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MPAA Chases Uploads, Ignores Open Sales of DVD-Rs?

Posted by Zonk on from the maybe-they're-just-lazy dept.

rbrander writes "Go to TVBoxSet.com and find a remarkable sales site for box sets of TV shows, including not only surprisingly cheap deals, but offerings not found elsewhere. For example, they have a set with all ten seasons of 'JAG'. The problem is that the production company is only up to season 4 so far. Google "tvboxset" and find every link below the first is to a complaint or news website complaining of the scam. Those who do shop at the site get a product that appears to be a DVD-R recorded off of cable. The really odd thing? They're still in business! A story at the Montreal Gazette about the scam is six weeks old. Now what's in it for the content industry to beat up private citizens with $220,000 judgements or scrambling to get DeCSS sites shut down within hours, while corporate scammers openly sell pirate DVDs for months on end, unopposed?"

20 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. They are just selling instant DVDs by Zarhan · · Score: 5, Funny

    "There's been a new venture in home video market - instant DVDs. They are out in stores before the movie is finished!"

    1. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by trickyrickb · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen
      in the movie?

    2. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by Merls+the+Sneaky · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're looking at now, now.

    3. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by RasputinAXP · · Score: 5, Funny

      But when will then be NOW?

    4. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by ThePengwin · · Score: 5, Funny

      Soon!

    5. Re:They are just selling instant DVDs by Dark_Lord_Prime · · Score: 5, Funny

      Um.. yeah. That was the point of this series of posts/replies.

      Not the brightest color in the Spaceballs: The Crayons® box, are ya?

      --
      Come hear me sing!
  2. microsoft too by ClippySay · · Score: 5, Funny

    / This is a home pirated version of       \
    | Clippy. Please turn to your local       |
    | Clippy retailer or a professional Jolly |
    \ Roger-compliant pirate.                 /
           \     ____
            \   / __ \
             \  O|  |O|
                ||  | |
                ||  | |
                ||    |
                 |___/

    --
    cpu0: Microsoft Clippium ("GenuineClippy" ChromedMetal-Class). Paperbinding, lockpicking, fish-hook-hack support.
  3. Re:Wow! by 12ahead · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well..as always: Blame Canada! :)

  4. Re:Wow! by irc(addict) · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah. THAT's why they are still going then.

    We all know Quebec isnt subject to Canada's laws.

  5. Um.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I think that's one car analogy too far.

  6. Carol Burnett? by spagetti_code · · Score: 3, Funny
    From TFA:

    Westmount resident Brian Wrench said he recently had a bad experience ordering programs through tvboxset.com.


    At the end of June, Wrench bought what was advertised on the site as all 278 uncut episodes of the Carol Burnett Show, spanning 11 seasons on eight DVDs.


    Holy cow - 278 episodes of Carol Burnett!!! This guy deserved to get ripped off.
    In fact, shoot him. We'd be doing him a favor. The judge would surely accept this as a mercy killing.

  7. Re:Wow! by Bob54321 · · Score: 2, Funny

    TFA makes it fairly clear that this operatiion is based in Canada.
    You read TFA? Wow... just wow
    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
  8. Re:Double standards! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wah wah wah, stop making pathetic excuses, speeding is wrong and you know it, if you can't do the time don't do the crime. Moron. And stop making stupid arguments like "speeding isn't theft", you didn't PAY for the right to drive 10 mph over the limit so you STOLE it, that's what STEALING is. Thief.

    Oops, sorry, my slashbot implant seems to be malfunctioning slightly today...

  9. there's a simple explanation! by martin-boundary · · Score: 1, Funny
    Ok, the problem is, right, the RIAA are still using old SCO UNIX computers for all their accounting calculations, and, well, let's just say that for various reasons the software updates have been a bit slow coming in the last few years, so, right, the thing is there's this unfixed bug with negative wraparound when they're adding really really big numbers together on that machine and so when they realized about the DVD pirates the execs were all like "hey we're gonna make oodles of cash, man, at $20.95 per DVD, how much is that?" and so they did an allnighter adding up all the numbers to get an estimate, right, and the next morning the answer came back -$47,845,226.48 and the head guy of the RIAA said "WTF? My head hurts" and like the director of accounting said "Dude, the computer's never wrong! I want some fritos" and like they all decided FUCK THAT if they were gonna sue them the RIAA would actually have to PAY THEM and NO WAY!

    And that was the end of that.

  10. Re:That leads to another question by canuck57 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why is the production company only up to season 4 so far?

    Maybe the bit torrent servers they were using were shut down or didn't pay their cable bill?

  11. It's all about the money. by Jay+L · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you read the summary, you can see that TVBoxSet are up to season 10, while the production company has only produced up to season 4. I'll bet that the MPAA plans to ditch the production company, and source the episodes directly from TVBoxSet. Just think of the money they'll save: No scripts, no cameras, no sets, no production costs. This is the future - literally. Why should I (as a network) pay millions of dollars to Castle Rock or New Line for a new series when for $150 I can buy residual-free DVDs of the series before it's even written?

  12. Re:Related Story by SEWilco · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you're saying that the most visible version of this Slashdot story is actually a cheap inaccurate copy of the original and legitimately produced version? Why haven't the [redacted - ed.] /. editors cracked down on this shoddy duplication, and instead made available the higher quality Firehose material, in the form which it was originally conceived by its producer?

  13. Re:Wow! by s4m7 · · Score: 2, Funny

    In UK [..] but for average Joe Sixpack it doesn't matter. When did Joe move to the UK?
    --
    This comment is fully compliant with RFC 527.
  14. Re:Wow! by ILuvRamen · · Score: 1, Funny

    I think logically it's actually the MPAA running the site to fund their law suits. You know the famous quote: "If you ignore it that means you're in on it."

    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  15. oblig by r_jensen11 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at?... When does this happen in the movie?
    Colonel Sandurz: Now, You're looking at now sir...Everything that happens now is happening now.
    Dark Helmet: What happened to then?
    Colonel Sandurz: We passed it.
    Dark Helmet:When.
    Colonel Sandurz:Just now... We're at now now.
    Dark Helmet: Go back to then?
    Colonel Sandurz: When?
    Dark Helmet: Now.
    Colonel Sandurz: Now?
    Dark Helmet: Now.
    Colonel Sandurz:I can't
    Dark Helmet: Why?
    Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.
    Dark Helmet: When?
    Colonel Sandurz: Just now.
    Dark Helmet: When will then be now?
    Colonel Sandurz: Soon!
    Dark Helmet: How soon?
    Technician: Sir!
    Dark Helmet: What?
    Technician: We've identified their location!
    Dark Helmet: Where?
    Technician: It's the moon of Vega
    Colonel Sandurz: Good work. Set a course and prepare for our arrival
    Dark Helmet: When?
    Technician: Nineteen hundred hours, sir!
    Colonel Sandurz: By high noon tomorrow they will be our prisoners!
    Dark Helmet: WHO?!?!