reasons for DL and not buying DR. WHO?

[adamomega]

I collected the VHS tapes from 1997 to around 2001 or 2002 and then just stopped. About the only tapes I'm missing are the final two or three waves put out that completed Tom Baker and John Pertwee's run and that final box set they put out.

 

I just can't see buying the entire series AGAIN just to have it on DVD. The same was true for The Prisoner and to a lesser extent The X-Files. Rebuying shows I already own just doesn't do anything for me anymore...especially when most of the digital versions out there are far superior in quality (The O.C. TV caps are in widescreen and the DVD release was only in full screen for example).

[malconstant]

Actually, there is a reason behind DVD regions. Say you have two countries with grossly different per capita incomes. The people of the richer country can afford to pay $15 for a DVD, but in the poorer country, that's a week's wages. So, rather than sell zero in the poorer country, they knock down the price to something locally affordable. They make less of a profit per unit, but they actually sell them. Most of the money that keeps them afloat still comes from the richer country. The DVD region restrictions prevent some guy with a cargo plane from bringing over a hundred thousand discs and cutting off the company's most important source of revenue.

 

So, it does make some sense, at least when it comes to countries that are substantially poorer than the West. Separating the US from Europe, however, is bullshit.

[GorunNova]

Nice in theory, but I don't think I've seen that in practice anywhere. The prices typically only go up, and where they don't the stores are probably selling bootlegs.

[coolcat13]

I was thinking of just buying a 2005 Dr Who set for each region so that no matter where in the world I move , i can still watch it . O K not really but thats what they are expecting us to do ???

[GorunNova]

They probably don't care what you do, as long as it involves you paying as much as they can get you to pay as often as you can -_-'...

[ClaudiaPadme]

I do buy lots of DVD boxsets. If they released more Doctor Who boxsets I'd probably buy them. I own the Key to Time box and I'll be buying the Eccleston box. I also buy some excellent individual stories as they come out: Weng Chiang and Pyramids of Mars spring to mind.

 

That said, I download for compact storage! I should be able to burn the entirety of Doctor Who to data DVDs and store all of classic Who on 2 50-CD spindles without filling the second one. (As I don't demand highest quality, just watchable quality.) I taped all of Babylon 5 at two eps per VHS tape. I'm not devoting that amount of shelf space to a series ever again! So there.

 

My one complaint about the Eccleston box set (which I'll still buy) is the TARDIS box takes up too much space. Rather than making a 3-D TARDIS exterior, they should have made it "larger on the inside than the outside". Make it fold flat, but then open up with some 90-degree supports into an interior panorama of the control room that you can stand up when you want to and then fold away for storage. :)

 

Even the Key to Time series was unnecessarily large. Put two disks in each packet, at least!

[Fenriswolf]

I'd like the 3/4 size TARDIS DVD cabinet to store all my DVDs, Dr. Who included. But I have a friend of mine who's buying me the Box set when it comes out!

[coolcat13]

As I will also be buying the box set when it comes out and it will go into the Dr Who room which is an entire room dedicated to Dr Who parafanalia

[Fenriswolf]

You should call it the Zero Room, or Aux Console Room cat *grin*

[coolcat13]

it is indeed called the console room . It is also where me and my friends play our RPG table top games when it is my turn to host the games

[LordAvon]

Why?

 

Simple; no justification or moral rationalizations:

 

1. Dr. Who 2005

DW2005 is not available in the U.S. by any commercial means. By the time SciFi brings it to market, they will have lost a large part of the market (since people will have already see it).

I believe this is capitalism at its best - and yes, I would pay for a BBC download service; they made a good product, they deserve my money!

 

2. Dr. Who (classic)

A. I believe the cost is too high; I would cough up 400-500 for the lot.

B. Due to the fact that I have been unable to work (result of an auto accident), I am simply unable to afford it at this point. I will pay for it when it isn't a question of house, food, or Dr. Who.

 

The answers are basically simple:

Availablility

Economics (Personal)

Economy of Scale (Product cost vs. number of purchasers)

I would rather have the original (higher-quality) video discs. My time is valuable, and learning about BitTorrent is of professional interest to me. Still, at the end of the day, I want the DVD's. Make it afforadable, and available and people will buy it! Charge too much and you kill the market.

 

It is economics and human nature. It is also the reason why RIAA is killing themselves...

 

LA

 

[quosego]

Don't know, I see it as an resitence against what happens with this world. Pure capitalism, i hate it. It's not about te person who buys it, it's about the company who sells it. Money should not be you main point of interest, just an neccesary evil. But human kind is not ready for this ideology, so i'll have to wait.... probably centuries.

[Fenriswolf]

I believe LordAvon, that service is coming, although the programs may wipe themselves after a certain amount of time...I am sure though someone will break past this.

[coolcat13]

Yes there is a project that is bieng worked on by the BBC to make downloads available of thier shows through the Internet . The time table is still unclear but they did some preliminary work with it this year .

[Fenriswolf]

I hear it was fairly successful as well, which is a good thing, though I'm still a bit unsure about the whole 'timed' content.

[Fenriswolf]

There's a box set coming in November iirc. Its supposed to have various special features and so on, the whole of series #1 in a TARDIS shaped box.

[mossup]

I hear it was fairly successful as well' date=' which is a good thing, though I'm still a bit unsure about the whole 'timed' content.[/quote']

 

the downloads are only available for 7 days and when youve got them, they dont play after 7 days. thats what the BBC is planning with there content.

 

which is kind of redundent since you can use a tvcard or dvd recorder or a HD recorder to record the stuff from tv and keep it for aslong as you like

[coolcat13]

still it give us who are not in the UK or other broadcast areas a chance to watch it legally . I think it is at least a step in the right direction .

[trebor]

Protecting intellectual property (in a capitalist society) makes sense.

 

Actually, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. since every piece of art produced is derived from something else, logically the 1st creator of a concept should be compensated. Of course, that means that everything else made after that would be illegal.

 

H.G. wells wrote the 1st time travel story. Under the concept of intellectual property, every sci-fi movie or TV show exploiting this concept would be in violation.

 

In the case of Dr. Who, we know the new series was co-produced by the BBC and the CBC. So in essence, tax-payer money has already been spent to produce the show. So the reality of any public funded production means that the people of the UK & Canada actually are the owners of those shows.

 

But of course, big business doesn't see it that way: intellectual property laws are only there to ensure that they can copy/pirate/steal any concept they want and that regular 'folks' who don't have the legal resources to defend them are out of the game.

 

Star Trek ripped of the concept of the holographic character that could become 'solid'.. and nobody went after Paramount. But hey, make a star trek site with your own cover designs and see those legal letters of cease and desist.

 

 

The notion of intellectual property is unworkable, but in the era of corporations running the world, it's just one more tool at their disposal to ensure the continued slavery of the human race ;-)

[Fenriswolf]

I my memory serves me correctly, after a certain amount of time copyrighted materials become:

 

Public Domain

 

So in some cases works can be used without permission of the original author.