actively try to prevent it, which is just stupid.

 

[0098386]

It sucks but yea - you bought a licence to watch that specific DVD. If you wanted a copy on iTunes you should have bought the iTunes Store version. Like I said it sucks but that's the way it is.

 

[bruinsrme]

Are you upset you can't rip it?

 

[Chundles]

The DVD uses a more advanced protection scheme than Handbrake can deal with at the moment. There are numerous how-tos on the net showing you how to rip this specific movie.

 

[Sijmen]

It sucks but yea - you bought a licence to watch that specific DVD. If you wanted a copy on iTunes you should have bought the iTunes Store version. Like I said it sucks but that's the way it is.

They don't offer iTunes movies here.

Are you upset you can't rip it?

Yes! What are they losing by letting me rip it?

 

[bruinsrme]

They don't offer iTunes movies here.



Yes! What are the losing by letting me rip it?

They may not be losing anything by letting you rip it. Unfortunately, Disney feels they will lose more if others are able to rip it and then freely sell it at a reduce price.

 

[sammich]

Yes! What are they losing by letting me rip it?

They probably won't lose anything if you rip it, but others who will also rip it, their buddies see the ripped copy and go, "hey can you burn that for me, i really wanna see it", then bam, they would've lost a sale.

 

[OllyW]

This thread might help you.

 

[NC MacGuy]

There are posts here and other forums to get around it. I know for a fact it can be done but it's been a while. It has to do with what track you start at. You also need newest HB & VLC.

 

[GoCubsGo]

You can rip it. A buddy of mine recently did it but it took time. You need to find the exact file and use that or something.

 

[Ivan P]

Open DVD Player on your computer and start playing the actual film. Then select the Go menu, go down to Title, and there will be a tick next to whatever title it is that's playing, which will be the movie with the scenes in the correct order. Take note of the title number, open Handbrake, and select that same title from the dropdown menu.

 

[Sijmen]

They probably won't lose anything if you rip it, but others who will also rip it, their buddies see the ripped copy and go, "hey can you burn that for me, i really wanna see it", then bam, they would've lost a sale.

That may have been true a few years ago, but now you can get copies from everywhere. Going to the store to buy the movie is more hassle than just downloading it from the net.

I know that legally, I'm on the wrong side of the line here. Disney has no obligation to me to make ripping possible, but I'm angry at them for actively trying to prevent me from doing so.

edit: thanks for all the helpful links and explanations on how to rip it.

 

[0098386]

On a sidenote it's funny that stuff like this actually causes people who own legal copies to download torrented versions. In games you have DRM systems that prevent you from installing a game more than 3 times, and like this some films have jumbled chapters. It's actually easier to get a pirated version that has the DRM stripped and the chapters in the right order.

And thats why it's so fudged up.

 

[OllyW]

That may have been true a few years ago, but now you can get copies from everywhere. Going to the store to buy the movie is more hassle than just downloading it from the net.

I know that legally, I'm on the wrong side of the line here. Disney has no obligation to me to make ripping possible, but I'm angry at the fact that they are actively preventing me from doing so.

The copy protection that the studios uses does nothing to stop the pirates who make a fortune selling counterfeit discs. All it does is upset genuine customers who want to watch the films they have bought on their other media players.

 

[sammich]

On a sidenote it's funny that stuff like this actually causes people who own legal copies to download torrented versions. In games you have DRM systems that prevent you from installing a game more than 3 times, and like this some films have jumbled chapters. It's actually easier to get a pirated version that has the DRM stripped and the chapters in the right order.

And thats why it's so fudged up.

Yeah, I totally get that feeling Plus the 'pro' rippers do a very high quality encoding job too.

 

[jaw04005]

Which version did you buy? My Wall-E DVD had a 'Digital Copy' on one of the discs for iTunes. Disney is one of the few companies that support iTunes' Digital Copy on all their big titles.

 

[Sijmen]

Which version did you buy? My Wall-E DVD had a 'Digital Copy' on one of the discs for iTunes. Disney is one of the few companies that support iTunes' Digital Copy on all their big titles.

It's a one-disc edition, without an iTunes version. Are the iTunes versions common in Europe? I don't remember seeing one. The box is real nice though, it has relief (if that's what you call it in English?) and I felt really good for buying it before it entered the budget bins

 

[Jon-Luke]

I think this is touching on a problem that is only going to become more of a Global issue the less it is addressed by distributors. Basically technology is allowing people around the world access to certain benefits, if these benefits are not provided uniformly around the world then its only natural that people will want to steal them. For example in the US iTunes store there are often free tracks to download - but in South Africa there still isn't a iTunes store only an App store. So personally I can understand when people say this is not fair and they don't feel bad about finding ways of obtaining the media in a pirated form.

Then there is another issue that distributors need to take heed of: Many TV Series and Movies never get released in certain territories or if they are they are distributed months often years later - Why? because distributors charge a premium for new releases and then charge less once the product becomes older - only the vendors that sell the media to the public don't echo the savings they have made, and sometime its just not viable for the vendors to buy the brand new media because the market isn't big enough to make a profit. So the system doesn't work; and I think the whole issue of pirating will never be solved until the customer is put first. It will be interesting to see what technology will finally be implemented to solve these problems but I think what Disney has done with Wall-E is not a solution - in fact its likely to create the opposite effect where someone will figure out how to create a file that plays on the iPhone, and then will post it on line and customers who would usually buy the dvd will now opt for the download so that they can play it in the media form they want to.