The only thing that unites and brings together families and relationships are the times when we are watching movies. A good movie takes our precious 2-3 hours in exchange for togetherness and sometimes leaving new ideas to change our perspectives towards many things entirely. So it’s important that it should be a good one as we are investing quite an amount of time. There are two aspects which actually make a particular film watchable, one is the “content” of the movie which we can nowadays judge by the IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes scores and the other one is the visual quality which in the fact depends solely on the person who has downloaded the movie.
You might have faced a similar situation once in your life where with all of the excitement you’ve downloaded a movie and put it up on the screen to find out that its of the worst picture quality which you can barely even watch and also with a messed up audio.
In this article, I will try to cover everything you need to know about all the release types online so that you can get a pretty decent idea about what you are downloading before hitting that magnet and pulling up the wrong files to your hard drive. Here are some of the most common releases you will find online:
Contents
CAMRip
As the name suggests, the movie is a CAM (Camera) RIP. Meaning, the content is recorded by a handheld camera and its audio source is also been recorded by some external audio equipment (microphone) directly from the movie which is being played. This is the reason why in some CAMRIP releases we see shadows passing by or hear people verbally chatting with each other. You might also sometimes get confused by reading the release types to be in 1080P or 720P resolution, it is simply the resolution at which the movie was recorded by the camera/mobile device at the theatre where the movie was first played.
The only positive side of CAMRIP is that the first print which hits the web as soon as the movie arrives/launches, so any die-hard fan of the movie who can’t make it to the hall can survive with these release types.
You should stay away from these releases if you are the type of person who doesn’t like those movie prints in which you can barely watch or hear what’s happening in it.
Quality Suggestion: Barely Watchable.
HDTS
Stands for High Definition Tele Sync. To understand HDTS we have to discuss TS which stands for Tele Sync. TS is the better version of CAMRIP because in this release type the movie is recorded by a professional camera with better stabilization compared to that of CAMRIP that are the outputs of poor quality recording devices being used (could be a smartphone). The audio quality in TSrip comes from the direct audio-in of the theatre (or using micro broadcasters for better quality sound). The plus point of this release is that the quality of the movie is good and it’s quite watchable. HDTS is only used as a notation to mention that it is a High-Definition Tele Sync release.
Quality Suggestion: Watchable.
DVDRip
As per the quality of the movie is concerned DVDRips are better than every release mentioned above (CAMRip, TS & HDTS) because of its a direct rip-off (or copy) of the DVD which is the final release of the movie. Soon when a DVDRip of a particular movie is released it often replaces the previous release formats of the movie available online. The video quality of the DVDRip is great because it uses the Xvid codec which was earlier called as DivX and uses mp3/AC3 for its audio. The output format of the DVDRip is AVI. Hence you will find most of the DVDRips in the AVI/Mp4 formats. Exceptions are still there, sometime you may not find the quality of the movie still not up to the mark. This also highly depends upon the uploader who uploaded it.
Quality Suggestion:Good.
BRRip
Stands for Blue-Ray Rip that also goes by the name BDRip. These release formats circulate around the web because of its compatibility and support a variety of devices like DVD players, PlayStations, Xbox, etc. You may have encountered DVD players with tags as DivX/Xvid mentioned in Yellow/Black on its specifications. They are the ones which support BRRip movies. Using the BRRip anyone can burn DVDs and enjoy their movie on their playback devices. Presently Smart TV’s also come pre-supported by all these formats. Usually, the format of BRrip is the mkv file. Both the BRRip and BDRip can be considered a step-up version or slightly better version of the DVDRip. The quality of the movies titled BRRip/BDRip is great and watchable. The only downside of this release type is that its size becomes larger with respect to the resolution (720p or 1080p).
Quality Suggestion: Excellent.
WEBRip
These are from one of the most common and the most downloaded release types among all. They are downloaded by the audience pretty soon as it hits the web. WEBRips are capped from streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, etc and then encoded. These are from amongst one of the sources for getting our favorite TV series/Movies and they offer the best qualities that are available in 720p & 1080p resolution. If you find anything written as WEBRip from a trusted or legit uploader, just download it without a second thought. These days you will find WEBrips receiving the most download counts than any of the other releases.
Quality Suggestion: Excellent.
HDTV
These types of releases focus on TV Series which are streamed or aired on a streaming channel (HBO, Netflix, etc). It is basically a digital TV broadcasting format, which transmits wide aspect ratio pictures that have more details. HDTV is similar to the WEBRips we discussed above. HDTVs are also available in 720p/1080p which you can download for watching your favorite TV shows the next day of its live streaming. HDTV, just like the WEBRips are also from the most downloaded rips online.
Quality Suggestion: Excellent.
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HDTC
Before getting to know about HDTC, we have to know what Telecine or TK is. Telecine is a pretty old conversion technique of motion picture film into the video. To meet the synchronization of the frames (as the motion picture film is initially recorded in low frame rates) telecine equipment basically involves complex procedures to make it a watchable video (ex 18 FPS to 30 FPS conversion).
HDTC stands for High Definition TeleCine which is a High Definition (HD) version of Telecine. The video, as well as the audio quality of HDTC, is usually very good. These days one can find very clear picture quality and frame rates with the same High definition TeleCine releases. You can fairly see an example of a similar print in the above screenshot.
Quality Suggestion: WATCHABLE.
DVDScr
DvdScr, stands for DVD screener. In the movie business world, a “screener” term refers to personal use, for example, promotional copies delivered to an online media or any broadcasting festival before the film’s release date. Some of the prints get distributed to business professionals such as reviewers or juries during the award period. Additionally, before a movie is released, a “screener” copy is sent to the government officials too for the review. Any adult or visually disturbing content against the viewers’ policies get omitted before the final official release.
The movie quality of modern DVD screeners is the same as what is seen on a commercial DVD because, such as the retail version, it is reproduced from the picture’s first digital footage or movie reel into a PC to a disk. However, this private-use-only disk contains some onscreen watermarks like a sequence number, legal or a logo to affirm that it is not for retail selling or people screening.
Quality Suggestion: WATCHABLE.
Web-DL
A movie that is downloaded from an online movie/video distribution website (web download or Web-DL). The quality is exquisite as they are not re-encoded like other releases. The video (H.264) and audio (AC3/AAC) streams are usually extracted from the iTunes file and then compiled into an MKV container without sacrificing the quality. Usually, a Web-DL print doesn’t contain any watermark, logos, advertisem*nts or permanent subtitles, etc. However, some Web-DL is so good that it’s very hard to make out between the quality of Blue Ray or not. This is the only print/copy in which one can find the least or no promotional materials contained. Moreover, we can say that it is an untouched or virgin version of the file available on the internet.
Quality Suggestion: SUPER FINE.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is Web-DL?
A movie that is downloaded from an online movie/video distribution website (web download or Web-DL)
What is DVDScr?
DvdScr or DVD Screener is a “screener” term refers to personal use, for example, promotional copies delivered to business professionals such as reviewers or juries during the award period.
What is CamRip?
CAM (Camera) RIP or CamRip content is recorded by a handheld camera and its audio source is also been recorded by some external audio equipment (microphone) directly from the movie which is being played.
What is HDTS?
High Definition Tele Sync (HDTS), is a TS which stands for Tele Sync. In TS version, the movie is recorded by a professional camera with better stabilization.
What is DVDRip?
It is a direct rip-off (or copy) of the DVD which is the final release. Soon when a DVDRip of a particular movie is released it replaces the previous release formats of the movie available online.
What is BDRip or BRrip?
Stands for Blue-Ray Rip that also goes by the name BDRip. These release formats circulate around the web because of its compatibility and support a variety of devices like DVD players, PlayStations, Xbox, etc.
What is HDTV?
HDTV, releases focus on TV Series which are streamed or aired on a streaming channel (HBO, Netflix, etc).
