Movie Theaters Thwarting Pirates With IR Light?

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It looks like Japan's National Institute of Informatics has come up with a way of thwarting movie pirates using infrared light. The idea is actually so simple that you wonder why no one has thought of it before.

By placing mega IR lights behind the screen (which are invisible to the human eye, of course), the light can tunnel through tiny holes that are already in screens for the passage of sound. The result is a wash of light protruding from the screen, ruining camcorder footage.
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This is a great idea, though it makes me wonder whether it will lead to the development of IR filters or non-IR detecting CCDs.
 
Handycam movie copies always looked like shit anyway. But still, its a good idea.

Too bad it isn't likely to make a huge dent in the whole piracy mess.
 
People actually watch movies that are pirated this way?

I mean, you'd have to be a serious cheap ass or a cheap ass super ultra mega fan of whatever movie it is .
 
I've heard from a friend that it is a great way to preview a movie to see if it sucks or not. 8/10 they suck and would have wasted his money on rental or purchase.
 
djBon2112 said:
This is a great idea, though it makes me wonder whether it will lead to the development of IR filters or non-IR detecting CCDs.
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You mean like these: http://www.maxmax.com/aXNiteFilters.htm Of course the difficulty is making a sharp filter that passes visible while filtering all IR. With bright enough IR lights, even with an IR filter, you screen could be washed out. CCDs are actually more sensitive to IR light than visible light and most cameras already have built in IR filters. Even with these filters, you can easily see the IR LED from a TV remote.
 
riot8ap said:
I've heard from a friend that it is a great way to preview a movie to see if it sucks or not. 8/10 they suck and would have wasted his money on rental or purchase.
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That's what trailers are for. Case in point, GI. Joe. Despite being a rabid child of the 80's, I could immediately see from the trailer that it was teeny bopper garbage.
 
Umm... yea just get an IR filter its easy to buy OR make your self. We use them all the time to cancel out range finding equipment and or remotes. Waste of time and money for the movie industry lol. If they just stoped trying to "Thwart" pirates they could use all that money the would save to make GOOD MOVIES!!!! roflmao.
 
riot8ap said:
I've heard from a friend that it is a great way to preview a movie to see if it sucks or not. 8/10 they suck and would have wasted his money on rental or purchase.
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You mean like movie reviews. I heard from a friend that when you hear from a bunch of other people that a movie sucks that is a great way to see if it sucks or not. 8/10 they suck and would have wasted his money on rental or purchase.

I also heard your way is just an excuse to pirate.
 
Just release the movies simultaneously at the theater on cable/satellite and DVD/Blu-ray the same day.
 
movie reviews are almost ALWAYS wrong and priviews/trailers can't tell you if a move is worth crap. The last transformers was a perfict example the movie trailers made the movie look awsome but the movie sucked so yea....
 
Dynamite idea. So simple, and a fun way to combat what is a bunch of lame people making lame recordings of lame movies.
 
Dende said:
Umm... yea just get an IR filter its easy to buy OR make your self. We use them all the time to cancel out range finding equipment and or remotes. Waste of time and money for the movie industry lol. If they just stoped trying to "Thwart" pirates they could use all that money the would save to make GOOD MOVIES!!!! roflmao.
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Canceling out a small IR light and canceling out an IR floodlight are very different things.
 
So they're looking to kill two birds with one set of lights? - Thwart handycam pirates - Cook legit patron's brains so they think the movie doesn't suck balls.
 
Dende said:
movie reviews are almost ALWAYS wrong and priviews/trailers can't tell you if a move is worth crap. The last transformers was a perfict example the movie trailers made the movie look awsome but the movie sucked so yea....
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I know a bunch of people that liked Transformers 2. I received the movie 300 via my Netflix subscription. Everyone said it was a great movie. I took it out of the DVD player 19 minutes in and mailed it back.

There is not guarantee that you are going to like any movie. Just suck it up. My solution: I don't pay $9 to see ANY movie. Find a 2nd run theater if you must see it on the big screen.
 
JUSTJOEL73 said:
Camcorder pirating is still really popular in 3rd world countries.
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QFT, when I was deployed, these type of recordings are ALL you see at the haji-stands throughout the towns. Pirating is extremely huge in Iraq and was almost equally as big when I was in South Korea. I could never stand to watch these types of rip-offs though. Sometimes the video quality is decent, but the audio is HORRIBLE.
 
vid camera noob here... why is the ir visible on the recorded video but not visible to you eye? What does the ir do to the camera to wash out the image? I would think that what you can't see in person you cant see on the recorded video.
 
The movie theater should be required to let people know they are going to have a huge IR lamp pointed directly at their eyes for 2 hours.

I know we use IR for remote controls and everything, but really for this to work (it has to 'leak' through the screen according to the article) they have to have it producing a much higher intensity of IR than your remote puts out. Not only would it have to be a higher intensity than your remote control or normal background environmental IR but also you'd be exposed to it for hours nonstop.

Look at this:
http://www.isorainbow.com/ir/eye_safety.html

They say:
Rainbow CCTV is not aware of any reported case of eye damage from the radiation from quartz/halogen or LED IR lamps used in CCTV.

But then they go on to say:

Infrared gives a heating effect, which we sometimes use to keep us warm, but too much on the skin can cause blistering. Industry is aware of the dangers of high intensity IR radiation and the risks and effects of over-exposure to it are well known.

Bright natural light which contains infrared causes the eye to blink, the iris to contract and the viewer to look away. These normal defense mechanisms do not happen when the visible part of the light has been removed. The eyes are more sensitive than the skin, and over-exposure for long periods may give rise to retinal damage and cataracts. These are the hazards of over-exposure to IR.

The infrared lamp should always be installed where it cannot be touched by passers-by, and positioned so that passers-by cannot stare at the lamp from closer than the Safe Working Distance (SWD) in Table 1. The SWD refers to the central part of the beam which is the most intense, and under conditions of continuous viewing for up to 8 hours.

As a rule of thumb if you can feel the heat, don't stare at the lamp.
 
GoodBoy said:
Handycam movie copies always looked like shit anyway. But still, its a good idea.

Too bad it isn't likely to make a huge dent in the whole piracy mess.
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This is what I was thinking. The one time I tried watching a movie that was done by cam corder I stopped two minutes into it and I placed a curse on the guy who did it.

Shitty, shitty, quality. Besides, any movie I want to see THAT bad, I'm there opening day so, most likely, I'm sitting next to the guy with the cam corder lol.
 
Not gonna lie... I movies. I also own a Netflix account and go to theaters occasionally, so I'm not a total cheap ass. Anyways, I can't believe people actually watch movies pirated this way. They look so bad I can't even enjoy the movie. I've tried many times to watch them, but always end up turning them off a couple minutes in.
 
I'll be damned if someone is going to point an IR cannon at my retinas for two hours. This will make me turn to piracy if it makes its way here. Too bad this might be used in more developing countries or countries will less human rights than we do, side effects and damage be damned.
 
Telesyncs - direct audio (ie audio provided in the seat for disabled patrons) plus a quality video capture (usually out of Eastern Europe or Russia) - are the real problem, not 0-day handicam rips traded on torrent sites. Still if this sort of technology sees wide adoption it might curtail piracy generally; or at least give the movie industry less of a whipping boy for low box office sales.
 
mecdrox said:
Just release the movies simultaneously at the theater on cable/satellite and DVD/Blu-ray the same day.
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That will NEVER happen. The huge box office sales would disappear overnight, and piracy would still exist.
 
I don't pirate movies but I can say I won't be going to the theater if they implement this. I already have horrible eyesight. i'm damn near legally blind without my glasses. going to the movies enough with this shit will ensure that my only hope of having eyesight is if we successfully make optical cybernetic implants.

no thanks. I appreciate having what vision I do have left.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the majority of leaked films come from "screener" copies sent to critics?
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
I don't pirate movies but I can say I won't be going to the theater if they implement this. I already have horrible eyesight. i'm damn near legally blind without my glasses. going to the movies enough with this shit will ensure that my only hope of having eyesight is if we successfully make optical cybernetic implants.

no thanks. I appreciate having what vision I do have left.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
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Are you serious? Did you even read it?

Wow.... some people..
 
RiZnO said:
vid camera noob here... why is the ir visible on the recorded video but not visible to you eye? What does the ir do to the camera to wash out the image? I would think that what you can't see in person you cant see on the recorded video.
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camara sensors respond to light and create an electrical pulse that's recorded. In order to separate the light into it's RGB elements, there's either a red green and blue filters over each sensor. Unlike the red sensitive nerves in our eyes, which don't respond to IR light, the red filters don't block IR light and it still gets through to the sensor.
 
Didn't they use this tech in the movie Inside Man from 2006? I know its just a movie and Hollywood will do whatever they want but, my guess is, they knew it worked back then...
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the majority of leaked films come from "screener" copies sent to critics?
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Screeners are actually pretty rare these days. They don't send them out as liberally as they used to.
 
The handy cam version of Queen of the Damn looks way better then the actual movie, the low res hid the bad FX and it kinda added to the mood of the film. Not all handy cams are bad, but generally speaking I avoid them like the plague now a days, plus now that I found an IMAX theater near I enjoy making a day out of certain summer movies. Went back and saw Star Trek again for the special 2 week encore last weekend (that movie should of been shoot in IMAX 3D).

I still think one of the reasons they don't have 720p recording enabled on the iPhone 3Gs is to prevent piracy.
 
T4rd said:
QFT, when I was deployed, these type of recordings are ALL you see at the haji-stands throughout the towns. Pirating is extremely huge in Iraq and was almost equally as big when I was in South Korea. I could never stand to watch these types of rip-offs though. Sometimes the video quality is decent, but the audio is HORRIBLE.
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My favorite ones are the ones where you can see heads at the bottom of the screen or the classsic ones where the camera falls over on the side for a few seconds before it is placed back upright.
 
JUSTJOEL73 said:
My favorite ones are the ones where you can see heads at the bottom of the screen or the classsic ones where the camera falls over on the side for a few seconds before it is placed back upright.
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The ones where the unfortunate cameraman is seated next to some loudmouth moron are really great. So anytime something funny happens you can hear them cackle like some asylum resident, and then listen to them explain what was so funny to their neighbor.
 
Easy to defeat if low intensity for all but the most clueless out there (if you do that sort of thing). . and probbably not the best idea with any high intensity for a few reasons.
So, where does this leave theaters?? Not much since the cost of installing and running a system that is at a optimal level to be useful (and like they are going to check this on a regular basis) is then simply undone by the one theater that does not have the $$ to install the system.
Also some screens may be incompatible, does not allow enough light through, may not like being heated but a bunch of IR heating lamps etc :)
In the end it all sounds rather lame . .
 
Madman0 said:
So they're looking to kill two birds with one set of lights? - Thwart handycam pirates - Cook legit patron's brains so they think the movie doesn't suck balls.
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You beat me to it... IR lights like these are what Fast Food places put their burgers under to cook them the last few minutes.

Yeah, cooked audience.... though I suppose that would be perfect for Zombieland
 
I'm actually working on a similar project, but what these people describe simply won't work. How do I know? Obviously it was the first thing I thought about when I had the idea.

The problem?

Namely, it will cause blindness. In order to work, they are going to be using 904nm lights. If you go to 840nm or below it will be bordering on visible light. Since the eye cannot detect 904nm or above light, the eye cannot contract to filter it out.

Low amounts of it, like remotes, are fine. But 2 hours of staring into IR lights strong enough to punch through the visible light being projected on the screen will slowly cause the eye's internal structures to heat up and burn your eyes. You won't even feel a thing - and at first, you won't notice anything either (it manifests itself in blind spots that your brain filters out and corrects). Until you notice that things like entire cars are popping in and out of your field of vision.
 
So now when people started going blind, we know it is from the IR burning their retinas for 2 hours straight?

Yes, handicam movies are nice because within about 10 minutes you can tell if the movie is going to suck or not. It can save you $50+ of a ruined night at the theater. Not to mention spending that money to a movie you don't like means it will encourage them to make another movie like it. It's not like I won't still spend the $50+, but it will be toward a movie I like which gives me a better movie-going experience.
 
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