Info about the movie pixels

CAM

A cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini



tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible, so



the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn’t always idle, and it



might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to tell



unless there’s text on the screen, but a lot of times these are left with



triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound is taken from



the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in comedies, laughter



can often be heard during the film. Due to these factors picture and sound



quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes we’re lucky, and the theater



will be fairly empty and a fairly clear signal will be heard.

 

TELESYNC (TS)

A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio source



(most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people). A



direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio source, as a lot of



background noise can interfere. A lot of the times a telesync is filmed in



an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera,



giving a better picture quality. Quality ranges drastically, check the



sample before downloading the full release. A high percentage of Telesyncs



are CAMs that have been mislabeled.

 

TELECINE (TC)

A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and



picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost



telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect



ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is the JURASSIC



PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with TimeCode , which is



a visible counter on screen throughout the film

 

SCREENER (SCR)

A pre VHS tape, sent to rental stores, and various other places for



promotional use. A screener is supplied on a VHS tape, and is usually in a



4:3 (full screen) a/r, although letterboxed screeners are sometimes found.



The main draw back is a “ticker” (a message that scrolls past at the bottom



of the screen, with the copyright and anti-copy telephone number). Also, if



the tape contains any serial numbers, or any other markings that could lead



to the source of the tape, these will have to be blocked, usually with a



black mark over the section. This is sometimes only for a few seconds, but



unfortunately on some copies this will last for the entire film, and some



can be quite big. Depending on the equipment used, screener quality can



range from excellent if done from a MASTER copy, to very poor if done on an



old VHS recorder thru poor capture equipment on a copied tape. Most



screeners are transferred to VCD, but a few attempts at SVCD have occurred,



some looking better than others.

 

DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr)

Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox ,



but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not



usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has



any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or



DivX/XviD.

 

DVDRip

A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail



(for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality.



DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.

 

VHSRip

Transferred off a retail VHS, mainly skating/sports videos and XXX releases.





 

TVRip

TV episode that is either from Network (capped using digital cable/satellite



boxes are preferable) or PRE-AIR from satellite feeds sending the program



around to networks a few days earlier (do not contain “dogs” but sometimes



have flickers etc) Some programs such as WWF Raw Is War contain extra parts,



and the “dark matches” and camera/commentary tests are included on the rips.



PDTV is capped from a digital TV PCI card, generally giving the best



results, and groups tend to release in SVCD for these. VCD/SVCD/DivX/XviD



rips are all supported by the TV scene.

 

WORKPRINT (WP)

A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be



missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very poor.



Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is missing



all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can contain extra



scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions to the collection



once a good quality final has been obtained.

 

DivX Re-Enc

A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD source,



and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on file sharers,



these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(1of2) etc. Common



groups are SMR and TND. These aren’t really worth downloading, unless you’re



that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb copy of it. Generally avoid.

 

Watermarks

A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are tagged



by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a little logo,



generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the “Z” “A” and “Globe”



watermarks.

 

Asian Silvers / PDVD

These are films put out by eastern bootleggers, and these are usually bought



by some groups to put out as their own. Silvers are very cheap and easily



available.

 

R5

R5 refers to a specific format of DVD released in DVD Region 5, the former



Soviet Union, and bootlegged copies of these releases that are distributed



on the Internet. In an effort to compete with movie piracy, the movie



industry chose to create a new format for DVD releases that could be



produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional DVD releases. R5



releases differ from normal releases in that they are a direct Telecine



transfer of the film without any of the image processing common on DVD



releases, and without any special features. This allows the film to be



released for sale at the same time that DVD Screeners are released. Since



DVD Screeners are the chief source of high-quality pirated movies, this



allows the movie studios to beat the pirates to market. In some cases, R5



DVDs may be released without an English audio track, requiring pirates to



use the direct line audio from the film’s theatrical release. In this case,



the pirated release is tagged with “.LINE” to distinguish it from a release



with a DVD audio track.

 

The image quality of an R5 release is generally comparable to a DVD Screener



release, except without the added scrolling text and black and white scenes



that serve to distinguish screeners from commercial DVD releases. The



quality is better than Telecine transfers produced by movie pirates because



the transfer is performed usingprofessional-grade film scanning equipment.

 

Because there is no scene release standard for pirated R5 releases, they



were variably tagged as Telecines, DVD Screeners, or even DVD rips. In late



2006, several release groups such as DREAMLiGHT, mVs, and PUKKA began



tagging R5 releases with “.R5″ or r5 line (the line meaning it has



direct english line audio) and suggesting that other groups do the same.

 

VCD

VCD is an mpeg1 based format, with a constant bitrate of 1150kbit at a



resolution of 352×240 (NTCS). VCDs are generally used for lower quality



transfers (CAM/TS/TC/Screener(VHS)/TVrip(analogue) in order to make smaller



file sizes, and fit as much on a single disc as possible. Both VCDs and



SVCDs are timed in minutes, rather than MB, so when looking at an mpeg, it



may appear larger than the disc capacity, and in reality u can fit 74min on



a CDR74.

 

SVCD

SVCD is an mpeg2 based (same as DVD) which allows variable bit-rates of up



to 2500kbits at a resolution of 480×480 (NTSC) which is then decompressed



into a 4:3 aspect ratio when played back. Due to the variable bit-rate, the



length you can fit on a single CDR is not fixed, but generally between 35-60



Mins are the most common. To get a better SVCD encode using variable bit-



rates, it is important to use multiple “passes”. this takes a lot longer,



but the results are far clearer.

 

XVCD/XSVCD

These are basically VCD/SVCD that don’t obey the “rules”. They are both



capable of much higher resolutions and bit-rates, but it all depends on the



player to whether the disc can be played. X(S)VCD are total non-standards,



and are usually for home-ripping by people who don’t intend to release them.





 

DivX / XviD

XviD & DivX are the most commonly encoded movies. DivX used to be the



most popular, until it went from open source to a corporation that bought



the rights & started charging for it (although the crack can easily be



obtained for the DivX encoder, most people have switched to XviD, not only



because it is open source, but also because it is superior in many ways). In



the last year or so, many stand-alone DVD players have been released that



are capable of playing DivX/XviD movies (even on CDRs), which has made this



the most popular form of encoding. The majority of XviD/DivX rips are taken



from DVDs, and are generally in as good quality as possible that can fit on



one 700MB CDR disc, which is why most XviD/DivX movies are almost exactly



700MB, so they can be burnt onto a CDR & played in these new DVD players



(which can be purchased just about anywhere for as little as $30-$40 USD).



Various codecs exist, the most popular at the moment being the new XviD 1.2



codec. DivX encoded movies will definitely play on these new DVD players,



& it only takes a little simple tweaking by the ripper to ensure XviDs



will play on them as well, but it is therefore not guaranteed.  

x264

x264 is a free software library for encoding H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video streams.



 

 

CVD

CVD is a combination of VCD and SVCD formats, and is generally supported by



a majority of DVD players. It supports MPEG2 bit-rates of SVCD, but uses a



resolution of 352×480(ntsc) as the horizontal resolution is generally less



important. Currently no groups release in CVD.

 

DVD-R

Is the recordable DVD solution that seems to be the most popular (out of



DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD+R). it holds 4.7gb of data per side, and double sided



discs are available, so discs can hold nearly 10gb in some circumstances.



SVCD mpeg2 images must be converted before they can be burnt to DVD-R and



played successfully. DVD>DVDR copies are possible, but sometimes



extras/languages have to be removed to stick within the available 4.7gb.

 

MiniDVD

MiniDVD/cDVD is the same format as DVD but on a standard CDR/CDRW. Because



of the high resolution/bit-rates, its only possible to fit about 18-21 mins



of footage per disc, and the format is only compatible with a few players.

 

Most Commonly Involves Display Resolutions Of 1,280×720 Pixels (720p) or



1,920×1,080 Pixels (1080i/1080p).