In India, almost all movies are available on the internet on the same day of their release. The available movies are of camera print (cam rip) quality, which are recorded from camcorders, from the theater where the movie airs.
This is a big issue and makes me wonder as to why the tech giants didn't invent a solution for it.
Is there any company working on such an issue?
Several methods are being researched but aren't at a delivery phase yet.
Here's two or three...
Researchers have been trying to develop effective ways to jam a camera for years, says Edward Delp, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University. A number of companies, including Philips, Thomson, and Apogen Technologies, as well as a handful of universities, have been working on projects and prototypes.
To locate a camera, the researchers exploited a component of many digital cameras and camcorders: the charge-coupled device (CCD) that converts light collected by a camera’s lens into an image stored in its memory. Because of its shape, a CCD is retro-reflective, meaning it reflects incoming light back out at the same angle. Taking advantage of this, the Georgia Tech device shines infrared LED light, which is invisible to the human eye, at a distance of about 20 feet, then collects video of these reflections with a camcorder, Abowd explains. Then the video of the reflections is transferred to a computer, where it’s sent through image-processing algorithms that pick out infrared light bouncing back. And to decrease the chances of false positives – infrared light reflecting off other objects, such as eyeglasses and earrings – the researchers added image-processing algorithms that account for the specific shape of the CCD reflections and those of other objects.
In the second step, to block the camera from taking pictures, the device uses a projector that emits a narrow beam of white light directly at a CCD. The beam saturates the CCD with varying intensities of light, Abowd says, forcing the camera’s electronics to constantly adjust, and ultimately producing large white splotches that cover about one-third of the recorded scene. The result: a low-quality, if not worthless, recording or photograph.
Paris-based Thomson, which provides technology to the entertainment and media industry, is exploring methods for thwarting at least one type of bootlegger: the covert camcorder user. The company’s technique involves inserting “artifacts” – extra frames, flashes of light, or pixelated grid patterns – into a movie during its digital-processing phase, before it’s shipped to theatres. The goal is to mar a camcorder recording without degrading the images moviegoers see.
The artifacts exploit the differences in the way a human brain and a camcorder receive images. In the technique that’s furthest along, extra frames – with the words “illegal copy,” for instance – are inserted into the film. These warning words flicker by at a frequency too fast for the human brain to process – yet they appear in a camcorder recording.
This difference is possible because movies are projected as a series of still shots. Film projectors flash 48 images per second (24 frames are collected each second, but each frame is flashed twice) and high-end digital projectors can flash even more, according to Thomson researchers. The limit for human visual processing is around 45 flashes per second; above that, a flickering image appears continuous. Furthermore, camcorders do not average frames, as eyes and brains do. Instead, they’re sampling devices that take a series of snapshots – collecting many more frames per second than our visual systems. Hence, frames that eyes would miss show up in a camcorder recording – and are reproduced on a video screen when the recording is played.
Digital Watermarks
The watermarks inserted should prevent privacy and are added to movies and series that are distributed amongst press and trade press that often get viewings of content before the general public. To get early access they need to sign a contract and when there’s a leak nevertheless, the watermarks of Civolution are able to easily identify the source.
The watermarks are invisible and unnoticeable and added to the video and audio of movies. This way the watermark can always be detected no matter how much movie pirates change the movie.
