3D film piracy: to be or not to be?
07.06.2011
3d film piracy icon

Let's be honest. Today audiences keep flocking to the cinemas mainly thanks to the wow factor of 3D movies. 3D technology keeps cinemas afloat, because 2D movies can be now downloaded for free via multiple on-file sharing directories and enjoyed at home. Piracy of 2D movies is thus not a new notion unlike 3D film piracy. Some say that on The Pirate Bay you can find ripped Piranha 3DD and Jackass 3D, both converted to anaglyph red-cyan video. So is it the beginning of 3D film piracy movement or just a random exception?

For all of us movie piracy is not a new thing. It functions on a global scale and has occurred rather long time ago in two ways: by recording a movie with a hidden camcorder in the theatre or making a copy of DVD screeners. Nowadays 90 percent of pirated new releases are made using that camcorder trick. But the interesting thing about pirating 3D movies is that they can't be actually recorded with a camcorder in the theatre unlike “flat” 2D movies. For a camcorder it's just impossible to record and separate two different images of a 3D movie projected onto the cinema screen. For those of you who are not familiar with the 3D technology used in cinemas: 3D film is made up of two image projections of differently polarized light. All polarized light waves of an image have the same angle of vibration. 3D glasses worn by cinema viewers filter one strain of polarized light waves to each eye, thus creating two different images for each eye. Those two images are then combined and perceived by your brain as a 3D image. So camcorders aren't much use for pirating in 3D, because all pirates will end up with is a blurry image. One may cheerfully exclaim “That's it! 3D pirates will not pass! ” And that is true, but not exactly so.

As we know movie pirates are not those Pirates of the Caribbean as one may have thought, but some very enthusiastic, tech-savvy individuals, who are eager to rip off licensed DVDs for further distribution. And though it's hard to rip off a 3D Blue-Ray disc, because the technology is rather new, pirates are pirates and they will be mastering their skills as the more 3D movies will be released. And the tendency is that with the improvement of 3D technology the 3D TV market will also offer 3D TV sets for lower prices. That means the demand for 3D content will grow and this will be a great incentive for pirates not to give up and perfect their mastery.

In order to fight piracy studios will be adding extra security for their discs to prevent copying both polarized images at once. But such measures are unlikely to stop pirates on their way; 3D film piracy will soon be as common as the 2D counterpart is today.

Try out 3D experience yourself! To convert any video to HQ 3D format you can use powerful Video to 3D Converter - get your free trial version now. You can also watch any format video in glorious 3D with 3D Video Player instantly. Try it for free!

Read Next -> NVIDIA and Firefox make 3D ubiquitous via Youtube

<- Back to 3D Media Revolution Blog