Originally posted by Jeffro Who the hell downloads and watches full length movies on the computer? I'd rather sit on the couch with family or friends, but that's just me.
You can take any of the movies you download and put them onto a DVD to watch on your DVD player in your living room. Don't need to just watch them on your computer. If it's an avi or something, it can be converted. Sometimes they're VCD formats, so you can throw them onto a CD-R and play them in your DVD player in your living room as well (if it supports it). I used to make some Battlefield 1942 movies (just strings of clips put to music usually) and the idea behind putting those onto a CDR (in VCD format) or DVD isn't much different.
Also, a lot of movies you can download actually are NOT crappy quality. Sometimes yes and sometimes it's an actual DVD rip.
I guess in the case of Episode III it was a final edit copy stolen from Lucasfilms by an employee and thrown onto a DVD. From what the Today show and other news outlets have shown, the quality isn't so hot and there's a counter of some sort on the top of the screen (wouldn't know myself... don't have it). But not all of them are like that.
I agree with what SavageParrot says about estimated lost money due to downloads. That's crap. Has the industry lost *some* money? Perhaps. But 3.5 billion? Bullshit. Perhaps if the movie studios didn't push out as much crap as they do, there'd be more quality movies to go out and see. I love the theater experience. I like the crowds. I like hearing how other people are reacting to the same scene I'm enjoying... or hating. Nothing beats it or the sound quality (I don't care how much you've spent on your sound system... it's still not a movie theater). It's all about the experience. So no, nothing can replace seeing a movie in the theater... for me, anyways. But ruining the industry?
Like Parrot was saying, I think a lot of these guys are also seeing them in the theater anyways. Just look at the opening ticket sales figures for Episode III. And Spiderman. And any of the Lord of the Rings. All movies whose sales were supposedly hurt by people who downloaded it. Seriously. Go look up the figures. Movies like Gigli should never be made, but since they are forced out there, people aren't going to see them. They may download them for the same experience as staring at a train wreck ("I just couldn't look away!"), but the ticket sales weren't hurt by file-sharers. They were hurt from crap quality. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, that 3.5 billion dollar figure is not only exaggerated, it's bullshit.
Yeah, I download an mp3 from time to time (so much crap out there musically, that I usually don't bother). The bands that I truly enjoy, I support by buying the albums and seeing the shows. Same goes for movies. I don't download them because I wouldn't want to see the crapfest that's out there anyways. For the movies that seem worth it to see in the theater? I'm so there. I was at the midnight showing for Episode III and plan to go again. Make quality stuff and people will buy it. Make crap... well... there's your industry-wide sales loss figures.
/me steps off soapbox. (Sorry for the verbosity!)