Vudu

[MacFromOK]

Copyright is non-renewable at the 75 year mark and less if not renewed periodically as I understand. So 1944 or so and older are public domain.

There's a wee bit more to it than that...

"For works published after 1977, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, if the work is a work for hire (that is, the work is done in the course of employment or has been specifically commissioned) or is published anonymously or under a pseudonym, the copyright lasts between 95 and 120 years, depending on the date the work is published.

All works published in the United States before 1924 are in the public domain. Works published after 1923, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. If the work was created, but not published, before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, even if the author died over 70 years ago, the copyright in an unpublished work lasted until December 31, 2002. And if such a work was published before December 31, 2002, the copyright will last until December 31, 2047.

Is the Work Published?

In the complicated scheme of copyright laws, which law applies to a particular work depends on when that work is published. A work is considered published when the author makes it available to the public on an unrestricted basis. This means that it is possible to distribute or display a work without publishing it if there are significant restrictions placed on what can be done with the work and when it can be shown to others."

https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/faqs/copyright-basics/

 

[stick4]

Thank you Mac! I knew there was more to it but my 75 year comment came from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_the_public_domain_in_the_United_States


All motion pictures made and exhibited before 1924 are indisputably in the public domain in the United States. This date will move forward one year, every year, meaning that films released in 1924 will enter the public domain in 2020, films from 1925 in 2021, and so on.

Before the passage of the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) in 1998, the term of copyright in the U.S. was a maximum of 75 years, with the work entering the public domain on January 1 of the 76th year from creation (so, for example, a film made in 1930 whose copyright was properly registered and renewed would enter the public domain on January 1, 2006). As such, all films released before 1923 would have entered the public domain by January 1, 1998.
Although the CTEA added 20 years to the terms of all existing copyrights, until 2019, it explicitly refused to revive any copyrights that had expired prior to its passage. On January 1, 2019, the 20 year extension expired and new works began entering the public domain each year thereafter.

 

[Fredkrueger100]

I use Vudu all the time. I own a lot of movies on there but they always have good movies for free. Commercials ain’t bad. It’s somewhat like watching certain on demand shows on dish and they have commercials. They are usually really quick. You can even get 4K movies on there.

 

[BReeves]

Only internet out here is wireless and not real fast. I tried a service with commercials once, may have been Vudu can't remember. Problem was they sent the commercials down in some really high def format that slowed everything down to a crawl, made it unwatchable so I gave up and stuck to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Would really like a service that had newer releases but haven't found it yet.

 

[yukonjack]

Where the hell are these companies getting their names? Roku, vudu, hulu, Sounds like some Chinese dude with great hacking skills, lousy spelling and a little cash created a company that has one pair of pants and a lot of pockets.

All of them are Chinese companies. Just finding different ways to get Americans hooked on the electronic drug of their choice. The Chinese want us to be lazy and addicted to the tv/computer. It'll make it easier when they start streaming their indoctrination videos.