Moviethon 2

Are you confused between which copy of the movie to be downloaded when there are multiple versions available? There is a plethora of sites that provide
movie files or torrent files. Some of the sites are religiously documented and some are very stingily detailed. You are in luck in the case of the former, however all is not lost if you are dealing with the latter.

I normally expect the movie file to satisfy the following criteria:

• Acceptable audio language or subtitles - If it is an english movie, the audio language better be english and not the dubbed version. However, if it is Chinese, it better be an English dubbed version or the one with proper english sub-titles. If this has not been specified anywhere, I normally do not start the download.
• Good video quality - It is no fun watching the movie where everything seems to have shot in the dark or if only half the screen is shown. This has been detailed in the paragraph that follows.
• No lag between the audio and video - One of the more frustrating features of a free movie would be to see one thing and hear something else. Imagine the audio saying - "What is this?" while the visual is showing hero's pelvic thrusts!
• Decent number of seeders - applicable if it is a torrent.
• File size less than 800 Mb - If you are downloading a file directly, file size is shown as part of the 'Downloading' window. If this is a torrent, file size would be a part of the general information tab in the BitTorrent client. This is partly because I run out of space very frequently and mostly because the size packs in enough clarity for the laptop theatre.

If the file is available on a forum, scroll through the thread to check if someone else has left a comment regarding the quality of the movie or if there is a sample screenshot provided. Some of them even provide a few minutes of the video for sampling the audio and the video quality... on the lines of the
customary - aaoo, dekho, parkho, phir khareedo... except that it is free. If nothing else eases the confusion, the name of the movie file or the torrent file should give a few hints. Most of the times, the file name provides clues to determine the type of video, the language of the movie and even links to the source. Most of the movies that I have watched have been of the following types:

Type	aka	Description
Cam rip	CAM	Made by sneaking a digital camcorder into a theater and taping the movie. Usually poor quality of video with people walking in front of the camera, shaking, poor resolution and contrast. Since, the audio source is the microphone of the camcorder, it includes voices of the audience. This is the best you can get if you want to experience movie watching the Indian way where the audience gets involved in the movie. I still remember the whistles, the excitement and the aarti in the 'Sivaji' cam rip.
Telesync	TS	Made mostly using the same method as the above; extra efforts go into ensuring that the audio quality is better. The audio is recorded using a direct link with the theatre's audio system or using a hearing aid for the deaf.
Screener	SCR, DVDSCR	Made by ripping from a DVD or a video tape that is sent to the reviewers. The original DVD or video tapes are not meant for sale and are not of the best possible quality as they are not a direct source of income to the promoter. These copies have messages at the bottom like 'This is promotional copy' that flash intermittently. There could also be less content and some black and white scenes.
DVD rip	DVD, DVDR	Made using a ripping software from a retail DVD. The seeding of such a torrent is quite high when a DVD rip is released. Most times they do not include the extra scenes or footage or interviews that accompany a DVD. If the file includes multiple subtitles or multi-region support, the size of the file tends to be more than a Gb... sometimes evern 5 Gb.
HDTV rip	HDTV, DSR, TVRip, PDTV, DVBRip	Made by recording using a TV card or from a digital satellite or an analog capture card. This is the method used for providing famous TV serials like American Idol or Nach Baliye. The quality is quite high due to the availability of DVD quality digital signal. This is similar to the live TV streaming that one gets to view online.