White light 'blinds' film pirates

[oldfart13]

Just saw this article at the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5097774.stm?ls

Comments?

[Dv8ted2]

If I were them, I would be more worried about the theater employees in the projection room recording the movie straight from the reel.

[dvd3500]

If I were them, I would be more worried about the theater employees in the projection room recording the movie straight from the reel.

Too loud in there.

[canadateck]

Not when you Plug Audio right into Cam,This is where many come from.

[jagabo]

Easily defeated. Just have everyone wear a retroreflective button.

[BJ_M]

Not when you Plug Audio right into Cam,This is where many come from.

you mean into Hearing Impaired system - there are no easy to access outputs on a Dolby or DTS processor or on the projector (Digital Dolby is optical anyway - it is read from the film via a CCD camera)

There is even in some projection booths a Video feed back to a projectionist office - for monitoring multiplex setups and multiple roller/platter setups (one film can feed several screens at once)

[BJ_M]

anyway - the whole thing sounds like a crock of S**

[Dv8ted2]

anyway - the whole thing sounds like a crock of S**

You summed it up perfectly. If the industry thought of ways to make the product better, rather than chasing down people that love crummy quality, the better off the industry would be.

[ROF]

If they can detect the CCD and have to get pinpoint accuracy for the flood of light, why don't they just have the people arrested and thrown in jail for 5 years? You have their location with pinpoint accuracy. Find'em, arrest'em, charge'em, sentence'em, lock'em up!

[deadrats]

If they can detect the CCD and have to get pinpoint accuracy for the flood of light, why don't they just have the people arrested and thrown in jail for 5 years? You have their location with pinpoint accuracy. Find'em, arrest'em, charge'em, sentence'em, lock'em up!

5 years for attempting to record a movie? i think the Nazi SS would be proud of you.

[dphirschler]

Billions lost? I doubt it.


Darryl

[Dv8ted2]

Billions lost? I doubt it.


Darryl

The word billion is the only word they know how to say.

[ROF]

If they can detect the CCD and have to get pinpoint accuracy for the flood of light, why don't they just have the people arrested and thrown in jail for 5 years? You have their location with pinpoint accuracy. Find'em, arrest'em, charge'em, sentence'em, lock'em up!

5 years for attempting to record a movie? i think the Nazi SS would be proud of you.

Copyright theft is punishable by 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines for each offense. There was a guy senetenced last week to 3 years in prison for downloading the new Pink Panther movie and selling it to others for $3 a piece. 3 years in prison for something you were selling that won't even buy a gallon of gas. Is it worth getting caught?

[bendixG15]

3 years, I find that hard to believe, got a link ???

[ROF]

Nope. It was in our local paper. The guy had three computers, a label maker, and 124 bootleg discs the paper said. 3 years plus unspecified fines. The cable company was cooperating with authorities in this matter it said.

[LDinOR]

Could they ever really stop pirating? I don't think it's possible, just like you can never really stop people from sneaking in for a free viewing (theater hopping or getting let in by an employee or whatever). I know a guy who owns a 7/11 store and he can never stop theft, loses more to employees alone than you would believe. Theft is part of life, we try to stop it, but it always happens.
Hard to sympathise with movie industry, I mean how much did they pay Cruise for MI3? Where are they really losing money? Ahh, the money a nut job can make in this world!

[dphirschler]

Old rock videos are historical documents.

I like this statement from your sig.


Darryl

[ROF]

Old rock videos are historical documents.

I like this statement from your sig.

I not only like it, it speaks a mound of truth. We have these two stations which broadcast in my area. They are called MTV and MTV2. Looking up in the listing what the M stands for is music. I have yet to see any music videos on either station.

[jagabo]

3 years, I find that hard to believe, got a link ???

Here's where he plead guilty:
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/salisburyPlea.htm

This businessweek story says "expected to be sentenced in June (2006)"
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_20/b3984093.htm?campaign_id=bier_tcm

[Cornucopia]

After reading the article, it sounds like they're still "working on it". VAPORWARE I say. Actually, more like "SCAREWARE" or "PROPAGANDAWARE".

I bet if they actually tried this in a real world scenario, they'd end up blinding a person's eyes 'cuz he had some eyeglasses that happened to be somewhat mirrored and match the "profile" of the retroflective CCD device. Think of the lawsuit there.
(although, sorry for the guy)

Scott

[deadrats]

Copyright theft is punishable by 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines for each offense. There was a guy senetenced last week to 3 years in prison for downloading the new Pink Panther movie and selling it to others for $3 a piece. 3 years in prison for something you were selling that won't even buy a gallon of gas. Is it worth getting caught?

i wasn't talking about what the law allows for, i was commenting on your apparant enthusiatic endorsement of the penalties.

if you trace the birth of the legislation you find that it was backed by special interest groups and strong armed into law by politicians in the lobbiests pockets.

now don't get me wrong, i'm not endorsing walking into a movie theatre with a camcorder and recording the movie, i'm just saying that 5 years for such an act is outrages and amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment".

[yoda313]

one film can feed several screens at once)

Really??? I didn't know that. I thought each theater had to have its own dedicated reel. Cool. Is that also true of the newer digital projectors or do they have to have one in each room due to copy protection junk??

[Cornucopia]

one film can feed several screens at once)

Really??? I didn't know that. I thought each theater had to have its own dedicated reel. Cool. Is that also true of the newer digital projectors or do they have to have one in each room due to copy protection junk??

When (and if it can be) done with film, it pretty much mean that all screens would have to start at the same time and play (near) simultaneously. (Big platter that spool a train throug multiple rooms--I've heard about this, but though it was wishful thinking).

This is one of the strong points of digital cinema, as the server can just serve it to whatever projector is on the moviehouse's playlist adgenda (which could be revised were something to mess up). Also, there is DRM involved and an associated "Per Use" royalty management system incorporated throughout which helps tally up the $$$ sent back to the studios (and probably phones home too).

Scott

[BJ_M]

it is done with film ... the film goes through each projector - and threads over rollers down the hall to the next projector and so on....

feed and take up is on platters, and automation strips are put on the film to auto dim the lights and bring them back up ...



it is also done with digital projection - in fact it is the norm to have a central server which feeds to clients for each screen ...

There are also stand alone servers - and ads are often played with a special DTS media server (onto a small video projector)

[ROF]

After reading the article, it sounds like they're still "working on it". VAPORWARE I say. Actually, more like "SCAREWARE" or "PROPAGANDAWARE".

I most agree, but in the end what did it cost them? A single interview or a typed up press release? If it deters at least one individual from proceeding it will have been cost effective.

[jagabo]

After reading the article, it sounds like they're still "working on it". VAPORWARE I say. Actually, more like "SCAREWARE" or "PROPAGANDAWARE".

I most agree, but in the end what did it cost them? A single interview or a typed up press release? If it deters at least one individual from proceeding it will have been cost effective.

Cost them? It's research at a college campus. It was obviosly paid for by a grant. You can probably guess who the grant came from.

[LDinOR]

Really, the movie industry is obsessed with piracy and will hurt anyone they can in fear of losing money (while wasting it on semi-talent). They want the public to pay for their loses and who are the rich people in this deal? Not those paying ten bucks to see half ass crap like the stuff offered by studios and their "stars".
I worked in a theater back about 35 years ago and we let friends in free and put up with kids admitting their cohorts through the exits because it was too much trouble to police the audience. I'll bet studio heads wouldn't like that either, and I know that was not on the scale of digital piracy, but come on. Blinding people 'cause you might lose a buck!? That spoiled industry has no focus on the reality of normal peoples lives. The stars speak out about the government and yet said industry wants that same government to limit our freedoms and spy on us to prevent digital piracy. None of those people seem any more real than the characters created by illusion of light on a screen.

To Darryl and ROF, you gotta save all those old music clips, those are memorable pieces of life. Music television hasn't been "music" televison for years now. It's just pap fed to 12 year olds to prep them into consumerism.

[ROF]

After reading the article, it sounds like they're still "working on it". VAPORWARE I say. Actually, more like "SCAREWARE" or "PROPAGANDAWARE".

I most agree, but in the end what did it cost them? A single interview or a typed up press release? If it deters at least one individual from proceeding it will have been cost effective.

Cost them? It's research at a college campus. It was obviosly paid for by a grant. You can probably guess who the grant came from.

I was actually referring to the idea that this is all just scareware or propagandaware in that there is no research, there is no such thing as this, there is nobody inventing this, and there is nobody even working on it. I wrote that based on the premise that big media just wanted to put out a news article with a sensational new way of blocking piracy in the movie theater without anyone actually doing anything with this in reality.

I personally think it would be a waste of money. While the movie theater is a great experience, I have a sneaking feeling in 30 or 40 years movie theaters are going to be a thing of the past.

[LDinOR]

That would be sad, to lose the experience of the big screen. It has already been whittled down by multi-screen theater smaller sizes. Oh well, I suppose I won't be around in 30 to 40 years, but my kids will and I wonder what the film experience will be like by then.

[ROF]

That would be sad, to lose the experience of the big screen. It has already been whittled down by multi-screen theater smaller sizes. Oh well, I suppose I won't be around in 30 to 40 years, but my kids will and I wonder what the film experience will be like by then.

Kids come home from school on a rainy tuesday afternoon. One friend says to the other let's watch a movie. The other asks mom if they can watch a movie. Mom asks which one. Kids scream (Insert movie title). Mom asks if that is available already. Kids scream yes it was released today. Mom goes into the media room and selects the movie on the view screen menu. Mom types in password for payment acknowledgement. Movie previews begin playing before the premiere of {insert movie title) starts playing a few minutes later.

We can only hope.