Report: DVD ripping less a threat than file sharing

At last, news that Hollywood studios and file sharers can both celebrate.

Researchers at the NPD Group have found that, contrary to popular belief, far fewer consumers copy, or "rip" DVDs as a means of obtaining movies and TV shows. DVD ripping is far less prevalent than sharing files via peer-to-peer services, according to the report.

"There is an urban myth or feeling," said Russ Crupnick, an NPD senior analyst, "that people are using services such as Netflix to borrow and burn. We're not seeing any evidence of that."

Ripping CDs, which some in the music industry say is more responsible for falling music sales than file sharing, is far more prevalent than DVD ripping, Crupnick said. NPD's findings is further proof that the movie and television sectors are confronted by fewer copyright threats than the music industry.

NPD said in a statement Tuesday that fewer than 2 percent of Internet households have DVD-ripping software installed on their computers.

In the report, titled "Digital Video in America," researchers credited the small percentage to Digital Rights Management schemes and the wide perception that ripping DVDs is more time consuming and labor intensive than ripping CDs.

Crupnick acknowledged that there are plenty of software applications available that crack DRM schemes. Why people choose not to use them is a mystery to researchers.

"In my brief experimentation with these applications, they seem to work fine," Crupnick said. "It seems to come down to consumers saying 'If I can't do it in a minute, I'm not going to do it at all."

[Rick Mc Callister]

DVD ripping

In most towns in the US you can check out free DVDs at the <br />public library. And if you go there regularly, it's less of a pain <br />than getting someone else to copy one for you or tracking down <br />someone and going out to get a DVD to copy. <br />Here in El Salvador, you can get any DVD for a dollar from street <br />vendors all over town and the quality is usually excellent. That's <br />easier and about as cheap than calling up a friend (30 cents) and <br />then taking the bus to get the DVD to copy (25 cents or more <br />each <br />way by bus --more in gasoline).<br />So I'd imagine that copying DVDs is a college dorm or HS <br />phenomenon where you have lots of people living in close <br />proximity with nothing better to do

[tobart]

I think you missed the idea

I think the scenario the article was focusing on was not copying friends' DVDs, but instead renting them from the store, or NetFlix, or the library, and then copying them yourself to keep a copy forever.<br /><br />And there aren't to many street vendors up here...

[jnewman]

I was recently told...

... that DVD Fab Platinum will make backup copies of any DVDs I own with only a mouse click or two.

[palavering]

I don't believe these figures

Practically everyone I knew at work (I am now retired)and who owned a computer--especially young people--talked about how effective AnyDVD worked, AnyDVD being a software program that copied encrypted commercial movies.

[tobart]

I'd believe these figures

From my own experience, many people I know have tried copying DVDs, but very few, if any, do so on a regular basis.

[solrosenberg]

Of Course

Of course ripping occurs less often than file sharing. There only has to be one initial rip, and then everyone else can file share from there.<br /><br />But why bother with any of that? Just hit up Peekvid or TV Links and stream it on-demand for free.

[Hardrada]

why is it illegal ?

what is the reason that dvd ripping is illegal as long as it's not commercially sold to others ? <br /><br />If you buy or rent a DVD why can't you keep a copy ?

[iautom8u]

Good News

I don't believe it for a minute...but I'm glad they do. Focus on the file sharing and don't go after the DVD ripping software makers that I use to make "back-up" copies.

[Travis Ernst]

Somethings off

The article makes it sound hard to do, or that not that many <br />people "steal" from rental companies. How would they know in <br />the first place?<br /><br />Some people, ILLEGALLY, simply rent, burn to PC for temporary <br />storage, then return the DVD ASAP so they can obtain the <br />following request. After watching the DVD they erase the file. <br />Why keep 7-13 Gigs of movie footage (PER MOVIE) on your drive <br />when you can rent it in a few months. The purpose is for <br />convience, not criminal. This way, they can watch the DVD's <br />when time allows, and return them to the rental agency for <br />others to view.<br /><br />So NO. the majority of them do not copy or redistribute the <br />material. But "by the book" it would be a criminal act due to the <br />fact they had returned the media (DVD) and not destroyed the <br />backup/copy yet.. Feds have no give when it comes to copyright <br />issues; they see it black or white, no room for shades of grey.<br /><br />I do similar with Cable TV and PC. Record broadcast on PC. <br />Then Edit down (cut out adds) and IF for some odd reason I want <br />to save it to hard media, I can burn to DVD or Portable Media <br />Player. Nothing illegal with this. Same as having it on Video <br />Tape when we used VCR's.

[kobe wild]

99% of everything is crap.

Why downloads over ripping. <br />If you have ever gotten a netflix account to catch up on all the movies that you missed on the big screen.<br />You'll notice something, those movies you missed<br />they were worth missing,They sucked<br />so if the movie sucked why rip a copy of it.<br />Downloading movies lets you see those 1 or 2 movies you missed with out wasting any cash on renting them and without the hassle of ripping them.<br />If its a good movie then its worth buying even if you buy it used.

[Azzuro10]

DVD ripping is a huge pain as it takes so long. Problem is, if you rip a CD, you can listen to that music over and over. You rip a DVD, it takes up a lot of space on your hard drive, and you may watch it once or twice. Rentals is the way to go. But having said that, the fact that ripping your own DVDs for personal use is illegal is very sad and makes no sense given that you can legally rip your own Audio CDs. The movie studios want you to buy the DVD, then the Blu Ray, then the Apple iTunes version, then the UMD PSP version, then one day the 3d version etc etc. They want to make multiple sales on the same content so letting you copy it to watch it on different devices suits the media companies but loyally scr*ws their own customers.