Quote:
Originally Posted by Varzi Network
The technology some big like George Lucas Films use is even more cutting edge then much bigger names like Warner Brothers.
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Actually most any 35mm film duplicated at Technicolor (and probably Deluxe by now) has or can have a watermark embedded in it. The mark, which appears as a "random" sprinkling of colored dots, flashes on the screen very quickly. It's really a barcode that uniquely identifies that print. I don't know how it's made, but my guess it's a precision waterjet - could also be a laser, as they also use these to subtitle movie prints.
Like fingerprinting done in digital cinema the watermark is designed to identify the theater. As noted in the article, the idea is that theater owners will be more proactive in thwarting piracy if a video that winds up on the Internet came from their establishment. Theatres detest the notion. The reality, is however, is that most pirated first-run films originate well before they are released in theaters. The vast bulk are inside jobs.
The digital cinema standard has the ability to embed optical but virtually unnoticeable watermarks throughout a movie. It's basically free, as in no licensing, but it costs to have someone hand-insert the marks at suitable places. The watermarking on the Star Wars films would have been with a previous generation of digital projectors, and before everyone agreed on the standard that is in use today. Things have progressed a lot since then.