A general overall explanation of terms:
DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr)
Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.
SCREENER (SCR)
A pre VHS tape, sent to rental stores, and various other places for promotional use. The main draw back is a “ticker” (a message that scrolls past at the bottom of the screen, with the copyright and anti-copy telephone number). Also, if the tape contains any serial numbers, or any other markings that could lead to the source of the tape, these will have to be blocked, usually with a black mark over the section. This is sometimes only for a few seconds, but unfortunately on some copies this will last for the entire film, and some can be quite big. Depending on the equipment used, screener quality can range from excellent if done from a MASTER copy, to very poor if done on an old VHS recorder thru poor capture equipment on a copied tape. Most screeners are transferred to VCD, but a few attempts at SVCD have occurred, some looking better than others.
CAM
If you ever see a film that sometimes the audience suddenly appear in the film, that is the Cam-Quality film. A Cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. Sometimes they use mini tripod, but a lot of them do this manually so the camera make shake. And sometimes the seating placement isn’t always idle, it might be filmed from an angle. The sound is taken directly from the onboard microphone of the camera, so sometimes you can hear the audiences laughter quite often during the film. Due to these factors the sound and picture quality usually very poor.
TELESYNC (TS)
Actually it’s similiar with CAM but TS is filmed with different condition it uses an external audio source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people), but it does not ensure a good audio quality though. And TS is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality.
TELECINE (TC)
A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. Sometimes it shows a visible counter on screen throughout the film
R5 RETAIL (R5)
Over the past 6 months the major movie studios have been releasing retail dvds early in Russia. They do this to stop the widespread use of pirated telecines (which were once very common). Lately however there has been very few real telecines, most of the scene telecines you see are actually R5 retails. The main difference between telecines put out by the pirates is that the r5’s are done using pro equipment, professional studios and professional people. The quality of R5 retail is very similar to dvdscr’s, no time is usually spent cleaning up dvdscrs either.
DVDRip
A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.
The range of quality we now have is like this.
R1/2 retail > DVDRIP > R5 Retail > DVDSCR > Telecine > Telesync > Cam.