July 20, 2008 by sharky
In recent times, the piracy "scene" has been shifting away from DVD Screeners (DVDScr) in favour of the newer (and superior) R5 movie format. To quote Wiki, "In an effort to compete with movie piracy in Russia, the movie industry chose to create a new format for DVD releases that could be produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional DVD releases. R5 releases differ from normal releases in that they lack both the image post-processing and special features that are common on DVD releases. This allows the film to be released for sale at the same time that DVD Screeners are released." R5’s are an excellent alternative to those who want a good copy of a film long before a scheduled DVD release date. But what makes the R5 format so remarkable is that their "release dates" are somewhat predictable, and even published.
Whether or not this R5 strategy has been effective in saving money for the movie companies (or increase revenue) is unclear, but probably quite likely, at least in Russia. But one thing that is known is that R5’s have now superseded DVDScr’s in terms of popularity in the piracy scene. The introduction of the R5 has not thwarted piracy - in fact, it has had the opposite effect for the rest of the world. Top piracy groups are heavily competing for them, and English audio is added through a direct line, making R5’s the preferred choice among movie aficionados for pre-releases.
Unlike DVDScr’s, TC’s and other movie pre-releases in which the availability is mostly hit-and-miss on BitTorrent sites, R5’s offer users a chance to predict when a pirated release will become available. Here’s a list of future R5 release dates - look for these to appear on popular trackers soon after. Dates are not official and subject to change.
July ‘08
— July 22 —
Wanted - we’ve heard this may have been bumped up to August 19th.
— July 29 —
— July 31 —
You Don’t Mess With The Zohan - R5 DVDrip found today, July 20th on Russian trackers.
August ‘08
— August 7 —
— August 12 —
— August 14 - 21 —
The X-Files II- I Want To Believe
— August 28 —
The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior - unconfirmed date on this ‘STV’ movie.
September ‘08
— Sept 9 —
The Mummy 3 - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. May be released sooner (Aug 26th or Sept 3rd).
— Sept. 30 —
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
November ‘08 & Beyond
The Incredible Hulk - originally scheduled for R5 release much sooner (July 8th), but sources indicate it was pushed back to November.
Kung-Fu Panda - R5 is scheduled for Nov. 30th.
The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian - R5 date has been pushed back to December; the DVDrip will likely appear much sooner than this (Oct. / Nov.)
Wall-E - Slated for R5 release on December 11th.
It should be noted that R5’s are not just exclusive to Russia - parts of Asia and Africa also share the same DVD Region Code 5. The reason why R5’s are found so early on the scene is because in Russia most movies are released to DVD (R5) within a matter of weeks after the theatrical debut. The typical theatre-to-DVD turnaround time is 8 weeks on average, although it can be much sooner.
Some film companies don’t release R5’s at all, as is the case with Paramount and Disney. As is often the case, a DVDrip will beat an R5’s release date.
Popular Release Groups & R5’s: BaLD, mVs, PUKKA, RUiNS, iNQONTROL, KAMERA, TDM, TLo, iAPULA, DEViSE, UNiVERSAL, iGNiTE, DREAMLiGHT.
Sources: R5dates.org, RlsLog.net, scenereleases.info, totaldvd.ru
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