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A GROUP CALLING itself ?Under the Influence? announced release of the pirated copy on Saturday, a full week before the movie was supposed to hit U.S. theaters. The pirating of Potter combined old-fashioned movie theft techniques with Internet-age compression and distribution, a combination that has movie studios increasingly alarmed.
The ?Chamber of Secrets? copy that?s making the rounds is called a ?Cam? copy, because it was created simply by a pirate who managed to bring a small DV (digital video) camera into a theater. The most likely location of the theft is the United Kingdom, where early screenings of the film began last weekend.
In its release notes, the pirate group admitted to using the DV copying method.
?Will someone please make a DV tape that lasts 161 minutes?? the group asked sarcastically, referring to the length of the new Potter movie ? and the fact that they had to change tapes during the pirating.
Warner Bros. spokesperson Brenda Salitz said she hadn?t heard about the incident, but said the movie studio would look into the pirate sites after being notified by MSNBC.com.
There?s nothing new about taking video cameras into theaters to make pirate copies of major films ? but old VHS cameras were bulky, obvious and often produced a video of poor quality. But DV cameras are so small they can be easily tucked in a coat pocket while slipping into a theater.
And unlike most Internet video, which tends to be small and grainy, films pirated using DV cameras are high-quality and can be viewed at full-screen size, even on large home theaters, according to a source who regularly views pirated films.
Pirate copies are even better if a tripod is used, and it appears the ?Under the Influence? pirates managed to bring a tripod into the theater to make this copy, the source said
?Compared to a DVD, on a scale of one to 10, it?s about a 7,? the source, who first heard about the Harry Potter film on pirate site binnews.com, said.
Word of the pirate copy was quickly spreading around the Net on Tuesday, after it was mentioned by popular technology news site Slashdot.org.
The movie?s sound is still clunky, since the camera picks up audience noise and other background hiss.
But even that obstacle can be foiled, the source said, if pirates manage to set up shop in the theater?s handicapped areas, which are sometimes equipped with headphones for enhanced hearing. By attaching the DV camera to those headphones, pirates can even capture stereo sound.
?It won?t be like 5.1 (enhanced audiophile) stereo, but it?s good enough for most people,? he said.
Salitz couldn?t comment on the pirated Potter film, but said there have been cases where local movie theater employees have illegally cooperated with pirates and looked the other way while a tripod is used ? or even permitted filming from the projection booth.
Movie studios sometimes add technology to pre-screening films that place near-invisible identifiers on copies distributed to each theater, allowing the studio to pinpoint which theater was the site of the piracy. Salitz didn?t know if the Potter films that were distributed in the United Kingdom included the technology.
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