CAM - A cam is usually a handheld camera snuck into a full theatre. The base is shaky, the audio is poor, you can hear people laughing and talking. A cam is distinguishable by usually having a combination of all three or more of these flaws. Another common cam flaw is that the screen is at an ackward angle, and a lot of various parts of the screen cut off. Most sites nuke (see "Other Terms" for Nuked) cams for their general poor quality.
Workprint - An early release of a movie. These are usually stolen or leaked copies of movies that have made their way onto VCD from VHS or a variety of other sources. These will usually contain running time codes as well as other identifying marks used in movie production, altough in some cases these are not there. These also might not be the final copy of the movie, resulting in some secenes not there, and some scenes added. The quality on these can vary from bad to very good depending on the quality of the source material used to encode the VCD. Note: This category is also used for very bad screeners or copies of movies that just didn't fit into any of the other categories due to defects or problems with the quality of the VCD's audio/video image.
Telesync - A "professional" Cam. A steady base such as a tripod is used. IT is done with a 1-3' tripod that you take with a camera in a bag (backpack), set up the tripod in the seat next to you with the camera on top, then for safety, some put a hat or coat over the camera (not blocking the lens) to hide it. They usually adjust their camera at this point to get a nice full screen, with about 10-20 percent of the edges cut off, which is usually not that noticable except when beginning credits are cut off. Sometimes a widescreen telesync comes along, but has crooked edges. The theatre is empty or very close to empty, and the audio and video are up to par. The audio is SOMETIMES ripped with the movie, from either just the camera being there (bad audio, gets complaints) or from the handicap headphone audio jacks. Sometimes, after the movie is ripped, or as it is ripping, a device such as an electronic recorder, will be attached to the handicap headphone jacks and recorded as the camera is set up at a more proper angle (the headphone jacks are usually on the wall, which would make it difficult to get a good angle). If the audio is ripped serpretly, it is added in sync with the video once on the computer. The end result, a good picture with good audio, very good. Although, you can usually detect some flaw with a TS. You may see a random head pop up, the screen edges are noticable, or the audio isn't always crystal clear. While not perfect, the quality in general of a telesync ranges from good to very good and is usually the first type of VCD made of a new movie.


Telecine - A great rip of a movie. Done a number of ways, all from taking directly from the reel. Ripped in either widescreen (letterbox) or in full-screen (pan and scan) with excellent audio and video. The most common way is to get a device that you attach to the reel that generates a VHS tape of the reel. (called a telecine machine, but there are other machines that generate a digital output of both audio and video that are then put into a laptop or VCR and made into a VCD). The direct-from-reel process makes a brilliant rip. Telecine movies are mostly released as screeners, but the quality is usually a lot better then the common screener. Good telecines (as telecines in general) are hard to find, but are becoming more common.


Screeners - These are the top quality VCDs (except in the release of a good telecine, which is released as a screener anyway). They can be in either widescreen (letterbox) or in full-screen (pan and scan) with excellent audio and video, as a telecine. Unlike a teleicne, one that is full screen will NOT have the edges cut off... it will be, as the movies say, "formated to fit the screen". These are made from video distributors demo tapes, reviewers copies, insider copies of the film or from any number of sources (Video Stores, Malls, hotels). Most screeners will contain "1-800-NO-COPIES" or "Property of.." messages somewhere in the film, but it's not a requirement to fit into the screener category. These most closely resemble a VHS or LaserDisc copy of the movie. They're easily identifiable by their top quality. Lots of TC, or TeliCine movies are realeased as Screeners. Movie production studios will often release screeners for promotional purposes. These promotional screeners will be distributed to different organizations to hype up the film. They are also sometimes sent to video stores a few months before the movie releases on video to hype up the video. Some people leak screeners to release groups. Hotels frequenly recieve screeners to sell the movie to their customer's rooms directly. The Phantom Menace with Thai subtitles was actually a VHS screener.


DVD Rip - Using DVD-ROMS, and ripping software, takes the best quality movie you can get. Widescreen, awesome. Best video, usually awesome audio, sometimes not so good audio (it is lower) but "re-doing" the audio bye going out of a PC, to an audio reciever, turning the volume up, then through the output or headphones jack of the reciever, into another pc. The audio is great, stero, but just the volume is a problem, which, in the way that i mentioned, and be fixed. The only disadvantage is that you have to wait for the movie to come out on video\DVD (or a month away, but very close to its official video release) so you can't get theater movies. For dome people in other countries, however, the movie does not come out in the theater for them until over here it is already out on DVD, so they can get DVD rips of theater movies.