But what if I want to watch movies legally?

What am I talking about?

Currently, many people on the Internet are fiercely criticizing the "anti-piracy law." Critics demand its cancellation, sign petitions, and in general are dissatisfied. On the other hand, the requirement to allow pirates to freely engage in their activities looks rather naive: to assume that someone is obliged to give us a movie to watch and listen to music for free is a bit presumptuous.

And I decided to check what it feels like: enjoy watching legal content. The study is not comprehensive, conducted "at your leisure", may contain inaccuracies. The author could not figure out the details of a service, etc. I apologize in advance to companies that provide the resources described in the note in case if a lie is written. But keep in mind: I don’t have a goal to slander someone, and if I didn’t understand something and didn’t like something, then you are not informing the consumer well enough. I do not set a goal to organize holy wars for and against piracy, the law - this is only a superficial study of the legal alternative in the current state.

The list of reviewed resources is as follows: Google Play, iTunes, MediaTek, Play (Yota + Samsung)

Amediateka

Modern television shows or, as they are called in Russian, series from the leaders of the genre have long won well-deserved love all over the world. The best examples of these works are not inferior to most feature films, and due to the format of the series they even have a number of advantages. HBO and Showtime make many great television shows, and their products were the first victims of anti-piracy law on trackers at the initiative of the copyright holder: Amedia. Well, let's see what they offer us ...

We go to the site of Amediatekaand look. Amedia has relations with companies such as HBO, Showtime, FOX, WB, Sony pictures, CBS, starz. Indeed, there are many popular TV series with current episodes. Unfortunately, some seasons of some projects are still missing. But this is rather the exception. The subscription price for all series is 239 rubles per month. If you buy for a longer period, it will be slightly cheaper.

God knows what money, we buy a subscription for a month. You can watch it in the browser, while putting some kind of plug-in player. The site states that “Content is currently being broadcast in SD format. We use adaptive signal technology, which allows you to change the quality of the content depending on the Internet speed provided by your provider.
In order to obtain a better image, we recommend using wired connection technologies. “
They don’t lie, the quality really “spoils” with poor communication. Only now there is a feeling that communication problems arise on the side of Amediateki. When the channel completely dies, the video disappears and only the sound remains. I checked it several times: in such situations, problems with the speed of my home Internet when working with other resources were not found. An important nuance: when using Amediateki, the video does not “download in advance”, everything works strictly online. And if the speed is not enough - nothing will help you watch your favorite series. And it was - often. A decline in quality to an obscene level is generally a common occurrence. A couple of times the media player suddenly stopped working. After several days of correspondence with technical support, I was advised to delete a certain file in a certain folder in% appdata, and this helped. In general, in those. Support has been requested several times. Basically - complained about the speed. The standard answer in a day or two:“Report if the problem persists . ” The problem is complex, not going to disappear.

An unpleasant surprise was the day of renewal of the subscription. Just came a new series of a popular TV show among me, well, I think - "I’ll extend what is already there." I extended it, the counter of days was updated, and Amediateka refused to show me the film for no apparent reason. From those. support the next day came a standard answer. By the way, this problem has disappeared. But the fact itself is confusing.

The latest Breaking Bad series was released not so long ago. Well, I think - I'll see: come on, Amediateka, show. Horrible quality due to poor communication is already familiar. A surprise was the lack of translation. Without subtitles, it's hard for me to watch, and it says “language - Russian”. How so? Unclear.

Weigh the pros and cons:

PROS: A lot of good TV shows up to date.

CONS: Channel requirements - no preload, only online.
Lack of capacity and / or bandwidth of the service is often not comfortable or impossible to watch, even if you have fast internet. No HD. There are no original audio tracks, subtitles - only translation. Maybe with the feature films the situation is different - but there is no desire to check yet. This is for some money, and knowing the problems with watching, the desire to buy a whole long film does not arise. The video player, which is set to work with the service, is unstable. Of course, about any quality settings, etc. there is no speech. No client for Android - only for iOS.

iTunes

The most famous and popular place where you can buy videos, books, music and other digital content without tangible packaging is iTunes. It is customary to consider this service in conjunction with an iPhone or iPad. Well, as a last resort, with a Mac. However, nothing prevents you from using iTunes on your PC if your goal is to buy and watch movies, listen to music, and do it legally with a special sense of self-worth. British scientists have estimated that while the pleasure of watching a movie increases by 11.134%. However, Russian scientists have calculated that if the film is bad, chagrin increases by 359%.

The first thing that upsets is that there is no television show. Absolutely not. Films are more than enough. You can rent, you can buy. Both are available in both SD and HD. In my opinion, the rental service is most interesting: it is significantly cheaper than the acquisition, and most films are enough to watch once. You only need to consider that iTunes limits the time for watching a movie: 48 hours from the moment it started to watch. All conditions are described in an accessible way, iTunes especially warns about this before starting a movie - everything is simple and clear. Whether purchased, rented material is downloaded to the device (including PC), and after that (or even in the process) it can be watched. This means that it doesn’t matter what your Internet connection is, whether the server is loaded - the content will calmly flood onto the local device,

It is interesting to compare the prices of iTunes and Google play. They are not always the same. For example, the film “The Illusion of Deception” is hired from Apple for 69 rubles and Google asks for 99 rubles. It turned out to be more expensive to buy from Apple than Google: 199 against 129. I did not conduct an extensive study on prices, but already Clearly, it’s most profitable to have a choice of store.

PROS: Content is downloaded to the device - there are no problems with speed. You can watch in HD without special devices (including rental - unlike Google Play). Good selection of films.

CONS: No TV shows. It is not clear with the original tracks and subtitles: either not, or not everywhere.

Google play

I am interested and respectful of Google. I use their search engine, smartphones (only Nexus, only hardcore!), I even made a couple of applications for Google Play. As soon as the “films” section opened for Russia, he became interested, and then bought one. But not everything is so rosy: you can watch HD video only on your Android device! Of course, I have it. But I want to watch on TV - he has a much larger screen, and the sound is louder. And here the Apple flaw with their iTunes, which must be installed on the computer, becomes a virtue. And Google allows you to watch videos from your store not on a computer only through a browser, only in SD, only in stereo. In addition, the quality is poor. Google is not Amediateka, it allows the player to download the video a little ahead, and it doesn’t seem to slow down at all - but you won’t get a beautiful picture and good sound. I looked in this format "Star Trek" last, frankly: it was not worth it. Speaking of cost: quite similar to iTunes, nothing special. But here's what to do with HD on the TV ...

But we don’t give up so quickly! Through eBay and a hundred dollars (including shipping), I got a ChromeCast device. Just in order to watch an HD movie (not for nothing I bought it!) On the TV screen. First things first, when I tried to install the ChromeCast configuration application on my phone, Google told me that it wasn’t for my country. Fortunately, Apple did not disappoint, the right application was installed on the iPad from the AppStore, ChromeCast was configured, and I finally watched HD movies from Google Play. It goes well, does not slow down at all, there are no complaints. One moment confuses me: the sound was stereo. I poked the buttons on the remote control from the receiver - it became five-channel. But whether it was the original sound, or the receiver itself somehow shared - I’ll find it difficult to answer.

A completely normal option might be Android whistle on the TV.

PROS: Convenient, it does not seem to slow down, the selection of films is decent, the prices are the same for everyone. Purchased movie can be downloaded to the device. And even with the help of a trick, find it there (securely hidden, strangely named), transfer it to a computer, and watch the VLC player.

CON: You need an Android device, otherwise only an SD, only a browser: not an option for a beautiful movie.
No TV shows. No (or isn’t it everywhere ?!) original audio tracks, subtitles.

Play

At my not-so-new “home theater” Samsung, I discovered the Play application, with symbols that clearly resonate with Google Play. It turned out that this is a service of Yota in close collaboration with Samsung. Well, or vice versa. Registered immediately, they don’t take money for registration. Quite simply, all my devices picked up in my personal account - iPad, Android phone, and this very home theater. Everything is clear, convenient. There are free movies. But alas - problems with speed are present. You can install a special application on the computer and download the movie, but something didn’t work out for me - it fell, it didn’t download, and I quit.
But in general, I liked the concept itself: it is very convenient to manage everything with the help of the house. a cinema, without the participation of third-party devices ... However, a strange thing happened: in the movie I bought, the video was streaming, but the sound was not. When sending sound via HDMI to the TV along with the image, sound appeared. But it was not possible to make him sound from the speakers connected to the player. I contacted technical support. It turned out that with two models of players such nonsense, with mine and with one more. What is characteristic - other applications, the same Youtube - work flawlessly. Alas.
The good news is that there is a TV show. It is sad that not always relevant seasons, and not all. Prices and repertoire are similar to those on Google Play (+ TV shows!), But there are not always HD versions of films.

PROS: Various devices are easily and simply connected, works with Samsung Smart TV - you do not need anything except a TV or player. There are not only films, but also series. There is free content. Prices are similar to those on Google Play and iTunes.

CONS: general feeling of unfinished business. Problems with sound on some devices, problems with plug-ins for PC. The recoil speed, as in the case of Amedia, is lame. TV shows are not up to date. Again, no original soundtracks or subtitles.

Summarize

Absolutely all of the considered resources do not allow you to get any available movie without translation, with subtitles. This is important for many.

The services of industry monsters - Google Play and iTunes, are about equally good, but only on condition that you can send video from an Android device to where you want to watch it. ITunes, in turn, requires the same, but there is a computer option (connected to a TV, or with a good large monitor).

PLAY is potentially the most convenient of the services, but with the appropriate Samsung equipment, and increased speed and stability. Confuses a smaller selection of HD movies. I sincerely wish good luck to this undertaking, and potentially I will use it. When they make it work properly with my home theater ...

The American library, despite such an important plus as the availability of many good television shows, cannot be recommended for use: disappointment, grief, stress, gloom. You expect that you really get good service for the money, but in fact the pirates have it better, faster, better, and more convenient. This will not work, gentlemen! It's a pity.

In general, it is legal to watch a full-length film in good quality, for very reasonable money, at a convenient time for you - you can. To pay or not to pay - it's up to you, but not many worthy films come out to go broke on this.
But with the TV show - a problem, alas. Let's see what will happen next…