View Single Post
Old 7th September 2010, 18:06   #17  |  Link
Doom9
clueless n00b
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: somewhere over the rainbow
Posts: 10,579
Quote:
What I don't agree with is that some people tend to see every "Ok, I have this file..." as a red flag. The "Where did you get that mkv from?" query before any advice/discussion
Besides possible legal ramifications (who may be of no concern to you although who is to say really.. but normally they come after the owners), there's a very practical concern, too: It's about asking questions right. If I tell you my MKV was created with MakeMKV version X.Y from disc Z, and then I used program A and B with settings C to create the file I'm not talking about, you enable potential helpers to get to the point much quicker. Let's presume B is x264, revision I don't know what, and that revision has a known bug that causes some distorted pixels.. people who know about that bug could immediately tell you that you need to restart from the file MakeMKV spit out (or if you don't have that, restart at the source). It's a pretty universal thing that if you provide pertinent information, you'll get to the bottom of a problem quicker (so we have that as a rule... even our number one rule).

A few seconds reflection on how you word a question can ensure that nobody will ever bother you. Is that really too much to ask? Ask the guys frequenting German forums about the hoops local forums have to jump through to even discuss anything nowadays since getting your content off a disc involves something that they cannot talk about - is it really worth being able to openly admit you're pirating to risk the entire existence of this place? Maybe you think it makes no difference - but in order to get to you, they have to go through me so I'll get into trouble first. Is it fair to ask me to risk my own hide for something I do not believe in?

Quote:
Your example of "I have two MKV movies. One is blurrier than the other. What can I do to make the blurry one clearer?" carries no legal significance in any direction. For all I know, he could've made two home movies with different cameras. Or maybe a more probable case of "backups from your own legitimately purchased content" and one of them was mastered poorly.
In both cases, had the poster the explanation given in the first place, no red flags would be raised.
As part of my job, I do report a log of bugs to a number of manufacturers. And pretty much all the time I get a more competent answer and a speedier resolution if I do everything in my power to help the other party reproduce the issue. So, I provide as much information as possible upfront. If I'd submit a "your product doesn't work", they'd start asking me about licenses, using the proper tested hardware and following their installation procedure and it will take me a week just to get to the people I really want to talk to. And perhaps they also figure out that I'm running on unauthorized hardware (and even that is being done on their side too, support contract state certain requirements and they are within their rights to withold support if those requirements are not followed) and then my case is going nowhere.

You might probably heard of the OECD's black list of tax evasion heavens. Even if banks hoard untaxed money, they cannot be held liable. That is unless of course they actively help their customers with tax evasion. Some banks did that and they get into quite a bit of trouble for it. But if the bank doesn't know, then the only one that can get into trouble is the guy evading taxes. Nowadays, banks in those tax heavens are discussing whether they ought to ask their customers if the money they bring has been taxed in order to avoid potential liability.... Now replace bank with forum and tax evasion with dealing with pirated content... If multi billion dollar financial corporations suddenly - shouldn't the little guys without hundreds of $800 an hour lawyers on staff be careful, too?
__________________
For the web's most comprehensive collection of DVD backup guides go to www.doom9.org

Last edited by Doom9; 7th September 2010 at 18:18.
Doom9 is offline   Reply With Quote