If I have a film bought new on VHS in the early 90s, am I entitled to
download a digital copy of it, for the higher quality, or do I have to pay
for it again? (in which case forget it!)

Download from where? Any file available for download isn't going to
be better quality than the VHS.

Anyway, you know the answer perfectly well. :-)

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
snip
If I have a film bought new on VHS in the early 90s, am I entitled to
download a digital copy of it, for the higher quality, or do I have to
pay
for it again? (in which case forget it!)

Download from where? Any file available for download isn't going to
be better quality than the VHS.


The OP is probably just one more plonk who thinks digital = better quality
just because it digital, just as those who rave about MP3 being the best
format. There are plenty around... :~((

"Jerry." wrote in message
...

"Laurence Payne" wrote in
message
...

Download from where? Any file available for download isn't going to
be better quality than the VHS.

The OP is probably just one more plonk who thinks digital = better
quality
just because it digital, just as those who rave about MP3 being the
best
format. There are plenty around... :~((

Advertising must work then. The BBC and others keep telling us that low
bit rate MP2 (DAB) is high quality radio.
--
Malcolm

"Malcolm Knight" wrote in message
...
"Jerry." wrote in message
...

"Laurence Payne" wrote in
message
...

Download from where? Any file available for download isn't going to
be better quality than the VHS.

The OP is probably just one more plonk who thinks digital = better
quality
just because it digital, just as those who rave about MP3 being the
best
format. There are plenty around... :~((

Advertising must work then. The BBC and others keep telling us that low
bit rate MP2 (DAB) is high quality radio.
--

And you should see the complaints from people who know different....
The point about DAB is that it's politically imposed solution AIUI, the
analogue transmissions 'will' [1] end in 10 years so the spectrum can be
sold / allocated to other users.

I can see the various digital bit rates (DAB, broadband etc.) becoming like
fast food, feed the masses enough and they will become accustomed to it and
thus will think it is good quality.....

[1] ten years was the original switch off date when DAB was announced, not
to sure what it is now. There are still parts of the country that have
little or no digital service !

On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 09:34:28 +0100, Laurence Payne
wrote:

If I have a film bought new on VHS in the early 90s, am I entitled to
download a digital copy of it, for the higher quality, or do I have to
pay for it again? (in which case forget it!)

Download from where? Any file available for download isn't going to
be better quality than the VHS.

Anyway, you know the answer perfectly well. :-)

I suspected the answer, but wanted to make sure and get opinion. To my mind
you are paying for the work that went into the film, not the media. Anyway,
moot point.

I'm more interested in where the quality is lost via a 5gig downloaded
mpeg2, copied 1:1 with a seperate crc file. I did a few times for filmes I
already own on DVD, when my DVD player stopped playing some discs.

--
Jim H

"Jerry." wrote in message
...

"Malcolm Knight" wrote in message
...
"Jerry." wrote in message
...

The OP is probably just one more plonk who thinks digital = better
quality
just because it digital, just as those who rave about MP3 being
the
best
format. There are plenty around... :~((

Advertising must work then. The BBC and others keep telling us that
low
bit rate MP2 (DAB) is high quality radio.
--

And you should see the complaints from people who know different....

Among whom you can count me. I've had a DAB tuner since they first
became available. The quality of the transmissions is now so low I wish
I hadn't bothered - as my 'Organisation' has said for many months past.
:-)
--
Malcolm

"Malcolm Knight" wrote in message
...
"Jerry." wrote in message
...

[ re digital trasmissions ]
snip

And you should see the complaints from people who know different....

Among whom you can count me. I've had a DAB tuner since they first
became available. The quality of the transmissions is now so low I wish
I hadn't bothered - as my 'Organisation' has said for many months past.
:-)
--

The problem is not in the format AIUI but how it's being implemented, ISTM
that the governing criteria is / quantity / rather than quality.... :~((

I'm more interested in where the quality is lost via a 5gig downloaded
mpeg2, copied 1:1 with a seperate crc file. I did a few times for filmes I
already own on DVD, when my DVD player stopped playing some discs.

That's hardly a typical download!
Where are you finding this stuff?

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
I'm more interested in where the quality is lost via a 5gig downloaded
mpeg2, copied 1:1 with a seperate crc file. I did a few times for
filmes
I
already own on DVD, when my DVD player stopped playing some discs.

That's hardly a typical download!
Where are you finding this stuff?

Perhaps he's hacking into MGM's main frame server ! :~)

In this case it was from a ftp server, but these files also exist
elsewhere. I maintain password protected ftp on one of my PCs, in case I
want to access my music or watch a film someplace.

You can get virtually anything on the newer p2p networks, the defacto
standard for video seems to be Xvid/LAME these days, at between .7 and 1.5
gigs a time. Very good results are possible with crc (which can be used to
check the file for corruption) otherwise the sound is likely to get out of
sync.

Of course, a file that has been compressed twice is going to have double
artifacts. XVid made from mpeg2 gives the format a bad name, much better
results are possible if the encoding is direct from DV. A few pirates are
near the skill level of a proffessional compressionist, but most just push
up the overall sive of the file. Since there is no absolute maximum flle
size limit they have that advantage over a DVD compressionist and on a fast
connection this isn't such a bad thing.

I have only done this once for a DVD I didn't own (actually I did own the
film, but bought the dubbed version by mistake) The originally encoded mpeg
was avaliable via overnet, on request from share reactor. I find the most
limiting factor, even with XVid to be the low-ish resolution of DVD video.

I run a LAN for my building, and at night the spare bandwidth allows very
fast file transfer.

--
Jim H