News Viewers prefer file-sharing

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/04/viewers-prefer-file-sharing/1

Figures from pro-filesharing site TorrentFreak show large numbers of individuals downloading copies of popular TV shows - even when there's a legitimate, free version.

 

I like BBC's new Iplayer and the fact you can watch the stuff on their website without having to download their client. This was great for me while i was out of internet range with work etc as i could get back and watch the programs i missed, from the apprentice to the olympics. I think its great, the problem is i can't pick what i want to watch when i want to watch it and its also limited to the BBC's own coverage. Watching the aprentice a few days late is fine but i can't just pick a Doctor Who episode they havn't aired within a week. I also can't watch episodes they buy in from the US like Heroes, so if i want to watch a TV program i've already paid for by TV lisence and its not on Iplayer what options are there? This is where i think many people would download.

BBC have lead the way in the UK for internet viewing but it still has a way to go imo

 

Fox and Hulu are for Americans only. Fox makes sure no foreign networks air the show as early as they do.

Do you really need any more answers? Prison Break is as popular here in continental Europe as any other place.

Besides, torrents are just fast and not necessarily for pirates alone. Ask Blizzard Entertainment, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation why they use torrents for legitimate transfers.

I have yet to see anything like Steam for movies and TV shows. iTunes is a pile of poo. Once someone fills this market gap I might look at it..

 

It's all very well to have things like hulu, but services like that seem to suffer from a common theme - Lack of desire to be global.

The only way services like hulu are going to beat piracy is if they offer the good quality download, the browser streaming, and are global.

That's never going to happen, though.

 

I personally prefer downloading TV episodes because I like to "archive" them. I like having a complete set that I can go back to later and watch whole series back to back. Online streams generally only stay there for a short while, except in the case of series stacking on iPlayer introduced recently.

There's also the significantly better quality of torrent rips - I tried to watch the penultimate episode of the most recent season of Dr Who on iPlayer and was appauled at the quality - especially when viewed full screen! Gave up after 2 minutes and torrented it - much better quality!

 

If its anything like the quality of 4on demand, where I was watching a tv show (IT Crowd) via it, and the quality a bit well ropey and broken in the middle to display some non skipable adds, but ok its free.
Go round to my friends whom torrented the IT Crowd, and instantly can see the difference in quality being better, while not interupted with adds, admitedly I think they must have been editted out, but still, I can see why someone would choose to torrent instead of stream it via the legal services provided.

It was the same story for Dr Who when using bbc iPlayer.

 

The only way they will stop a lot of the downloading because you either missed it and the alternative is crappy or because you want to "archive" it for later is to change their distribution/licencing models.

Seen a film in the cinema? ok, you get a free copy of the basic, no frills DVD edition.
Watched something on BBC? ok, free no frills DVD for you, as long as you have a TV licence of course.

 

As everyone else has said, its a matter of quality and regions. Most of the world can't use those America only websites, so they download the files from torrent sites instead.

 

There is also convenience, my geexbox in the livingroom isn't connected to the web so its easier to torrent things and play it on the tv than sit at my monitor.

 

...the compare a low quality stream to a high quality download, and wonder that people don't use the stream?

Okay, I'm only guessing its a low quality stream, as most streams are either low quality, or fairly prone to stuttering. Something that doesn't happen to an offline, downloaded file.

 

It fairly simple realy. I want to watch what I want to, When I want to.
And as others have pointed out above, untill such site offer Full Resoulution worldwide downloads I will continue to utilise torrent to watch my shows.

 

As Jaguar said, I really like the BBC's Iplayer and from what I read in there blog (sorry no link), they plan over the next year or so to add all the episodes of a TV series and layer things up.

As for Torrent downloading of TV shows, Torrents are just more convenient especially when you are a member of a good private TV sharing site and everything is available fast!

 

I'm guilty on occasion. Hulu for instance makes getting the legitimate content easy enough (yay RSS!), but no easier than getting the same content from Bit-torrent (yay RSS!). It partly depends on the time of day - the torrents are usually out a couple of hours earlier, so I'll hit those if I'm still awake. I always find that streaming from Hulu is a little choppier than it should be, especially in high-quality mode (which is the same or better than the torrents). The commercials aren't too bad, and I'm fine with tolerating them since I don't have to download the whole thing before I can start like I would with torrents and it supports the content creators. As of late they sometimes offer to show a commercial-free version if you'll sit through a ~2-minute movie preview (which is a great length of time to grab a snack and hit the bathroom first) through truth be told I kind of like the 15-30sec interventions to check my email or whatever.

Of course I'm in the US so it's less of an issue for me than a majority of Bit's readers. Then again, I couldn't get BBC content, which is probably better (but I'm on a Mac so even if I was in the right region I'd still have DRM issues... epic fail - on both platforms just grabbing a screen recording is trivial). These companies for probably a couple more years will continue to make these mistakes; eventually, I expect they'll realize that platform/regional lock-in also functions as platform/regional lock-out. The fewer requirements you have, the wider your audience can be.

 

If the networks were smart, they'd release their own torrents, with commercials (possibly with a region based advert insertion system at time of download to provide for local content). While some would definitely rip out the commercials, many wouldn't wait and just go for the convenience of high speed official torrents at the time of air. High precision fast-forwarding is tough in media files so I'd imagine most people wouldn't even bother and would end up just watching them anyway. (Or at least as much as they do on traditional air/cable broadcasts). Anyone who archives/shares the episodes would mean repeat viewings of those same adverts.

Give us SD for free and sell us the Disc later with the promise of HD and special features.

 

I think the biggest reason to getting the episode even tho its free is for "owning" the episode. To burn it onto a data dvd to lend to friends or even trade dvds with friends, like many non-japanese anime otaku's do.

 

that's a very good option. they seed it a lot. so it'd offer better speed than other turrents, and they've still got their adverts in.



it's the fact that you can watch back-to-back without using the internet that's attractive.

people download stuff to be able to archive them, not watch once and waste all the bandwidth. i must say, i've download many shows: from s01 to s19 all Simpsons, archived them all to DVDs. about to finish watching Scrubs which i've also downloaded, i can watch whenever, how ever i want.

you can't convert the free web-videos into portable formats and watch on the train, you have to pay for it via iTunes. just download, say, IT Crowd, takes 30min to convert the video, drag onto iPhone and off i go.

 

I download TV shows to watch them. Okay, i archive them because i have the capacity to do so, but other than that i just want to watch. Here in Belgium, waiting for the good shows to come over is pretty much the same as waiting for retirement.
Battlestar Galactica: top-series, aired in Belgium on Sunday evenings at 23:00h. "Seems like the audience is not quite the same", with no more BSG. I WONDER.
Dexter will start airing in September. Season one. Oh jolly, Season 3 will start in the USA. While all the time we are stuck watching reruns for the 5th time of some top series a couple years back. Or when they bring in a new season, they start by airing the previous seasons first.
Tiresome ? Very much. The time delay is horrible, the pickup of good series is too low. The DVDs are good and all, but it's a time delay and the DVDs don't really offer that much more quality than a good rip.
I rip the shows, and won't stop until they offer a valid alternative. I don't want to wait 4 years before i maybe possibly can talk to someone about how great this episode of How I Met Your Mother was. RAGE.

 

Greetings!

Related:
P2P traffic drops as streaming video grows in popularity

ISPs have long complained about the fantastic amount of traffic consumed by P2P users. The network providers have never been keen on having their bandwidth hit so hard, especially when much of P2P's bandwidth—let's face it—consists of copyright-infringing material. But with the rise of Hulu, YouTube, Veoh, the BBC iPlayer, and many more, it's streaming traffic that now generates tremendous concern, even as P2P drops off in some cases. The shift, should it become a permanent trend, is good for everyone.
...

 

I actually use Iplayer alot, the problem is especially the last season of top gear, it was out on my usual torrent site before BBC even put it online. the same goes for the last season of Dr who. Since i dont have a tv licence(150 quid saved a year) i can either watch it streaming or download it for later use. I watch the F1 on ITV's F1 website live streaming when its on, i dont mind the adverts, I just do what I normally do, go toilet, make a cuppa, grab a packet of crisps.

Now onto the proper "illegal" stuff. Prison break. I downloaded the first 2 episodes from my usual torrent site, nice and fast and in great HD rip quality. I dont live in america so I cant watch it on TV, and because of that same reason, hulu wont let me watch it online, neither would fox. So with the internet being so "close" now and having friend in IRC who live in america the only way to avoid the episode being spoilt for me while they talk about it is to actually download it and watch it.

I dont want to have to install some wierd octoshape custom p2p program and install it to be able to watch shows. as iPlayer proves, acceptable quality can be encoded into flash. so they should use it.

I will continue to download TV shows from torrent sites as long as we are forced to wait 6-12 months after america to watch it.

 

Personally, I find it much better (And easier) to set Clutch/Transmission on my PVR to download a full HD version of a show overnight as I sleep, then watch it at my convenience the following day, rather than to connect a geo-location-hopping VPN, and streaming a poor SD copy from a website with delay and force inserted ads.