Pirate "cam" copies of movies may one day be a thing of the past, thanks to a new Philips patent

[Matsuda]

Content creators and cinemas have tried everything from piracy-busting patrols to embedded watermarks, but nothing seems to be making a dent in film piracy.

 

So-called "cam" copies of new films often appear online a week or two after public release in cinemas, and far sooner than official DVD or Blu-Ray copies hit the market. Those who do not want to see the movie in theatre can then download these movies for free through torrent software, albeit illegally.
 

As they are recorded in cinema, the quality is generally poor, especially in comparison to true copies of the film due to rustling, poorly-captured video and audio, as well as the occasional person leaving their seat obstructing the view.
 

Despite the drawbacks of cam copies, downloading and sharing remains popular. However, Philips hopes that a new solution will stop cams being recorded in the first place, a technology likely to appeal to content creators and cinemas alike.
 

According to a patent application submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by the tech giant, the invention uses ambient lighting to hinder films being recorded illegally in cinemas.
 

The technology utilizes liquid crystals to clutter video frames with noise, objects, and shading. In addition, a light would be shone at a certain frequency which runs out of sync with the movie content, and so any illegal recordings will contain stripes, rendering the recording unusable.
 

While the lighting would not obscure the viewing quality as long as people are watching through synchronized polarized active shutter glasses -- similar to glasses used in 3D cinemas -- which filter out these objects, if a camcorder attempts to record the screen, the footage itself will be obscured.
 

"The glasses should be able to filter out the noise or other images so that people wearing the glasses see the main content," the patent reads. "In contrast, camcorders trained on the screen or people not wearing the glasses should see the video in obscured form."

 

This would require cinema visitors to wear glasses to watch films, but the patent goes further. Philips also describes another form of the invention which would also potentially stop the unauthorized viewing of pay-per-view events.
 

Even if events have been purchased legally, the company says, cable providers may want to "limit how many people are authorized to gather around the television and watch the event," and so using the same kind of technology could -- eventually -- enforce content restrictions in the home.
 

This is not the first time Philips has developed technology aimed at reducing piracy. Back in 2012, the company rolled out CineFence, forensic marking technology which allows image and audio files to be tracked, even when compressed for release online.

 

Source

[steven36]

The thing is  i look for  there not too be a big demand  for Cams  soon anymore . There  going too start renting movies on demand 30-45 days after their opening in cinemas.  And  the scene and p2p already rips the shit out of anything on Apple and Amazon.  No DRM  can detect hardware  caping .

http://www.darkhorizons.com/premium-vod-targets-new-year-launch/

 

I dont like cams no way  and wish people would stop risking there butt too release crappy copies that are not worth watching

[IronY-Man]

37 minutes ago, steven36 said:

The thing is  i look for  there not too be a big demand  for Cams  soon anymore . There  going too start renting movies on demand 30-45 days after their opening in cinemas.  And  the scene and p2p already rips the shit out of anything on Apple and Amazon.  No DRM  can detect hardware  caping .

http://www.darkhorizons.com/premium-vod-targets-new-year-launch/

 

I dont like cams no way  and wish people would stop risking there butt too release crappy copies that are not worth watching

and if cams dont work then thanks to Chinese and Korean releases for those almost WEB-DL copies with hardcoded subs.....the thing is that for real impatient ones !! ....I think this early-VOD,Screening Room and other options soon gonna render those options obsolete .

[WALLONN7]

And there comes some kind of DENUVO: camera version!!!

These people do not seem to understand: the more they create bonds for people, the more people seek for new ways of breaking them!!!

[LeeSmithG]

I recently downloaded a film, that I thought was a trailer at first.

I burned it to disk and put it in the Blu-ray player.

I then realised by the time, it was two (2) hours and twenty (20) minutes.

The quality was very good, apart from the coughing, munching on pop-corn and getting up to leave or use the toilet.

Quality was very high, I believe someone had set up a small stand with a high definition camcorder.

 

So with that in mind piracy of films cannot really be stopped.

 

 

[flash48]

I am certain someone will sell a filter for the cam which will filter out the noise.

[straycat19]

1 hour ago, flash48 said:

I am certain someone will sell a filter for the cam which will filter out the noise.

 

Exactly.  If glasses correct the added noise then a camera filter will do the same thing.  I have a complete set of Cokin filters that do amazing things on a camera of any type.  A filter made out of a glass lens would be no different.

 

[UpGrade]

18 hours ago, Matsuda said:

Even if events have been purchased legally, the company says, cable providers may want to "limit how many people are authorized to gather around the television and watch the event," and so using the same kind of technology could — eventually — enforce content restrictions in the home.

Source

Isit just me that got really mad reading that ?

so if i did by chance pay for something i cant invite friends or family to come and watch it with me WTF?

If this ever happens ill make a resistance lol

 

seriously though wow

[pc71520]

I have Never liked the CAM-copies of Films.

[Mikeypr]

So the viewers will have to watch the film through a synchronised film?

 

For heavens sake, even watching a film using passive glasses is bad enough.

 

It's a case of making the innocent, pay the price instead of the guilty.

[luisam]

I wouldn't like to go to a movie to watch it through a glass just because Phillips wants to impose a trick to avoid cam copies. I don't even like 3D glasses. It's CRAZY, PARANOIC! Or maybe simply, STUPID!

And what kind of a TV or a PLAYER might have a counter to check how many people are watching the movie? Another paranoic idea. I guess that the bugs in a device like that will overcome any possible success trying to impose it. Do you remember the disaster of copy-protected CDs of SONY?

They should just leave those horrible cam copies alone and let movie security people deal with it. Personally, I never would spend my time downloading and watching a cam-copy.

[ck_kent]

The last time I watched a cam copy was during the betamax & VHS days.

[thunderpants]

what about people who wear glasses

 

[GateMate]

Never waste my time with Cam rips. If i really want to watch something i will wait for the WEB-DL