lakeshore, part of the answer to your post is another post by you elsewhere on this forum
The fact that each time one does wait for the original DVD to come out, it almost always is of very poor quality and worse than the pirated ones available long before. I do not condone piracy, but I most certainly have begun to be more understanding of those that buy piracy rather than be cheated by the so called original products and made to feel like fools for buying the original crap.
For a more indepth view on this subject click here -->The REAL Promoters of Piracy

You compare Indian piracy to that of Hollywood. But is that a fair comparison. I really wonder what would the scenario be like if hollywood were to also put out DVDs of the same crap quality as that of almost all Indian DVDs.

The question is a moral one that has existed for ages. Is it okay to steal from a thief, ala Robin Hood considered a great folk hero.



Edited By Sanjay on Dec. 22 2001 at 10:17

Sanjay it's seems you're confusing my two posts-in one I was talking about for sake of greed legit companies transfer 150+ minutes onto one disc by cutting the movies to 130 minutes. In the other I was responding to Ali's posting. Both of my posts were on different topics and one has nothing to do with another. As soon as I discovered movie was cut so that it could be transferred onto one disc I returned it. Buying pirate DVD is a individual choice as no one is putting gun to someone's head and forcing them to buy it. cutting 150+ minutes movie so that it can be tranferred onto one disc is about greed,selling & buying pirated DVD is about breaking the law. These are 2 seperate issues. As a consumer I choose not to associated with either.

lakeshore

Would you not classify that as cheating also. I am sure it breaks some consumer law for them to do that.
Come on now, be honest and tell me, have you not broken any speeding laws, ever.

There is one thing you must keep in mind, that movies unlike other products, are a monopoly. What I mean by it is, that unlike other products, no other company can release it and therefore it gives the copyright holder a monopoly on the product. By the way it is movies that we buy, not DVDs, which are just the medium that we choose to buy it on. Therefore the company manufacturing that DVD has a greater respoinsibility to provide atleast a reasonable level of quality to the paying customer. Thus, when the company does not deliver on its responsibility and actually rips customers off, then I am sorry to say, it is hard to feel any sympathy for such companies when pirated products steal business from them. In my opinion they are no better than the theives that pirate their movies.

Ever wonder why Microsoft is being targeted by the government for trying to monopolize the computer software industry.

Anyhow I do not condone piracy, but honestly I feel nothing for thieves like Eros, Video Sound, WEG etc. As much as I hate piracy, I hate these companies even more.

I am only too aware about these films not appearing on DVD yet. Indiana Jones trilogy set must be one of the most asked for sets and one I'd personally grab it once the official DVDs appears. They are pirated version of these going around and they are discussed, brought and traded on forums, IRC chats, online auctions etc - just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen Then I go back to you're other point you made;



There’s a clear cut answer to this; with ET, Starwars and Indiana Jones you KNOW from the outset that you are going to get the best quality possible on DVD. New digital masters will be created, restored with extreme care, original directors, technicians and sound engineers will work on the DVD to make them outstanding. Film makers will provide commentary on DVDs and they’ll be bundle with so many extras that the extras run longer than the actual films. People know this, they know that quality is not going to be compromised, they know Spielberg and George Lucas will spend personal time on creating the DVDs – so this is their incentive so are patient enough to wait.

Now name a single Indian DVD that even comes close to this level of dedication to DVD? ???

Piracy is riddle with hypocrisy. Its easy taking ones side and fighting it out. But my view is not to take sides but to understand and help others understand. You can’t generalise piracy issues – ones that apply to Hollywood DVDs don’t necessary apply to Indian DVDs. Same with other industries. Any entertainment industry you go into has piracy problems – and on many cases both sides can make forceful case. I’ve worked and know the games industry pretty well – this is an industry which is built on foundations of piracy and run by old school hackers! But they sit in a directors chair now and argue against piracy in the games sector cos piracy is just a dirty work. Hypocrisy gone wild My point is don’t try and generalise or compare the Indian DVD piracy with others because it’s a problem in its own right – and the Robin Hood thing well just goes to show how people justify and feel about Indian DVDs - they feel robbed, so they rob others – rightly or wrongly.

And finally, some questions to ponder over;

1 – you buy a pirate Indian DVD, then buy the official one too, has this done any harm to anyone?
2 – Kaante is released and getting rave reviews, but no local cinemas to watch it. You find you its being distributed by Eros. A video shop has pirate DVD with good quality video and sound – the official one is coming out soon – what do you do?

3 – missed all opportunities to watch K3G at cinema, pirate DVD are seen shops but you avoid them at all costs cos you’re good and hold high principles :0 You wait and wait for the official DVD and grab it on the first day of the release. You run home to watch it on you’re expensive 66” cinema TV with THX certified DTS knobs on sound system and DVD player It turns out the DVD is shit.. constantly jumps in places, has sound drops outs and freezes sometimes – the picture quality isn’t all that, you’ve seen better. How do you feel after all this wait? Answers on a postcard or viewable here

Ali

It's very clear have very different opinions on this issue. There is no generalization on my part, it's what I feel strongly about. We have right to differ on the issue of piracy. Sure piracy is all round so are the drugs,booze,thugs,counterfiet money thank God these scums are not justifying their actions otherwise we all be in hot water. You also stated your view is not to side but to understand and help others understand
(funny line) Ali come on you made this sound like if those indo-pak folks who buy pirated DVD have some illness which requires understanding for their action because;

1) They want hot titles on DVD now (I want it now, don't tell DEI or YRF will release these hot titles in 10 years from now, I can't wait,these bastards will make me buy a pirated DVD)

2) Legit DVD have crappy quality (I Waited 10 years for K3G and after 10 years YRF produced a crappy DVD,bastards,look they made me buy a pirated DVD).

3) I really wanna see K3G, but I live in a gaon,what should I do,Oh yes I will buy a pirated DVD.

4) Oh no it's not my fault these bastards at Eros and Videosound made me buy a pirated DVD. Shame on them. Please help me understand as I'm not responsible for my actions. It's the fault of society,Samaz,is mein mera koi kasoor nahin. yeh muhje sudherne nahin dete hain.


Yaar these explantions don't hold water. It's about individual choice's and actions. Your point of not comparing problem with piracy of Indian DVDs with others sounds like if one gets pick pocketed in England is somehow different than one in USA?

lakeshore

HA HA HA HA FUNNY REPLY LAKE. I'M SUPPRISED YOU GUYS ARE NOT CALLING EACH OTHER NAMES UNLIKE SOME PREVIOUS POSTS IN OLD FORUM. ALI U ARE RIGHT,SANJAY U ARE ALSO RIGHT,LAKESHORE U ARE RIGHT TOO. I WILL TRY NOT TO ADD MORE TO THIS. WHAT'S THE SENSE IN BEATING A DEAD HORSE. I MUST SAY LAKE'S LAST PART OF REPLY WAS FUNNY.

What you mean no sense in beating a dead horse – someone must get pleasure out of it :p Seriously at least if nothing else it shows how people feel about this issue. lakeshore just out of interest do you work in the industry in anyway?

Ali



Edited By ali on Dec. 22 2001 at 20:00

wow...I know this being a dvd forum, I must confess I do not own a single hindi dvd...yes not even one....my reasons for not buying it was that I almost never watch a movie twice and the last time i did it was for HAHK (which I went on overload and watched it 5 times)....In any case, I am surprised and absolutely shocked by all the remarks about the quality...I had no idea those bahenchods were releasing such shitty dvds and charging it at almost the same cost of the hollywood dvds...unbelievable...I really felt sorry for some of you guys 'cause believe me I would be PISSSSSED if it happened to me...I mean money doesn't grow on trees...its hard earned and there are certain expectations when one pays a certain price...if the quality is shit, charge it at cheap price...but NOOO, the fags have to maximize on the profit, and if you go to their website you have a lot of info on business opportunities etc...yeah right, the only opportunity that we really need is to stick a rod up their ass (but then again these fags might actually like that)...Yash Chopra, though, has always been very very very greedy...He, unlike Yash johar, seems to pay the artists at a bit lower price compared to the market value...JP.Dutta and barjatya are some of the others that come to mind...They all got lucky with new and fresh ideas and have ever since tried to squeeze the public out of their money...I mean that whole story about how Aditya Chopra finally came to making Mohabbatein on their website is the biggest load of crap I've read...the bottomline was that they wanted to make lots of money and just went with the usual tried and tested formulas...

So as viewers where do we stand on this whole issue...of couse we all have our own opinion and my opinion is that Thank God for piracy since that is one of the most effective way that the Big Banners can be fought...Our motto should be: Give us quality, and we'll give you quantity..If they cannot absorb that, they deserve to die as an institution, rather than holding us the consumers as hostage...For eg. HAHK took a hell of a long time to release the film on vhs and dvd..they were supposedly making an unprecedent move...I mean come on, it is the rarities that are exploited by pirates..If you wanna play with us, expect to get burned..

(P.S: The above does not, as ali pointed out, and cannot apply to any other entertainment industry as there are a myriad of other factors involved..)



Edited By gkoshy on Dec. 22 2001 at 21:31

Ali very perceptive,to make it short in late 70's for just a few years did the following; worked for a bollywood actress (she was huge in 60's but by the time I got around to her, her days of being a leading lady were over),was also associated with financing & distribution company,movie publication and a few other things. Let me tell you movie industry is very unkind todays stars become yesterdays news in blink of an eye. Have seen respected stars down on their luck begging for roles,stars drunk as a skunk,female star you least expect hiding drinks in coke bottles, stars using real bazaru lingo when pissed off. Only handfull of decent filmi people like Amitabh,Helen,late Ashok Kumar,Zeenat Aman and few others most of them are insecure bunch of fakes. Boy I was the lucky one who ended up coming to USA to finish my eduation and to join my family. No regrets looking back as most of the people see filmi Duniya from outside I saw it from inside. No longer in touch with that world have moved onto better things have been back only once that was about 13 years ago but I still enjoy watching movies from that era.

lakeshore

Pirate Screen Shots of the DVD which I rented to check out, waste of money....

Pirate Screen Shots Click Here

Went to the local DVD store today, and it looks like the film still has major interest amongst people here, as i was in the store for 5 minutes, and within that time period, the store had 3 buyers of the pirated K3G DVD(excluding me). Sold at $20 a piece. It was a 2 set DVD (no NOT the original) but the second disc contained about 20 different songs from various other films. It seems that this film is truly a super-hit overseas.

Reflection
Aks
There is a stranger in your mirror

:rolleyes: It's amazing. 5 pages of bullshit. To each his
own. If you like pirated DVD'S then knock yourself out. If
you don't then watch the silver screen.
predator

F#*? That man!! Whats the point in buyin a pirate version for $20...wen u can buy it on VHS for $3!!



Edited By ali on Dec. 30 2001 at 00:38

i reckon the people buyin the dvd are people who have already seen it on silver screen more than once

The point being that with the pirated you are assured of better quality than the crap 'Video Sound, Eros, WEG' dish out.