Lies, Damn Lies

DVD regions

I don't like to download shows. I know a lot of people who do it habitually, but for me it just feels... a bit off. If I have the option of watching the show in the format its sold in, I will, whether thats DVD or on tv with the ads. If I like a show enough, I want it to have my custom, so its creators get to make more great tv. That seems only fair to me.

So why do the media companies want to make it nearly impossible for me to do so? I recently got the first season of Community on DVD for Christmas, and absolutely loved it. Its incredibly funny, just some great television. This DVD only became available in November. Community has now shown three seasons in the US, but I can only get season one on DVD?

Now there should be a solution to this, right? I should just be able to import a DVD from the US. It'll cost a bit more, but then I can watch to my hearts content. Except, of course, to do so I would have to also buy a new DVD player and set it to region 1. Weirdly, I'm not willing to do this.

The thing is, its not very hard for me to go and download Community. I totally could, and watch it at my leisure, owning it for life, with no irritating copyright messages sprawled all over it. Its an infuriating message, and something a lot of big media don't get. The more inconvenient you make it for me to pay for your product, the more likely I am to switch to the free version. The free version should be worse than the paid version, otherwise you are doing something very, very wrong.

Labels: rant, television

posted by Mr K @ 2:25 pm