Bittorrenting TV Shows: Thoughts?
 

Just getting people's ideas on bittorrents of TV shows? Do you do it? Do you think its legal? Do you have some moral objection? Do you want to kill whitey?

Personally, I do it occassionally, but its summer so its not much worth downloading to watch. I only do it for shows on cable/network that I either forgot to DVR or just didn't have enough recorders to watch. I also do it to get shows that I did watch, but just want to throw on DVD for later. To me, this is legal. No one ever had a problem with people taping shows and watching later back in the day. My sister has every episode of Buffy on about 50 VHS tapes. I don't really see how the MPAA or their kids can argue that its stealing when its freely available, or I pay for it in the first place (like cable).

Now, I don't download anything off of stations I don't get. As much as I want to, I'm not going to be downloading any Entourage this year (I have to first season burned to DVD when I got free HBO). To me, if I don't pay for it, its not really mine.

However, is it really any different if I had a friend (yeah right) who had HBO, recorded it for me, and I went over there and watched it? Or if I watched it "live"? Is that legal? Is that really any different than me going to a few TV show sites and downloading it? I don't know really. I really think they need to look at copyright laws again and amend them a bit. I know its a money making business, but they can't be mad when I download the OC because I missed it last Thursday. I could easily have Tivo'd it.

Just my thoughts, anyone have any ideas.


Oh, and if anyone can point me to a BT link to the 2005 National Spelling Bee, that would be great... thats some riveting shit.

I have done it a lot, but not much right now. I've become a fan of lots of shows by downloading episodes and getting caught up, and then watching them when they're new from there on out. I guess the most recent example would be lost, which I didn't watch until it was about 10 or 15 episodes in. I would think the networks would be happy to have people downloading and building a fanbase for their shows. HBO, on the other hand, has reason to be upset.

I do it because I never know if the shows are going to make it to our screens over here. (and the ones that do tend to get treated badly in the schedules)

I have also had a few series spoiled by hearing spoilers on the internet because we are way behind the US broadcasts, and I have no intention of letting that happen again.

Never done it, but I don't have a problem with it as long as the product isn't being sold after its been downloaded.

I don't have an issue with it at all

dola- although I can see the point, that this cuts into their profits if people are downloading tv shows that have been released on dvd. so its a bad situation in that case.

I started doing this back in October or so. I did it to check out some new shows, or shows I had never seen.

I ended up sticking with two shows all season, 24 and Lost.

I now am pretty sure I will end up buying Lost on DVD when it comes out in September, if it wasn't for bittorrent I never would have fallen in love with the show. I guess that is my way of justifying it. Anyways, I think it is fine obviously....

If anything, downloading tv episodes has made me and my friends purchase more dvd's for TV shows. I normally re-watch the previous week's episode and then watch the shows on tv. IMHO, it's something that the tv companies should really be marketing.

What are some good websites that make this available? I used to know some but they are gone now.

hmmm, a question that can get someone into the box isn't it? Or is that just for porn?

Anyways, google 'torrent search' and you will get a couple engines for torrents.

Really? Strange. My bad.

I could be wrong, no sweat. Anyways, I'm the one who answered.....
;)

I didn't post any links just to be safe. I think it borders on illegal (in other word, we shouldn't give them any reason to sue us/close the board) according to the companies.

There is a huge difference between downloading them off bittorrent and taping them on VHS. While it is legal for you to tape signals you do not acquire illegally, it is quite another thing for you to distribute them. Much like donwloading songs that are copyrighted, it is illegal for you to possess tv shows downloaded from a source with no legal right to distribute them. Despite the fact that you could have recorded it for free, you didn't, and are still obtaining it illegally.

But me, meh, I don't really care that much. I did it once for my wife who missed a crucial episode of Lost, and we don't have TiVO.

I love and support it. I hate the MPAA (they recently shut down some tv torrent sites). It allows me to watch shows I would never ever watch.

I've downloaded tv episodes before, if I happened to have missed one or something...but I also will buy the DVD's when they come out...so I don't really see it as being bad. It's not like the case of movies where I'm not going to the theater and buying a ticket or anything.

I do it occasionally. Becuase of the heat that's hit the east coast, I just couldn't bring myself to leave the house to go buy the 3rd season of the Dead Zone, so I can't watch the premiere tonight. I'll probably get my ass over to Best Buy or something tomorrow and buy the 3rd season, watch that and d/l tonight's episode so I'll be ready to go next week.

I do it quite often. Shows take ages to get here, if they come at all. Deadwood took a year to get here, so I downloaded season 1 and found the show good enough to pay a ridicilous amount of money to buy the DVDs through import.

One good thing about downloading shows is to catch up with a series you sort of "come into" in the middle of a late season. I also enjoy being able to watch several episodes in one sitting.. I can't stand cliffhangers. :)

Obviously the big losers are the advertisers. If the shows for download all included the commercials, i would argue that it wasn't really hurting anyone.

And yes i watch tons of stuff off bittorent. It's great for getting caught up when you're late getting into a show, just forgot a show was on and missed it, or watching whenever you want. On top of that watching it commercial-less saves time.

I posted this in one of the other threads, but I fall in the same boat - typically don't watch full seasons of anything via BT, but will grab a couple episodes here and there to catch something we miss; or, if there's not a DVD available for a show yet, to rewatch.

Before the DVDs came out, the example was: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Six, Episode Seven: "Once More With Feeling", or, the musical episode.

Can you get the complete first season of Moesha? Or should I buy the box set?

Are these sites DVD quality or crap quality? I have a friend who downloads movies that are in the theater. Obviously this is illegal and I have no desire to be involved or watch any of the movies, but having seen the quality of the movies he gets I am sure Hollywood could give two shits. His DVD's quality are what my 90 year-old grandma would get if she went to the theater without her glasses and hearing aid.

I guess, but if I am sitting down and just watching T.V., I will usually flip stations during commercials anyways. If I leave it on the same channel then I am probably not paying attention.

The quality of this stuff most the time is incredibly good. Anything in Divx or Xvid is just a notch below DVD quality, so i know it is definitely hurting DVD sales.

You throw in a big LCD monitor and a 5.1 sound system and you've got a serious DVD alternative.

A number of sites have the "consideration" copies for download. I don't give a crap about movies, but I know some people who download them all. They're called "consideration" copies because they go to award voters and usually flash on the screen every so often "Thank you for your consideration" of whatever award they are going for.

I got interested in Lost at about Episode 6. Downloaded the first bunch until I caught up to the broadcast shows and watched it from that point on. If it wasn't available as a torrent I wouldn't have watched any episodes.