[Cloverfield]

Originally posted by Al the Vykker
But I was given one as a gift from a friend once, and the only reason I had it was because, I had just seen the film like twice in theatres, and couldnt wait to see it again like four to five months later on DVD.

But before you get all mad at me, I did buy in fact the video on DVD when it came out. It was Ep2, and since I have so much SW stuff in my house, I just viewed it in advance because I couldnt wait for it to finally come out.

I was in a similar situation ... I only ever bought one pirated VCD, and that was of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. And that was after I had seen it in the theatres 16 times and it went off and I was waiting for it to become available on DVD (which I bought on day of release, and I also have a proper video copy that I got from the US). I had no choice other than to get a pirated version if I wanted to continue watching it.

Likewise if FFVII:Advent Children gets a Japanese release before it's released anywhere else, I'm going to be scouring the net to look for a copy. I'll certainly buy it when it comes out on DVD (and more than once if they have a collectors and a normal one), but I'll be way too impatient to wait if there is a delay.

That's the only time I approve of that kind of thing ... when something is unavailable. Another example is anime episodes ... a lot of stuff isn't released outside of Japan. I have FF:U on subbed video tape before it was ever even heard of getting it an English release. I actually didn't think it would ever get one, so again, had to resort to an illegal copy. And when it's out here next year, I'll be buying every episode again on the officially released DVD. Although there are Anime Clubs that make such available also, but again, it's not the official copy as they aren't available. I really want to join one, but the only one in Melbourne that doesn't have their meetings during work hours is on the other side of the city to me.

Internet downloading isn't bad in such a situation as already outlined ... that is you can't get the movie/series anywhere else. And the majority of the anime fan subbing community has a rule that if the anime gets an English release, they will stop distributing it (of course some people don't too), as they are really just providing the episodes so that people can get access to them. But people making a profit out of it for themselves, that's not really fair. Of course again there are exceptions, like an anime club (which is non profit) may charge a small fee to rent a video tape to help cover costs of tapes, equipment and room hire for screenings.

Abe Babe...