Pirated movies are widespread among the online community, especially with torrent sites. Those movies come in different release types, which affect the quality of the movie significantly. The reason that the quality varies so dramatically is that each type derives from a different source like video camera recording, video on demand recording, DVD and Blu-Ray rips and more.
This tutorial reviews the different release types and recommend what to look for and what to avoid.
Release types you should look for:
- BluRay / BDRip / BRRip
Ripped directly from the BluRay disk of the movie, so it should be in excellent quality. The resolution is 1080p or 720p (depending on disc source) and it uses the x264 or x265 codec.
- WEBRip / WEB-DL
Ripped from popular streaming services like Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Video and Hulu, so it should be in excellent quality (the same as BluRay) since no reencoding is needed.
- DVDRip
Ripped directly from the DVD disk of the movie, so it should be in excellent quality. However, the resolution is lower than the one of a BluRay.
Release types you should avoid:
- Cam / CamRip
Recorded in a movie theater with a video camera or a mobile phone. The source of the sound in the camera microphone. The quality of such recording is poor, and the picture and sound are exposed to external distractions like laughter in the crowd or people passing in front of the camera.
- Telesync
Recorded in a movie theater the same as Cam, except it uses an external audio source (an audio jack in the chair of the theater).
Additional tips
It is easy to know the type of movie you want to download as it is part of the name given by the distributor of this file.
The resolution of the movie is not necessarily determined by its type, so prefer files with higher resolution. Also, the size of the file is important, larger files have better quality than smaller ones.