★ Movies Dictionary ★

This file sharing movies dictionary will help you better grasp and understand some information related to the file-sharing movie world. It is the result of a research our site has conducted in terms of customer requests and needs. You asked for it so here it is! From now on you will know where the movies originally come from. Movie formats info allows you to know which film format you have in front of you. Additionally, we offer some miscellaneous info.

★ Movie Sources ★

★ Asian Silvers / PDVD ★
Made available by eastern bootleggers, they are usually bought by groups to release as their own. Currently, there are a lot of these around as silvers come cheap and easily accessible many countries. Mainly smaller groups who don’t last more than a few releases go about it this way. A PDVD means the same thing pressed onto a DVD. However, the quality is usually better than the silvers and also they allow removable subtitles. Typically released as VCD though ripped similar to a regular DVD.

★ CAM ★
This format comes from someone who used a digital video camera at the theatre. It is possible that they used a mini tripod but usually this is hardly achievable and you might have to tolerate some shaking from time to time. Besides, other people at the theatre could come between the camera and the screen. The sound which is recorded by means of an onboard microphone offers low quality sound. More than hearing the film, you’ll probably also be able to hear the audience laughing, moving about or even uttering lines of their own. Altogether, the whole movie might have been filmed from an angle owing to a bad seat. If properly cropped you won’t notice it, though if any text is shown in the film, you will. CAM quality is not very reliable and can differ a great deal – however we may call it the worst quality around even if sometimes could just come across a good copy.

★ DivX Re-Enc ★
A DivX re-enc is a re-encoded VCD original into a smaller DivX file. These are likely to show up on file sharing networks. Labelled as “Film.Name.Group(1of2)”. Common release groups are SMR and TND. The quality is always very modest and you’d better avoid them!

★ DVD Rip ★
This is great because it is actually a copy of the retail DVD available in stores. Many times released pre retail. The quality is simply exceptional. DVD Rips are released in SVCD and DivX / XviD.

★ DVD-Screener (DVDscr) ★
Just the same as a screener apart from this screener being copied from a DVD. Usually letterbox, without the extras that a retail DVD would include. The serial numbers or markings used to identify the source of the DVD are obstructed and they usually cover a small part of the picture. A DVDscr should be quite good. Usually show as SVCD or DivX / XviD.

★ Screener (SCR) ★
A screener is a pre VHS tape used for promotional purpose. Available on a VHS tape, it usually is a 4:3 (full screen) a/r, although letterboxed screeners are around as well. Throughout the whole message a message will be showed at the bottom of the screen containing the copyright and anti-piracy telephone number. Most of the times these tapes include serial numbers, or other markings which would indicate the source of the tape. The most common way this is dealt with is having a black mark over the section. Also, the size is not standard and can either last till the end of the film or for just a few seconds. Screener quality varies depending on being copied from a MASTER copy and on the equipment used. Usually screeners appear as VCD, but some have tried SVCD, quality differing very much.

★ Telecine (TC) ★
These come directly from the reels digitally copied by a telecine machine. You find yourself in front of an excellent quality picture and sound – though these are quite rare because it takes expensive equipment to create a Telecine copy. Though the film will usually be in correct aspect ratio, some 4:3 have also occurred. As a further note an explanation is in place here – TC is different from Time Code which is a visible counter displayed on the screen during the movie.

★ Telesync (TS) ★
A Telesync is CAM alike the difference being that it uses an external audio source. Still, a direct audio source does not mean you can forget about background noise. The quality provided by a Telesync is generally superior to a CAM for the reason that it is usually filmed in an empty theatre or from the projection booth with a more professional camera. As with CAMs, TS quality can vary a lot. It is very common that CAMs are mislabelled as Telesync’s.

★ TV Rip (TVRip) ★
Basically, this is a TV episode capped with the help of digital cable or satellite boxes by preference off the network or pre-air from satellite feeds sending the program around to networks a few days sooner (do not include “dogs” but occasionally contain flickers and others of this kind). Some episodes come bundled with additional footage and camera or commentary tests. PDTV is capped from a digital TV PCI card, normally offering the best result. There is a tendency to release in SVCD for these. VCD / SVCD / DivX / XviD rips are all supported by the TV scene.

★ VHS Rip (VHSRip) ★
Copied from a retail VHS, these are in the main sports and XXX oriented videos.

★ Watermarks ★
This represents a small label usually appearing in one of the corners of the film. Many pictures originate from Asian Silvers / PDVD and are tagged by those accounting for them. Usually, it comes in the form of a letter, initials or a little logo. Most popular are the “Z” “A” and “Globe” watermarks.

★ Workprint (WP) ★
A Workprint means an incomplete movie. It may be short of scenes and music and the quality ranges from very good to very bad. Some Workprints can be very different from the final print like lacking computer animated effects and others can have addtional scenes that didn’t make the final version. Yet, a good quality final Workprints can be quite a thrill for a collector or a fan.

★ MOVIE FORMATS ★

★ CVD ★
If you combine VCD with SVCD there’s your CVD. The good news is that most DVD players do support it. It works with SVCD’s MPEG2 bit-rates, but uses a resolution of 352×480 (NTSC) because the horizontal resolution is usually less significant. However, at present no groups put out in CVD.

★ DivX / XviD ★
It is designed for multimedia platforms and employs two codec’s. There’s a low motion as well as a high motion. Older movies would be encoded just in low motion, due to different difficulties with high motion. The encoding uses a method called SBC (Smart Bit-rate Control) which was designed to switch codecs. The result is a much improved print. The format is Ana orphic and the bit-rate and resolution are interchangeable.
It’s not likely that we’ll have a DVD player able to play DivX in the near future due to high processing power needed and also different codecs required for playback.

Most of PROPER DivX rips (not Re-Encs) are made from DVDs. They usually offer about two hours of good quality per disc. There are different codecs available the most used being the original Divx3.11a and the new XviD codecs.


★ DVD-R ★
Currently there are a few recordable DVD solutions like DVD-RAM and DVD+R, and the latter appears to be the most popular. Supporting 4.7GB of data per side, double sided discs being available, these discs can sometimes support almost 10GB. If you want to burn SVCD MPEG2 images to DVD-R and play them firstly you will have to convert them. DVD to DVD-R copies are possible, but occasionally extras and languages must be taken out because only 4.7GB is available.

★ MiniDVD ★
MiniDVD or cDVD is actually the same format as a DVD but goes on a standard recordable or rewritable CD. Because of the smaller capacity of normal CDs and the high resolution and bit-rates, the capability reaches just about 20 minutes of footage per disc. This format also works with just a few DVD players.

★ SVCD ★
This format is derived from MPEG2 like DVDs. The resolution is of 480×480 (NTSC) being decompressed into a 4:3 aspect ratio when played and enables variable bit-rates of up to 2500kbits. The variable bit-rate translates as the length you can benefit from on a single CDR not being fixed. It usually ranges from 30 to 60 minutes. A SVCD encode employing variable bit-rates is much clearer if it uses multiple “passes”, though this means longer time to encode.

★ VCD ★
The VCD format is based on MPEG1 which has a resolution of 352×240 (NTCS) and a constant bit-rate of 1150kbits. Generally called for when lower quality transfers such as CAM, TS, TC, Screener(VHS), analogue TV Rips are in question –in order that as much content as possible can be put on a single disc. The size of a VCD can exceed a CD due to being timed in minutes and not in size. A CDR74 fits 74 minutes on it.

★ XVCD / XSVCD ★

These formats are non-standard (S)VCDs. They are meant for a personal backup rather than release. The resolutions and bit-rates will be higher then normal. That’s why there are players that play them, and there are players that don’t.

★ MOVIE MISCELLANEOUS INFO ★

★ Macrovision ★
Currently, most commercial DVDs include Macrovision. It protects against copying the DVD by showing lines and making the images of copies darker. This is accomplished by sending the VHS signals it cannot read. However, there areDVD players which can get around this protection and a “video stabiliser” can be also used.

★ PAL / NTSC ★
These two are the mostly used standards worldwide. The frame rates differ from 29FPS with NTSC to only 25FPS for PAL. Other than that PAL has a higher resolution and generally offers a sharper image.

As with the majority modern TV sets, an RGB enabled scart-lead will play an NTSC picture in full colour. Recording this to a VHS tape requires converting it to PAL50 and not PAL60 as most of the DVD players do. You can do this using an expensive converter box, an onboard converter or a World Standards VCR which is able to record in any format.


★ RCE ★
This one reads – Regional Coding Enhancement and was developed to triumph over multi-regional DVD players. But because of many errors and generally remaining quite unpopular there haven’t been many titles RCE encoded. Nowadays it’s considered rather outdated.

★ Regional Coding ★
This one avoids playing DVDs in countries other then where it was initially sold or was intended for view. However, this way of coding can be outwitted on many of DVD players by hacking them with a chip or using a remote.