Hi all,

I've been wanting to do this for a long time...but.....

my other half and I spent three months two years ago recording all of the episodes from Nick at Nite to our DVD-R...we then got a second DVD-R to match the fade in and fade out policies so little if any commercials are seen. We are a tad on the OCD side when it comes to Wings.

Think anyone else has done this? I've been thinking about putting it on ebay but haven't people been nailed for copyright laws for doing this?

Would love your feedback...it is a great collection!

AGAIN, YOUR FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED!!!!

Yep it's considered bootlegging.

It can hurt any chances of Paramount releasing the show on DVD. If people are buying illegal copies what's Paramount's incentive to release it on DVD?

Plus Paramount can sue you for this as well. I'd be very careful.

I've seen five or six ppl on these boards and various other ones who have made Wings dvd-r's. And have seen them on sale at ebay and yahoo auctions. There's even a Wings board where it was encouraged. Couldn't half blame them, Paramount will probably never do anything to release a set.

Regardless. Selling other people's property is illegal.

You can record it for yourself, but the minute you make a profit off it you're breaking the law.

Then I should have a viewing party at my house! :-)

its illegal thats true, but if anything it should convince paramont that there's people out there who want to buy the wings seasons on dvd.... has anyone wondered how that day would be like when its tuesday and season 1 of wings is released...? How many copies would each person buy? taking the dvd home and just watch it... i wish there was other ways to help bring the show to dvd...

its illegal thats true, but if anything it should convince paramont that there's people out there who want to buy the wings seasons on dvd.... has anyone wondered how that day would be like when its tuesday and season 1 of wings is released...? How many copies would each person buy? taking the dvd home and just watch it... i wish there was other ways to help bring the show to dvd...

It might convince them not to put it on DVD as well. What's their incentive if people are buying bootleg copies?

What's the incentive to buy DVD copies? Quality. Full Length. Special Features. Did I mention the gigantanormous quality difference.

Perfect Example: I'm burning all of the Nick at Nite airings of Murphy Brown straight-to-DVD (Want to get the entire show, just incase it doesn't last long on N@N and/or they don't release all the seasons). That included, for whatever reason, recording first season episodes - when the 1st Season DVD was released last Tuesday. I happened to watch the SAME 1st Season episode from both my taped N@N copy and my DVD copy back to back.

The quality difference is so insanely noticeable it's just not funny. Not to mention the episodes on DVD are uncut, bug/split-credits free, etc.

There are MORE than enough incentives to by a well, or even mediocrely done, DVD set.

That being said, I seriously - SERIOUSLY doubt that the rights-holders of Wings are going to care about a few fans selling their home-taped copies on eBay. People have been selling their home-taped copies of episodes of TV shows on places like e-bay, and their offline equivalents, for years. The only reason that Paramount's legal department would cause an issue would be if you tried to market them as official releases. THEN you would be in trouble, as you're marketing it as an official release, which could be seen as detrimental to their reputation.

The entire reason that the entertainment industry is so...nuts...about what happens with their episodes is the advertising revenue involved. If someone doesn't watch an on-network airing, and then subsequently obtains the episode elsewhere:

Most people I've seen edit out commercials. That translates into lost advertising revenue as it relates to anyone who watches that airing from anywhere but it's original on-air source. THAT'S what it's really about, as it relates to TV.

I remember a couple of years ago someone had a website up and we're selling episodes of Boy Meets World on DVD. Buena Vista has that website shut down, and almost sued that person because that person was selling bootleg copies and that's lost revenue for the companies when people do this.

I've seen ebay delete accounts of people who sell bootleg copies.

Personally I'd rather wait for an official release, and plus the people who buy the bootleg copies, what's their incentive to buy an official release from Paramount when they've got all the episodes on DVD already thanks to bootleg copies. Yeah I know uncut episodes and stuff, but if people have already went and shelled major cash for all the episodes on DVD why would they want to do it again? That right there is less people who buy the DVDs when/if Paramount ever releases them, and can hurt chances of future seasons being released by Paramount.

Seriously, watch the same show recorded onto DVD from Nick at Nite, then watch the same episode on DVD. Assuming the company putting the show on DVD didn't half-ass it:

Improved Video Quality
Improved Audio Quality
Special Features
No commercials - ever
No bugs
No credit crunches/voice-overs/CGI credits
Uncut episodes

I've spent thousands of dollars on VHS tapes (and recently blank DVDs) over the years, yet, I Still buy the official releases of shows onto DVD. Why? The above. If you even have so much as the shoddiest VHS tape of an episode already, the above are the only real motivations that can happen...and at least a good third of the sales of each TV DVD go to people who have the shows already, but WANT the above.

According to your last sentence, fan-made discs/tapes automatically nullify profits, case closed. They don't.

The repeat sale principle is usually what eBay uses, unless pressured by studios. If someone happens to just be clearing out old tapes, and is getting rid of things - then ok. When someone repeatedly sells copies of the same thing as a business means, they start to have a problem. That's the dividing line.

Memo to the Original Poster: First, sorry to hijack your thread. With that out of the way: If you plan to sell your original DVD copies, and then be done with it, eBay and the Wings rightsholders will probably let you go about your business normally. But, if you try to make a business of selling Wings on eBay, you won't make it past around the third auction before you get your account terminated...and the studios won't exactly be your friend.

As it stands, if people want to pay MONEY for episodes of TV shows from CABLE RERUNS that could be announced for DVD any day, that's their business. Personally, I think there are better ways to spend money.

DVD was supposed to be a collector's item for tech fans but now everybody loves the medium. DVD wasn't intended for the special features, those are just a gimmick. I buy them for the laserdisc quality because I never had the chance to own laserdisc.
Sometimes the chapter selects aren't great, though, which defeats the meaning of the DVD in the first place... easy access.

I have all the Wings on VHS and honestly wouldn't bother buying a dvd release.....unless it had special features. New interviews, commentary, lost episodes. Otherwise I'm fine with commercials, half-screen end credits, etc. When Frasier was released I was like "I could just tape those off tv, they air every two hours". But they had commentary on the pilot, casting info, bloopers. That's worth the pick-up.

It might convince them not to put it on DVD as well. What's their incentive if people are buying bootleg copies?


not really, there were and still are LOADS of bootleg copies of Seinfeld on ebay, but that has been released

I have all the Wings on VHS and honestly wouldn't bother buying a dvd release.....unless it had special features. New interviews, commentary, lost episodes. Otherwise I'm fine with commercials, half-screen end credits, etc. When Frasier was released I was like "I could just tape those off tv, they air every two hours". But they had commentary on the pilot, casting info, bloopers. That's worth the pick-up.

I would absolutely buy Wings on DVD. My VHS copies don't have commercials, but VHS takes up a lot more space than DVD (and space is a key factor) and it wears out sooner.

I would absolutely buy Wings on DVD. My VHS copies don't have commercials, but VHS takes up a lot more space than DVD (and space is a key factor) and it wears out sooner.

I think that all formats usually end up wearing out after a said period of time.
Most regular people thought that VHS and audio cassette would live forever and then digital stuff came around and THEN VHS and the audio cassette became old and obsolete.
I think that DVD should just go out of production and they should start putting movies on external hard drives or on those little data flash cards. The external hard drives holding movies can be hooked up to an HD set with a USB port (or the HD set can have a slot for the data flash card media)
Then again, there's the whole issue about copy protection and the media's memory size, so my idea probably won't work.