MNET way behind...

[kiepie]

Had an debate with one of my friends today regarding pirated movies and the downloading of music and episodes. Just like to know your opinion about the issue.

MNet is only airing the 1st episode of Smallville season 6 tommorow night.

But overseas the pilot was aired 28 September 2006

What about Prison Break 2? Only starting in March on MNet, but started 21 August 2006 overseas, so it will be round about episode 20 when the first one is showed here.

My Q, how many people will download the stuff or buy it if Mnet is maybe a month behind the rest of the US?

IMO I rather watch an episode an week than the whole series in 3 days.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279600/episodes#season-6

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455275/episodes#season-2

http://www.mnet.co.za/mnet/comingup.asp

 

[supersunbird]

I get my stuff from my friend where they download it at their workplace...

 

[dotVIBE]

for me the worst part if it is lack of HD or even normal widescreen.

 

[Random717]

I prefer watching things all at once without adverts, so I'll do 2-3 episodes of whatever I'm watching everyday until I run out of episodes. Then I let them accumulate while I move onto the next series.
So even if Mnet caught up I still wouldn't watch it..
I would consider paying for content offered on local servers if it was available soon after being shown in the US. IIRC Fox offers episodes of Prison Break for download on its site, immediately after showing, for around a dollar. This is for US residents only.

 

[bwana]

for me the worst part if it is lack of HD or even normal widescreen.

I'm not too bothered by the lack of HD but their inability/unwillingness to broadcast in widescreen boggles the mind.

I have DSTV for the kid and missus mostly and I download a fair amount to supplement the mediocre programming.

 

[Carolsclan]

MNET behind????? never

Thank goodness I dont watch TV ..... animal cops has been repeated so many times I know the episodes off pat , if it wasnt for hubs I'd disconnect the damm thing and use the money for something else.

 

[diabolus]

My Q, how many people will download the stuff or buy it if Mnet is maybe a month behind the rest of the US?

Won't make a diff, people will still download it. I don't think it's really the time-delay anymore, it's the convenience...

a)Can watch it when you want and multiple times.
b) NO ADS
c) MNET/DSTV still costs alot of money. If you do the calculation, you can BUY an entire series every month for the price of an MNET subscription....
d) MNET do not actually show all the series "out there" [at least not until it either reach series 2 OR is simply too huge to wait]
e) It IS actually quite fun watching an entire series in a week/weekend

 

[feo]

If Mnet offered it in HD or at least widescreen then I'd stop watching downloads but they don't so I won't...pretty simpol

 

[PeterCH]

If you download eps you're effectively pirating. MNET earns its revenues from SUBS fees and even more so from advertising. As for HD, most TVs in SA,
even most flat screen TVs can handle HD.

 

[ToxicBunny]

PeterCH : Most TV's in SA can't handle HD.... (although I think thats what you meant originally)...

there is also some weird thing with our laws, where if the show isn't being broadcast in this country, its not technically pirating... I shall have to look at it again and try figure it out.

 

[bwana]

If you download eps you're effectively pirating. MNET earns its revenues from SUBS fees and even more so from advertising. As for HD, most TVs in SA,
even most flat screen TVs can handle HD.

So if someone has dstv, pays their fees and downloads - who loses out?

 

[ToxicBunny]

bwana : SABC... don't you know.....

/me will be purchasing a denatured TV at some point in the future just so I never have to pay TV-License fees ever again...

 

[Oberon]

Why is MNET 5 to 7 months "behind"? Have you ever heard of a schedule? They tend not to show 2 seasons of a show back-to-back (Alias is the only exception I know of, where 2 seasons were actually shown back-to-back, but they obviously were more behind than 6 months then). They show season 1, then put something else on in its place for 6 months, then continue with season 2, etc. This is how it works in the US - we're just a few months behind always. Some shows are more behind than others, but they can't just stop one show to start another one. It has to wait its turn.

I guess that's why so many shows have wound up on Series and ActionX that used to be on MNet. Much to the chagrin of us folks who only have MNet.

Sure it sucks that we're behind, but only because there are the US internet downloads tempting some people. Just think of it as "it's not out yet" and you should be fine. Are you really that desperate?

And how does one download these US shows when they're restricted to a US ip pool anyway? If you're getting around it with a US proxy or somesuch, then I imagine that would be considered an "illegal export" from the US networks' point of view (and as such piracy). Although what recourse they have is questionable. Maybe the proxy owners would be the ones that suffer.

 

[Highflyer_GP]

I think one of the main reasons is that we don't go on a mid-season break as they do in the states (or for that matter broadcast the next episode of a show after more than one week's break). To be fair to MNET, they do broadcast the entire season of a show in one week intervals. If you have a look at stations in other countries outside the USA, we actually get to watch many shows before them.

On the issue of piracy, I think it's been discussed before. It's a grey area and you can't be convicted 100% for piracy.

 

[JStrike]

Prison Break Season 1 was only a couple of weeks behind.
The OC season 4 is also only a couple of weeks behind

 

[Daniedj]

Look at Lost Season 3. It was shown overseas up to episode 6. Then went into a long period of shooting and editing. Lost only started in USA last week from Episode 7. Atleast you MNET folk will watch the whole season 3 week by week once it starts here. By then I should be finished with Heroes as well.

I have a choice: TV (DSTV) or Internet. I made my choice.

 

[Oberon]

Prison Break Season 1 was only a couple of weeks behind.

That's what I thought, and was going to use it as a counter-example... but then I wasn't sure of myself on that one.

I wonder then why season 2 took so long to get here... I guess it's still the scheduling thing.

I also remember that season 1 was heavily hyped before it aired, but maybe they didn't expect season 2 to be as good?

Or maybe they needed to catch up on CSI... they did have 2 seasons (1 Las Vegas and 1 Miami) in the interim (if memory serves).

 

[Highflyer_GP]

Prison Break doesn't always air week after week in the states. By the time we watch the entire season, we would only end up being a couple of weeks behind them because MNET will air the episodes week after week.

Also bear in mind that they usually allocate the same time slot for returning seasons of a show. I would say that their scheduling is pretty decent.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

If Mnet offered it in HD or at least widescreen then I'd stop watching downloads but they don't so I won't...pretty simpol

I don't really get this. Is it simply in protest against MNet or do you download your episodes in HD or better than on TV?

Most 350mb rips that you get aren't even as good as MNet quality, and downloading anything bigger is almost impossible in SA. Unless you download Season DVD's, but that means you have to wait much longer..

 

[werner]

350mb rips of prison break season 2 are around 624x352 pixels ripped form a progressive hd signal

the maximum pal resolution from a dvd is 720x576...that is for progressive...i doubt mnet would broadcast at that resolution

as tv is broadcast interlaced, you have to halve the horizontal resolution

so you get 720x288 at best possible quality, best case scenario, when watching live tv on mnet.

one last thing..the actual rips taken from usa broadcast tv are with ATSC high definition digital signals. so even if you rip the mnet signal on your pc it wouldnt compare to the downloaded rips, as the mnet signal would be from an analogue source and would thus contain enough noise to make it unwatchable on large tv's (by my standards), and even if you are watching it directly, you arent using dvi or hdmi to hook it up to your tv, so you still have an analogue path (which lessens the quality)

when it comes down to it, the 350mb download is a better quality than you get over the air (i record prison break series 2 on analogue tv tuner here in the UK and it doesnt compare to the hdtv rips)