Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: D Cinema Projector Heist

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Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-06-2015, 05:59 PM:

Seems the entire shipment of Barco and Doremi kit (121 units) for Brazil was stolen a few days back out of a warehouse in Rio.

Joke will ultimately be on the "masterminds".

http://celluloidjunkie.com/2015/02/02/quanta-dgt-suffers-major-digital-cinema-equipment-heist/#sthash.E8WndDqF.dpuf

"More than 120 screens worth of digital cinema equipment was stolen from at least one, possibly two, warehouses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil over the weekend, delivering a setback to the country’s ongoing digital conversion. The incident highlights the precautions taken by the motion picture industry took when adopting digital projection technology to safeguard against devices falling into the wrong hands.

Quanta DGT, a leading Latin American integrator in the midst of deploying the equipment, estimates its value at BRL R$24.54 million (USD $9 million). [Full Disclosure: I have had a past, though not current, professional relationship with Telem, a partner in Quanta DGT.] News of the heist began to circulate on Monday afternoon, with initial reports being published (naturally) in Portuguese. Details have been sketchy and thus some of what we have to pass along is purely speculative.

The stolen equipment had been prepped for installation and loaded onto trucks for transport to cinemas beginning this week. This only managed to make it easier for thieves to make off with the kit, since each auditoriums devices had been packaged together on palettes. The stolen equipment includes, though is not limited to, Barco projectors with their pedestals and lenses, Doremi servers, Dolby CP750 audio processors, automation systems, universal power supplies, Multivac hoods and even theatre management systems.

It is unclear how many facilities were involved in the burglary. One report has thieves striking a single warehouse and another has them hitting two warehouses on opposite sides of the city. The perpetrators manage to disable and/or stole the on-site security equipment. Adding insult to injury, they probably used the facility’s own forklifts to move equipment into their own getaway vehicles.

Obviously, walking off with such a large amount of heavy digital cinema equipment could not be done easily, quickly or without a modicum of planning. Because the investigation is ongoing, Rio de Janeiro police aren’t naming potential suspects or divulging any leads. One thought is that whoever pulled off the heist had to know about the existence of the equipment and what was required to haul it away, not to mention have access to such resources. The customs expediters and logistics transport service provider comes to mind. Again, this is speculation.

On January 20th Suzana Lobo, the Quanta DGT operations director, told Oeditor the company was working with three logistics carriers.

Whoever stole the equipment likely knew very little about digital cinema. Such equipment must adhere to security standards that enable manufactures and distributors to place stolen devices on a blacklist. All of the equipment has serial numbers and most have security certificates that will now not be included in the trusted device lists that get circulated throughout the industry. This in turn means distributors and mastering houses will never make a key delivery message (KDM) for such equipment, crippling its use for encrypted content. Of course, that only goes for law biding entities and certainly all of the films coming out of Hollywood studios.

The thieves who conducted this heist may soon discover they are the proud owners of some very expensive, heavy and cumbersome high tech gear that is near worthless. There is a slight chance it could hold some small value on the black market for anyone hoping to use it for non-encrypted content.

As for Quanta DGT, the burglary puts a crimp in their current deployment of digital cinema across roughly 600 screens throughout Brazil. The country’s rollout was already behind schedule and the heist is another obstacle the company must overcome to meet a May 31st deadline associated with studio virtual print fee (VPF) deals.

Luiz Fernando Morau, the head of business development for Quanta DGT, reported this deadline would be extended for the ten exhibitors affected by the burglary. In the meantime, the equipment was insured, which should limit the company’s monetary damage.

A list of serial numbers for the stolen devices will be published shortly so that any equipment appearing on the market can be cross checked. “What we have to do now is let all national and international exhibitors know what occurred, so they can avoid purchasing stolen equipment in good faith,” Morau explained. Those purchasing new or used d-cinema equipment, especially from unknown sources, should be certain to inspect chain-of-title and verify valid serial numbers with manufacturers."

- See more at: http://celluloidjunkie.com/2015/02/02/quanta-dgt-suffers-major-digital-cinema-equipment-heist/#sthash.E8WndDqF.dpuf

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 02-06-2015, 06:39 PM:

Well... somehow this whole heist sounds like a stupid idea. Because, what's the street value of stolen digital cinema gear? I guess all the serial numbers of the stolen equipment are accounted for? Won't they turn up somewhere rather soonish?

What else could you do with all this equipment? Take it apart and sell it as spare parts? That's a hell of a lot of spare parts you got there...

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-06-2015, 07:09 PM:

I imagine the perps will try and sell them back to the bank or insurance company. Just a wild guess from watching too many movies.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-06-2015, 07:44 PM:

Unless they're monumentally stupid, they certainly can't sell this stuff to any legitimate end users - they've effectively got the equivalent of stolen artworks or jewelry (only much bigger and heavier). The minute these projectors and servers need a software update or replacement part, Dolby or Barco will ask for the serial numbers (in Dolby's case, you need the serial number just to register on their customer portal site). At that point, the whereabouts of a stolen item will come to light and it'll simply be a case of tracing who the good faith buyer bought it from.

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-06-2015, 08:25 PM:

Most importantly, how would any of these projectors/servers get registered to play encrypted content?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 02-06-2015, 08:37 PM:

None would, so you are right, if they knew what they stole, they may want to sell it back. Or maybe they were simply after the loaded trucks and did not understand what it was.

- Carsten

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-06-2015, 09:50 PM:

Well, lots of the equipment is usable when parted out.

I've got no idea what the cinema situation is there, or how involved their version of the mob is, but let's say someone wants to open a "cinema" in an underpoliced part of town and sets it up with the stolen equipment. They can, of course, set it up to show blurays and dvd's (legal or bootlegged) and they can find someone to convert a bluray, or even a bit-torrent, to unencrypted DCP.

We know people will watch anything.

Not sure they can do this with 120 units, but we can at least say the stuff is not totally worthless.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-06-2015, 10:01 PM:

So nobody thinks they will try and sell to some unsuspecting people and then once the deal is done simply vanish, leaving the buyers with no way to play encrypted DCPs?

Granted it would be REALLY foolish for someone to buy this stuff, but still, people are stupid.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-06-2015, 10:14 PM:

You can't sell the mediablocks and there would be no warranty on the projectors...but that is a heck of a lot of expensive light engines in the wild plus a bunch of other stuff that KDMs wouldn't stop from working.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-06-2015, 10:18 PM:

Stolen cars get put through chop shops all the time. The same thing probably will happen to these projectors, provided if any of the thieves know what the hell to do with that gear, which they probably do not. Odds are pretty good the thieves will ruin a bunch of that equipment trying to part it out.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 02-07-2015, 04:36 AM:

I can see next Barco sw upgrade checking for engine serial numbers.

"Your light engine may not be genuine" - a warning will pop up every 30 seconds on the screen.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-07-2015, 07:06 AM:

There is now a Crimestopper style "Wanted" poster, with a image of a Barco projector, to contact Rio Police with information...

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-07-2015, 07:37 AM:

I know that Barco light engine serial numbers can't be determined by the Barco software..if it could, one wouldn't need to pull the lens to get it for things like the LUT-SCC file.

I remember a few years back about a lost (or perhaps it was in an accident) truck full of NEC projectors...the insurance company paid off on them and then they started showing up on the black market. NEC would refuse to support those serial numbers. The end users didn't know that they were getting "destroyed" goods, in some cases, at least.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 02-07-2015, 09:57 AM:

quote: Sam D. Chavez
Most importantly, how would any of these projectors/servers get registered to play encrypted content?

Precisely what I was wondering when I first read this story, Sam.

The good news, is that there will apparently still be a market for 35mm
spare parts in Brazil for awhile, due to the 'delay' in digital conversion. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-07-2015, 10:44 AM:

Every drug lord's screening room will be equipped...

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-07-2015, 12:05 PM:

Actually we bought a bunch of those NECs from the insurance company as they recovered most of them and we also got the insurance company to order NEC to warrant them as in the end they insurance company had "bought them" by paying for the loss and as such owned them
The only thing they didnt warrant after a letter from the insurers lawyer was the enigma as it had been unpowered for a year

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 02-07-2015, 12:17 PM:

Couldn't the stolen projectors be set up with legitimately purchased servers (or IMB's)?

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 02-07-2015, 04:15 PM:

quote: Brad Miller
So nobody thinks they will try and sell to some unsuspecting people and then once the deal is done simply vanish, leaving the buyers with no way to play encrypted DCPs?

I'm wondering what kind of cost the unsuspecting buyer would have to pay to legitimize the equipment.

Posted by Ian Freer (Member # 1940) on 02-07-2015, 04:34 PM:

quote: Steve Kraus
Couldn't the stolen projectors be set up with legitimately purchased servers (or IMB's)?

Theoretically, in the first instance, when the site submits their DCRF forms to 'register' the equipment with the distributors, the projectors' serial numbers will be picked up at this point if Barco have passed on that info to Deluxe/Technicolor etc (although this may not be the case for smaller KDM issuers).
So even with a new, legit Server, the projectors should still be able to be 'found' and that screen black-listed or authorities notified etc...

Secondly, (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), it is my understanding that future iteration of KDM's (i.e. full DCI KDM) will eventually include PJ serials/certificates as well as the Server's, (and potentially other ancillary equipment too), so if/when that gets implemented the PJ's will again be no use for encrypted content.

Ian

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 02-07-2015, 04:48 PM:

It's not really the serial numbers that get listed in the KDM's Trusted Device List (TDL), but rather the certificates of those devices.

But yeah, it should be rather easy to correlate those certificates to serials.

Up until now, no major studio has gone so far as to require equipment like projectors and potentially even stuff like sound processors to be added to that list.

quote: Justin Hamaker
I'm wondering what kind of cost the unsuspecting buyer would have to pay to legitimize the equipment.

Worst case? I guess you'll have to buy the same equipment over again. Depending on how you got it, you could hold your supplier responsible for it off course.

In many jurisdictions you could also be held accountable for it, if you could reasonably have known the deal itself was fishy. Buying a brand new projector for a fraction of the market price for example, should raise a few eyebrows.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-07-2015, 08:05 PM:

Not sure about the law here, but in the UK "receiving stolen goods" is definitely an offense. In theory, ignorance is no defense, but in practice the Crown Prosecution Service won't press charges unless they're convinced that either you did so deliberately or could reasonably have been expected to know that your purchase was unlikely to be legit.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 02-07-2015, 09:45 PM:

Leo, that's more or less the standard in the US - at least in California.

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 02-07-2015, 10:08 PM:

Sell them to NORTH KOREA; They don't care if it's stolen or Not. They even had the same Printing Machines the US Mint had several years back and were printing almost Perfect U.S. 100 dollar bills. Only got detected through S.N.'s being used over multible times... [Confused]

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 02-08-2015, 08:35 AM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
Not sure about the law here, but in the UK "receiving stolen goods" is definitely an offense. In theory, ignorance is no defense, but in practice the Crown Prosecution Service won't press charges unless they're convinced that either you did so deliberately or could reasonably have been expected to know that your purchase was unlikely to be legit.

Even if they do not press charges against you, usually you will lose the stolen equipment though and the only way to get compensation for it is by claiming it from those who sold it to you. Depending on how legitimate they are and how deep into trouble they are already, it's often, unfortunately, a lost cause.

If you encounter a too-good-to-be-true deal, you should check with the manufacturer if possible, if this is a tarnished item. I once was offered a bunch of digital projectors (non-DCI equipment in this case) that were way to cheap, they turned out to be not-for-resale demo items, removed from someones lab.

quote: Steve Matz
They even had the same Printing Machines the US Mint had several years back and were printing almost Perfect U.S. 100 dollar bills. Only got detected through S.N.'s being used over multible times...

For a currency so universally used, it's rather surprising they only recently started to outfit dollar bills with somewhat modern security features. It's almost as if they were oblivious to the massive amounts of counterfeited money already in circulation.

Also, I guess when there is one entity that would be able to print almost perfectly looking counterfeit money of almost any kind, it's a rogue state themselves. They can easily put the people that put the security features into their own money on the job, so they know what to look for and how to produce it on a mass scale. Reusing serial numbers somehow sounds like a rather foolish mistake. Sure, you probably won't be able to avoid S/N collisions with money already out there, but at least you should be able to ensure your own batches are unique...