Burning downloaded TV & Movies

[JediKnightButler]

Are there any (legal/paid) movie/TV show download services that allow you to burn your purchased content onto a DVD or is everything out there currently still protected and/or only compatible with portable media players?
I've always felt that services like iTunes, while I appreciate all of the diverse content they now provide, have always fallen short due to lacking this particular ability and I would think that allowing you to burn your video content like you do your audio content would help boost sales for them and/or make download services a more competitive and viable alternative to other movie formats.
Is this more of a technical limitation problem or an anti-piracy issue?
I also know maybe we might not be able to get gonzo quality off a burned movie/TV show but it would still be nice to be able to take your stuff off the computer and put it on a big screen so that everybody can enjoy it.
I enjoy being able to download and watch movies and other video content on my iPhone/iPod but 9 times out of 10 if there is something that I REALLY want, I'll go out and buy whatever I really want to watch on DVD or Blu-Ray, particularly when the download services charge nearly the same amount (at least as much as the DVD) to download it and only allow you to use it on a portable device, which I don't quite understand.
Things like music videos and TV episodes are pretty reasonable and nice if you just want a smattering of episodes here and there but I've never felt particularly motivated to buy MOVIES from download services and probably won't be until you can burn them.

Anybody else have any thoughts about this?

 

[firehawk12]

The whole point of DRM is so you can't copy it... so, I don't think there are any legal means of either buying TV or copying TV.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Nope. In fact, what you describe is precisely what the studios and the companies want to avoid.

Apple's response would be "go buy our set top apple tv box and then you can watch your itunes stuff on your TV!".

Yup, DRM sucks.

I think, at the very least, offering a "digital copy" with the DVD like they did for Dark Knight, should be done for all major DVD releases. Yes its DRM but if you want to stay legal thats the best you can hope for.

 

[hamudm]

These companies are all missing the boat on what the future is going to be all about: portability and mobility. DRM isn't something people want; they'll continue to get around it, and there's nothing these fear-mongering and antiquated businesses can do about it.

There's just gonna be some hot shot startup that comes along and ruins everything for these people. I can't wait.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

It's really about who's delivering the DRM. If it's a company they like, people will usually be ok with it.

 

[JediKnightButler]

I am fully aware about the use of DRM but I just don't understand why, in this day and age, it is so important, particularly when music providers like Amazon.com and even iTunes actually seem to be moving AWAY from it by providing DRM-FREE versions of songs for the same (or lower price per song/album). In fact, most music download stores seem to be moving, almost uniformly to high-quality DRM-free MP3 downloads. I know that the big concern is the ever-present problem of piracy but, frankly, I haven't heard of a groundswell of music piracy as a result of moving towards DRM-free music so why should things be handled any different with downloaded commercial video content?

Edit: I also wanted to add that I LOVE the fact that video distributors are releasing "Digital Copies" of some of their movies when you buy the DVD/Blu-Ray (I bet that this is their way to choke off the viability of movie download services). I just wish that you could reverse the process and become able to download a movie, TV show, and/or other commercial video content on DVD and then burn it onto a DVD.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I agree. I'd buy more stuff from iTunes if I could burn a DVD and watch it on my TV. I just don't like watching any video longer than some YouTube nonsense on a PC screen.

Apple's response would be "go buy our set top apple tv box and then you can watch your itunes stuff on your TV!".

If they're serious about getting my business, they can give me a damn box for free. Otherwise, they're shit outta luck.

There's just gonna be some hot shot startup that comes along and ruins everything for these people. I can't wait.

Here I am, waiting to become your customer! Give me what I want: download iTunes style, then burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player. Sure, eventually I'll buy something that does it all, but not till my current cobbled-together system breaks down. I still record shows on my VCR and will keep doing that till the VCR player croaks. Why toss a perfectly good piece of equipment away?

And when the cobbled-together system doesn't work anymore, the new hardware I buy will be related to whatever I've been doing and feeling comfortable with in the meantime.

 

[Sakrysta]

Amazon's Video on Demand will provide portable-device-friendly copies of their downloads. Playing that through my regular TV is about the best I can do for that. I HAVE for a couple things burned DVDs of those portable files played through a DVD player, but the quality is naturally much lower than if I had the DVDs themselves. It's a time consuming task though, and one I've done mainly for things that aren't available on DVD but that I'd buy in a heartbeat if they were (Journeyman, Drive).

 

[Small White Car]

Apple's response would be "go buy our set top apple tv box and then you can watch your itunes stuff on your TV!".

Why the ?

Before: Watch downloaded videos on computers and iPods.

Now: Watch downloaded videos on computers and iPods and TVs.

I must be missing something. Why is that worse, in your opinion?

(And what about the Netflix box that is similar? Is that a in your opinion as well? I think that's pretty neat, I'm just trying to figure out what your problem is since you didn't explain.)

 

[Hermiod]

^I assume it's an anti-Apple thing.

I do not see anyone moaning about the DRM on the PS3 movie store, or the Xbox Live one.

Apple's DRM is a lot less restrictive than theirs.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Amazon's Video on Demand will provide portable-device-friendly copies of their downloads. Playing that through my regular TV is about the best I can do for that. I HAVE for a couple things burned DVDs of those portable files played through a DVD player, but the quality is naturally much lower than if I had the DVDs themselves. It's a time consuming task though, and one I've done mainly for things that aren't available on DVD but that I'd buy in a heartbeat if they were (Journeyman, Drive).

You mean the mobile files that Amazon's VOD is DRM-free and can be converted into other formats?

 

[Sakrysta]

Not that I know of. But they will play on my Creative Nomad, and I have a VCR/DVD setup at home that allows me to play from my Nomad thru the VCR and record to DVD. As I said, the video quality is low (about what you'd get recording VHS from TV) but at least I have a physical copy of the shows.

 

[bigdaddy]

This is stupid, I downloaded several free songs from Amazon yesterday, which I would guess I can burn to a CD, but I can't do the same with movies and TV shows?

 

[Hermiod]

^No, you can't. The movie and TV studios just aren't there yet. If anything, they want more restrictive DRM.

Apple, as much as they've been bashed in this thread, stood up to NBC Universal's demands to remove the ability to copy shows to iPods and restrict downloads to one computer, and they won.

 

[Michael Chris]

I found a solution for Amazon. It's complicated and time consuming (takes the length of time it takes to play each file) and lossy, but it works. You'll need the software Orb and VLC. Download and create an account with Orb. Share the Amazon files. Log into your Orb account on the same computer. Find the Amazon files in the web interface and then download the asx file that the web interface provides for each file. Open this file with VLC (Ctrl+R) select convert/save and where it says profile select mpeg-2, also make sure you have file selected with your mpeg output. Then just click save. You'll need a DVD burning software for the rest.

 

[Arrqh]

Apple, as much as they've been bashed in this thread, stood up to NBC Universal's demands to remove the ability to copy shows to iPods and restrict downloads to one computer, and they won.

Apple has barely been talked about specifically in this thread, and more so by the people "defending" it.

Restrictive DRM is the name of the game industry wide... Apple simply has the distinction of being the company that uses it to affect a hardware lock on their consumers, which is what Stone_Cold_Sisko was referring to. Whereas something like Netflix, on the other hand, has multiple ways of viewing their streaming content on a TV and therefore is not limited to their own hardware they're trying to push on you.

 

[Small White Car]

Apple simply has the distinction of being the company that uses it to affect a hardware lock on their consumers, which is what Stone_Cold_Sisko was referring to.

Being "the" company?

Isn't the online Sony store only playable on Playstations and PSPs?

I don't think Apple is alone in this.

 

[Hermiod]

^They're also the driving force behind Blu-Ray - which has region protection, another form of anti-consumer restriction.

 

[Small White Car]

^They're also the driving force behind Blu-Ray - which has region protection, another form of anti-consumer restriction.

Well, we can get into a whole other discussion on Sony, but that's probably another thread.

The point is just that Apple is rarely the "only company" doing something, despite what people claim.

 

[Arrqh]

Apple simply has the distinction of being the company that uses it to affect a hardware lock on their consumers, which is what Stone_Cold_Sisko was referring to.

Being "the" company?

Isn't the online Sony store only playable on Playstations and PSPs?

I don't think Apple is alone in this.

You're really fixated on defending them, huh?

But you are correct, Apple is not the only one doing this. They are however the most visible company doing it, which perhaps is what I should have said. Which makes it no wonder that they get singled out for it. In my opinion, DRM that ties you to a specific companies hardware over multiple platforms is pretty much the worst you can get.

Blu-Ray, on the other hand, is entirely different and a very poor point of comparison. Sony has a stake in BR for sure, but they are not the only ones... and you are not limited to only Sony products if you want to play BR discs.