Development and investigation of dwt based digital video watermarking techniques to deter camcorder piracy in movie theatre

Abstract

The cinema industry is one of the most significant entertainment industries in the world, making significant contributions to the world economy. However, it is facing a major problem of theater piracy, where individuals use multimedia devices like cellphones or handheld cameras to record the movie while it is playing in the theater. With advancements in camcorder technology, pirates are able to obtain high-quality recordings. Notwithstanding the countermeasures implemented by the industry and theater owners, the illicit circulation of such recordings persists through avenues such as street markets or the internet. A promising strategy to discourage camcorder piracy in movie theaters is to use watermarking, which involves embedding a distinct and secure watermark message into every frame of the video. The watermark can include information such as the showtime, date, theater location, and other identifying details which can help in tracking the source of any unauthorized copies newline newlineIn this research study, to deter piracy, a watermarking approach has been proposed. This approach includes a time stamp payload, which includes the showtime and date, a pin code (zip code), and a theater ID. This payload is then converted into an encoded basic watermark and further secured using two levels of the Arnold Transformation (AT) technique. Two watermarking methods have been developed and tested for their effectiveness in deterring theater piracy: one using discrete wavelet transformation (DWT), and the other using DWT and Schur decomposition (SD). newline newlineThe periodic watermark is embedded in each host video frame using a spread spectrum approach, making it difficult to detect. The embedding process also addresses a camcorder-based attack by using the luminance factor of the host video frame as the most suitable location for the watermark newline newline