Studios aim to shut down piracy from award show DVD screeners

Every year, starting usually in November and lasting into February, DVDs of movies that are up for award considerations are sent out to Academy, Golden Globe, SAG and other awards voters.

Without fail, a number of these discs are duplicated and find their way to warez and torrent sites, which label them as DVD Screeners.

It appears the studios are finally trying to take a big stand against the sharing of screeners, with some, like Fox Searchlight, turning to streaming instead of sending out physical copies.

This month, the studio gave free downloads of 'Black Swan' to 100,000 SAG voters via the Apple iTunes store. Each download expires 24 hours after the user starts viewing it.

So far, the ploy has not worked as pirates have ripped the streams and begun labeling them as Web Screeners. At least three such films, (127 Hours, The Fighter and King's Speech) are available as "Web Screeners" in full 720p HD.

Most studios end up sending 20,000 DVDs per movie to voters in any given awards season so while moving to digital will likely save them on shipping costs, it has clearly not stopped piracy.

The MPAA has estimated that $25 billion is lost globally, each year, thanks to piracy.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Jan 2011 19:50

DSWarrior

$25 billion?...PLEASE!! These guys blow their numbers waaaay out of proportion...

DS Warrior ! ! !

28.1.2011 19:56 #1

jimfitter

Originally posted by DSWarrior: ...These guys blow their numbers waaaay out of proportion...
You think? I'll bet they exaggerate about penis size, too.
Unfortunately for the MPA and their love life, people are catching on.

Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. - Groucho Marx

28.1.2011 20:11 #2

ZippyDSM

Err..... this is the logic they are using... if people do not see it they can not steal it...... lulwut?

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

28.1.2011 21:20 #3

ntense69

not all downloaders pirate and don't buy you can not prove to me that all pirating cost billions look at the world wide economy. The more prices go up the more piracy will be a problem.

28.1.2011 21:43 #4

xaznboitx

waste of money, renting movies and expires after 24hrs of pressing play... I rather have netflix

28.1.2011 22:10 #5

jimfitter

Originally posted by xaznboitx: waste of money, renting movies and expires after 24hrs of pressing play... I rather have netflix wut?
The article is about SAG members, and the way they receive Screeners from the MPA.
Go back to your PS3, son.

Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. - Groucho Marx

28.1.2011 22:28 #6

KillerBug

LoL...because of attempts to stop piracy, the pirated copies are now of much higher quality than they were last year. I am half tempted to download The King's Speech if I can find the version that isn't Mormon approved.

28.1.2011 22:28 #7

Amak

You've already made an enemy of the people MPAA. Your days are numbered.

29.1.2011 00:31 #8

ZippyDSM

Whats a few billion when you have a few thousand of them?
Correlation dose not equal causation, I can say that trillions of money is stolen by people not consuming any media at all, lets make that a crime, until then get a life.

29.1.2011 00:52 #9

NHS2008

Quote:It appears the studios are finally trying to take a big stand against the sharing of screeners, with some, like Fox Searchlight, turning to streaming instead of sending out physical copies.
Don't you think that it makes it even easier for pirates just to record the streamed video?!

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29.1.2011 01:00 #10

DXR88

Originally posted by Amak: You've already made an enemy of the people MPAA. Your days are numbered. i'll invite them in and have tea, and we can watch Web Screeners Together. Sharing is Caring, obviously something the MPAA execs didn't learn as children....of course not many rich family's share at all the need simply isn't there.

29.1.2011 02:38 #11

KillerBug

Originally posted by DXR88: Originally posted by Amak: You've already made an enemy of the people MPAA. Your days are numbered. i'll invite them in and have tea, and we can watch Web Screeners Together. Sharing is Caring, obviously something the MPAA execs didn't learn as children....of course not many rich family's share at all the need simply isn't there. I would love to serve the MPAA tea...just let me run down to the local pest control supply store to get the special ingredients...

29.1.2011 06:18 #12

DoomLight

25 billion? lol please!

29.1.2011 19:05 #13

Interestx

$25 billion being lost?!

Well, it's only the richest most money-making industry on the planet after the arms manufacturers.

What more do those pigs want?

Oh right, it's that f***ing stupid idea that all downloads are a lost sale.

Morons.

Downloads are, for me and most of the people into cinema that I know, purely a matter of personally 'trying before buying' and the modern equivalent of video recording as I always used to do
(and which is still legal in the UK).

My satellite HD DVR has a 1.5tb hard drive in it I can record to.....and it has a copy-out function.

I pay.
I pay the BBC 'TV and Radio licence'.
I also pay the satellite TV service a sh**load every month
(their highest tariff and I have done for almost 20yrs now with cable & satellite services - whther I watch or listen to every film or music show or not).
I've paid alright.
I do 'support' the entertainment industry.
I also buy the CD's DVD's and Blu-rays I'm interested in - if they are worth buying.

Here's the truth.
If I could not download I would stop buying all but handful of new things I heard about and am sure of, the rest I'd not bother with.
Even as it is I'm beginning to wonder.
I have several hundred retail high def films and a few thousand DVD and several thousand CDs (and a decent collection of SACD & DVD-Audio).
Maybe this collecting thing is getting well out of hand?

Ha!
That would be so funny, see the RIAA/MPAA baby piggies cry their eyes out if almost everyone downloading stopped downloading - and also buying.
Way to go guys, keep on attacking your own market, you are playing with fire.

.....and I wonder how the rest of commerce is going to feel if they f*** up & wreck the internet just to appease the staggering & totally blind insatiable greed of the music & movie industry?

30.1.2011 17:16 #14

DXR88

Arms manufactures make more money that 25 billion yearly...War Stocks are the way to go.

30.1.2011 18:13 #15

DVDBack23

Originally posted by KillerBug: LoL...because of attempts to stop piracy, the pirated copies are now of much higher quality than they were last year. I am half tempted to download The King's Speech if I can find the version that isn't Mormon approved. None of the versions online are edited by the Weinsteins.

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1.2.2011 19:21 #16

bluedogs

Oh these guys are just pure entertainment gold. 25 billio, and yet the movie industry and tv industry keep on pumpingthem out.
That 25 billion is what is costing movie/tv industry to use the MPAA.

Good luck stopping piraters, it is not gunna happen.

3.2.2011 05:50 #17

Biker48

I watch downloaded movies and if I want the movie I will wait until it's down to �3:00 at Tesco's. I can't justfy paying �15:99 for a movie that I may only watch 3 or 4 times. Before that it will be on TV so I could record it myself to a DVD. The extras on DVD's are just their way of trying to make the purchased copy better value. Bit like a free drink with your big mac. Use once and that's it.

3.2.2011 06:20 #18

Necrosaro

I dont see how they come up with their figures. How is it any different than downloading a movie your normally wouldnt go see to begin with, or waiting for the movie to come on TV? How is it costing them a penny by someone downloading it?

3.2.2011 09:59 #19

dave817

$25B assumes eash person watching a pirated copy would go to the show to see their movie. I just wait until Blockbuster comes out with them. With an unlimited subscription, I can't keep up with all the releases and wouldn't have time for any pirated copies anyway.

3.2.2011 10:20 #20

xboxdvl2

i hire new releases at atlantic videos for $2.95.cant afford to go to the movies.I cant afford to pay $30 for every movie i'd like to own.I cant afford to spend $15-$20 to go to the movies and an extra $10-$20 for a plastic cup of coke and something to munch on.When i watch a movie i dont ask if its an original dvd or a copied one,personally dont care aslong as the quality is decent and the sound is decent and the movie itself is decent.

married to my car and computer.both of them have problems.

3.2.2011 11:09 #21

Zoo_Look

Originally posted by xboxdvl2: When i watch a movie i dont ask if its an original dvd or a copied one, personally dont care aslong as ... the movie itself is decent. Which is exactly why I don't buy dvd OR music until after I have downloaded it and ensured "for myself" that it is worth the "best film ever this year" tag that films nowadays seem to pimp out to us quite regularly... not only is this a matter of opinion (thus irrelevant) but its also a borderline case for prosecution under trade description laws (I am aware that they do put in tiny writing who's opinion it is, but trade laws dictate CLEAR labelling of goods not a token note 1/2 cm tall in the last 3 seconds of the advert).

Once the entertainment industry tell the truth in a responsible manner, I will consider purchasing new releases... until then, they will have to accept that I (and a great many others) will download on a try-before-you-buy basis (as already stated a few posts back).

The alternative is to guarantee that a customer buying a film in good faith on the basis of their advertising is permitted a refund on films or cds etc should they decide the advertising was not a true and accurate reflection of the goods purchased (again, a guarantee that is already provisioned for every other industry under existing trade laws EXCEPT the entertainment industry).

If this is an unacceptable arrangement for them (and it must be since they continually AND DELIBERATELY mislead the public and when was the last time you got a refund from HMV after trying to return a working, but just crap film on DVD?) then I see no reason to change my standpoint, which both injects money into their industry (since I buy everything I enjoy after watching it on download), as well as giving me an opportunity to see for myself if the film is worth paying for (unlike the majority of trash churned out by studios nowadays).

The bottom line is, as with any industry, the door swings both ways... until they make a concession regarding OUR rights as consumers to not mislead us or screw us over on our consumer rights and regulations, they have no justification on hammering down on people who try-before-you-buy!

Again though, the door swings BOTH ways. As consumers, we have a responsibility to ensure anything we do decide is worth our money we go out and actually BUY... but then I read threads like this which only support downloading (in the main at least) and think to myself that - perhaps the reason so much shit is produced from studios nowadays is because NO-BODY posting in these threads actually does buy... you just download, fuck the machine, big studios suck ass, fuck government... etc... These studios operate a business, they operate to make money, and without that they will cease to make films for your enjoyment. Forget the 25-million quoted in this article, theres nothing that any individual consumer can do about that... concentrate instead on your contribution of �10 (or less). Is it really too much to ask you for a film you enjoy and watch time and time again to contribute that tiny amount to the cost of producing a film? Give a reason here, publicly, why you should be excused from that responsibility and still be allowed to watch films at other peoples expense.

3.2.2011 12:00 #22

Billy the Kid (unverified)

Another attempt from the MPAA to spread their rumors on what they didnt make last year. The reality is they did make billions but they could of made a lot more.

Its not about the movies its about money they missed out on.

Proving once again why MPAA groups fail in their lame attempts to justify their own greedy obsessions.

Lets all be honest not all movies downloaded have the same quality or content, thank goodness I see what like then I can buy it or order it later on.

3.2.2011 12:46 #23

voyager

Ja, 25 billions!
Dvd movies still hi price in the market.
The only problem those people have is that they want to be rich and piracy is avoiding that....jaja

3.2.2011 15:22 #24

elitepunk

remember guys downloading hasnt been around forever and will not be around forever...i downloaded my first movie in 2002 so yeah..some of you speak as if downloading has been around since the beginning of time, it aint true. its probably here to stay for awhile but one day it wont be available to us all anymore i bet..lets not take downloading for granted.

3.2.2011 17:27 #25

Zoo_Look

One day it will be a non-isseue anyway. When the population of the world is such that all our entertainment outlets and studio production areas are demolished to make room for 100 story apartment blocks... no one will have a place to go to film it let alone distribute the stuff!

3.2.2011 19:42 #26

NeoandGeo

And yet you still make a profit, even after all those losses. Make your money, and stop wasting it on people that will never purchase your product for any reason.

4.2.2011 14:59 #27

DXR88

Originally posted by elitepunk: remember guys downloading hasnt been around forever and will not be around forever...i downloaded my first movie in 2002 so yeah..some of you speak as if downloading has been around since the beginning of time, it aint true. its probably here to stay for awhile but one day it wont be available to us all anymore i bet..lets not take downloading for granted. Your dead wrong there! it has been around for a very long time since the 70's downloading from black sites was a viable alternative to sneaker net explicitly to those who where rich enough to own a modem rack.

in the 80's it was learned any one can access these sites one just needs to know where to look It, slowly but surely word of mouth spread quickly these sites then became targets to the government (as they did alot more than just host A server many black servers where run by mobs or drug cartels) to combat this and draw the masses away from there black sites, they started the first P2P servers (hence why the MPAA/RIAA still hold to the belief that Drug rings and Software Pirate's are still operating these Sites)

Downloading movies and music was never considered mainstream until the 90's with the invent of the 56k modem. one could download a vhs movie in about 4 hours uninterrupted and Record or CD in about 1hr-2hr uninterrupted.

4.2.2011 17:28 #28

voyager

What about the 80's? buy a TDK blank cassette and record from cassete to cassete using Hi speed dubbing.is that piracy?

4.2.2011 23:06 #29

Zoo_Look

Yes... having said that... does anywhere still sell cassettes (blank OR pre=recorded). I haven't seen them for years!

5.2.2011 05:04 #30

NeoandGeo

Less piracy, more helping the movie studios by introducing more people to more movies.

For instance in high school a friend copied his Matrix VHS cassette for the entire class to watch on a free day near the end of the year. I ended up buying the original DVD, watching the last two movies in theaters, and now own the BluRay of the original Matrix.

All this stemmed from someone doing something "illegal"

Do whatever you want, and support what you feel like supporting. In the end they will still be multi-billion companies crying about losing fake money.

5.2.2011 07:39 #31

voyager

Originally posted by Zoo_Look: Yes... having said that... does anywhere still sell cassettes (blank OR pre=recorded). I haven't seen them for years! I have a lot of cassettes original and recorded using the technics of wait for the music in the radio to be play(just push recplay buttons and pause at the same time) or recorded from cassette to cassette.
sorry not for sale;Iron Maiden collection, and a lot of Thrash music of 80's and 90's
My car is a Subaru Impreza 2002 and comes with 6cds changer and cassette player.

5.2.2011 08:05 #32

xboxdvl2

Originally posted by Zoo_Look: Yes... having said that... does anywhere still sell cassettes (blank OR pre=recorded). I haven't seen them for years! think i got a couple of old cassettes laying around blank and in original packaging.

married to my car and computer.both of them have problems.

5.2.2011 08:44 #33

Zoo_Look

I wonder if in a few years time whether they may be worth something... like vinyl is now!

5.2.2011 14:06 #34

NeoandGeo

Don't think so, since Vinyl is better than any format we have now. VHS is terrible quality.

5.2.2011 14:12 #35

Zoo_Look

Originally posted by NeoandGeo: Less piracy, more helping the movie studios by introducing more people to more movies.

For instance in high school a friend copied his Matrix VHS cassette for the entire class to watch on a free day near the end of the year. I ended up buying the original DVD, watching the last two movies in theaters, and now own the BluRay of the original Matrix.

All this stemmed from someone doing something "illegal" Exactly what I do with music, listen first (even it it means piracy) and buy later.

I bought some 13 Jarre studio albums (some twice as I let someone borrow them about 2 weeks before they left the company we were with... never saw them or him again) on the back of a pirated version of Oxygene... oddly enough, the album was released the same year I was born.

Point is, at least if you buy the originals at a later date, you still contribute to the production of quality material later. This is (I think) a fairer compromise then just obtaining pirate versions and NOT paying ever again. I am sure the studios would rather that it didn't happen, but again, until they offer refunding on over-hyped and downright misleading advertising which ignores our rights as consumers, I see no reason to alter my habits.

5.2.2011 14:25 #36

Delora

I know, that it's unpleasant, when somebody steals your money, like piracy does, but I think this process can't be stopped at all. I'm sure torrent sites will exist forever! And what your favourite site with movies??? I like the most http://www.torrentoff.com

8.2.2011 05:49 #37

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