So Hollywood's solution to this problem is to make downloading films the ONLY way to obtain them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ma ... ading-dvds

Precisely, it's up to the studios to make it easier to obtain their product and at a good price. Hell, that's kinda what they do with R5 DVDs in Asia IIRC, though they don't have the same level of picture processing etc they're still worthwhile for their cost to the consumer.

From our own experience, I seriously doubt those download figures, especially for the downloads to be of any use for Joe Average; as I understand it most films come down as AVIs, which I'm assuming for many would mean sitting in front of a laptop at the very least (I know there are players but I doubt they are widespread), and who wants to do that every time you wanna watch a film? Again, I know there's ways and means, but I doubt many would be arsed looking them up never mind the practicalities...

Don't you just love how the response of the industry is "Sort it out or we're taking our ball home with us" rather than "why aren't our products appealing to consumers in this market?"?

Yes most are as avi which does tie you to the computer unless you are willing to convert them to playable versions. You could get a DVd player that will play avi's or convert them to mpg to burn as a dvd.

Also within the EU they can always buy DVDs from abroad. Plus with the ACTA going through Hollywood will have absolutely no market in Spain, if there are no DVD's and they shut off downloads then only Spanish films will be shown there. Any DVD's will simply be brought from abroad.

How about "Internet should function without thieving scum"?

Yes I have civil liberties issues with internet restrictions. Nonetheless, I suspect that the majority of those making the noise are merely upset with having to pay for what they used to get for free.

Don't get me wrong, I have no sympathy for the studios who have spectacularly failed to provide a viable alternative and are now squealing. However I also have zero sympathy for those who take what isn't theirs and moan when the rightful owners want to stop them.

The chances of them paying for it at all are next to zero anyway, and if they do, it won't go to the industry. If they could somehow stop piracy overnight they'd have to find a new excuse for their shareholders...

It's easy enough to connect a pc to a tv these days using hdmi.

Thats what I use to do when I had a dvd drive on my computer but no decdicated DVD player. Though obviously not by HDMI (as this was back in 2000)

The industry need to come up with a cheap way for people to actually download films legally. Many films are simply not worth the £20 RRP in some shops. Admittedly you can buy them cheaper but some films are a rip off from day one. Even a legal £5 DVD of some films is overpriced. Bit torrent can offer the studios a way of downloading and getting paid for it. Possibly not as much as they expect.

That's what I was getting at before, but most people don't know that or don't care. Christ, most people wouldn't know how to fire up torrent software but the industry keeps telling them about it...

Yes they are doing a great job telling the world how to pirate their product.