# Digital copy



## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

what exactly is it? is it just an .avi that you can copy off a disc or something? DRM? what's to keep you from distributing it on your network?


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

xIsamuTM said:


> what exactly is it? is it just an .avi that you can copy off a disc or something? DRM? what's to keep you from distributing it on your network?


The two I have are DRMed, and can not be copied onto my Zune. They are WMV format, but I think there is an option for iTunes. They are fairly unuseable here, since I don't have Windows Media Center connected to my video setup, they won't stream to a DVR as far as I'm aware, but I haven't tried yet.


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## MIAMI1683 (Jul 11, 2007)

They do have DRM so moving it isn't an option. I can stream mine to my XBOX3360 though. And you can always take your laptop with you. Then the movies are playable with out the disk


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

They are simply programs and files to migrate the original movies over to mobile dvices, such as laptops, desktop PCs, video players (iPODS), and other units - for the purpose of viewing the same movie in a mobile or other location. These are becoming more commonplace with new Blu Ray movies sold today.

For those of us who travel....this is a great feature, as I have now seen 4 different movies with Digital copies on plane flights - the image quality of these is excellent. The fellow next to me the other day on the plane was watching his movie on a video iPOD....he loved it too (but to me, that screen is just too small).


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Resurrecting from the dead here...

Just got an iPhone this week... and transferred my first digital copy. I had bought Family Guy: Blue Harvest way way back, and remembered it came with a digital copy. The paper said "may not be available after January 15, 2009" but it worked like a charm tonight.

It'll be pretty cool to watch that while I'm waiting for my truck to be inspected tomorrow


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

A lot of the digital copies are only available through a specific date. It's not clear if they expire after that date or you just can't activate the license after that date. If you are concerned about this, you might want to investigate a nice little program called TuneBite.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Could you burn a standard DVD of the movie from the digital copy or does the DRM prohibit that?


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

bobukcat said:


> Could you burn a standard DVD of the movie from the digital copy or does the DRM prohibit that?


DRM prohibits that.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

rudeney said:


> DRM prohibits that.


That's pretty lame (although I'm not too surprised) because I could see this being a big thing especially for kids movies that parents want / need to be able to take mobile with them via the millions of in-car DVD players. I suppose that's why Disney has started bundling a DVD and Digital Copy with some of their BDs.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

I mentioned TuneBite before - it can remove DRM from iTunes and WMP files. Of course it's purpose (and my mention of it) is strictly to help you better use what you rightfully onw, NOT to condone piracy.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I don't think you'd want a DVD copy of a digital copy anyway. The digital copies in some cases are substantially reduced-resolution (maybe in all cases for all I know)... so a DVD from a digital copy might not impress you.

Then again, if you watch in a car-DVD player that screen might be small enough it will be ok.

I haven't dug into this too much... but some of the digital copies provide more play options than others. I had only one DVD (Family Guy Blue Harvest), but several Blu rays that came with digital copies. Most of the Blu rays listed several playback options for Mac, PC, iPhone, PSP, etc... but I noted my copy of Hancock doesn't mention iPhone, iPod, iTunes, or Mac anything... which implies it is not the same breed of digital copy as all my others.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Yeah, you are right, the digital copies I've seen are far from full DVD quality. I looked on the disc for one that had a choice of PC or a portable versions. The PC version was a 1.5GB file, the portable was around 800MB. The PC version looked OK on the PC monitor, but with some evidence of lower bitrates. Like you said, though, for viewing on a portable device, it was just fine.


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## cmtar (Nov 16, 2005)

Personally i think the digital copy is just as way they can charge you more. If someone wanted to get a copy you can copy it with a certain program easy.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

cmtar said:


> Personally i think the digital copy is just as way they can charge you more. If someone wanted to get a copy you can copy it with a certain program easy.


It is a way to control copyrighted content...and also allow it to be viewed on other devices - simple as that.

Sure its a bit more if you get a Blu Ray with that option - it adds that added capability.

As for alternative methods to accomplish the same kind of thing....I'm not sure ya wanna go there....:eek2:


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