# You can own a video copy of the program you just saw for $29.95 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876 "2000-02-06T16:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/1 "2000-02-06T16:37:00Z")
…plus shipping and handling (in U.S. funds; prices higher in Canada). Taxes where applicable. Hmmmm. Let’s see: I’m a Canadian, so when all is said and done, that little one or(if I’m lucky, two) hour cassette will have cost me around fifty Canadian bucks. On the other hand, I could have simply recorded the program, with four or five hours to spare on the rest of the cassette. So if, for instance, we’re talking about a ten or twelve hour series, the total product could easily fit on two cassettes. Total cost: around four or five CDN dollars. Total cost, had I purchased it through the TV network, anywhere between 200 and 300 hundred CDN dollars. Other than (learning?) institutions and truly law-abiding citizens, are there really that many other takers out there? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/2 "2000-02-06T16:43:00Z")
There have been a few times when I’ve wished I recorded a program I just finished watching. But that $30+ deal for the video is _still_ a hook I wouldn’t bite on. Well, only once: I bought the series **Cosmos** , but only because I I haven’t seen it in about ten years and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be shown again any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/3 "2000-02-06T16:43:00Z")
Eh, maybe expensive, but not _that_ expensive… Make that “two or three hundred CDN dollars” :). ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/4 "2000-02-06T17:09:00Z")
This would’ve solved the Up the Butt Bob question before things got ugly. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/5 "2000-02-06T17:27:00Z")
It’s on PBS, so it’s a donation. omni-not, wanna give us that price just one more time? 😉 Peace, mangeorge * * * I only know two things; I know what I need to know And I know what I want to know Mangeorge, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/6 "2000-02-07T06:46:00Z")
Mangeorge: I’ve seen it on PBS, but also several times on the “commercial” channels, like CBS (“48 hours” is one example among others, if I’m not mistaken). ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/7 "2000-02-06T19:00:00Z")
actually, there was one case where it (sort of) made sense: that USA special, Hef Unauthorized, where the video you order would be the R-rated version of what you just suffered. The problem was, the movie was so bad to begin with that, had I taped it, I would have taped over it with anything – even infomercials – the first chance I got. * * * Mayor of [Snerdville](http://fathom.org/snerdville), the home of Mortimer Snerd “I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.” –Wayne Knight ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/8 "2000-02-06T19:29:00Z")
I see this on A&E programs all the time. I can’t imagine spending that kind of money on these tapes. Does anybody? $100 for a five-episode Columbo set, and I don’t get to pick the episodes? See you later, alligator. ---
**Author:** ![jaydabee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c89c15/32.png) [@jaydabee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaydabee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/9 "2000-02-06T23:39:00Z")
Schools, libraries, and business are not allowed to used pirated vidio tapes for educational or business purposes. They would be in violation of copyright laws. Some people buy them because they are generally a high quality copy without the commercials (or small logos in the corner) and come with iformational graphics on the box or enclosed in the box. Some people are just stupid, but if they got money they can buy a copy too. What a great country. ---
**Author:** ![HeadlessCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@HeadlessCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadlessCow)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/10 "2000-02-07T03:37:00Z")
The copy of the video may also come with the right to show it publically. In which case you’re buying the rights to the video as well as the video itself. Check out the prices that video stores pay for their videos. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/11 "2000-02-07T04:23:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Schools, libraries, and business are not allowed to used pirated vidio tapes for educational or business purposes. They would be in violation of copyright laws. Add prisons to that list. We have to pay a special royalty rate when we rent or buy videos to show to our population. Apparently, due to the number of people who will be watching the movie, we are considered a public showing. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/12 "2000-02-07T16:00:00Z")
It’s a video quality issue. Commercial tapes are almost always of higher quality than what you tape off your home system (especially if you are using the slower tape speeds). If you like the series the theory is that you would want the best possible copy. Heck, _I’d_ pay for a good copy of the original _Connections_ series, and I have the one I taped off the air. * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/13 "2000-02-07T16:16:00Z")
My ATI video card can suck the closed captions from a tv program. THen you get a full transcript of the program. That must be how they can sell transcripts of programs. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-own-a-video-copy-of-the-program-you-just-saw-for-29-95/6876/14 "2000-02-07T17:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > My ATI video card can suck the closed captions from a tv program. THen you get a full transcript of the program. That must be how they can sell transcripts of programs. That must be it. The magic closed captions, typed in by the caption pixies, are where the transcripts come from.