Movie pirates beware: Philips reckons it can ruin camcorder footage taken in
cinemas that use video projection technology instead of film. At the moment,
pirates steal footage simply by pointing camcorders at the screen and
synchronising the frame rate of the recording with that of the film. But, says
Philips, with video projectors the frame rate can be continually changed,
wrecking any recordings (WO 99/67950). If there is fast action on screen, the
projection rate can be increased above the normal 24 frames per second. If a
scene is slow-moving, the rate can be reduced. The audience won’t notice any
difference but the pirate copy will flash and blur as the camera and projector
move in and out of synchronisation.
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