SexyToad

Thanks for the help

Alkaline

^^Precisely. Tons and tons of official Hong Kong and Korean releases are R0 NTSC. R0 definitely does not inherently indicate a bootleg. Many American releases, such as some from Anchor Bay, are also R0.

Macho King

Macho King is guilty of buying and unwittingly supporting these theives. A few years ago, all my buddies were clamouring about a little movie called Ong Bak and all the talk got me interested. But being region handicapped then, I needed one with English subs and R0 compatibility. After months with no luck, Macho King was refferred to ebay and found one for $10. Great deal right? Yeah, because it was a fucking bootleg with terrible chinglish subs and a bunch of French and Japanese text on the cover. Thats not the only case: Last year, Macho King purchased a copy of Battle Royale off amazon, a reliable online retailer. Sadly though, after doing a bit of research, Macho King found out it was indeed a bootleg because BR hadn't been released (and still hasn't been) in the USA. These bootleg punks deserve an elbow drop from the top rope. I can definitely dig that brothers!!!

Ooooooooh Yeeaaaah!!!!!

cultshock

Careful, you slipped out of third person there a few times.

renaldow

Looking at that site, I don't think I'd buy anything from them. Not only are their prices ridiculously high, almost every DVD on their is suspect. If they are the only ones who sell a title, import or not, chances are it's not legit.

Quatermass

I'd add Euro Cult to this list. In the e-mail newsletter I just got from hkflix, they have some links to some new stuff of theirs and they must be bootlegs. My question is, how do they get away with this?
You can google just about any greatly-desired-but-unreleased-on-DVD movie and find several companies selling bootlegs. These appear to be US-based companies selling discs in the US. Why do legitimate studios bother paying for the rights to a movie when you can just release it without any legal repercussions?

Sorry if this has already been discussed, I did a search and didn't find anything.

salamander2

Also add

Substance
Jef Films
Televista

despite the fact Amazon and DVDempire carry their stuff, they are a bootlegged stuff, all taken from beat up ex-rental vhs tapes.

whitetigeress

Please don't start bringing banner signatures in here. It is one of the reasons why I love this forum.

logboy

there;s something i've always wanted clarification on, because lots of folk in america seem to have ideas about public domain material - specifically the idea that if a film isn't copyrighted for release in america, it's not covered by copyright in america, full stop....

grim_tales

I'm happy my OOP Snow White set (not from ebay but Amazon Marketplace) is legit then. Definitely is as the ring ID is genuine.

visitor Q

Since store fronts are being thrown into the mix as examples of bootleggers, could we not also include a list of known ebay sellers that do this? Is there already a list for this here? Would this be considered slanderous?

There's one user on eBay that used to have a tie in to Red Sun distribution, "Stiller .." something or rather. IIRC he was the main operator of Red Sun. I don't believe he's running under that name on eBay any longer.

A list like this should be pinned.

toddly6666

RareLicensedDVDs.com is probably one of the most interesting dvd sites I have ever seen. I love the way they review the films there. Out of the DVDs that I've seen that they do sell at this place, they do look like the official dvds.

Giggles

I strongly second that. Great and useful idea.

Egon's Ghost

Yes! Very good idea. I seldomly buy DVDs from Ebay, but when I do I am very careful. If there is the stock photo, I just avoid it. I also ask the seller specific questions. Same with CDs. I've been screwed a couple of times, but now I know what questions to ask (in the case of CDs). Luckily haven't had a bad DVD experience.

About a year ago, though, (a bit more, probably), my wife found a website selling complete sets of TV series. She wanted The Addams Family. this was before the official DVDs were released. They were expensive. I said, "bootlegs, plain and simple, no goddamn way". I refuse to pay a penny for something that is most likely sourced from crappy EP VHS TV recordings. I actually e-mailed the site and they responded to me! Said some bollocks like, "our DVDs are official and reputable, our guarantee" or some such baloney.
As someone else asked, how can sites like this exist??

Shampoohorn

I fell for this when impatiently waiting for Lady Vengeance to be released in the US. Found a copy on Amazon months before US release, and pulled the trigger. Received a really shitty looking case with even harder to read text, cheap factory seal tape at the top, and when I popped it into the player, there were no notifications that this DVD had anything to do with the supposed "Chinese distribution company." It was basically a rip from the Korean release.

Took a bit of fighting and I got my money back. The seller even accused me of knowing way too much about bootlegs (I used to live in Indonesia, these were basically the only thing available) and called me out as suspicious. Then she started in with the threats and name calling, so I just happily forwarded everything to Amazon rather than reply.

Egon's Ghost

Yeah, Amazon seems to be very good that way.

chriscooling

Probably the easiest way is to check title availability on Amazon. If it has 'not available' or 'email me when this title becomes available' then it is not legitimately released for this region.
Also, remember a couple of titles that you just know have never been released on DVD like Electric Dreams and Song of the South. Any site offering these sells bootleg DVDs.