Where do you get your movies and TV shows?

[twobelowpar]

Everyone has their preferences for buying a hard copy of a movie or downloading it/storing it in the cloud.

I prefer to buy the disk, DVD or blu-ray depending on the "visual stunningness" of the movie. I don't want to rely on a movie needing to be authenticated in iTunes to watch it. I also am apprehensive about licenses being withdrawn and not being able to watch the movie at all.

I own the this Samsung Blu-ray drive http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SE-50...&qid=1394468774&sr=8-2&keywords=bluray+burner.

It's plug and play and I have been very satisfied with it. I also upgraded to an iMac with a 3TB fusion drive for the purpose of storing my movies. An external hard drive would work just as nicely. I got the iMac for the storage and to have a bigger screen to work from - nothing to do with my movie collection.

Nice. Thanks for that info. I started ripping the other day. I did my three Bourne DVDs using MakeMKV and Handbrake. Seemed to work well. Each file is a little over 1GB after converting to M4V format, which isn't bad. Subtitles are there too, which I was unsure about. It takes a while to do but is pretty nice to have my own digital file. The only thing is it would be so much easier/quicker to find a torrent of my movies to use as a digital "backup" and even though it's not exactly legal, neither is ripping from a disc I own, right? And if both are used for back-up purposes, I don't know if there's real difference or not other than the satisfaction of doing it myself. Thoughts?

 

[linds15]

The only thing is it would be so much easier/quicker to find a torrent of my movies to use as a digital "backup" and even though it's not exactly legal, neither is ripping from a disc I own, right? And if both are used for back-up purposes, I don't know if there's real difference or not other than the satisfaction of doing it myself. Thoughts?

i've often wondered this. aside from the fact that torrenting can be tracked, whereas ripping your disc it all done offline, i wonder exactly what the differences are. at the end of the day you have a disc you bought and a digital file on a drive, its just that pressing download for 10 movies at once is easier than the process of rip/convert, eject, repeat.

 

[Bozley0621]

Nice. Thanks for that info. I started ripping the other day. I did my three Bourne DVDs using MakeMKV and Handbrake. Seemed to work well. Each file is a little over 1GB after converting to M4V format, which isn't bad. Subtitles are there too, which I was unsure about. It takes a while to do but is pretty nice to have my own digital file. The only thing is it would be so much easier/quicker to find a torrent of my movies to use as a digital "backup" and even though it's not exactly legal, neither is ripping from a disc I own, right? And if both are used for back-up purposes, I don't know if there's real difference or not other than the satisfaction of doing it myself. Thoughts?

i've often wondered this. aside from the fact that torrenting can be tracked, whereas ripping your disc it all done offline, i wonder exactly what the differences are. at the end of the day you have a disc you bought and a digital file on a drive, its just that pressing download for 10 movies at once is easier than the process of rip/convert, eject, repeat.

I don't have experience with torrents, but absolutely understand your perspectives. I think people assume that if you are viewing torrents, then you didn't pay for the experience. Whereas, if you are viewing a copy ripped from a disk, essentially a back-up, then you have paid for the experience but choose to play the video via a different medium. Even though both are illegal to some capacity (I don't have enough knowledge to compare the specifics), viewing a ripped copy is more socially accepted - at least it seems to be among forum members. I've never heard/read it discussed elsewhere.

 

[alent1234]

Nice. Thanks for that info. I started ripping the other day. I did my three Bourne DVDs using MakeMKV and Handbrake. Seemed to work well. Each file is a little over 1GB after converting to M4V format, which isn't bad. Subtitles are there too, which I was unsure about. It takes a while to do but is pretty nice to have my own digital file. The only thing is it would be so much easier/quicker to find a torrent of my movies to use as a digital "backup" and even though it's not exactly legal, neither is ripping from a disc I own, right? And if both are used for back-up purposes, I don't know if there's real difference or not other than the satisfaction of doing it myself. Thoughts?

it's $2 per DVD to do disc to digital with vudu
there is no file yet, but it works pretty good and you save yourself a lot of time

 

[oneMadRssn]

i've often wondered this. aside from the fact that torrenting can be tracked, whereas ripping your disc it all done offline, i wonder exactly what the differences are. at the end of the day you have a disc you bought and a digital file on a drive, its just that pressing download for 10 movies at once is easier than the process of rip/convert, eject, repeat.

I don't have experience with torrents, but absolutely understand your perspectives. I think people assume that if you are viewing torrents, then you didn't pay for the experience. Whereas, if you are viewing a copy ripped from a disk, essentially a back-up, then you have paid for the experience but choose to play the video via a different medium. Even though both are illegal to some capacity (I don't have enough knowledge to compare the specifics), viewing a ripped copy is more socially accepted - at least it seems to be among forum members. I've never heard/read it discussed elsewhere.

The difference is, by the nature of how torrents work, while you download a torrent you also share that torrent with other downloaders. You become a part of that network. So not only do you obtain a copy, you also aid in spreading other copies.

 

[Bozley0621]

The difference is, by the nature of how torrents work, while you download a torrent you also share that torrent with other downloaders. You become a part of that network. So not only do you obtain a copy, you also aid in spreading other copies.

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of the sharing aspect. I guess I assumed copies of a video were uploaded to a web site and folks downloaded them for viewing.

 

[albertfallickwa]

I use iTunes mostly . Of course I have to convert to watch stuff on my Android devices.

 

[linds15]

The difference is, by the nature of how torrents work, while you download a torrent you also share that torrent with other downloaders. You become a part of that network. So not only do you obtain a copy, you also aid in spreading other copies.

completely agree, but now sub out torrent with usenet, is there still not a difference?

 

[Todd H]

Where do you get your movies and TV shows?

I buy them on Blu-Ray, rip them to MKV with no extra compression, store them on my 10 TB server and stream them throughout the house over my gigabit Ethernet network.

 

[meeks]

mainly usenet and some torrents. 12TB's feed a WDTV Live, Mac mini, rMacBook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone and iPad mini throughout the house.

 

[twobelowpar]

it's $2 per DVD to do disc to digital with vudu
there is no file yet, but it works pretty good and you save yourself a lot of time

I would be all over that if they could be used with Apple devices. I know I can do the Airplay via iPad to my ATV but I'd just as soon fish out my disc and put it in. I want my digital files in the same place, playable on the same devices. It's really too bad most new releases are only coming with the UV license now and not iTunes. I am hoping one day Apple comes up with its own disc to digital service. I'd pay a pretty penny to get all my movies into iCloud. Heck, I'd pay just to convert my SD digital copy movies into HD!

 

[alent1234]

there is a vudu ios app, but i'm not sure if it airplays

and it's $5 per movie to convert from dvd to HDX format. i rent most of my movies from itunes, but the few HDX movies i've watched sound a lot better on my TV with no home theater and the apple TV

i like itunes better because i can download the file and stream offline, but UV is coming with that soon as well. best thing about UV is there are lots of stores and they always have sales. i don't buy a lot, but sometimes i pick up a few catalog titles i've never seen or want to have again

 

[twobelowpar]

there is a vudu ios app, but i'm not sure if it airplays

and it's $5 per movie to convert from dvd to HDX format. i rent most of my movies from itunes, but the few HDX movies i've watched sound a lot better on my TV with no home theater and the apple TV

i like itunes better because i can download the file and stream offline, but UV is coming with that soon as well. best thing about UV is there are lots of stores and they always have sales. i don't buy a lot, but sometimes i pick up a few catalog titles i've never seen or want to have again

That would be alright if the UV file was dowloadable and there was a way to convert it to an Apple format. iCloud is nice but I'd be just as happy with being able to stream ALL my digital copies with ATV. Something to keep an eye on I guess.

 

[From A Buick 8]

I have ripped my 600+ DVD collection and serve it through iTunes to my ATV's. I am however thinking about building my HD collection just through buying from iTunes.

I have been reading through the post and i am a little unsure about how buying from itunes really works. if i buy a movie from iTunes and download it, can i then play that movie whene ever i want, even if i do not have an internet connection?

 

[laurim]

I have ripped my 600+ DVD collection and serve it through iTunes to my ATV's. I am however thinking about building my HD collection just through buying from iTunes.

I have been reading through the post and i am a little unsure about how buying from itunes really works. if i buy a movie from iTunes and download it, can i then play that movie whene ever i want, even if i do not have an internet connection?

I've watched my iTunes movie purchases on an iPod on a plane, so yes you can view them locally without internet once you download them.

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That's interesting, I wasn't aware of the sharing aspect. I guess I assumed copies of a video were uploaded to a web site and folks downloaded them for viewing.

While you are downloading a movie, your computer is also acting as a seeder for other people to download. You are also *supposed* to act as a seeder for a time after you are done downloading or risk being banned from the site service. It's a collaborative crime. It's funny how people who are so worried about viruses, malware and spying think nothing about connecting themselves to this type of crowd who apparently have low regard for morality, honor and legality.

 

[phrehdd]

My main go to are with Blu Ray via Amazon purchase and then Netflix rental of discs. Once in a while, a Blu Ray buy from Best Buy when they have them on sale. Netflix rentals are for movies I am unsure about purchasing.

My next is streaming from Vudu, Amazon and Netflix. I gave up on iTunes long ago for movies. The only iTunes items I get are once in a while pop songs and then audio books (audiobook.com or whatever iTunes carries). Streaming is for movies I know I don't want to keep via purchase.

 

[tmanto02]

Private bittorrent websites.

HDTV shows and uncompressed blurays.

 

[StinDaWg]

While you are downloading a movie, your computer is also acting as a seeder for other people to download. You are also *supposed* to act as a seeder for a time after you are done downloading or risk being banned from the site service. It's a collaborative crime. It's funny how people who are so worried about viruses, malware and spying think nothing about connecting themselves to this type of crowd who apparently have low regard for morality, honor and legality.

Been on private trackers for 10+ years and that just never happens. The quality control at these places is surprisingly good, it's almost like their own little world they live in. You'd be surprised, people actually take pride in encoding and uploading this stuff. I couldn't really explain it to people who don't use these sites, but that's basically the mentality there. It's like they're running their own Netflix service. Staff, developers, mods, all kinds of people keeping things running smoothly.

 

[pagansoul]

I like to own my stuff, CDs, DVDs and Blue-rays. I have loaded all my CDs as digital files (over 1000 CDs) and many of my DVDs (so far about 700 movie and TV Shows) I do not rip BR but my collection of them are only big SiFi movies, Nature shows like BBC specials, and great TV series like True Blood, ROME, Walking Dead, Farscape, Bond Movies, Star Trek...I have slowed my buying to only 2 blue-rays a month and they are at discount.

I do have some iTunes purchases when they have entire season for $10 sales which I have gotten a few like the entire 10 years of Friends and some Star Trek seasons, SG1, American Horror, and a few others.

Pictures are of my Blue-ray bookcase and my DVD room.

 

[charlien]

Walking Dead

Not to get off topic but what a show. You can never assume what happens next.

 

[laurim]

Been on private trackers for 10+ years and that just never happens. The quality control at these places is surprisingly good, it's almost like their own little world they live in. You'd be surprised, people actually take pride in encoding and uploading this stuff. I couldn't really explain it to people who don't use these sites, but that's basically the mentality there. It's like they're running their own Netflix service. Staff, developers, mods, all kinds of people keeping things running smoothly.

Yeah, sure. I looked into torrenting for a hot minute when guys I worked with were doing it and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Most of the time, I couldn't find anyone seeding the movie I wanted because it wasn't the latest and greatest. And I tried at the big torrenting sites whose names everybody knows. Maybe I could find a couple seeders and it took forever to download a full copy. THEN, despite carefully reading the description, after all that time, it turned out to be in a foreign language. One time, the movie was in english all the way until it switch to russian for the last 30 minutes. THEN there's all the time I spent converting the file into a codec I could use. THEN I had to run it through a script that found the meta data so it would catalogue properly in the ATV. After all that, the view quality was only so-so compared to legit sources. Sorry, but all that time spent to get one movie I'll probably only watch once or twice was NOT worth it when I can rent it for $5 or even cheaper if I use Redbox. You have to be seriously poor, desperate and have a lot of idle time to resort to torrenting. I'd rather just flop on the couch, call up my ATV and click go. Plus, I have no moral issues, especially since I've been involved with local movie making and know exactly how much work it involves.

 

[StinDaWg]

Yeah, sure. I looked into torrenting for a hot minute when guys I worked with were doing it and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Most of the time, I couldn't find anyone seeding the movie I wanted because it wasn't the latest and greatest. And I tried at the big torrenting sites whose names everybody knows. Maybe I could find a couple seeders and it took forever to download a full copy. THEN, despite carefully reading the description, after all that time, it turned out to be in a foreign language. One time, the movie was in english all the way until it switch to russian for the last 30 minutes. THEN there's all the time I spent converting the file into a codec I could use. THEN I had to run it through a script that found the meta data so it would catalogue properly in the ATV. After all that, the view quality was only so-so compared to legit sources. Sorry, but all that time spent to get one movie I'll probably only watch once or twice was NOT worth it when I can rent it for $5 or even cheaper if I use Redbox. You have to be seriously poor, desperate and have a lot of idle time to resort to torrenting. I'd rather just flop on the couch, call up my ATV and click go. Plus, I have no moral issues, especially since I've been involved with local movie making and know exactly how much work it involves.

Look, I know you don't approve of torrenting, and that's fine, to each their own. But your experience is not typical of anything I've come across. Maybe in the beginning when I didn't know what I was doing or where to look, but not now. You can download transparent encodes/remuxes or even the full blu-ray. No quality loss. Sometimes another countries release has better picture quality or an extended cut than what the U.S. version got, well you can download those too if you want. If you got something that was poor quality that was only your fault because you probably didn't know what groups to download from. I'm assuming you were using "public" trackers. The reason private sites exit is because you are required to seed and keep a good ratio. No problem finding seeders on anything there. I find your "you must have a lot of idle time" line particularly amusing. It takes less than 10 seconds to look up a movie and hit download. I'm already watching the movie before you've left the house to get in your car.

 

[Southern Dad]

I purchase most of the movies we watch from big box stores when they have them on sale. I always look for the version that includes the digital copy as well as the physical disk. One of the first things that I do is copy or rip the disk.

I'll hand a five-year-old a copy of the movie Frozen, released and purchased yesterday but give her a $20 original? Not happening. She gets to watch it one of two ways, copied DVD or ripped copy on her iPad.

 

[laurim]

Look, I know you don't approve of torrenting, and that's fine, to each their own. But your experience is not typical of anything I've come across. Maybe in the beginning when I didn't know what I was doing or where to look, but not now. You can download transparent encodes/remuxes or even the full blu-ray. No quality loss. Sometimes another countries release has better picture quality or an extended cut than what the U.S. version got, well you can download those too if you want. If you got something that was poor quality that was only your fault because you probably didn't know what groups to download from. I'm assuming you were using "public" trackers. The reason private sites exit is because you are required to seed and keep a good ratio. No problem finding seeders on anything there. I find your "you must have a lot of idle time" line particularly amusing. It takes less than 10 seconds to look up a movie and hit download. I'm already watching the movie before you've left the house to get in your car.

I wrote something else but I knew it was a waste of time. Suffice it to say there are two kinds of people. One kind will see a crime being committed, not participate and try to make it stop and the other kind will knowingly take advantage of the crime to their own benefit. I know the kind of person I want to be and what kind my parents wanted me to be.

 

[2crazy]

I buy most movies and TV shows I watch on iTunes, but almost never day one movie releases. They usually show up later for a much lower price. Bundles are also a good way to save. I also use Hulu and Netflix but rarely. Hulu's commercial breaks are a real turn-off for me. I also find iTunes' quality to be superior to that of Hulu's. Netflix is great for watching some older titles and not to forget Netflix exclusives. I really whish there would be an Amazon Prime app for the ATV, but I am sure it will happen eventually. All in all I am pretty happy with the ATV. I travel a lot overseas and I really love being able to continue watching my shows no matter where I am. Luckily, there is no limitation for watching iTunes content in foreign countries, as long as you use your US Apple ID.