How do I download films?

Hi Everyone,

I am interested in learning how to download films but haven't a clue how to go about it and hope you might be able to help me. Also, I am not sure if I have the right tech equipment.

My broadband is 512, as I live about five miles from the exchange. My laptop (Fujitsu lifebook 'C') has a cd recorder/dvd player (doesn't record onto dvd). My broadband connection is excellent now I'm with Idnet.

Would I be able to download films? If my equipment isn't suitable what do I need to buy?

I'd be very grateful for any help. Regards, Moneypennie

We will assume you mean legal to download films and not copyrighted films

You laptop will do the job , give Limewire a try - http://www.download.com/LimeWire/3000-2166_4-10552048.html

One thing that raises a query in my mind is the fact that most film downloads appear to be bandwidth hogs. Therefore I stay as far away from them as cybernetically possible. Apart from fairly short historical clips from the British Pathe archive & previously the BBC. Although I am in fact more wary of the BBC just lately, whereas I used to trust them, I no longer do so. Because of their use of certain formats that let us say, sail rather close to the wind, metaphorically.

Edited by Vigilant1 (Tue 17-Oct-06 22:11:37)

Hi Idnetuser ,

I'm happy to pay for the films, just haven't an idea where to start. However, once I become familiar with the procedure, I might venture into dangerous pastures. . . .


Thanks for the limwire suggestion. Regards, Moneypennie.

Limewire can be very slow , bittorrent is the way to go but theres so much rubbish about i gave up months ago , i didn't do a lot but have kicked it into touch.

http://www.commonwebsense.com/2006/01/27/the-bittorrent-post/

Edited by idnetuser (Tue 17-Oct-06 22:31:58)

<sighs> piracy. wernt you one of the ones who complained about the heavy users?

These are public boards - as such, i would suggest to keep such copyright enfringement posts as far away as possible

You can use P2P for legit downloading , i didn't mean i downloaded copyrighted films just that what i did download was either rubbish quality or not what i expected, thats why i kicked it into touch

Edited by idnetuser (Sat 21-Oct-06 11:03:20)

Hello and thanks for all your replies and suggestions.

Now I know a bit more, I think the fact that my line will only support 512kbps broadband is rather limiting for film downloads. In reality a film like 'The Queen' could take nearly three days to download. This information was via a p2p site which one pays to join initially. For people living in very fast broadband areas, this film might only take two to three hours to download.

As I cannot really see anyway round this, it looks as if the only solution is to move house! Or wait for BT to upgrade the service. . . . . . . . . .

Does anyone know of a way round this; is it possible to download quickly even though my broadband speed is 512?

Regards, Moneypennie

Just leave the PC running until the download is finished.... I've taken two days to download a film from a very slow site (using ftp not p2p) on a couple of occasions. Tedious, but no particular problem as my PC is on 24/7 anyway.

Alternatively, does p2p allow a download to be interrupted then resumed, as ftp does? Then you can do it in "chunks" when the PC is on.