How to judge video quality
Introduction #
During my stay here in Ludhiana, on more than one occasion, I’ve come across fellow students discussing or talking about movies they’d downloaded (or were about to) off the internet (via p2p or some ripper community site). That’s fine and all, until the issue of quality comes into discussion. I’m talking about the glaring misconception that HD = high quality.
The purpose of this post isn’t just to point out the misconception. No, I’d like to go the extra step of laying out what various terminology used in those file names mean, and what you should be looking for when you’re looking for a high quality ‘rip’.
The naming scheme #
There’s a standard naming scheme used by the warez scene. It is:
Title.Of.The.Movie.YEAR.Source.Codec-GROUP
Occasionally, the video resolution may be added before the Source, and subtitle info may be added after the codec.
What determines quality #
The quality of your video is mostly determined by the Source. If it’s a good source (and only if it’s a good source) does the video resolution (720p/HD, 1080p/FHD, 4K/UHD) come into account. This basically means that a CAMRip in 1080p is no better than a CAMRip in 480p. In fact, if the CAMRip source was in 1080p, it’d look nicer and less aliased if downsized to 480p.
Source #
The most important part of this post, here you’ll find practically all the source formats you’ll find in the warez scene.
Otherwise known as the Release Format, this refers to the original format the video came in or the copying method. You’ll come across the following terms, among others:
| Type | Labels | Comments |
| Camcorder | CAMRip; CAM | A copy made in a cinema using a camcorder or mobile phone. The quality is often dismissal, so if you absolutely can’t wait for a proper release, at least check the comments by users to get an idea how good/bad it is. In addition to the fussy video, the audio suffers too, with background noise from the cinema audience. The audio is improved in Telesync. |
| Telesync | TS; TELESYNC; PDVD | A bootleg recording of a film recorded in a movie theater, sometimes using a camera in the projection booth. The audio is captured with a direct connection to the sound source, so it’s better than a Cam. You’ll often find a cam wrongly labeled as a telesync. |
| Workprint | WP; WORKPRINT | A copy made from an unfinished version of the film. Often has missing effects and overlays and can be quite different from the theatrical release. May be missing some scenes, but may also have scenes cut from the final release. |
| Telecine | TC; TELECINE | Made using a machine that transfers the movie from its analog reel to digital format. These can be as high quality as DVD, but is usually of a lower quality due to use of lower quality copy reels. Plus, the colors may be slightly off. Higher quality than CAM and Telesync. |
| Pay-Per-View Rip | PPV; PPVRip | Made from PPV sources. Usually brand new movies that haven’t been released to Screener or DVD, but are available for viewing by hotel customers. |
| Screener | SCR; SCREENER; DVDSCR; DVDSCREENER; BDSCR | Early DVD or BD releases o a theatrical version of the film, usually sent to movie reviewers, Academy members and executives. They have a message overlaid on its picture, and may have occasional black and white scenes. Only slightly lower quality than a retail DVD-Rip. |
| Digital Distribution Copy | DDC | Basically the same as a screener, but sent digitally to companies instead of as a DVD. Lower quality than R5, but higher than a Cam or a Telesync. |
| R5 | R5; R5.LINE; R5.AC3.5.1.HQ | A retail DVD from Region 5 (Russia, South Asia, most of Africa, DPR Korea and Mongolia). Direct telecines transfers of the film without any image processing. Often come with audio tracks from previous releases in other languages. |
| DVD-Rip | DVDRip | A final retail version of a film. Availability of a DVDRip often puts an end to the ‘race’ to release the film, meaning that only occasional high-res versions will follow. This is a benchmark for quality. |
| DVD-R | DVDR; DVD-Full; Full-Rip; ISO Rip; lossless rip; untouched rip; DVD-5/DVD-9 | A complete copy of the original DVD, without any edits whatsoever (1:1 copies), with one or two exceptions (DVD-9 to DVD-5). Often released alongside DVD-Rips, these are large size (4 to 8 GiB). |
| HDTV, PDTV or DS RIp | DSR; DSRip; SATRip; DTHRip; DVBRip; HDTV; PDTV; TVRip; HDTVRip; HDRip | Sourced from television, though an analog capture card, or OTA transmissions. Analog sources are re-encoded into 512x384 (traditional) or 720x404 (wide screen). HDTV sources are re-encoded into 360p (720x404), 540p (960x528), 720p/HD (1280 x 720) or 1080p/FHD (1920x1080) for various releases. 360p is often mislabeled as 480p in many releases. These can exceed the quality of DVD-Rips |
| VODRip | VODRip; VODR | Video on Demand Rips. Similar to HDTV, but from VoD sources. Significantly better than Cam or Telesync versions, and often of high quality (depending on methods used). |
| WEB-DL | WEBDL; WEB DL; WEB-DL; WEB | Downloaded from an online distribution website (Windows Store, iTunes, Google Play, etc..) Good quality, often with no network logos on screen. |
| WEBRip | WEB-Rip; WEBRIP; WEB Rip | Ripped from a DRM-free streaming service like Hulu, Crunchyroll, or WWE Network. Comparable quality to WEB-DL, but lower bitrates ( and thus quality) due to streaming bandwidth. |
| WEBCap | WEB-Cap; WEBCAP; WEB Cap | Video ripped from a DRM-enabled streaming service like Amazon Instant or Netflix. Quality varies with the internet speeds of the ripper. |
| BDRip or BRRip | BDRip; BRRip; Blu-Ray; BluRay; BLURAY; BDR; BD5/BD9; BD25/BD50 | Similar to DVD-Rip, but sourced from a Blu-Ray Disk. A BDRip of the same size as a DVD-Rip (700MiB), often looks better due to higher quality source material. BDRip and BRRip aren’t the same thing. BDRip is sourced directly from a BluRay Disk source, while BRRip is encoded from a previous release - usually a FHD BDRip from another releaser. |
With this taken care of, you can go on to decide the video resolution you want. If you’re viewing on a midrange laptop, 720p looks fine. 1080p is optimum for a high-end laptop, while you should only bother with 4K resolutions if you own a 4K TV.
Conclusion #
If the film was just released this week, look for a Telecine or Screener release. If you’re not so lucky with it, go for a Telesync with good ratings from other viewers, but never go for a CAM. Otherwise, look for a proper DVDRip or HDTV.