I first posted this in the Bargains forum, but on reflection, I think it might bear discussing here as well, as it's a trend I can only see continuing into the future.

Shout! has uploaded full-length versions of many of their titles to their YouTube channel, including all four Film Crew releases (featuring the MST guys), six complete Elvira's Movie Macabres (including Blue Sunshine, which actually uses a decent WS print), six complete documentaries (including Fired! and Ron Mann's awesome Tales of the Rat Fink), and plenty of other stuff previously released on DVD but increasingly less visible at retail.

http://www.youtube.com/user/shoutfactory

Not sure how to feel about this either, since I purchased many of these on DVD. Knowing they might be downloadable from this point forward makes selling off certain pieces a little bit easier. YouTube's larger-screen "HD" versions play a bit choppy for me, though that could just be my connection. I'm guessing these might also be available from other download sites as well . . .

Thoughts?

They've been licensed to Hulu as well. They've been on there for a while now.

You can also stream them through Netflix too.

Um, if you already own them why wouldn't you keep them? There is no guarantee that they'll be posted there forever. Besides, you've already made a point for yourself for keeping them - your choppy connection. Right now you can watch them where ever there is a DVD player. The same cannot be said of having access to a decent high speed internet connection!

True enough!

Some of these--in particular the Elvira discs--are borderline keepers at best, though. I picked them up cheap (at a liquidation outlet) for the nostalgia value, but I'm not sure I'll revisit most of them anytime soon. The Film Crew discs are keepers, and I love having RAT FINK in my collection for when the mood hits me, but even then, who's to say I won't find jumping on YouTube or Hulu or whatever comes next and skipping to my favourite scenes to be the faster option! (there's also the resale factor: I can sell these up here or trade them to DVD planet for about a dollar less than the $5 I paid for them; wait too long and that may not be the case).

For now, I prefer watching stuff on TV instead of perched in front of the computer hoping the stream runs smoothly, or viewing in some tiny little box when it doesn't. But it's nice to know the streaming versions are there in case the day comes when I can shoot YouTube videos of lesser and B-movie fare like this directly to my television in something approximating even DVD quality. For higher end movies, though, I'm still a disc guy . . . for the time being.

And you're right, there's no guarantee how long they'll remain on the streaming sites. I suspect they'll be available this way at one place or another for the foreseeable suture, as Shout and other companies like them seek to generate revenue from their properties now that retailer shelf space has grown so scarce.

I do have a high-speed connection, actually. I suspect it's my monopolistic Canadian provider throttling behind the scenes as usual. Either that or Youtube just doesn't stream 90+ minute video files very smoothly.

Are you kidding me? You're nuts if you think the video quality of these streams will be anywhere NEAR the DVD presentation quality. The bitream is what, 768 kbps? Piss poor quality. This seems to me to be a step in the WRONG direction because other distributors may decide to go the "easier" online route, rather than release quality decent DVD encodes of some wonderful cult films.

No, I'm not kidding. For certain titles, the quality of these YouTube uploads is acceptable to me. I would not, however, want to watch the latest blockbuster Hollywood movies this way, not by a long shot. For that, I still need discs. When I was referring to seeing "something approximating DVD quality", I was referring to a time many moons from now (thus I said "in case the day comes . . .", and you have to be nuts to think it won't), because I'm well aware that streaming quality can't rival even the most average DVD, and it will be years before true HD can be streamed in any reliable, truly HD fashion. But for a title like the Elvira-hosted DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT, which I watched last night and saved five clams in the process because it's only worth seeing once in my opinion (and which I did enjoy for old times' sake), I can live with the compromise. Now, if someone tried to tell me that streaming THE DARK KNIGHT or some other new release was anywhere near as good as a DVD or Blu-Ray on my home setup, I'd laugh in their face.

Well you could always download them. If you use Firefox the extension Download Helper lets you download videos from Youtube and many other flash video websites.

Well why wouldn't he just rip the DVDs instead? Sounds like the video quality would be better than downloading them from YouTube...

Yeah I've downloaded 2 of the high quality versions from Youtube and they both clock in at around 450MB which is a much lower filesize then a DVD version, though I think that giving him the option and telling other people how to download them is a good idea.

I suppose if I was gonna sell off these titles while there was still some inherent value in doing so (and not much of a loss over what I paid), then I might rip them to DVD-R for backup, but I'd still be tempted to search them out at YouTube or wherever if the mood hit me.

Ultimately, though, if permanence is the thing, I guess having physical DVDs is the best guarantee of "what I want, when I want it, in the quality I'm used to" for the time being. Shout! could, in theory, pull down the videos if the view numbers ever started leveling off, but by that time there may be no remaining method of delivery except online (or perhaps television), especially for niche-y stuff like this, and certainly not physical discs anyway, so I have to wonder what sources of revenue will remain by then.

As I write this, the four Film Crew videos at YouTube have clocked a combined total of just over 30,000 views after just over one month; the Elviras approximately 63,000 in even less time. (as I recall, a YouTube "view" is only counted if the entire video is watched, correct?) I have to wonder how this compares to retail sales of these titles, and whether the "quality of presentation" is as important to niche company like Shout as the ability to make broader impressions with their properties in this way. Granted, the pennies generated per viewing by those commercials that precede the movies probably take a while to add up to the profits from purchased DVDs, but those DVDs don't sell as much as they used to . . .

Again, I wouldn't even consider this for most big studio A-list releases, especially the action/sci-fi/fantasy fare that really work out a home system, even though many of them are already available for paid download at a multitude of sites. I guess it comes down to what an individual is willing to tolerate for a given title; downloading most A-list films is anathema to me as a home theatre nut (at least until true HD downloads over [uncapped] broadband become a reality; which might happen by the time I'm an old man ), but for an episode of Elvira, for example, I think YouTube's "HD" ( ) quality is perfectly serviceable--when it doesn't play in choppy mode!--and has me on the fence about keeping most of her DVDs.

And thanks for the tips about downloading via Firefox, which I do indeed use. I don't have much storage capacity on my home computer anymore, but I'm due for a new one in the next year or so, and would seriously considering portioning off part of it to store movie files like the ones Shout! has made available, and presumably other companies as time goes on. I'm a Mac user, currently on a laptop. The next one will be a desktop model with the drive built into the monitor, which these days practically double as TV screens considering their size, and are easily moved around the house without cumbersome towers to worry about. Again, for something like a Film Crew or an Elvira or other B-movie fare that I like to watch in a pinch but am not overly concerned with hi-def quality, this is a decent solution, as a 50" plasma isn't seriously going to make the enjoyment of these fringe films any more enjoyable.