Audio Watermarks Could Pinpoint Film Pirates By Seat 336
Slatterz points out a brief mention at PC Authority of a story at Torrent freak about using watermarking embedded in movies' soundtracks to reveal the exact location of camera-wielding bootleggers in a theater; the inventors (here's an abstract of their paper) claim it's accurate to within 44 centimeters.
Remote microphones (Score:5, Informative)
While this sounds cool from a technical perspective, it would be easy to circumvent by plugging a remote microphone into the camera.
Also, wouldn't the accuracy of this depend on the theater's dimensions and acoustics as well as the layout/calibration of the speaker system?
Re:And the point is ? (Score:1, Informative)
What exactly will that achieve ? Since when did you need to give proof of identity to get in, oh wait that will be the next thing that MPAA lobbies for. Movie Identity cards, we welcome our new entertainment overlords.
This is already in place in Sweden, except they call it "cinema club" cards or whatever. A small discount to movies, in exchange for assigned seating and a known identity.
I have never understood why they want to treat a paying customer as a potential criminal. If I wanted to download, I would not be paying for the movie. Treat me like a queen when I pay and I am more likely to pay again.
Re:And who cares, anyway? (Score:5, Informative)
Well, outside of Oscar season the percentage of early-run pirated movies which are from in-theater cameras approaches 100%.
CAM shots (normally hand-held camera and the camera's microphone (which is what this procedure would target)) are often first, and I have seen plenty of bootleg DVDs which are this.
TeleSyncs often (but not always) come second. (Sometimes they hit the scene first.) They are normally tripod-mounted cameras and patch-in for the audio (hard of hearing feed, or direct feed if in the projection booth.) These would also qualify as in-theater cameras, though this technology presumably would not affect them, as the time-delay measurement-from-known-speaker-positions-technique would not apply.
Again, I have seen plenty of bootleg DVDs which are from this source.
It is true that DVD rips are the gold standard of "pirated" movies, but it is quite common for those to be the third or fourth release (after TeleCines or R5s or Screeners sometimes.)
I guess my point is that in-theater-camera releases may not be the most popular on bittorrent sites, but they are very prevalent, in my experience, on the streets of Pacific nations.
Re:What good does this do? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What good does this do? (Score:5, Informative)
Prerelease screenings are complete clusterfucks. I've seen security people come up into the projection booth to make sure you're not telesyncing, and security people with hand held metal dectectors for video cameras, etc but there's absolutely no assigned seating, except maybe the first or second rows of the stadium seating (below that are the nosebleed floorseating) for the director and PR people. Most tickets are free and to top that off, most (modern) movie theaters don't even have seat numbers. Hell ask a theater employee and you're lucky if they can tell you within 100 seats how many people each theater seats.
Re:Another reason not to go to the theatre (Score:2, Informative)
The assigned seats are generally only for when the theater is full, and you can make a claim for your assigned seats.
Otherwise nobody sticks to the plan.
Re:Another reason not to go to the theatre (Score:3, Informative)
Most (but not all) cinemas here in the UK give you a seat number with your ticket. It's not enforced in any real sense, even when the theatre is packed people are cool about you taking "their" seat if you're just trying to sit closer to friends and they can still fit together with their crew.
Of course this idea is pointless because most people pay for the cinema in cash.
Re:Oh Really? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Another reason not to go to the theatre (Score:5, Informative)
It's actually a sliding scale. The first 2-4 weeks a film is out the studios will keep upwards of 70% of all ticket sales. In the case of a hotly-anticipated film such as a new Batman or Bond, the percentage will go even higher to 80% or above. Each week that a film plays the scale will adjust slightly in favor of the theatres until it's almost an equitable split, but since most movies make almost all their money within the first month they're out that really doesn't benefit first-run theatres much. What it really *does* benefit are the bargain theatres that show whatever came out 6-8 weeks ago. The studios look at them as a marginal market, so they actually do pretty well compared to the big multiplexes. In the case of my local $2.50 cinema, the popcorn's fresh, the movies are just as good as they were a month ago, and teenagers on their *#&$ing cellphones get kicked out. The only thing I'm missing is 64-channel Dobly Digital, which I'll give up any day just to sit in a theatre full of people who are there to watch a movie and not sit and IM all night.
Re:And who cares, anyway? (Score:5, Informative)
Citation please.
This smacks of someone just making up crap to support their viewpoint.
He is exactly right, and there is no citation for what goes on in the scene and the street.
If you have spent any time in the scene, even as a leech, you will know that there is fierce competition
to be the FIRST. The timeline is exactly as he said: cams first, telecine and r5's next,
then DVD screeners and finally official releases. If you are the group with a first in any
of these categories, you win. Cams are usually made in the first week of release, and make
it to the street very shortly thereafter.
The street follows the scene. If there is a cam out on the scene, you will see it on the street.
DVD Screener hits the scene, expect it on the street less than a week later. I live in new york
city and they sell boots everywhere, and they cost next to nothing. They sell them in the subway,
laid out on sheets in the street, guys with duffel bags walk around selling them, etc etc.
There is no shortage of bootleg everything here, starting with mass media, i.e. music software and movies.
Re:Useless Information (Score:2, Informative)
The dots are indicators to show when the reel is about over. This is a holdover from the past when you had to change projectors between reels.
No, the dots serve a different purpose. (Score:2, Informative)
If you mean the scratch marks that flash in the top-right corner of the image every half an hour or so: they are to demark the ending of a film role and the beginning of another. It's two flashes separated by 2-3 seconds. Immediately after the 2nd flash, the new film role is turned on. The switch of the role is usually accompaniated with a scene change in the film, to make the non-continuity less visible.
Re:No, the dots serve a different purpose. (Score:3, Informative)
Yep, google confirmed, here's an article on it [masslive.com], complete with screencaps of the burns and the grids (but you'll have to squint to see em).
Re:Useless Information (Score:1, Informative)
Nah, there really is a matrix of rather large, dark red-brown dots placed randomly though all cinema movies, they usually place it whenever there's a dark scene, to be less bothersome, and at various locations in the video frame. Whenever it's shown, it might be 5-10% the size of the frame, maybe with a duration of a couple frames.
Some people don't notice it, but for me, it's extremely bothersome--just like for some people, 60hz CRTs don't present a problem, but it'll drive me batty.
I really wish I could find a screen cap of what it looks like, but I don't know the name they use for the technique, and searches haven't dug anything up...
Re:Useless Information (Score:2, Informative)
Several cams I've seen use direct feed audio from the projector booth.
Re:No, the dots serve a different purpose. (Score:3, Informative)
The cue marks in the top-right corner are not called "cigarette burns" and never were. That was only used in the movie Fight Club, and outside of the movie, nobody calls them that unless they are jokingly referencing it.
Re:Useless Information (Score:3, Informative)
This looks like they're trying to get cammers, but like the GGGGGGGP or whoever posted, after the fact is too late
Re:so what? (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, perfect! When the babysitter calls to tell some parent Junior has had an accident and is on the way to the hospital or "where's the eppy pen he's having a reaction" and the silly thing is buzzing in a locker what do you think will happen? Even if the chance is remote parents avoid risk like the plague these days and won't want to be out of touch like that - sales will dwindle.
I put my phone on vibrate and I don't text in the theater but if an emergency arises I'll go out in the hall to take the call. I'll be damned if I am going to check in my phone and have to wait in line to get it on the way out like I do a urinal or risk some dumbass stealing it. I barely goto the theater now due to high prices, this would push me over the edge as would assigned seating or ID checking.
For the cost of a trip to the movies I can BUY a DVD and come pretty close to buying a BD version. I can EASILY rent\rip for less and I'm willing to wait for movies to come out on disk. I have a decent TV and speakers for a reason - the dumbass studios have made it more cost effective and convenient!
Think about it - a couple of parents decide to take their kid to even a matinee and the cost is nutz. If they have more than one kid and goto a prime time movie they will have paid as much for that trip and crappy food as they would a high def version for their own library. Movie theaters cannot survive like this forever and making the trip even LESS convenient is a stupid idea. Sue the wrong person just once and watch the fireworks splash back on them. Idiots....
Ya' know - there was a time when I'd goto a theater and see a movie more than once because it was good. I cannot recall a time in the past 15 years when I've been willing to do that and the numbers of movies I'm willing to pay a mint for is so low now it's not even funny. The studios are full of asshats.