TV Torrents

[joincamp]

What are your guys feelings on getting your TV through torrents. Several different levels would apply here. I think that most would agree that if you download shows off of HBO, etc. and you dont pay for those channels, that downloading these shows would be wrong.

However, downloading a torrent of a show for a channel that you pay for, or off of free to air TV would be the same as tivoing it, right? Instead of doing the work though, someone else is doing the work for you for free.

Is it wrong to choose torrents over iTMS when it is available there? You are paying apple for the distribution right? But torrents are offering distribution free of charge.
Is it wrong to download a show that is not even available in your region (yet)? Or, for that matter is it wrong to buy TV not available in your area from iTMS?
Is it wrong to download an old show that is impossible to buy?
What if you just started paying for cable and downloaded the previous episodes of a show? They would probably be shown as reruns anyway.
Is it wrong because the commercials are cut out? If you had tivos, you wouldnt be watching the commercials anyway.


I understand in theory why music and games and movies are wrong to download, but I just can't see what is wrong with dowloading tv. anyone have an answer?

 

[Linflas]

I personally have no moral issue with downloading a program that was broadcast unscrambled over the public airwaves.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

No. It's not wrong. They got paid. It's public.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Linflas
I personally have no moral issue with downloading a program that was broadcast unscrambled over the public airwaves.

Yup that's pretty much my view.

Is it technically illegal? Probably. Do I care? Not really.

I don't download music or movies (primarily because I'm a quality snob) but I have no issue downloading TV episodes.

Viper GTS

 

[RedCOMET]

I"m sure it has something to do with Advertising revenue that is lost when people don't watch the shows.

I have a TiVo, and if i can't TiVo it... well you get the idea. With the shows i Record, i skipp the commercials. Heck even when i watch "live" tv, i still pause it sometimes or let the show run before it fills up the 30 minute buffer, then i just rewind the show and watch it from teh beginning. If i do that, i can miss teh majority of the commercials for that show,


But in general, i think since the show is begin distrubuted with out the consent of its owner(s), Its piracy to download them, if you didn't record/watch them when it was scheduled to air.

 

[purbeast0]

morally I don't feel guilty one bit for doing it.

but then again I don't use torrents, i have other ways.

 

[frankgomez75]

How bout this...
What if you download all the episodes of LOST Season 1 in High Defition....?
Lost Season 1 is on DVD and can be bought... but it was broadcasted in HD-OTA for free... is it right or wrong to still download the season in HD?

 

[torpid]

There is still a moral difference between tivo and torrents, although certainly it is not as obvious of an immoral act as downloading something every week because you don't want to pay for cable.

 

[mugs]

I'll do it IF
- It's a show with a running storyline and missing one episode will make the rest of the episodes confusing. AND
- It's not available for purchase.

i.e. Reunion (before the bastards cancelled it). I missed an episode or two so I downloaded them, but I watched most of them on TV, ads and all.

OR if
- It's a show that's off the air and is not in syndication AND
- It's not available for purchase or rental

Basically if there's no way for me to see it otherwise, I'll download a TV show to watch. If it becomes available on DVD, I'll buy that.

I own... 34 TV show seasons on DVD.

 

[joincamp]

I should think that the producers should be honored, they are getting more people to watch the show, and thus more fans that way. I probably wouldnt watch a lot of the shows I watch if I werent able to find out they were good 13 episodes in, then go back and watch them all. And they don't even have to pay for the delivery method.

 

[Ramma2]

Originally posted by: frankgomez75
How bout this...
What if you download all the episodes of LOST Season 1 in High Defition....?
Lost Season 1 is on DVD and can be bought... but it was broadcasted in HD-OTA for free... is it right or wrong to still download the season in HD?

Compare it to buying apples in the store, or picking some from a tree for free.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: RedCOMET
I"m sure it has something to do with Advertising revenue that is lost when people don't watch the shows.

But they've already received the money from the advertisers before the show is even broadcast.

 

[rudder]

What should be illegal is cramming 20+ minutes worth of commercials in a 1 hour time slot.

 

[frankgomez75]

Originally posted by: Ramma2

Originally posted by: frankgomez75
How bout this...
What if you download all the episodes of LOST Season 1 in High Defition....?
Lost Season 1 is on DVD and can be bought... but it was broadcasted in HD-OTA for free... is it right or wrong to still download the season in HD?

Compare it to buying apples in the store, or picking some from a tree for free.

Well.... is the tree on YOUR property or someone elses?

BTW: I use BT when I miss an episode... but alas my FusionHDTV5 Capture card has solved this for me! :evil:

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: RedCOMET
I"m sure it has something to do with Advertising revenue that is lost when people don't watch the shows.

But they've already received the money from the advertisers before the show is even broadcast.

Yes, but that doesn't mean they will continue to. In terms of Tivo (and not necessarily other DVRs), Tivo does track viewing habits and statistics, so at least there is some possibility that if you watch it time-delayed on tivo, that information is known by the studio and thus allows them to alter the price they charge for upcoming episode advertising accordingly, or to decide whether to include an in-tivo fast forwarding ad, etc. I don't know if that is actually done or not, though (I'm not really sure what all data Tivo "aggregates"), but it still is something that COULD be done, whereas with underground torrent files, the studio has no real way to know how many people are watching it that way.

 

[joincamp]

I can think of a ton of shows offhand that I would never have bought the DVDs for if I hadn't have been able to see it throught torrents first.
Lost
Freaks and Geeks
Arrested Development
Firefly
etc...

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: rudder
What should be illegal is cramming 20+ minutes worth of commercials in a 1 hour time slot.

More like 16 minutes.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: joincamp
I can think of a ton of shows offhand that I would never have bought the DVDs for if I hadn't have been able to see it throught torrents first.
Lost
Freaks and Geeks
Arrested Development
Firefly
etc...

Would you have rented the DVDs?

 

[Ramma2]

Does it make a difference if I watch it on my ReplayTV and skip the commercials, or download the commercial free version from the net?

Either way I don't see advertisements. And even if they did collect view status via the ReplayTV, it wouldn't matter because I don't watch the commercials, so that number is useless to them for selling time to new advertisers.

 

[joincamp]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: joincamp
I can think of a ton of shows offhand that I would never have bought the DVDs for if I hadn't have been able to see it throught torrents first.
Lost
Freaks and Geeks
Arrested Development
Firefly
etc...

Would you have rented the DVDs?

renting is okay i guess. i dont particularly like it myself for various reasons though. are torrents wrong cause I dont want to pay $5 to see if I even like it in the first place?

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: rudder
What should be illegal is cramming 20+ minutes worth of commercials in a 1 hour time slot.

:thumbsup:

 

[hemmy]

If you dont download/copy for the purpose of making profit i see nothing wrong with it

 

[Heisenberg]

I have no problem with it. I do it for shows that I miss, and ones that I want to be able to watch more than once. I pay for cable but it's not always convenient to be home when the show is actually on.

 

[hemmy]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: rudder
What should be illegal is cramming 20+ minutes worth of commercials in a 1 hour time slot.

More like 16 minutes.

Ironically im watching a downloaded TV Episode as reading this, and without commercials it is 35 minutes but when aired on TV is a 1 hour show

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: hemmy
Ironically im watching a downloaded TV Episode as reading this, and without commercials it is 35 minutes but when aired on TV is a 1 hour show

What TV show? Most 30 minute shows are 22 minutes long. Although I've been working my way through my 7 seasons of Cheers DVDs and noticed that they're closer to 25 minutes long, so either TV had less commercials in the 80s, or they couldn't sell enough ad time for Cheers in the first 3 seasons.