After writing an earlier post about Tesco offering Movie Downloads in the UK, and then the recent discussions about Home Cinema vs Theater, that perhaps there’s not the demand out there for downloading movies and that the perceived demand is mainly due in answer to the high prices of tickets and DVD’s. Many of the responses to the Home Cinema vs Theater post were negative towards watching movies at home and positive towards the overall experience of watching movies in the Theater as a complete experience.
Okay, so there are a lot of people out there downloading movies right now, I’ve done it, perhaps not for the same reasons that you or your friends have, but these reasons may not all be solely due to high prices, convenience or plain piracy. So what are they?
The first thing to address is why you want to watch movies, and let’s put aside the piracy and downloading issues for now. Where does the enjoyment really lie for you? For me it’s a few reasons, I love the escapism, I like to feel something from a movie, and to carry that out of the cinema with me, to be moved, inspired, or intruiged. I want an immersive experience that affects me after the credits have completed, something to make me think.
That all lies in seeing and hearing the movie as the writer(s) and director(s) wanted me to. A big, clear and colour calibrated screen, with a calibrated surround sound system. That’s definitely not downloading movies, well not on my PC!
So what are the reasons that people download movies from the Internet? I know mine, that’s number 5, and usually just for foreign films that I can’t see locally.
- It’s free and you don’t want to pay for them
- It’s easy and on demand
- Ticket or DVD prices are too high and you can’t afford them or are making a statement
- It’s illegal and fun because it’s illegal
- To check a movie out before buying to own
Those are just the reasons I can think of, there may well be more so please do post them in.
Then the reasons for not downloading and not the Studios reasons, the reasons why someone at home wouldn’t want to download.
- Quality of video is poor compared to a hard digital copy
- Quality of audio is poor compared to a hard digital copy
- Access to extras is either difficult, as they will be in separate downloads, or impossible, as they may not be available or impractical – as in the case of an audio commentary
- It’s illegal
- Length of time to download a movie, and extras if they are available, is still a long time
Now I believe there are those that will download movies because they don’t want to spend any money, they’ll always be there. There’s no way of stopping someone who wants to pirate or copy something, you might capture them after the fact, but there’s no real way to stop them committing the act, they’ll find some way round every protection system.
The rest of that list show people who have more scrupulous reasons for downloading movies, not to say that the act is any better, but their reasoning behind them is based on a more rationale point of view. Are there any more that I might have missed? Do you have other reasons for downloading movies rather than buying, renting or going to the cinema to watch them?
So what are the benefits of a download service? Now these are based on an ideal service, you can read the word possibly in each of these points as it would depend on the service provider.
- Highest quality of audio and video available on the computer
- Multiple plays
- Viewable extras
- Early release
- It’s legal
- Cheaper than DVD purchase or cinema ticket
As I said, these are all possibles. They might be done, they might not. It all depends on the service offered. Okay, so let’s compare that to the benefits of a current DVD rental service. What can you get from that?
- Fixed fee per month, often cheaper than Internet access
- New DVD’s received 2-3 days after dispatching the old, sometimes just as quick as a download
- So many DVD’s to watch per month
- Master DVD’s with all extras, including audio tracks
- Search and recommendation facilities, rather than searching for titles you already know about
- Support for damaged or poor quality DVD’s
Again, if you can think of more for these lists, please do post them. So let’s pull everything together and see where we are.
The element that just want to download movies for free and not pay anything will surely keep doing so. They are the true pirates, and whether they really do make a dent in the profits of the big studios is another debate. These people will always be there, for whatever type of product.
The next group are those that will make the move. They don’t mind the lower audio or video quality compared to a DVD on a home cinema or the theater, they may even have a pretty good computer setup with a high quality monitor and surround sound. They also don’t care too much for extras on DVD’s, and are wholly focussed on the film itself.
Then there are those who do care about the quality and like seeing the entire experience of DVD and all the extras and insights into the movie. They’ll stay with DVD rental or purchase, maybe still downloading the odd one prior to purchase, but they are more likely to rent before buying.
However, let’s not forget the power of the cinema, it runs through all these groups but also stands out on its own. People will always want to go to the cinema regardless of what else is available and how else they want to watch a movie.
So where do you fall? What do the figures look like? Am I in a minority being in the DVD group? Is there a huge rise in the need for downloading movies? Would you use a downloading service and how would you use it. For checking movies before buying, or just pure watching without cost? What would you be willing to pay for such a service? Let’s see what your current habits are and what your requirements for such a service are?
