I can’t take it! I walked out of Master and Commander and demanded my money back, because those reddish-brown “anti-piracy” dots ruined an important part of the movie. Just when I was supposed to be on edge of my seat, enthralled at what was happening, the red dots started to flicker on and off. It was during a storm, so the gray background just made them even more blatant. They took me right out of the movie and I missed an important bit of information (who fell overboard???).
The studios are counting on filmgoers to “get used to” these dots they way they’ve gotten used to reel change markers. DON’T LET THAT HAPPEN!
Complain to the management. It’s not the theater’s fault, but word should get passed on. Tell your friends.
I grumbled but kept quiet when I saw the dots in Mystic River, Kill Bill: V1, The Matrix Revolutions and Alien: Director’s Cut. I’m not going to keep quiet any more. Even if I don’t get my money back or a free pass, I’m going to say something.
Return of the King is going to be chock full of these dots. Complain complain complain!
(a former thread, but it’s gotten much worse since then)
This does indeed suck. I can’t say I’ve noticed the red dots myself yet, but I think it’s only a matter of time. Will they also be on the DVDs? ( I just saw that this question was also asked in the previous thread, but I didn’t see an answer )
I saw them in “Kill Bill”. Of course they were on white screens which made them all the more glaring.
Apparently the dots are in different configurations in different scenes depending on which theatre the movie is leased to - that way if a copy shows up online, they can track it down to a specific theatre.
lovelee is right, I take it that each theater’s prints are specifically patterned, so that bootlegs can be traced back to the theater it came from. Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to me either. Bootleggers can just cut out the frames where they appear, and that’s why there have to be more and more of them, more often. It isn’t as if pirates care about quality anyway.
Avumede, we don’t know yet if they’ll be on the DVDs. They’re too new. I don’t think any of the movies they’ve appeared on are on DVD yet.
easy e, it’s not too late. Call the theater and tell them you noticed.
I meant, it’s too late to ask for your money back, but not too late to complain. Word has to get back to the studios that we’re not going to accept this. We paid our money to see a decent print.
The dots are getting smaller than the examples given, but they’re getting more numerous.
Couldn’t they just insert some kind of hidden patterns only to be seen when someone grabs the projection with a video camera? Something dealing with the frequency stuff, I mean.
I think there is no way they can prevent piracy without annoying the normal viewer attention, anyway. If they insert any kind of marks in a DVD, then we, the DVD buyers, will be affected in the same way.
My opinion? Some people are too sensitive, and have too great a sense of entitlement. Since when does it say on your ticket stub that you, after paying your money, have the right to see a movie without red dots?
It’s implied, SPOOFE. It’s not “too great a sense of entitlement” to expect to be able to see a movie in its pristine format if you’re paying that much to see it. That includes anything that detracts from the performance, from noisy guests to uncomfortable chairs to distracting anti-piracy dots on the screen. You paid your money for a service, if you’re unhappy with the service you’re by all means entitled to complain. I don’t know what “rights” have to do with it; this isn’t a legal thing, it’s a business transaction. You’re paying money to a business to provide you with a service to your satisfaction so hell yes, you have the right to see the movie without red dots.
For the record, I never noticed them before that other thread mentioned it, and they don’t bug me at all. But I’m not going to for one second say that nobody else has the right to complain about it if it bothers them.
The newer ones, such as the ones that appear (OFTEN!) in Master and Commander are smaller, and grouped closer together. I don’t have a screen shot of that.
The movie studios love you guys who don’t mind the dots. They’re counting on people getting used to them and/or not minding. Well, YOUR APATHY is ruining MY movie-going experience!
Uh, okay then. I’d like to retract my earlier post. After hearing this, I’m with SPOOFE. Much ado about nothing, an overblown sense of entitlement, and a fairly obnoxious attitude towards the people they’re supposedly trying to recruit to “the cause.”
I noticed the dots in Master & Commander, but not in The Matrix: Revolutions or 28 Days Later (mentioned in the HTF thread).
And damnit, you’re right. Those dots are the latest in a long line of copy-prevention features (in movies, music, software…) that annoy legitimate customers and do nothing to stop serious pirates. Next time it happens, I’m going to say loudly “Did you see those dots?” so everyone around me will notice.
I didn’t notice them in Kill Bill, but I noticed the heck out of them in Master and Commander. But I didn’t complain, either, in part because I saw the dots in the middle of the movie, but not towards the end, and I sort of forgot about it, which I suppose they are counting on.
That was also the first time I saw the anti-piracy schpiel, which came after a good 15 minutes of commercials. :rolleyes: