Am I the only one who's sick of seeing the red "CAP code" dots on the print of any movie I see in a theater? It's a relatively small thing, but it is distracting, and I feel like it's pushing me that much closer to just boycotting the big theater chains altogether (As it is, I can only tolerate going to the multiplex about once or twice a month because of the various annoyances of the modern moviegoing experience). Of course, to be fair, that's probably not something that the theater chains have control over.

"CAP coding" (or, if you prefer, "Crap coding") seems like like a fairly crude anti-piracy measure. Surely there's some other kind of "watermark" that the studios could use to trace the source of pirated copies of movies. Is there even much of a point to tracking the source of a camcordered copy of a movie? (Well, I suppose it could be to figure out which theater chains are failing to prevent people from recording movies.) If someone makes a copy right off the print, then tracking the source makes some sense, but surely there's some kind of "watermark" the studios could use that would be invisible to people who paid to see the movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coded_Anti-Piracy

Agreed. Once again, the paying customers are being devalued and punished for the sins of others. Phooey.

Boy, is that far down my list of issues and variables in theatrical exhibition. By the time I see a grouping of those not-so-subliminal dots flash on the screen, I've already been taken well outside the experience by any number of other factors.

I first noticed them five years ago, during screenings of FREDDY VS. JASON and OPEN RANGE. Couldn't miss 'em they were so big and about as subliminal as Ethel Merman. Now I hardly notice them at all. Have they gotten more subtle, or have my eyesight and visual perception simply collapsed?

Or are the collapsing standards of exhibition making them less noticeable because they're not so well illuminated?

And are you catching more digital presentations than you were a few years back?

I don't see, or notice, them as much in a digital showing. In 35mm, they show up big time. Annoying, and reminding me that I'm only watching a movie. I personally don't think that they do a whole lot of good,other then creating yet another annoyance.

What I'm finding more annoying are the really bright exit signs that really interfere with getting into the movie. There are better ways to satisfy the fire code without making the customer go blind.

I'm pretty sure that's because they aren't utilizing the system for digital, as they have more discreet (discrete?) ways of watermarking those 'prints'.

I hate that they're so blatant at times. They'll put it right in the middle of the damn screen on a bright shot of clouds or something where it's impossible to miss. I don't understand why it can't always be in a lower corner of a shot on a darker area that they can still evaluate it if needed but not have it interfere with the viewer experience.

I assume it has to be in the center of the screen, so it can't be cropped off.

And it's gotta be an automated stamp as well - there's just no time or manpower to sync the marks to each reel of each print of each film's specific aesthetic circumstances.

A friend told me that when he went to see THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, those red Exit signs were the only thing that got him through the movie; he had to look over at them every five minutes in order to reintroduce color to his aching eyeballs! :D Needless to say, he still hasn't watched the other two movies.

I can't say that I've ever noticed the dots that people are talking about here (except maybe once or twice), but I have definitely noticed a vast increase in the noticable "beep" noises occurring once or twice during films. Very annoying.

On the subject of the exit signs, I don't find them to be nearly as intrusive as mobile phones that people switch on to see the time, only for them to light up the entire cinema (regardless of whether they try to shield it or not). I am the only cinemagoer who still tells the time using a wrist watch?

I wondered if these were in Cloverfield. There were a couple of places where I thought I saw them but really how can you tell? Definitely saw some in Sweeney Todd.

They are all over RAMBO.

Do *any* movie theatres really monitor their audiences enough to say they prevent a member from recording the movie? Most theatres I go to, I imagine I could carry in a large camera bag, whip out a giant, over-the-shoulder TV camera, and tape the film from beginning to end.
The only possible point I can see to the marks is if studios gather up a whole ton of bootlegs and uses them for statistical data (i.e. do most come from the same part of the country?); and even then, I don't know what use they could make of that data.

Regal Cinemas has people in the audience :ph43r: who have a hand-held device to push if folks are talking, using cameras, taking cellphone calls, etc. They use people in their points rewards program to monitor the audience, plus their employees do a walk through with an orange flashlight, approximately twice every movie, which can actually be annoying.

Im in their points program. Once you reach 120 you get a free admission, and was given an extra 20 on one occasion, (I think it was for EASTERN PROMISES), to monitor the crowd. Early in the film, there was a couple talking loudly one row in front of me, but once I asked them to be quiet, they were for the remainder of the film, so I didn't need to push the button on 'em. Felt a little sheepish with that powerful device in my hand. :blink:

Interesting plan Regal has to hire people to do for free the work that it could easily do itself. I'm sure you do a good job, Michael, but it sounds absurd to me to have paying customers do the theater employees' jobs for them. I worked in a multiplex that had 14 auditoriums, and we had plenty of time to check theaters for racket, check the temperature in each theater, make sure everything was copacetic with the picture and sound, make sure each theater is cleaned between shows. Regal can do all this too. It just doesn't want to.

I first noticed them in MASTER AND COMMANDER. With very few (maybe three) exceptions when the whole family was going as an event, I have not been back to an actual theater since. If Hollywood is going to intentionally degrade the cinema experience, I am not going to pay for it.

Does anyone also get annoyed by the "cigarette burns" at reel changes? I find them at least as noticeable as the red dots. I get the impression people here are as irritated by what the dots represent as by the actual image.

I definitely notice the cigarette burns, but weren't they used for a reasonable purpose, to let the projector know a reel change is coming up? There also in the upper right hand corner, not :angry: annoyingly - is that a word? - in the middle of the screen, right in the center of a cloud or an ocean white cap, sticking out like a sore (bloody) thumb (with four wounded fingers), just to prevent piracy.


... and how exactly do they prevent this? :unsure:

I agree with Michael. These dots are not the same thing as cigarette burns. Plus, as moviegoers who pay good money to see films, I think we have a good right to be as annoyed by what they represent as the dots themselves. They do much harm and no good, as far as I can see.