The importance of screeners

[Evit]

I keep continuing call a screener what is actually is a CAM (or CAMrip?) version, just because it's taken with a camera recording a film projected from a screen... - maybe I should change my definition?

Yes! I used to make the same mistake, based off of the fact that a lot of pirate material shared on the Internet was badged as "screener" but often turned out to be just bad "cam rips". Both me and you probably absorbed the indirect notion that a screener must have been an equivalent word for camrip. To be honest, even my British partner thought screeners were camrips and called the actual screeners informally as "for your consideration copies"
Only recently I read what a screener was and started using the term appropiately

[jerryshadoe]

I could see how a lot of people get the two terms confused, especially with how most people over the years have used them incorrectly. But, yes, a "screener" is a VHS/DVDrip in most case, that is one of those "for your consideration" copies. On the other hand, a "CAM"/"TS"("telesync") is a recording of the film done in a movie theater. The problem with using those to gauge any kind of color-timing is the "auto white-balance" of the camera used for the recording and those can throw off the colors. Plus you have to contend with the low-bitrate compression of those releases too.

[Evit]

Yeah, cam-rips should never be a reference for anything other than editing maybe

[Stamper]

And framing. Remember it's due to a cam rip that people could tell the opening of T3 rise of the machines was cropped to remove the TX breasts!

Why they removed one of the better feature of the film is anyone's guess!

[Evit]

True, true.

[ilovewaterslides]

Bad news everyone.  The Spider-Man 2 screener DVD arrived and it's just the regular release. PAL, Anamorphic, DD5.1 and DVD5.
The object is cool to have with its Columbia embossed logo and nice overall design but nothing more.

[jerryshadoe]

That's disappointing