Things I Hate #1: Camversions (and people that watch them)

In this recurring blog, I will point out a certain thing I hate from society, or just everyday life.Some of them might be common pet peeves, some might not. I will, however, always try to justify why I hate that particular thing. There are no real boundaries as to what it the topic is. The only one rule: I have to hate it. Don’t agree with me? Leave a comment saying why I’m wrong.

People that watch cam-versions of movies.

I download movies. A lot. Fact is, it’s legal in the Netherlands – as long as you don’t provide the links to downloadable versions of intellectual property, be it books, movies or music. For that same reason, ThePiratebay isn’t accessible on the Dutch web. However, there are many, many proxies that send you there anyway.

I love watching movies. I watch about three every week, more if good movies become available. If it’s a really good movie, I’ll download it in 720p. It’s about 6 gigabytes of data, but it’s worth it to me to wait the extra hours it takes to download it. Regular movies, which I’m curious about, are about 1.5 gigabytes. I only download high quality movies, like DVDrips, HDrips or WEBrips. I can’t understand why anyone would download a movie at a low quality. I don’t understand the reasoning.

For instance, there are TS, R6, and CAM versions of movies. These are released with the theatrical release of said movie. They are made by a guy sitting in the theatre with a video camera. There are multiple issues I have with that:

1. It is never going to be good quality.

Remember how you would use a videotape to record a movie from television? Remember how it was never the same quality as the original televised movie? This is basically the same. Maybe a better metaphor: have you ever wanted to send something you saw on your PC screen that you wanted to share with friends on your phone, but didn’t want to go through the hassle of making a screenshot, uploading it to a hosting site and sharing the link, so you just made a picture of it with your phone and sent it directly? This is exactly that. Furthermore, the microphone on even the best camera’s isn’t able to catch the bass from the movie with the same quality as your ears can pick up. Speaking of sound, brings me to my second point.

2. You can hear the audience of the theatre.

“Shhhjt – I’m trying to record a movie here”.This is an actual quote that can be heard from a recorded version of a movie that was quite popular on Youtube and Reddit a few months ago, trying to point out the ridiculousness of camversions. I can’t remember which movie it was, but there were a few people talking through the movie prompting the recorder to silence the offenders. However, there’s no way people are going to be silent throughout the whole movie – making for a good laughtrack throughout any comedy. It’s as if you are watching a terrible sitcom version of the movie.

3. Why can’t you wait?

Most high quality rips emerge about 4 months after the theatrical release. It is not hard to wait, since there are high quality rips emerging every day, The only downside is, you lag behind on current topics at the watercooler. But there’s a better option for that: go to the fucking theatre. If you love movies, but can’t wait to see a particular one, go to your nearest theatre. I can understand you download it instead if your theatre doesn’t show that particular movie. But for the love of god; wait a few months. There’s no way of justifying downloading a movie you absolutely love in inferior quality. That’s like wanting a Ferrari for all your life and while having the money to spend it, buying a Lamborghini instead because it would be delivered earlier. No. Have some standards. Have some class.

I will never, ever watch a camversion. I’d rather pay €8,50 for a movie ticket. I’ve done so quite regularly. The Dark Knight Rises, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Kick Ass 2; all movies I went to see in theatres recently. On top of that, my DVD-collection is at 150+ DVD’s. I’ve bought them all in the price range of 1-2€ a piece, through some decent bargain-hunting. I think people who rather watch camversions are the scum of the earth. But hey, that’s me.

That’s it for this weeks Things I Hate, stay tuned for more.

Please, let me know what you think!