Is it possible to record a streaming Netflix movie.

[pennylane100]

We are going on a cruise and would like to take some Netflix movies with us. The last cruise we took gave a very limited choice of stations to watch. Most of them were selling us the cruise experience, which I found very annoying. I would like to record some of the shows I have in my instant queue as a back up.

Also, if anyone knows how to get free wifi, that would certainly be appreciated.

[nonoyes]

1. If you are in the USA, even if there is a way, this is illegal.

As far as I know, there is no generally available and legal way to copy a netflix video, either from streaming download or from DVD. Regulations may vary country by country, but I'm pretty sure Canada and the UK and Australia are equally as strict, with, perhaps a few copyright differences.

Yes, if you have the (rare, early manufactured) equipment, there was a way to "copy" DVD's, from one source to another, but it is now pretty much unavailable, and DVD's have an intricate copy protection scheme which "locks" copying software out.

The best suggestion: go to a big box retail DVD outlet, or department store and look for cheap, older movies, (from the 90's to last year or so), selling at a huge discount, $1-$5 each. Buy a dozen or so. ALSO: Check with your local libaray for DVD's to borrow for up to 2 weeks or longer, to see if that is possible, most libraries limit DVD borrowing to a few days. Also, check with the library on the cruise ship, (yes, many ships have a small one, or some sort of "media" center, with a few dozen or more DVD's and music CD's to loan out, usually at a daily rental fee).


As to free WiFi, on a ship, almost non-existent. You are a captive on the ship, and they probably have limited WiFi/ Internet access via satellite, available for phones, some ship communication, and premium travelers. Check with the cruise before going. Some ships charge $10 a day for WiFi access to your computer, an added expense you may want to go without on a 7+ day cruise. If you are stopping somewhere on land for a full day or so, you may want to simply Google the WiFi cafe's at that destination, there are many of them in some but not all tourist towns these days, all over the world. You can also check to see if there is a public library in a destination port which might be just 3-5 blocks off the main tourist port street, where you can often times get free WiFi as well.

[pennylane100]

2. Thanks,

I will definitely check the library. Had not thought of that.

[krispos42]

3. Set up a video camera and point it at your computer monitor.

Ta-da!

That's probably illegal, but then, all methods to get a movie on your computer without buying a disc or using a legit streaming service are.


There is, or was, also a device, made in Israel, that blocks the copyright protection signal from a copyrighted DVD or videotape. You put it in-line between the player and the recorder. It only works on analog signals, but it blocks the player from telling the recorder that there is a copyrighted item being played. If the recorder gets that signal, it scrambled the video signal; the gizmo filters it out.

I guess in your case you would need to hook up your DVD player to your computer with the gizmo in-line on the yellow cable, and capture the entire movie to your hard drive. Then you'd have to process it. As far as the computer was concerned, it would be the same as recording a home movie to your computer. Of course, this would be illegal.

There is also file-sharing, which again, would be illegal.



Your best bet would be to get a few movies from the discount bins at a big-box store, the library, and/or a used book store; they often deal with used DVDs. You might be able to pick up a season collection of a good TV show for a few bucks. Or ask your friends if they have any good movies they'd like to lend you.

[Occulus]

4. Fraps will do it, at a single keystroke.

It's good for recording tutorial videos and game clips (people use it for that all the time; any "Let's Play" clip on YouTube was probably made using Fraps).

You'll need to buy the full version of Fraps (I think it's $15), it will record everything on the screen regardless of where or when it happens, and the final file size can be very large indeed depending on your recording settings.

Fraps is a very useful piece of software. Anyone who wants to do any recording of their desktop for any purpose should buy it.

[Go Vols]

5. I use anyDVD along with cloneDVD to rip DVD's

more here

http://lifehacker.com/380702/five-best-dvd-ripping-tools



Jing works well to capture streaming vid. http://www.techsmith.com/download/jing/default.asp

[Thor_MN]

17. Jing will record 5 minute videos...

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. DVDs are dirt cheap anymore

Nearly how expensive VHS tapes became after DVDs started coming out. Downloading videos through video services like iTunes/Amazon Unbox isn't two bad at (usually) $2 per ep for most shows and some older movies aren't too bad.

[pennylane100]

7. thanks for all the helpful suggestions

[Phillip McCleod]

8. yeah there's a word for that. 'piracy'

just think, you'd be a PIRATE on a SHIP!

the truth is there are so very many ways to accomplish what you want to do that the real problem is narrowing your options to the one that works best for you..

..you know, other than that whole lawbreaking thing and the draconian punishment meted out for engaging in it that makes us nervous to even talk about it when i doubt there's a single person reading this who hasn't done something like it this week.

enjoy your cruise!

[pennylane100]

9. I had not thought of the legal angle.

We do pay for the streaming service, I was just interested in using it without paying outrageous internet charges that the cruise companies charge to get internet. I must say I had not considered whether it would be breaking the law.

[Phillip McCleod]

10. heh. for some people, not me, obviously..

..that makes it more appealing not less.

[Occulus]

11. How is this different than recording something on HBO to a DVR?

You pay monthly for HBO (or cable, etc). You pay monthly for Netflix (many of whose shows were on cable TV first...).

You put an HBO movie on you owned DVR. You put a Netflix movie on your laptop's hard drive.

You take your owned DVR on a cruise. You take your laptop on a cruise.

Really, if they're not distributing it... isn't this just time-shifting? They've already paid for a license to view it, after all, and last I knew, time-shifting and even location-shifting was legal if there's no distribution taking place.

For that matter, if I add a TV tuner card to my PC, and use that to record an HBO series, part of which is already on Netflix, to my hard drive, then take that on a cruise....

Then there's that device that lets you view your own local cable broadcasts when you travel, even across the country...

Fuck it, do what you want. It's not as though anyone will be losing any money, after all. The OP already paid for Netflix, and it's not like they're "stealing" temporary premium content to publicly display...

In fact, the only one with any real standing to complain is the owner of the cruise ship, who will lose out on huge data fees due to the workaround.

I'm not all that certain this can even be called "piracy", since by having a Netflix membership they've already paid for a license to view any of the streaming content anyway (and potentially on multiple devices at once, no less). You can't even say "but they're not saving a copy when they're streaming" since that actually does happen to begin with. It has to cache somewhere, right?

I'm calling this a grey area favoring the user. As long as there's no distribution, I don't eeally see a problem.

IANAL.

[Phillip McCleod]

12. true but the temp copy stored during streaming

is what the license pays for, not the permanent copy i hypothetically made on the hard disk that i can watch any time i want or burn to disk and share. hey don't get me wrong.. international waters? content i already paid for? i doubt i'd think twice about it.. note that i couch this in hypothetical terms, however..

truth is, after aaron schwartz and the SCOTUS' recent decision not to hear a couple downloading cases.. screwing we the people over in the process.. i have little empathy for hollywood or their crappy films. the DMCA can burn in hell AFAIC.

so little regard in fact that i already posted here on DU and on pastebin a little instructo-script that will let any Linux user download whatever directly into /dev/null .. do not pass RAM, do not pass HDD.. so it's perfectly legal. it would be the equivalent, in hollywood lobbyist terms, of grabbing a DVD off the shelf and walmart, walking into the office supplies aisle, and sticking it in the floor model shredder. i never left the store with the DVD so i didn't steal it, per se, but i did destroy that copy.

..which just goes to show how disconnected from reality hollywood, and in fact all our copyright and patent laws, are from reality.

i called it 'Operation_DMCA > /dev/null'

here's a fresh link..

http://pastebin.com/65ZFtZVv

----
ps. for those not in the know, '/dev/null' is aka, 'the black hole'. it's nowhere. see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dev/null

[Occulus]

13. Proving once again that *nix does anything you want it to do

edit: wasn't what you're saying might be their primary complaint the very reason the legal-eagles in the entire industry were against VCRs having a record button? Like, back in 1985 or so? I thought this was already long-settled law.... not that it matters in a practical sense, as there's no way for 'them' to know you're recording whatever happens to be on your desktop and oh yes, a movie just happens to be playing, imagine that...

[Phillip McCleod]

14. yepper! i love my *nixbox.

and yep to the VCRs too. i read a great book on this subject a couple years ago but damned if i can remember the title. if i think of it i'll come back.

AM radio tried to do the same thing to FM, and musical score publishers tried to do it to recording artists. each time, we the people have lost, while corporations have gained, until now..

mickey mouse is immortal.