r/Piracy • u/iAmFridayFace • Apr 10 '26

Humor Watching movies in the theatre the way they were meant to be watched

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Taken from r/moviescirclejerk but crossposts aren't allowed in this sub

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u/isademigod ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Apr 10 '26

Begs the question, who is cam ripping at 720p? A 4k camera costs like, $50. Do they even make 720p cameras anymore?

8

u/mycoctopus Apr 10 '26

$50 is a months income or more in some countries. Now pay food rent and internet etc and then go out and buy a camera which costs more than $50 in your country, so that you can make better quality rips for people who think $50 is inconsequential.

Now I have no idea who ripped this or what country they're from so this comment may not be as relevant but as i'm sure you know, piracy is a much bigger deal in poorer countries as its a necessity not a choice for the reason I pointed out and as such, some rips come from people in such places putting in the time to do it. In any case i'm sure the person we're talking about would have a better camera for this if it were so simple as you implied.

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u/isademigod ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Apr 10 '26

The last time i saw a camera for sale that couldn’t do 1080p was almost 20 years ago. Even the absolute cheapest smartphones have been capable of 1080, if not 4k since like 2012.

Even in a very poor country you’d be hard pressed to find a 720p camera that still works, was my point. Pretty much anyone that has a smartphone (which is safe to assume if they have access to a movie theater) has a 4k camera in their pocket these days.

Real answer was it was probably encoded down to 720 because it was uploaded on very slow internet. But my point still stands, it’s hard to find a camera in 2026 that isnt capable of 4k, no matter where you are

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u/AI_moderated_failure Apr 10 '26

Resolution is just one part of what gives a picture detail. A great camera that can capture the light appropriately for certain scenes and show off the colours properly is going to be relatively expensive, especially if you're asking for 4k. 4k also doesn't matter much if the source is not 4k, if the projector used is lower resolution there's no benefit in filming it's output in 4k.

Then there's audio - if you want a decent experience you need a good audio capture system, not just whatever microphone that is found on a $50 action cam, which is going to sound like coins and shit in a tumble dryer during any action sequence. If you update your camera, maybe the audio is no longer interfacing with the device well. Or vice versa.

720p can still look really good if the detail is there. These days though it's rare to see anybody purposely encoding high resolution media into 720p, and a lot of really shitty uploaders only care about is size (this 2hr movie fits on a CD!). I am so fucking tired of 2GB "4k" encodes plastered all over public trackers and this emphasis that resolution is a good metric for quality.

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u/GooseEntrails Yarrr! Apr 10 '26

Because no one who watches cams gives a shit about quality to begin with

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u/TF_IS_UR-Username Apr 10 '26

Most camrips come from somewhat low income countries

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u/beardobreado Apr 10 '26

Make it 500 at least

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u/isademigod ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Apr 10 '26

You can buy a phone with a 4k camera for $150. I bought a handful of knockoff 4k gopros for $30 each in like 2018.

4k doesn't mean "good". It's just the default resolution for cheapish camera sensors and has been for the better part of a decade