Updated Guide to Understanding Internet Movie Codes

If you download films off the Internet, it's a
good idea to know what you're downloading. So here's a rundown on
suffixes that will give you a little more information about the movie
codes.

CAM -

A cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini
tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible,
so the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn't always idle, and
it might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to
tell unless there's text on the screen, but a lot of times these are
left with triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound
is taken from the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in
comedies, laughter can often be heard during the film. Due to these
factors picture and sound quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes
we're lucky, and the theater will be fairly empty and a fairly clear
signal will be heard.

TELESYNC (TS) -

Telesync is one of the multiple terms used by movie bootleggers to
describe the source material that was used to make bootlegged copies,
normally distributed in Video CD, SVCD, KVCD, DVD, KDVD or DivX/XviD
format.

Other bootleg version methods include telecine, screener, cam, and DVD-Rip

A Telesync copy was shot in a cinema like a cam (often with a
professional camera from the projection booth), and directly connected
to the sound source (often FM audio provided for the hearing-impaired,
or from a drive-in theatre). The visual quality usually surpasses cam
quality, which is in itself variable — the audio is potentially
better, having none of a cam's usual audience noise.

A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio
source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing
people). A direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio
source, as a lot of background noise can interfere. A lot of the times
a telesync is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth
with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality. Quality
ranges drastically, check the sample before downloading the full
release. A high percentage of Telesyncs are CAMs that have been
mislabeled.

TELECINE (TC) -

A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and
picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost
telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct
aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is
the JURASSIC PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with
TimeCode , which is a visible counter on screen throughout the film.

SCREENER (SCR) -

A screener is an advance video or DVD copy of a film sent to critics,
awards voters, video stores (for their manager and employees), and
other film industry professionals, including producers and
distributors. Often, each individual screener is sent out with distinct
markings, which allow copies of a screener to be tracked to their
source.

DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr) -

Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually
letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The
ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing.
If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually
transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.

DVDRip -

A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE
retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent
quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.

VHSRip -

Transferred off a retail VHS, mainly skating/sports videos and XXX releases.

TVRip -

TV episode that is either from Network (capped using digital
cable/satellite boxes are preferable) or PRE-AIR from satellite feeds
sending the program around to networks a few days earlier (do not
contain "dogs" but sometimes have flickers etc) Some programs such as
WWF Raw Is War contain extra parts, and the "dark matches" and
camera/commentary tests are included on the rips. PDTV is capped from a
digital TV PCI card, generally giving the best results, and groups tend
to release in SVCD for these. VCD/SVCD/DivX/ XviD rips are all
supported by the TV scene.

Formats:

VCD -

VCD is an mpeg1 based format, with a constant bitrate of 1150kbit at a
resolution of 352x240 (NTCS). VCDs are generally used for lower quality
transfers (CAM/TS/TC/Screener (VHS)/TVrip( analogue) in order to make
smaller file sizes, and fit as much on a single disc as possible. Both
VCDs and SVCDs are timed in minutes, rather than MB, so when looking at
an mpeg, it may appear larger than the disc capacity, and in reality u
can fit 74min on a CDR74.

SVCD -

Super Video CD (Super Video Compact Disc or SVCD) is a format used for
storing video on standard compact discs. SVCD falls between Video CD
and DVD in terms of technical capability and picture quality.

Technical specifications

SVCD has two-thirds the resolution of DVD, and over 2.7 times the
resolution of VCD. Video is stored at 480x480 pixels for NTSC, and
480x576 pixels for PAL and SECAM. One CD-R disc can hold up to 60
minutes of SVCD-format video at a picture quality roughly comparable to
Laserdisc. It is possible to fit nearly arbitrary amounts of SVCD video
onto one CD-R, though one must lower the video bitrate, and therefore
quality, in order to accommodate very long videos. It is usually
difficult to fit much more than 100 minutes of video onto one SVCD
without incurring significant quality loss.

Video is encoded as MPEG-2, and may have a variable bitrate up to 2.6
megabits per second. The lower bound for bit rate is not specified in
the standard, though hardware compatibility on most SVCD and DVD
players effectively limits it to between 300 and 600 kilobits per
second. Audio is stored in MP2.

XVCD/XSVCD -

These are basically VCD/SVCD that don't obey the "rules". They are both
capable of much higher resolutions and bit-rates, but it all depends on
the player to whether the disc can be played. X(S)VCD are total
non-standards, and are usually for home-ripping by people who don't
intend to release them.

DivX / XviD -

Divx stands for Digital Video Express

DivX Files Use the AVI Format

DivX uses the AVI format as its file container, and files have either an

.AVI or .DIVX extension. If a DivX movie is played in a media player

that supports AVI, only the audio will be played, not the video.

A video codec from DivXNetworks, Inc., San Diego, CA ([Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]) that is popular for downloading movies from the Internet. Based on MPEG-4,

DivX can compress a DVD movie to fit on a CD, and DivX HD can reduce an
HD movie to fit on a DVD. The DivX software provides tools for encoding
in DivX and MPEG-4, as well as a player for DivX, MPEG-4 and other
video formats.

Many newer "DivX Certified" DVD players are able to play DivX encoded
movies, although the QPEL and GMC features are often omitted to reduce
processing requirements, so for compatibility reasons, are excluded
from the base DIVX encoding profiles.

Name

"DivX" should not be confused with "DIVX", a failed earlier version by
the store, Circuit City. The winking emoticon in the early "DivX ;-)"

codec name was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the failed DIVX system.

Early work

DivX  3.11 Alpha and later 3.xx versions refers to a hacked version
of the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec, extracted around 1998 by
French hacker Jerome Rota (also known as Gej). The Microsoft codec,
which originally required that the compressed output be put in an ASF
file, was altered to allow other containers such as AVI.

DivX Re-Enc -

A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD
source, and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on
file sharers, these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(
1of2) etc. Common groups are SMR and TND. These aren't really worth
downloading, unless you're that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb
copy of it. Generally avoid.

CVD -

CVD is a combination of VCD and SVCD formats, and is generally
supported by a majority of DVD players. It supports MPEG2 bit-rates of
SVCD, but uses a resolution of 352x480(ntsc) as the horizontal
resolution is generally less important. Currently no groups release in
CVD.

DVD-R -

Is the recordable DVD solution that seems to be the most popular (out
of DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD+R). it holds 4.7gb of data per side, and
double sided discs are available, so discs can hold nearly 10gb in some
circumstances. SVCD mpeg2 images must be converted before they can be
burnt to DVD-R and played successfully. DVD>DVDR copies are
possible, but sometimes extras/languages have to be removed to stick
within the available 4.7gb.

MiniDVD -

MiniDVD/cDVD is the same format as DVD but on a standard CDR/CDRW.
Because of the high resolution/bit- rates, its only possible to fit
about 18-21 mins of footage per disc, and the format is only compatible
with a few players.

Misc Info:

AVI

AVI stands for Audio Video Inrerleave

Audio Video Interleave, known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia

container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of
the Video for Windows technology. AVI files contain both audio and
video data in a standard container that allows simultaneous playback.

Like DVDs, AVI files support multiple audio and video streams, although
these features are rarely used. The file's data is divided up into data
blocks called "chunks". Unlike other video formats, an AVI video cannot
be played incomplete. It contains a codec. The codec translates between
raw data and the data format inside the chunk. An AVI file may
therefore carry audio/visual data inside the chunks in almost any
compression scheme,

Intel Real Time Video, Indeo, Cinepak, Motion JPEG, Editable MPEG,
VDOWave, ClearVideo / RealVideo, QPEG, MPEG-4, XviD, DivX and others.

Continued use despite obsolescence:

AVI is considered by many to be an outdated container format. There is
significant overhead when used with popular MPEG-4 codecs (XviD and
DivX, for example), increasing file size more than necessary. Despite
its limitations and the availability of more modern container formats
(see Matroska, Ogg and MP4), AVI remains popular among file-sharing
communities.

Regional Coding -

This was designed to stop people buying American DVDs and watching them
earlier in other countries, or for older films where world distribution
is handled by different companies. A lot of players can either be
hacked with a chip, or via a remote to disable this.

RCE -

RCE (Regional Coding Enhancement) was designed to overcome
"Multiregion" players, but it had a lot of faults and was overcome.
Very few titles are RCE encoded now, and it was very unpopular.

Macrovision -

Macrovision is the copy protection employed on most commercial DVDs.
Its a system that will display lines and darken the images of copies
that are made by sending the VHS signals it can't understand. Certain
DVD players (for example the Dansai 852 from Tescos) have a secret menu
where you can disable the macrovision, or a "video stabaliser" costs
about 30UKP from Maplin ([Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]. co.uk)

NTSC/PAL -

NTSC and PAL are the two main standards used across the world. NTSC has
a higher frame rate than pal (29fps compared to 25fps) but PAL has an
increased resolution, and gives off a generally sharper picture.
Playing NTSC discs on PAL systems seems a lot easier than vice-versa,
which is good news for the Brits Smile An RGB enabled scart lead will
play an NTSC picture in full colour on most modern tv sets, but to
record this to a VHS tape, you will need to convert it to PAL50 (not
PAL60 as the majority of DVD players do.) This is either achieved by an
expensive converter box (in the regions of £200+) an onboard converter
(such as the Dansai 852 / certain Daewoos / Samsung 709 ) or using a
World Standards VCR which can record in any format.

Release Files

RARset -

The movies are all supplied in RAR form, whether its v2 (rar>.rxx) or v3 (part01.rar > partxx.rar) form.

BIN/CUE -

VCD and SVCD films will extract to give a BIN/CUE. Load the .CUE into
notepad and make sure the first line contains only a filename, and no
path information. Then load the cue into Nero/CDRWin etc and this will
burn the VCD/SVCD correctly. TV rips are released as MPEG. DivX files
are just the plain DivX - .AVI

NFO -

An NFO file is supplied with each movie to promote the group, and give
general iNFOrmation about the release, such as format, source, size,
and any notes that may be of use. They are also used to recruit members
and acquire hardware for the group.

SFV -

Also supplied for each disc is an SFV file. These are mainly used on
site level to check each file has been uploaded correctly, but are also
handy for people downloading to check they have all the files, and the
CRC is correct. A program such as pdSFV or hkSFV is required to use
these files.

PAR files -

As well as the .rxx files, you will also see files listed as .pxx/.par
. These are PARITY files. Parity files are common in usenet posts, as a
lot of times, there will be at least one or two damaged files on some
servers. A parity file can be used to replace ANY ONE file that is
missing from the rar set. The more PAR files you have, the more files
you can replace. You will need a program called SMARTPAR for this.

Scene Tags

PROPER -

Due to scene rules, whoever releases the first Telesync has won that
race (for example). But if the quality of that release is fairly poor,
if another group has another telesync (or the same source in higher
quality) then the tag PROPER is added to the folder to avoid being
duped. PROPER is the most subjective tag in the scene, and a lot of
people will generally argue whether the PROPER is better than the
original release. A lot of groups release PROPERS just out of
desperation due to losing the race. A reason for the PROPER should
always be included in the NFO.

SUBBED -

In the case of a VCD, if a release is subbed, it usually means it has
hard encoded subtitles burnt throughout the movie. These are generally
in malaysian/chinese/ thai etc, and sometimes there are two different
languages, which can take up quite a large amount of the screen. SVCD
supports switch able subtitles, so some DVDRips are released with
switch able subs. This will be mentioned in the NFO file if included.

UNSUBBED -

When a film has had a subbed release in the past, an Unsubbed release may be released

LIMITED -

A limited movie means it has had a limited theater run, generally
opening in less than 250 theaters, generally smaller films (such as art
house films) are released as limited.

INTERNAL -

An internal release is done for several reasons. Classic DVD groups do
a lot of .INTERNAL. releases, as they wont be dupe'd on it. Also lower
quality theater rips are done INTERNAL so not to lower the reputation
of the group, or due to the amount of rips done already. An INTERNAL
release is available as normal on the groups affiliate sites, but they
can't be traded to other sites without request from the site ops. Some
INTERNAL releases still trickle down to IRC/Newsgroups, it usually
depends on the title and the popularity. Earlier in the year people
referred to Centropy going "internal". This meant the group were only
releasing the movies to their members and site ops. This is in a
different context to the usual definition.

STV -

Straight To Video. Was never released in theaters, and therefore a lot of sites do not allow these.

Watermarks -

A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are
tagged by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a
little logo, generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the "Z"
"A" and "Globe" watermarks.

Asian Silvers / PDVD -

These are films put out by eastern bootleggers, and these are usually
bought by some groups to put out as their own. Silvers are very cheap
and easily available in a lot of countries, and its easy to put out a
release, which is why there are so many in the scene at the moment,
mainly from smaller groups who don't last more than a few releases.
PDVDs are the same thing pressed onto a DVD. They have removable
subtitles, and the quality is usually better than the silvers. These
are ripped like a normal DVD, but usually released as VCD.

WORKPRINT (WP) -

A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be
missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very
poor. Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is
missing all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can
contain extra scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions
to the collection once a good quality final has been obtained.

Original Source