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Author Topic: New Anti-Piracy coding Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-04-2008 01:11 AM                     Can certainly say that I've not seen or heard anything like what Marco or Max have shown in those pics.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-04-2008 02:47 AM                        how about turning off the analog led during the course of the movie. a 1/4 second silence during the dropout would probably be better than the beep (and defeat its purpose). assuming the digital track is sound in general.  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 03-04-2008 06:53 AM                     Watching 'The Bucket List' tonight, I swore I heard the farting noise described, so a possible confirmation.  |  IP: Logged Richard M. Garbarini Film Handler Posts: 6 From: New York, NY, USA Registered: Feb 2008 posted 03-04-2008 08:15 AM                        I can explain the process a little better. This method (analog bar code) must force the film to the analog to be effective. The "farting" noises (which I was unaware of) are the code, which will be transferred when the movie is pirated with a cam corder. Each print, either by laser or in the printing method, scares the other tracks forcing the analog to be used.  |  IP: Logged Max Biela Film Handler Posts: 89 From: Dortmund, Germany Registered: Sep 2003 posted 03-04-2008 08:28 AM                     There were a few different systems in use over the last few years: 1) a simple number scratched into the picture area (one frame, the last movie was Spiderman 1 I think). It's simple, not as distracting as dots appearing every few frames but easy to remove since it was only necessary to remove ONE frame. 2) The original CAP code by Kodak (small brown dots). Nearly invisible but difficult to find in a pirated copy (see older topics). 3) An updated version of the CAP code with big orange dots in one reel of the movie (used by Deluxe) 4) Noise scratched into the analogue soundtrack, at the same time the SR*D track is removed from 6-8 frames. This was done by the German company "EFS". I think there is a subdivision in the UK as well? Since most movies are released with 300-500 prints in Germany it was possible to scratch every single print by hand. The strange thing about it is that it works only in SR*D. Both DTS and SDDS are unaffected. I've seen this kind of mark on a print of "xXx" (SRD/DTS/SDDS) and SDDS was playing just fine as only one of the tracks was removed (->short DCM). Shortly after the release of "xXx" most studios stopped using DTS in Germany so nearly all prints were SRD only, (Sonys prints had a SRD SDDS track). "Chicken Little", like most movies had a timecode but there were no discs available. Recently most studios started releasing in DTS again. As mentioned above the DTS track contains "clicks" as well. I don't know how this is done but I think it has to do with the 1.46 firmware update. SDDS is the only soundtrack that's unaffected by anti-piracy codes, however Sony Pictures is the only distributor printing SDDS in Germany. 5) Technicolors system was developed after the release of "Chicken Little" but is based on the same "technology": reverting to SR and playing a noise instead. However it's much more distracting since it "bleeps" rather than "clicks" up to 10 (!!!) times a reel. I could try to record it if it would be possible to upload the mp3 onto the FT server.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-04-2008 11:56 AM                    What are the DTS clicks supposed to identify? The serial number of the unit maybe? And how does the player know when to play the clicks? Is there a special trigger code on the DTS track (time code on the film or in the audio files themselves) that kicks it off, or is it random? And by the way, your battle isn't lost yet, Marco.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-04-2008 12:12 PM                     I sent to Brad a short clip of "deja vu" from an Italian link. What you can hear is from SR and does not show SRD revertion. Recently the "buzz" has been less noticeable, but unacceptable to me. This way, next CAP will mute the audio and a female voice will say "This is copy number 125 - this is copy number 125" I don't really know how DTS coding works. I suppose that a print copy number is enclosed in each print's timecode and that DTS is able to create a tone different from each copy. Seems sci-fi for a 1996 DOS-based device I have a monitor connected to my 6D and does not show anything about piracy. Ciao Marco  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-04-2008 12:12 PM                     Here is the mp3 clip.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-04-2008 06:47 PM                     What do you think about it?  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-05-2008 04:31 AM                        You have got to be effin kiddin me! First off, whereas the lab has to put that garbage in thousands of prints, even the most innept of bootlegers only needs to edit out the noises once, and THEN make his ten thousand DVD copies, sans the farts. Are these MPAA suits out of their freakin minds? A crap code has got to be INAUDIBLE and INVISIBLE so the pirate doesn't know where they are; make them obvious like this abortion and he's got his video editor on line and just cutting away. Do they really think mutilating the presentation is going to stop ANYTHING....especially off-the-screen copies? May they all find red hot pepper juice in their condoms.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-05-2008 07:47 AM                    I think that since it's so easy to hear it, this sound is very easy for pirates to defeat. If nothing else, when you're friendly neighborhood pirate is putting the movie together in his favorite DVD authoring program, all he has to do is cut out those frames that contain the fart noise and blend the audio over that cut. His customers will never know a thing. He could also just blank the audio over those frames. The people who buy his product are not expecting world class quality videos anyway. I think this is a horribly stupid idea given that the only people who are being inconvenienced by this noise are the people who actually legitimately paid to see the movie. I'm all for putting noises on there that can be picked up by the video camera, and reproduced in the video, if they aren't audible to the human ears. I don't know if that's possible though. Or even make a noise that is inaudible to the ears, but is picked up on the cameras and ruins the quality. That would be awesome if they could come up with a way to do that. [ 03-05-2008, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: Mark J. Marshall ]  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 03-05-2008 08:24 AM                     Yep, thats it, its in Australia alright, not my cinema, but guessing a Deluxe or Atlab print.  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-05-2008 08:59 AM                     What utter nonsense! For a group of perfectionists as we all here are, the idea of opaque tape splices is intolerable. What do we think of this latest anti enjoyment scheme? NUTS! The print in Max's photo is obviously manually mutilated. This could be done to individual prints on an individual basis. That print could be tracked to the projecting theatre. Marco's photo has a lab inserted code that would require a different sound negative for each print. This would be hard if not impossible to trace to the individual screen from which the video was pirated as all prints would be similarly coded. I'm afraid that the industry is dumbing down the theatre experience to the point that no one will want to participate. Just look at the number of negative things you can pay good money to experience at the cinema. KEN  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 03-05-2008 03:18 PM                     Just listened to the MP3. If you mean the short burst of 'square wave' about 3/4 of the way through, that's exactly the noise I often hear when watching a movie now! I think it also depends on the ambient noise of the scene into which the code is inserted. Insert it into a scene with lots of shouting and explosions on the soundtrack, and you're less likely to notice it. Insert it into a quiet scene with gentle speech (like on the MP3), and it's very noticeable! First the CAP dots flashing on the frames, which contrary to popular belief are VERY noticeable (even if you do it at a camera cut), and now this... Regarding inserting stuff that is inaudible to the human ear but picked up on microphones, I'm sure there will soon be systems that do that. There are certainly systems that distort the picture on camcorder copies, either by projecting a digital interference pattern or flashing IR lamps behind the screen, not sure about audio though.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-05-2008 06:38 PM                     I got an e-mail fomr a friend of the guy in GErmany whom invented this system. And to answer his question here I have yet to see it on a print... I repair not project.....  |  IP: Logged

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