Hopefully before our currently produced DVDs fade away, their content will be able to be transferred to something more "permanent".

I'm not thinking so much about my commercial work, but family material. Who wouldn't love to have been able to watch and listen to their ancestors from hundreds of years ago?
That's what we are hopefully able to offer to our future offspring.

I firmly believe that the artists, creators, etc... should get royalties, license fees, ok.

I have a tendency to look at why piracy is so high as being a product of inflated cost. Someone could recreate a Ferrari from the original designs but it would likely cost much, much more for 1; hence mass production. If the studios and MPAA, RIAA, insert your acronym, expect us not to have fair use and be our morals judge, they should make it easy and cheap enough for us to buy something more than once.

For example, if I can't make a backup DVD or ripped to the computer then it should be cheap enough to buy rather than to have to worry about encryption, quality, licenses, copyright,... If some Joe can sell them on the corners for $2, I would hope the large recording industry could beat Joes' cost. and put him out of business.

Another option is to have a stripped down version of DVD's. In the checkout line next to the TV guide, be able pick up a new movie for $3; maybe limited to SVGA quality in mono. This would eliminate one of the reasons of piracy, in this case "Joe", and prevent mom and pop public from spending 30 minutes to download and burn and then it not work or out of sync,... Also, as technology gets better, there will be less want for a 5 year old movie that was limited to SVGA and mono. Anybody interested in a 7 year old SVCD?

Anyway, if they don't want me to convert media to another format, then it better be cheap enough to buy legally. Afford is relative but I'm thinking $2-$3 for a complete audio disk or complete DVD movie (no teaser or singles crap!)

"If some Joe can sell them on the corners for $2, I would hope the large recording industry could beat Joes' cost. and put him out of business."

I am all for lower costs but man, theres no way they could do that. Studios would go bankrupt and virtually all content would have their values fall through the floor.

However, I'll raise your idea of lower cost media for multiple sales. If you wont let me make a backup copy to prevent my kids from tearing up the original, then sell me a discount on multiple copies so that the full license doesnt go in the trash with the peanut butter covered DVD. Currently, you repay the full price over and over in order to enjoy the exact same rights you enjoyed when you paid the full price the first time around.

Actually SVGA is better than current SD DVDs. DVDs are about equal to VGA.

I can see the future too. Theatres will be come like Strip clubs. A two popcorn minimum to enter.

DrLumen speaketh much truth. But why are those DVDs so over-priced? Because the arrogance and inflated egos of Hollywood spend $30,000,000 to make a movie that with better artistic direction would be just as good made by Roger Corman for $500,000. The public is being asked to pay for Hollywood's excess and they are beginning to say no!

"DrLumen speaketh much truth. But why are those DVDs so over-priced? Because the arrogance and inflated egos of Hollywood spend $30,000,000 to make a movie that with better artistic direction would be just as good made by Roger Corman for $500,000. The public is being asked to pay for Hollywood's excess and they are beginning to say no!"

Dude, you are so incredibly right. Hollywood has to justify its high budgets. Sorry, but there is not one actor/actress worth $10M a film. Julia Roberts, who I personally is one crappy actress, makes a bundle. Hollywood has to justfy their prices to keep paying actors the sky high salaries. Hollywood anymore is nothing more than pro sports and their crybaby overpaid atheletes only without the playoffs and referees.

Blah blah CD's cost too much... blah blah DVD's cost too much... blah blah blah. Better call the whaaaaambulance.

It's time people realized that it's not about the price. The fact that songs are available LEGALLY online for as low as 25 cents (maybe less) but there's STILL illegal downloading proves it. Is 25 cents too much to pay for a song that you actually want? I sure don't think so.

People steal because they can, not because Hollywood spends too much or Julia Roberts makes too much. If DVD's cost only $3 there would still be piracy. It's not about the price. ANY price is too high for thieves.

One more thing: I see a lot of "Hollywood turns out nothing but crap" comments. Well, if it's all crap, why do you want it, free or not? The "crap" line is one of the lamest rationalizations I've ever heard.

Dude, youre missing the point. If Hollywood didnt purposely inlfate their budgets and overpay casts, there would be no viable reason to charge the costs they do for DVD/CD sales other than to further line the pockets of the studios. Thieves will steal. Always have, always will. Price doesnt make a difference. But the incredible waste of cash thrown away on movies with big budgets that end up as crap is ridiculous.

Was all the money they blew on Troy worth it? Or Sahara? The point is that when all of these big budget flicks dont do well in the box office or in DVD sales, the first line of defense is piracy instead of a studio coming out saying they made a shit film.Has a studio ever came out and say they have bad film ever? But it doesnt stop them with overcharging in the theatres and DVD sales. They have to recoup the blown cash somehow.


Where is this .25 a song place at? I find it extremely difficult to believe because of the crap Itunes is dealing with the major labels where the labels want to up the price because they feel their cut isnt big enough. 25 cents for some rather unknown band but i would seriously doubt you would find many major artists songs for 25 cents. I just dont see Hollywood licensing their songs for so low of price when they arent making as much as they want from Itunes.

pmasters: the 25 cent song comment was based on those sites that charge a $14.95 "all you can eat" price. Regardless, even $1 is reasonable for a song.

And again, I still don't see what Hollywood budgets have to do with piracy. Who cares how much the films cost, it still costs the same to see it whether it's a $30,000 "Clerks" or a $207 million "King Kong." And adjusting for inflation, movie tickets have never been less expensive. As for the price of DVD's, I think $15-25 is a remarkably fair range to actually own a copy of a movie. I remember quite well spending $35 for 20 minute compilations on Super-8. Back then, features (again, on Super-8) cost over $200. (Note: $35 in 1978 money is the equivalent of $106 if you adjust for inflation to 2005. So that's over a hundred dollars for 20 minutes, vs. $20 for the whole movie plus, usually, a commentary and other cool extras.)

I'm not saying Hollywood is perfect, or that they don't need to change their act, but it's also not quite as stupid and greedy as some would think. Or, rather, it IS greedy, but that's not the entire reason why things cost as much as they do. :-)

@farss:

The DaVinci Code

The last movie I saw in a theatre was "Star Wars" and the experience was awful. Absurd, vulgar, moral behavior from the people watching the movie, yelling, screaming, throwing popcorn and various items and at the beginning of the movie the floors and seats were totally filthy. Will never go to a theatre again.

JJK

I wouldn't go to that theater again either. Luckily I've never had an experience like that. Although, assuming you're talking about one of the recent Star Wars films, I don't think a calm, quiet theater would have helped. :-) But next time don't go to a matinee or opening weekend.

>>>Absurd, vulgar, moral behavior from the people watching the movie, yelling, screaming, throwing popcorn and various items and at the beginning of the movie the floors and seats were totally filthy.<<<

Sure you weren't at a screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show? I remember the first time I got one of my friends to go - he leaned over and said something like "These people keep yelling and I can't hear the movie!" and my response was along the lines of "VIRGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!" He ended up playing Brad in the floor show and met his wife, who was playing Magenta. When the video first came out in the US and I got it I watched it one time - there was no one yelling and no one throwing anything and the screen. With the DVD I love it because you can listen to the alternative soundtrack with the crowd yelling - that is fun, but not the same a being there.

On the other hand I am sure that Star Wars has it fans as well - and you know you have us cross breeder geeks who are huge RHPS fans so we go to certian other films and tend to yell out things. For me it was seeing Empire Strikes Back on opening day and when everyone *gasped* as the opening shot I sort of said "It's only a model!" which pissed off some people but those who were Monty Python fans laughed.

But anyhow - part of seeing films in a movie theatre is to get that crowd vibe. Opening day of Mars Attacks at Manns Chinese (In the main theatre) was interesting with a sold out crowd cheering wildly at the main credits. Cheering when Natalie and Jack came on. Applauding the end credits. To me that is what it is all about. Equally as fun was seeing horror films on 42nd street in NYC - fully a different type of experience mind you but I would trade niether of them for stting alone in front of a HD TV in a "home theatre". One experience that was not one I lked was being at a sold out screeing of Purple Rain on opening day and hearing the crowd laugh when the female lead was being hit. Voices coming out of the darnkness saying "Beat the ***ch!" made me very uneasy. When people say that film was amazing I just cringe because the crowd was reacting to all the wrong things in the wrong way...at least IMO.

What this has to do with plugging the analog hole I dunno - but threads like these are always fin when they stay nice.

Filmy, it is very true that a theater or theatre is an experience in itself. I still like going to live theatre for that very reason. As to "Rocky Horror", "Lets do the time warp again!" ;) Great movie in the theater; sucks ****** at home!

As to artists and studios being overpaid, I agree with the others here that massive amounts of money is spent making the movies and a lot of it is unnecessary. By that same token and to use a previous example, why should we (as fans pronounced buyers) keep paying for the stereotypical rock star to swim in "coke" for the rest of their life? Next thing you know, we will have to pay for yachts for the next 1 hit wonder.

Art for the masses is more of a comsumable rather than an investment - unlike what the studios want us to believe!

I like the mass license idea, that was mentioned, for each movie or cd. That would allow enough flexibility in formats and would help prevent having to pay repeatedly for the same thing.

I know the battle cry of corporations and how they can't reduce the price as it degrades the market... blah. Why should someone pay the price of gold for toilet paper? Why does DeBeers come to mind? :shrugs:

Another point to this is if everything (classic and popular library) was available to all cheaply, not only would there be a sudden information overload but that should stop a lot of trading. I'm not saying for the studios to completely flood the market but a good size river could be healthy for them. Possibly like prescribed burning?

And to look at this another way, I do not believe the cost to the industry of the "opportunity cost" of lost revenue is anything like they imagine or say. When pirates or TV downloads make recordings cheap people like to start a collection, but do they watch? Would they ever have paid full price for that copy? I have hundreds of movies got off the TV in our collection and I can honestly say we are always watching new movies we hardly ever watch the copies, and if we would have had to pay to keep them we just would not have bothered. Secondly I have often seen the bootleggers (those who sell fake DVDs) at car boot sales or flee markets or on the curb at Cesar Chavez and Union Street and the people who are buying these copies are the local poor. They could never pay full price and would not. The losses the industry claims is just not there. It's all likely another PR bods idea to cover up over-spend on production costs and an overpriced product.