Comments on: Live Free or Die Hard DVD Will Contain Free Digital Copy

By: Chisox

Chisox — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:36:52 +0000

A underground pirating website that I occasionally go to had Die Hard 2 1/2 weeks ago. Transformers was up the day it was released for IMAX. 3:10 to Yuma when up last Friday. Did I mention these where all DVD Rips?

Like the record industry’s introduction to Napster the movie industries approach is way too late. In two years they will be in the position the record industry is in right now. These types of moves are last ditch efforts before the explosion. What they need to do is come up with a acceptable monthly subscription based service.

By: Darren J Seeley

Darren J Seeley — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:25:57 +0000

@Perkle:

I’ll bet that the quality of the digital version is not very good, especially compared to the piracy scene versions

Seeing how the studio itself is doing it, it most likely will be the opposite. Otherwise, why bother at all? That’s almost like saying that they will put out an inferior DVD intentionally.

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I for one don’t see a price increase. I see it as a ‘bonus feature’. It should be said that as of this moment, there are most likely pirated versions of Die Hard 4 (and Harry Potter) already out there of varied quality. Nothing can truly beat the best quality (in picture) the studios themselves can offer. Nothing.

I see this as a good step to combat piracy. You offer the consumer something like this…they are less likely to get it illegally. As for trying to hack through the codes… what a waste of time. When one buys the DVD, they get the code or have information on how to unlock it. Why bother sending it out over the internet if a)everyone buys a DVD with the feature in it or b) already has the inferior download

Is this move going to stop piracy? Not entirely. But it does put a good chink in piracy’s armor.

By: PERKELE

PERKELE — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:53:01 +0000

They should give a free ticket instead which says that “thank you for buying, feel free to download this movie from your favourite bittorrent site” ;)

Ill bet that the quality of the digital version is not very good, especially compared to the piracy scene versions, but i think that this is a very good move from studio. Id rather browse movies from digital storage than hassling with dvd packages.

By: AjaxLou

AjaxLou — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:20:22 +0000

If it causes the disc to cost more then I am not interested in its inclusion.

By: oldshell

oldshell — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:08:23 +0000

John, lets be honest now. Regardless of whether they include an official digital copy of the movie or not, the second it hits the shelves (probably before) an unofficial one will hit the net anyway. This move will do nothing to increase piracy. However, for those people who want to legitimately watch movies on their portable players(ipods, creatives etc) it takes away the hassle of converting a dvd into a usable format, something which probably takes longer than illegally downloading the film.

I think this is a very smart move as it MIGHT get people who would otherwise grab a movie off a file-sharing site buying the dvd (although people who don’t want to pay for a copy, probably still won’t), or at least stop those who have already bought the dvd from increasing the number of users on such sites.

By: <p class="ajax-edit" id="ajax-edit100869">You may click on your name and/or comment to edit.<span id="timeajax-edit100869" class="ajax-timer"> ( 14 minutes and 3 seconds)</span></p>Patrick

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:29:54 +0000

Well, without the code, right now, there are programs to burn dvds into avi and wmv and mp4’s. So, even if they do break the code, not much will have changed. I think they’re just trying to see if they can curb the tide, or something. Funny, though, cuz you’d think they’d lose money on the deal, since, now, the people that actually buy their digital files won’t be buying Harry Potter or Die Hard via amazon unboxed (or whatever they’re calling their digital download service) or xbox live or any of those other services, instead they’ll get the dvd and get the file with their purchase.

It’ll be interesting to see how long they continue this.

By: Jose

Jose — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:48:24 +0000

I say this is definitely a mistake that won’t last long. No matter what kind of code they implement on it, there will always be people that will be able to crack it. And if it is a simple code, then they can just distribute teh movie with the code in order to let everyone crack it. Unless they have another protective system, this simply won’t work.

By: Gavin Bollard

Gavin Bollard — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:38:20 +0000

I think this is a great idea and I’m happy about the code too. Hopefully it will be compatible across a variety of devices…. (iPod, Blackberry?)

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:27:16 +0000

The article also states that it’ll be DRM protected, only playable on playsforsure windows supported hardware. There will be a code, on the package, to type in, to unlock it.

The new Harry Potter movie is also doing this, seems to be a trend. I’m for it. :P