Illegal film downloading triples

[DB7]

Illegal film downloading triples

http://news.bbc.co.uk

The number of internet users who illegally download films and TV series has tripled over the past year.



An estimated 1.67 million people download illegal film or TV files, compared to 570,000 last year, the British Video Association (BVA) found.



The loss to the British video industry was calculated to be £45m in DVD sales alone during 2003.



BVA director general Lavinia Carey said the potential threat to the industry was "clearly enormous".



The findings were based on a survey of 16,000 people aged between 12 and 74.



Movies and TV series illegally downloaded last year included Kill Bill: Volume 1, The Sopranos and BBC's The Office.



TNS, which conducted the survey, said: "With downloading growing at such an enormous rate the industry cannot afford to be complacent."



But it added: "There are several factors that reduce the impact on the retail market - quality issues being the major one."



This referred to the fact that many considered illegally downloaded films to be of poor quality when compared to legal DVDs or television broadcasts.



Many also felt it took too long for films to download via the internet, but the growth in use of broadband - which offers faster internet connections - is changing that.



The average film or TV downloader was identified as under 35 years old and male.



He is most likely to live in the south of England, where broadband is more widely available, and to download an average of 30 films or TV episodes per year.



Ms Carey said: "The film, TV and video industries are working closely to pre-empt the threat from online piracy.



"As long as we can continue to make our traditional product attractive and future online offers affordable and easy, we hope to avoid the worst of the damage."



The BVA also reported a 61% increase in DVD sales in 2003, the format now representing 70% of the total video market.



Total sales across the video industry rose from £2.05bn in 2002 to £2.42bn last year.

[deckard]

Personally I don't download films from the internet,mainly due to(1)download time(even with broadband)(2)generally awful quality(3)buggering about for ages getting it onto disc and(4)it's illegal(yer rite!)but I can understand why people do it.Every year the industry whinges on about how much of a problem this is and how much money they're loosing,blah,blah,blah.In my opinion the answer is simple,reduce the cost of DVD releases to the consumer,with a rise of sales of 61% amounting to 2.42bn I think the industry is pretty healthy don't you?So,why don't they pass some of this huge wealth onto us instead of releasing loads of figures and statements of how hard done by they are? Having said that I think it's doubtful we'll ever see it,because I think the fat cats would whinge a lot louder if they lost profit!

[DB7]

I've a few I've downloaded in divx format (all old films) chiefly to use as a test bed for producing and authoring software.



I've heard the argument that sales are hit as a result but the industry can't judge what percentage of people would actually buy film/music if p2p networks didn't exist.



You also need to factor in that presently the music (looking for the Pop Idol quick buck) and film (stuck in remake hell) industry are in a creative nadir and people aren't buying because their product is so poor.



Even before the net as a kid I recall Home Taping is Killing Music stamped on most cassettes.

[n.r.ray]

Not exactly related to this, but perhaps someone can tell me how to save trailers to file (AVI format?) so that I can view them later, rather than instantaneously on the small size Quick Viewer screen. (Have only recently gone on to broadband.)



Many thanks.

[Rob Compton]

I realise some might question this, but where would one download older films from? Is there a source of pre 1960 British films somewhere?



rgds

Rob

[DB7]

</div><div class='quotemain'>n.r.ray:

Not exactly related to this, but perhaps someone can tell me how to save trailers to file (AVI format?) [/b]

Could you post the link op the trailer you wish to download?

[DB7]

</div><div class='quotemain'>Rob Compton:

I realise some might question this, but where would one download older films from? Is there a source of pre 1960 British films somewhere?[/b]

There isn't a specific oldies p2p network, there's just a handful of popular networks/clients swapping various media.

[snowstorm]

DB7 is right about the effects of downloading. It's a somewhat spurious argument to make that if it wasn't for downloading 'illegal' films we'd be rushing out to buy over-priced DVDs, which are often re-released in a 'special' edition a few months later, or making more expensive trips to the cinema. I'd suggest that record companies and film producers compare the figures they claim are potential 'losses', and then seriously consider whether or not Joe Public actually has that purchasing power at all. I might well download The Ladykillers for free, but it does not automatically follow that if the technology wasn't there that allowed me to do this then i would be going out to purchase the film in some overpriced format...

[Selk]

Here are my problems: I don't download mostly because there isn't anything WORTH downloading. The only think I would download would be something that was obscure ("Friends of Eddie Coyle" or the first three installments of the "UP" documentaries) that for one reason or another can't seem to get a public release.



http://www.jerrydroberts.com/greatestfilms/

[DB7]

Films 'fuel online file-sharing'





Hollywood is increasingly worried about illegal movie file-sharing



File-sharing is booming, with people downloading millions of files despite efforts by the entertainment industry to stop the practice, say experts. Films and other files larger than 100MB are becoming the most requested downloads on networks around the world, said UK net analysts CacheLogic.



It estimates that at least 10 million people are logged on to a peer-to-peer (P2P) network at any time. "Video has overtaken music," CacheLogic founder and chief technology officer Andrew Parker told BBC News Online.



The firm has come up with its picture of file-sharing by inspecting activity deep in the network rather than just at the ports.



It found that file-sharing is very much alive and well, despite claims from the music industry that it is declining.



P2P is the largest consumer of data on ISP's networks, significantly outweighing web traffic and every year costing an estimated £332 million globally, according to CacheLogic.



In the sphere of music, traditionally assumed to account for the vast majority of file-sharing, it is no longer about the big guns such as Kazaa, which has declined in popularity since being targeted by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).



File-swappers have moved their attention to other peer-to-peer software, such as Bittorrent.



While the FastTrack network (which carries Kazaa ) still accounts for 24% of all P2P traffic, the lesser known Bittorrent and eDonkey together account for 72% of file-sharing, according to CacheLogic's report.



The idea that P2P is all about MP3 files is a myth, said CacheLogic.



It found that the majority of the traffic comes from files over 100MB in size, suggesting that net users are as likely to download larger movie, software and game files as they are the smaller MP3s.



On the release of one major Hollywood blockbuster, 30% of the P2P traffic at one ISP came from a single 600MB file.



"The growth is away from music. There is a new chairman coming to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and he will probably be very aggressive," said a spokesman for CacheLogic.



The MPAA recently suggested that one in four net users downloaded movies and it has warned that the extent of film piracy online looks set to increase as people switch to broadband.



I would be very surprised if movie downloads were the dominant form of file-sharing



Mark Mulligan, Jupiter Research

According to research firm Jupiter, 15% of European P2P users download one full length movie each month. In Spain, the number jumps to 38%.



"There will be a ramping up of activity from the MPAA but there will also be lessons learnt from the RIAA's approach and I don't expect anything so heavy-handed as that," said Jupiter Research analyst Mark Mulligan.



He is not convinced that video downloads will take over from music at any time soon.



"I would be very surprised if movie downloads were the dominant form of file-sharing. This is largely because downloading is quite a painful experience for anyone with less than one megabit of bandwidth," he said.



It is also a question of convenience. Music files, being so much smaller, are easier to store on hard drives.



Music downloading is becoming an ingrained cultural norm for young people, who see it as an easy way of building up their collection.



"There is a whole generation of file-sharers growing up with no concept of music as a paid-for commodity," he said.



"Having said that, file-sharing remains a challenge to music, movie and TV industries alike," he added.



Killer app



Blame for the peer-to-peer problem, which is weighing down the networks of internet service providers, is often put at the feet of a few heavy users.





There are more and more legitimate music download sites

But over one month, a single one of CacheLogic's measurement tools, observed 3.5 million unique IP addresses.



"Peer-to-peer is the killer application of broadband," said Mr Parker.



"It has global use, never sleeps and has no geographical barriers."



Free software is often distributed via peer to peer networks and content providers, including the BBC, are considering using P2P protocols to distribute content.