You'd think so, but unfortunately I can't, again, for some, I can, yes, but the selection is vastly reduced.

Essentially, if you search for movie dvds on amazon and ship them to an US address with a US credit card, then the selection is at least 10x, if not 100x larger than when I try to buy them.

Nevermind of course the time it takes to order things online and then have them ship the dvd, which I don't really want anyway, but fair enough, that's just convenience.

So, the problem is not that I'm not wiling to pay for it, the problem is that nobody will take my money, because the movie studio hasn't signed a redistributor for that movie in my region.

Most of the time you can't. You can't buy something that's explicitly and on purpose not available for purchase in your country. That is the whole point. Even if you were to find someone willing to import American DVDs to Estonia, the movie studios have region code lockout codes on DVD players to prevent that!

> Even if you were to find someone willing to import American DVDs to Estonia, the movie studios have region code lockout codes on DVD players to prevent that!

So use a computer to play your DVDs. Region lockout works on the honor system.

This sub thread is about legal ways to watch movies.

People seem to be missing the fact that importing DVDs is not necessarily legal; and turning your DVD player to region free is arguably not legal (under the various "interfering with rights protections mechanisms" laws.

To you and me "buying the DVD from some other region" is legit, while "pirate the movie" is less legit, but to the rights-holders there's not much difference. See, for example, this submission which is talking about rights holders asking Netflix to stop people buying content from a different country.

Well then, if there are no legal ways to watch a movie, "pirating" is the only option, right? What possibilities remain? Should people take vacations to watch movies?

My opinion is that people should make their own choices. If it were me I'd try to buy the DVDs, but I'd also pirate the DVDs I had bought (for a backup) and I'd consider pirating the DVDs that are not available to purchase.

But the industry has different ideas, and they are well funded and influential. We see the results of that influence in international copyright agreements and laws like DCMA.

See for example the Japanese games that have "NO RE-SALE" printed on the back of the box. Japanese publishers pushed pretty hard to make second-hand sales of games illegal. (I don't think that succeeded). It is (or was?) illegal to rent games in Japan.

In the face of this kind of vigorous assertion of rights of IP holders it's can be difficult to stick rigidly to the law.

I just don't get it. If some film is unavailable in some region, piracy in that region has no conceivable impact on sales. And so how can there be any damages? Do you argue that piracy notwithstanding, people would be migrating to places with better licensing deals?

In this region: Movies are not available legally, and so people pirate them. When those people come to HN to say why they pirate movies other people say "just buy the DVD", or "just go without".

"Just buy the DVD" doesn't work for the reasons given; just go without is dumb for the reasons you give.

I don't think I'm arguing for the position you think I'm arguing for.

What are you arguing for?

> If some film is unavailable in some region, piracy in that region has no conceivable impact on sales.

This is definitely not true. Piracy in that region builds up a support infrastructure for piracy that can be used in other regions. It builds social support for piracy, and can spread, as a cultural practice, when people from the afflicted region converse with people from other regions. All of those things can impact sales outside the region.

That's rather tenuous. It's also arguable that piracy in such regions helps popularize a film, through reviews social media, etc. And so it would increase sales elsewhere.

And there's a simple solution: Make sure that your stuff is available legally everywhere. Because if it's not, you know that it will be pirated.

The "right" option is the same is at always has been - don't watch the movie. (Not saying I agree or disagree, just that it is an option)

That's not going to be a very popular option.

It wasn't all that long ago that it was impossible to legally get Japanese content in the US. They just wouldn't take your money. It wasn't until scanlators and fansubbers created a large market that the Japanese producers took foreign markets seriously. Even then, I have been told by reputable sources that companies like Viz used to pay about $1000 per volume with no royalties for North American English language rights to manga. Japanese producers just didn't believe it was worth any amount of money in foreign countries. Of course that has changed dramatically now.

I'm hoping as we move to a global market with digital distribution, these dinosaur companies will realize that there is no risk to handling world wide distribution themselves. But it means killing the distributors (who were the businesses that helped you get that content when nobody else was listening...).

You could buy a localized version, which is not that same thing. Try watching a Schwarzenegger movie with a bad voice cast. :(

As opposed to the man himself's amazing range.

It doesn't matter how much of a hack any actor is, it's an order of magnitude more hacky when the soundtrack is dubbed into another language.

He does have a certain unique style that is all Arnie. "I'll be back" just does not carry the same impact when done in a non-Arnie voice.

He might not hit many notes, but he hits them damn well. "Get down!" "Get down again!"

He has a very unique manner of speech. Pretty much any significant actor does. Localized dubs lose all that.

Schwarzenegger without the thick Austrian accent isn't Schwarzenegger.