[url]http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-oscar-movie-screeners-flood-torrent-sites-150108/[/url]
[quote]
An unprecedented fast flood of leaked 'screener' copies of movies has hit torrent sites ahead of the official Oscar nominations announcement later this month. The latest Hobbit installment is proving most popular with over 500K downloads in the first 24 hours. None of the movies comes from a traditional 'scene' source.
While some pirates are content with downloading and viewing so-called ‘cam’ releases of the latest movies, few will be happy with the quality. Movies recorded surreptitiously in cinemas with home-made rigs can produce reasonable results but nothing beats the sparkle of a digital copy.
Filling that gap are DVD screeners, the advance copies of recent movies sent out to critics and awards voters. Often in DVD format (but now also in Blu-ray), these high quality releases are much sought after online and as a result are subjected to intense security by the studios sending them out.
But despite all the efforts, leaks always happen. Every year copies of DVD screeners (identified by the term DVDSCR) turn up on torrent sites and are downloaded in huge numbers. December and January are the key months for leaks and yesterday downloaders hit the jackpot.
Over the past 24 hours copies of at least nine big movies leaked online in decent quality, all apparently sourced from industry DVD screeners.
Finally, it’s worth highlighting how these titles appeared online. For years one of the most popular routes was via the “[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warez_scene"]The Scene[/URL]” but in common with more recent times, yesterday’s DVD screeners hit the Internet via P2P/BitTorrent suppliers. These upstarts continue to [URL="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-releasers-slice-the-top-off-movie-piracy-pyramid-100727/"]slice the top off[/URL] the so-called ‘piracy pyramid’.
According to TorrentFreak sources who asked to remain anonymous, the nine movies came from three different sources. One accounted for the Hobbit and another Big Hero 6. The remaining seven all came from a single source. The encoding on these is described as “choppy” suggesting the leaker may not be an experienced pirate.
Update: More screeners have leaked including The Gambler, Inherent Vice, A Most Violent Year and Kill The Messenger.[/quote]
Basically every big movie being considered for an Oscar has had a screener leak this week. Normally, screeners show up around this time of year, but this is an unprecedented bonanza. Somebody on the screener mailing list is just dumping everything they get onto the internet.
Studios will be pissed.
When aren't studios pissed, though.
[QUOTE=Robman8908;46888599]When aren't studios pissed, though.[/QUOTE]
True, but I think they see big screener leaks a bit differently. They bitch about all piracy, but post-DVD release sharing is just a fact of life, like friend-to-friend VHS taping back in the day. Screeners coming out while movies are currently in theaters are a different story. Then, it's not choosing between paying shittons of money to watch a flawless copy in the theater versus watching a shitty cam copy at home. It's "Watch a flawless copy and pay shitloads, or watch a great copy at home".
I think they see that as a direct and grave threat to theater ticket sales. As if skyrocketing ticket prices and shitty movies weren't doing that already...
I don't know about you guys, but I think a lot of ways that movie studios could make less people download these screeners is by releasing the movie earlier in other countries. I understand a delay to dub and adapt the movie, but there are some delays which are just impossible to understand.
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;46888614]I don't know about you guys, but I think a lot of ways that movie studios could make less people download these screeners is by releasing the movie earlier in other countries. I understand a delay to dub and adapt the movie, but there are some delays which are just impossible to understand.[/QUOTE]
The post-theater release delay is just about the only thing keeping theaters alive anymore.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;46888652]The post-theater release delay is just about the only thing keeping theaters alive anymore.[/QUOTE]
Seems like it's working against them, at least over here in Brazil.
I mean, I'm avoiding these screeners like the plague. I wanna watch Birdman and Whiplash and all these movies on the big screen. But it gets harder to defend my attitude when pretty much everyone else gets to watch it before me and in the comfort of their homes.
The only reason I go to theaters anymore is because of the experience of grabbing some popcorn and a drink and being wowed alongside a bunch of other people. If someone walked up to me and said 'I can give you a screener copy of Avengers 2 right now', I'd still choose the theater experience. But if someone said the same thing to me regarding, say, a much (relatively) smaller movie like Whiplash, which will not get the attention of a big budget release here in Brazil, I would have a much harder time defending my viewpoint. "So, you want to waste money just so you can watch it on a big screen and with a bunch of other people who could enhance or ruin your experience?"
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;46888667]Seems like it's working against them, at least over here in Brazil.
I mean, I'm avoiding these screeners like the plague. I wanna watch Birdman and Whiplash and all these movies on the big screen. But it gets harder to defend my attitude when pretty much everyone else gets to watch it before me and in the comfort of their homes.
The only reason I go to theaters anymore is because of the experience of grabbing some popcorn and a drink and being wowed. If someone walked up to me and said 'I can give you a screener copy of Avengers 2 right now', I'd still choose the theater experience. But if someone said the same thing to me regarding, say, a much (relatively) smaller movie like Whiplash, which will not get the attention of a big budget release here in Brazil, I would have a much harder time defending my viewpoint. "So, you want to waste money just so you can watch it on a big screen and with a bunch of other people who could enhance or ruin your experience?"[/QUOTE]
It's just too expensive and inconvenient for me to justify going very often. I save it for the big damn movies that I HAVE to see on a huge screen. Interstellar. Star Wars. Avengers. The kind of thing that is absolutely ruined by watching a shit copy.
Look at this shit. I wait 4 months for Whiplash and it only comes out in six theaters throughout my city- one of the biggest in Brazil. And one of them is a fancy pantsy movie theater where you pay even more for additional comfort- and that's the closest one to my home.
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;46888667]The only reason I go to theaters anymore is because of the experience of grabbing some popcorn and a drink and being wowed alongside a bunch of other people.[/QUOTE]
And this is exactly why I practically never go to theaters anymore. Generally the seats are alright, but everything else is terrible. Disgusting greasy [del]popcorn[/del], I mean salt, covered in a synthetic oil that faintly resembles a butter like substance, and then the talking, cell phones, and children screaming. Hell, a few months ago people were having sex in front of me.
Fuck theaters.
Time to download some mo- I mean Linux distros.
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