UK Theaters Using Military Nightsights To Catch Camera Users

[Roundabout]

From the Guardian:

Harry Potter and the wizard idea to foil cinema pirates

Cinema ushers across Britain go into action today with a new piece of equipment which makes their ice-cream trays and hand torches look tame.
Military-style night-sights have been sent to every outlet in the country showing the new Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Staff have been instructed to spend all two hours and 22 minutes of the film scanning the dark - for pirates making illegal copies.

"I've never known a company to go to such lengths to protect a film," said Jamie Graham, manager of the Vue cinema at Cheshire Oaks, Wirral, where the red monocle devices are ready for action.

The precaution has been taken by the film's distributor, Warner Brothers, after an epidemic of poor-quality, grainy versions of the two previous Potter films.

Surreptitious recording from cinema seats, sometimes interrupted by the head of the person in front shifting and blocking the action, has become a serious menace, according to the industry.

Most cinemas now screen an appeal to audiences to shop any neighbour suspected of filming, along with warnings about mobile phones and adverts for popcorn.

Mr Graham said: "Video piracy is rife everywhere, and with the UK screening the film four days before the rest of the world, Warner was concerned the movie would end up on the internet."

Pirate DVD versions of the boy wizard's earlier adventures were traced to Britain through codes imprinted on the films as a security device.

The night sights, together with the coding and experiments with watermarks, have added significantly to distribution costs. But Warner sees the investment as negligible compared with the threat to the whole industry.

Staff at the Vue will be "very discreet" with their potentially frightening cyclopean attachments, Mr Graham said, but action against offenders would be swift.

Much like the battered young wizards on screen, who are constantly being whirled about by baddies, pirates will be "hauled out of their seats and reported straight away to the police".

[d_unbeliever]

yup kill those pirate bastards...they should do body and belonging search and use those night vision scopes ...their pirated movies are horrible. they should at least make it quality movies if they pirate :P

[lordsmurf]

Too bad they don't use nightscopes in dark alleys to stop REAL crime.

[pacmania_2001]

They've also started doing that in Australia as well for certain films you go to.

Recent sneak peek of Van Helsing I went to had that. At the Matrix Revolutions opening night they had a studio rep tell the audience about anti-piracy, blah blah, if you get caught you will be prosecuted.

[Skynet107]

Too bad they don't use nightscopes in dark alleys to stop REAL crime.

Amen to that.

I can't STAND the anti-piracy blurbs they are now showing at the beginning of many movies. HELLO I AM IN THE &UCKING THEATRE why are you preaching to me about piracy? That irks me to no end. I payed my money now shut the hell up and just roll the movie.

[indolikaa]

Full-body cavity searches are in order for all of you!

[VCDHunter]

Full-body cavity searches are in order for all of you!

Customer "Two for Harry Potter please."
Cinema "Certainly sir, if you'd care to drop your pants and bend over this desk."

This shit was on the news this morning - first thing I ******* see when I turn on the box expecting news. They also had a guy from Empire Magazine telling us how much the industry was losing due to piracy, same old figures being trotted out as fact.

[flaninacupboard]

y'know, i never used to give a damn, but now it seems like a real chalenge! sneaking a cam in somehow.... funny glasses? how about a lappy with a webcam in a baseball cap? pretend you've got a retarded kid in a wheelchair with you, but it's really a robot with a stereo mic for ears and a cam in each eye? no? how about making friends with the projectionist.....

or how about record the sound and do story board style drawings for all the scenes, that'd annoy all those kazaa users!

[gitreel]

y'know, i never used to give a damn, but now it seems like a real chalenge! sneaking a cam in somehow.... funny glasses? how about a lappy with a webcam in a baseball cap? pretend you've got a retarded kid in a wheelchair with you, but it's really a robot with a stereo mic for ears and a cam in each eye? no? how about making friends with the projectionist.....

or how about record the sound and do story board style drawings for all the scenes, that'd annoy all those kazaa users!

You know there are pencams out on the market. I wonder what they think about someone holding a pen.

[flaninacupboard]

stick it behind your ear, pretending to be arty.

[Capmaster]

I think I could equip Dolly with an ass-cam

[flaninacupboard]

yeah, cos carrying an inflatable sheep into a cinema won't look suspicious....

[VCDHunter]

I think I could equip Dolly with an ass-cam

I knew that was coming . . .

[Capmaster]

yeah, cos carrying an inflatable sheep into a cinema won't look suspicious....

No more suspicious than a robotic gimp

[marvel2020]

All this protection, and i bet ya it's still gets cam'd.

[gitreel]

'specially with a pencam

[indolikaa]

Always pleasing to see Dolly make her entrance in any thread...

[handyguy]

You'd think a glowing red record light would be enough to spot one. Mine has an option to turn that off.

Where is the article link? I always think its funny when people post articles about copyright violators when posting a full article, instead of a paragraph & a link, is a copyright violation.

[Capmaster]

I'll never understand how someone would want to see a movie so bad they would buy a crap cammed copy. They're garbage, and you would have people nearby coughing and crunching their candy ...how could anyone sit through that?

[VCDHunter]

I'll never understand how someone would want to see a movie so bad they would buy a crap cammed copy. They're garbage, and you would have people nearby coughing and crunching their candy ...how could anyone sit through that?

I've made this point before. To compare a 4 disc DVD set of LOTR with a DVDR from a cam is rubbish. This whole "problem" has been blown out of all proportion.

[Capmaster]

I'll never understand how someone would want to see a movie so bad they would buy a crap cammed copy. They're garbage, and you would have people nearby coughing and crunching their candy ...how could anyone sit through that?

I've made this point before. To compare a 4 disc DVD set of LOTR with a DVDR from a cam is rubbish. This whole "problem" has been blown out of all proportion.

I believe that. Hollywood should let people "cam away" all they want. Who would buy that crap?

[JEEPn]

You would be suprised how many ppl do buy those crapy cam jobs on tape.
What MPAA is trying to stop is those Telesync and Telecine versions that make it to DVD and sold here in the States and overseas. This would cut into movie sale and DVD sales later. Some of these version's picture quality can range from good to excellent and some are even in dolby surround sound. Why would you go to a crowded movie theater and pay up to $10.50 + popcorn and drink when you can see it in the comfort of you home and pause the movie for a bathroom break, back it up when you missed the dialog or finish watching it tomorrow if you are too tire to watch.

[VCDHunter]

You would be suprised how many ppl do buy those crapy cam jobs on tape.

Well, go on suprise me then . . . . . . . .

[iooi]

Many people also buy these cam copies to prieview the movie and find out if its worth paying £££ to go and see.

[Brehmstein]

Why would you go to a crowded movie theater and pay up to $10.50 + popcorn and drink

Maybe if they were not so greedy and did not spend so much money on "anit-pirate" technology, people would choose to spend their money on the product. Movies should cost less than $5!

It is the same problem I have with the music industry.

If they price the product right, the piracy would go away.

[BobV]

I heard that last weekend was the movie industry's biggest gross ever. So whats their beef?

[VCDHunter]

I heard that last weekend was the movie industry's biggest gross ever. So whats their beef?

It's just never enough . . . .

[JEEPn]

VCDHunter wrote:

Well, go on suprise me then . . . . . . . .

go downdown in any major city and you will find street vendors selling all sort of movies and such. A co-worker of a friend of mine just last week had stopped for a red light and had someone run up to his car. He thought this guy was going to ask him if he want to but some drugs but instead he leans over and asks...hey!.. you want to buy some movies... and ofcourse the idiot goes ahead and buys two crappy ass cam jobs on DVD for 25 bucks....what a waste.

[VCDHunter]

VCDHunter wrote:

Well, go on suprise me then . . . . . . . .

go downdown in any major city and you will find street vendors selling all sort of movies and such.

Not down my way - never seen a street vendor selling cam recorded DVDs here.

A co-worker of a friend of mine just last week had stopped for a red light and had someone run up to his car. He thought this guy was going to ask him if he want to but some drugs but instead he leans over and asks...hey!.. you want to buy some movies

That's always the way isn't it ? You hope to score some good shit and someone merely offers you shit

[JEEPn]