Hmmmm, maybe this is the real reason for no DVD releases! The copyright owners could make more money on the download versions than by releasing DVD/Blu-Ray where those items can be shared/swapped and/or resold without royalties. I expect it has to do with how much BLOCKBUSTER pays for movie copies, but I have seen dozens of copies of some movies destroyed in the stores rather than being sold as used copies.
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Over a year ago, a Samsung spokeswoman gave Blu-Ray discs about a 3-year lifetime, with the downloaded movie/video replacing formats that you can actually hold in your hand! Her comments had all hard copy media being replaced by downloaded (to FLASH, or another storage media) digital copies or streaming video.
--- Now for the GOTCHA parts...
Anybody out there remember the Divx discs? Those discs were almost like DVD's, except that the players REQUIRED access to online passwords that were only good for three days. If you had not watched your disc before the password expired, you had to pay another fee to get a new password that was good for another three days. You actually bought the copy in your hand that wouldn't play (by itself)...
I believe Tivo requires a phone line or internet connection to work also.
Any guesses on how long a downloaded digital copy will continue to play (eventually) without having to send more money somewhere?
And then there is the book "1984" aspect that the copies could be continually 'updated' without an original copy to use to show changes were made.
As examples:
In spite of the claims made about the Disney movie FANTASIA, there are certain portions of the centaur story that were 'modified' to be more politically correct, apparently by 'slicing' the frames into four quarters and keeping just the upper right quarter as the current version; a pan-and-scan technique may also have been used as well. That is fairly obvious due to the change in resolution quality (grainy) of those portions compared to the rest of the movie, and it was easy to do without a wholesale change in the musical score that would have been required if those modified portions had been partly removed instead. I have seen this on the VHS, 12-inch laserdisc, and DVD copies.
In the TV series 7TH HEAVEN, the episode "The Known Soldier" is about 3 minutes shorter than the other episodes because something was removed from the DVD version - a musical performance by "Ruthie" that was broadcast on TV.
Dare I even mention the STAR WARS movies? Why not... The original movies used many layers of film to construct the master version, but in the first versions, the overlay areas were easy to see in the VHS and 12-inch laserdisc 'home versions'. Those visible overlays were 'improved out' as later versions were produced with digital remastering, and the special effects were also improved. Then there is the scene in the cantina that was changed to add the bounty hunter firing at Han Solo first - originally Han was the only one to fire.
--- Now for the GOOD NEWS parts...
There are already 3-D versions of some movies available for the corresponding 3-D capable high definition displays, and as an example, Avatar is rumored to have at least two follow-up releases planned to incorporate more features and 3-D which would be MUCH easier to distribute via downloads. Storage capacity is getting cheaper and larger as time is passing, (1.5 TB hard drive for about $100 and 64-128GB FLASH media for about the same).
If you don't have access to the required high speed internet connection, you could go to a store or a download station to load a FLASH drive (or equivalent), then take the copy of the download to your mass storage drive system at home. (PC/MAC, TIVO, PS3, xBox, Wii, etc. also).
For now, I believe the planning of how this mass downloading will actually work is far from standardized. If anyone remembers the 12-inch laserdiscs from the 1980's, those eventually had about a dozen formats for the audio data that ranged from 1-channel mono to AC-3 (Dolby Digital essentially) and to the incompatible but superior DTS. (BTW, if you don't have a DTS sound system, be sure that any DVD/Blu-Ray you buy has your DD 2.0/5.1/etc channel sound or you will be very dissapointed in the sound you get from a DTS-only disc.)
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I also feel compelled to add a few comments about the merits of this particular movie... which I like BTW.
It has a lot of legally questionable "activity" that is portrayed in a "fun" way, and could be fairly easily imitated as well. For example, grand theft (stealing the camp's bus to find condoms), breaking and entering, burglary, inappropriate age difference sex (Tatum and her 'target'), underage drinking, drugs, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, trespassing, vandalism, assult, lying/embelishing, and more... Law enforcement has taken a much stricter line on what once were considered "pranks", and schools have adopted zero-tolerance policies since this movie was made.
A large part of the entertainment of the movie is all of that behavior, but there is a responsibility to share that with impressionable 'youngsters' as "just a movie" and not real-life behavior! Kids are smart, but they also learn behavior and could use guidance. And don't be surprised if you have some kids that just don't understand why you find that behavior funny...
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