Anyone ever actually cried wolf on dodgy dvd sales?

[Danny]

I wasn't sure how to word it in the title, but when ever you put in a blu-ray and get the "if you rented this instead of purchasing it please ring us to tell us who is breaking the law ect ect" but does anyone do it?

I mean sure i have 'rental copies' of films like freddy vs jason i got from blockbuster for like £2 and its like 6 years old, scratched and no ones renting it so i have no problems with a struggling store flogging them to make some money back and honestly i find it pretty dickish and arrogant to think "whelp, better do my duty to the man and get these people licenses revoked and there livelihood taken away"

Same goes for stores selling multipack cans of coke or something separately or something.

See i was out earlier and in some kebab shop and a friend of a friend in our group goes "look a this, fuckers selling me a can of dodgy coke" and he rings and reports them in the store which prompts me to go "you keep the number on your phone?" and he goes "yeah, nothing cheers me up like shutting down a paki shop" which at the time just made me look at my friend and go "like the company you keep dude" but this guy was literally ringing because it meant ruining someone elses day and honestly i see no other reason people would ring y'know?

So does anyone actually do this?

[MikePizzoff]

I've never done something like this because I don't feel like it's really worth going through the trouble and... I don't really care.

Also, you've got the wrong definition for the term "cry wolf".

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, "cry wolf" isn't the correct term for this context. "Told on them" or "tattle-tale/tail" (?) would be more accurate.

As for the "if you've bought this instead of rented it" type thing, I think that's really only for new releases, or if it has been purported to be a legit copy for sale rather than rent then that's handling it incorrectly. Ex-Rental is perfectly fine as the buyer knows up-front that it's ex-rental ... no doubt it's something to do with the cost of acquiring rental copies versus copies to sell, so maybe some people have been flogging rental (from the release date, and possibly without informing the customer that it's supposed to be for rental only) copies to increase their profit margin. I don't know if that's how it works and that's what that message is supposed to be for, but that's just an idea that popped into my head that might explain it.

I've never personally seen a multipack item being sold separately ... at least I don't think so, or if I have I've not been bothered about it. For example, a pack of Walkers crisps from a mulitpack - they're exactly the same as packs sold separately, so I don't give a bollocks personally. There's probably some fairly strong argument behind it from a business and economics standpoint, but to the average chump in the street it'll mean little.

I do have a series of ex-rental videos actually, but naturally it was all clearly labelled as such. I've never bought ex-rental DVDs ... well, apart from one (Children of the Living Dead, from the rougher part of Norwich, from a scruffy rental shop that stunk of fags and had a layer of grime over everything :p) ... because they'll be scratched-to-buggery. Bunch of savages, some people, you know?

[Publius]

Same goes for stores selling multipack cans of coke or something separately or something.

That IS a bit different. DVDs have license issues because their contents are intellectual property. Food products only have legends like "not labeled for individual sale" because the manufacturer doesn't want to bother with putting all the required nutrition information, etc. on each individual package within a multipack -- they put all the required label information only on the outside packaging. So if you were to resell an individual can of soda or packet of candy or chips (translation: crisps) from a multipack, the only ones to care would be the government food regulators (e.g. the Food and Drug Administration or FDA in the U.S.), not the manufacturer.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Did you tell the dude he was a douchebag for doing it? And if he has such a problem with "Paki" shops why did he buy the can of soda in the first place?

[Legion2213]

People who keep "snitch numbers" on their phone really do need a good hard slap IMO.

Edit: As an aside, those adds at the start of DVD's piss me the Hell off..."you wouldn't steal a car...ect" I'm thinking, "normally, no I wouldn't, but if I ever come across yours, I'll scratch it up with my key and take a dump on the hood"

[DubiousComforts]

I wasn't sure how to word it in the title, but when ever you put in a blu-ray and get the "if you rented this instead of purchasing it please ring us to tell us who is breaking the law ect ect" but does anyone do it?
I've never seen this notice on any DVD or Blu-Ray disc, retail or rental, though I've never rented blu-ray from either Blockbuster or Netflix.

Tell me more.

[Danny]

I've never seen this notice on any DVD or Blu-Ray disc, retail or rental, though I've never rented blu-ray from either Blockbuster or Netflix.

Tell me more.

its on every dvd and blu-ray dude, those walls of text that flash before the menu?

[DubiousComforts]

its on every dvd and blu-ray dude, those walls of text that flash before the menu?
Do you mean that it's included within the text of the FBI warning?

[bassman]

Do you mean that it's included within the text of the FBI warning?

Their warnings would be different than the FBI warnings here in the states, wouldn't they?

[Danny]

Their warnings would be different than the FBI warnings here in the states, wouldn't they?

a lot of blu-rays do it by the producers now, like a few i have tell you to call a private 20th century fox line for example.

[bassman]

a lot of blu-rays do it by the producers now, like a few i have tell you to call a private 20th century fox line for example.

Yeah, but do you guys have the warning regarding the FBI? I figured the warning would address what ever agency in what ever country the disc is produced, but I suppose it could still have the FBI warning if the film was made in the states.

I realize you're talking about one of the other warnings, but now im curios as to whether or not the FBI warning is on discs across the world...

[DubiousComforts]

Yeah, but do you guys have the warning regarding the FBI? I figured the warning would address what ever agency in what ever country the disc is produced, but I suppose it could still have the FBI warning if the film was made in the states.

Most of the R2 discs I've seen from English-speaking territories have an Interpol warning.

[MinionZombie]

As an aside, those adds at the start of DVD's piss me the Hell off..."you wouldn't steal a car...ect" I'm thinking, "normally, no I wouldn't, but if I ever come across yours, I'll scratch it up with my key and take a dump on the hood"

Ugh, I hate that shit, especially when you can't skip it. I'm like "listen motherfucker, I BOUGHT this disc, don't be lecturing me" ... and tea-leafing a movie online isn't exactly pinching a car or nicking a woman's handbag in the street now, is it? :rockbrow: They're totally uncomparable crimes.

That said, Adam Buxton's version of the Piracy ad music is great.

xLZpxVI7Pa8


Their warnings would be different than the FBI warnings here in the states, wouldn't they?

If the disc is Region Free we sometimes get the FBI warning. I've noticed that on DVD and on a Blu-Ray recently if memory serves.


Most of the R2 discs I've seen from English-speaking territories have an Interpol warning.

We get a variety of piracy related messages before disc menus these days. Some by official bodies, sometimes it's like that video I linked to above (but without Adam Buxton's hilarious vocals :D), sometimes it's a figure from the UK Film Industry walking up and saying 'cheers for buying this DVD of a completely American film, because of you you're helping the UK film industry' ... and I sit there thinking "how does that work on something like Transformers 8: Mojo's Revenge?" :rockbrow:

We also get these kind of messages in cinemas sometimes too - the 'industry figure' one for example, we've had that guy from The Office (UK) and Jaimie Winstone saying cheers for buying a cinema ticket ... to be honest, you can skip the thankyou and stop wasting my time every week with all these fucking adverts. :rolleyes:

[Andy]

I wasn't sure how to word it in the title, but when ever you put in a blu-ray and get the "if you rented this instead of purchasing it please ring us to tell us who is breaking the law ect ect" but does anyone do it?

I mean sure i have 'rental copies' of films like freddy vs jason i got from blockbuster for like £2 and its like 6 years old, scratched and no ones renting it so i have no problems with a struggling store flogging them to make some money back and honestly i find it pretty dickish and arrogant to think "whelp, better do my duty to the man and get these people licenses revoked and there livelihood taken away"

Same goes for stores selling multipack cans of coke or something separately or something.

See i was out earlier and in some kebab shop and a friend of a friend in our group goes "look a this, fuckers selling me a can of dodgy coke" and he rings and reports them in the store which prompts me to go "you keep the number on your phone?" and he goes "yeah, nothing cheers me up like shutting down a paki shop" which at the time just made me look at my friend and go "like the company you keep dude" but this guy was literally ringing because it meant ruining someone elses day and honestly i see no other reason people would ring y'know?

So does anyone actually do this?

http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/andy/sp-shenanigans.gif

[DubiousComforts]

We get a variety of piracy related messages before disc menus these days.
We do, too, in the USA, though I've never seen the type of message that hellsing has described in the first post. I'm curious because, to be honest, I doubt that the practice being condemned is illegal. It sounds more like a licensing issue (same as DVD players being region-coded), though first sale doctrine severely limits this type of "enforcement."

"Video rental" is one of the biggest scams concocted by the studios, anyhow, so serves them right if they're getting ripped off by it now.

[Publius]

and tea-leafing a movie online isn't exactly pinching a car or nicking a woman's handbag in the street now, is it? :rockbrow: They're totally uncomparable crimes.

True, it's more comparable to shoplifting a DVD from a store shelf.


"Video rental" is one of the biggest scams concocted by the studios, anyhow

How so?

[Andy]

Speaking of those anti-piracy ads, i absolutly love this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATo9qoIyk80

[DubiousComforts]

True, it's more comparable to shoplifting a DVD from a store shelf.
Not really becuase there is no merchandise involved, no brick & mortar business that paid to have product on their shelves is being ripped off.

It's more akin to copying pages of a borrowed book.


How so?
Remember the good ol' days of VHS "rental" and "sell-through" price? What a scam.

[Publius]

Not really becuase there is no merchandise involved, no brick & mortar business that paid to have product on their shelves is being ripped off.


"No merchandise involved," as though when people buy a DVD, what they're interested is the shiny little disc rather than the information on it.