Hello all:

I'm new here - need to get some information from you knowledge gods.

I purchased the complete Buffy the vampire slayer (season 1-7) from a guy in the US (I'm from the UK) who told me the DVD's are multi region and can play without a problem in the UK. However, the DVD's appeared from China and the packing envelope was marked Hong Kong and the actual box was part written in Cantonese/chinese.

Now all (except for season 7) will only play in black and white (80% quality picture) with poor sound quality. I contacted the seller who has offered to replace the disks with the problems (i.e. season 1 - 6). Just for a last check I played a 'faulty/dud' DVD on my PC and it works fine. Full colour and great sound.

Can someone please tell me the problem - DVD, DVD player or Television. Thanks in advance for any help.

these sound a lot like bootlegs...well made perhaps, but boots nonetheless. the chinese/cantonese characters on the box are a definite telltale sign.

Just curious....what was his feedback rating like?

Could it be a PAL/NTSC issue?

Don't think there is an issue with the DVD themselves as they work really well on my PC. Looking into things on the internet I think Peep has hit the nail squarely on its head! I think the TV or DVD player is changing to or from PAL/NTSC. One telltail is the characters/icons (eg Play symbol, volume bar) switch from their normal blue background with white forground to black and white also. So it could be the TV or DVD player?

Anyone else have any advice?

Region 0 almost always = bootleg

In this instance, definitely bootleg.
Demand your money back, and get the discs somewhere legal and reputable. Sounds like NTSC dvds to me, which won't work correctly if you have a PAL setup.

My roommate bought that same set. Seasons 1-6 are indeed PAL, and have been recompressed to an absurd level to fit on a dvd-5. Not worth the money.

Yep, looks like you were bitten by the bootleg monster. Here's hoping you can get your money back. :/

-JP

i would definatly ask for a full refund...if they don't comply negative feedback and report the bootlegs to ebay...

Heh, you two guys did the exact same thing I did...assumed that he bought them on eBay. All I heard were the words, "chinese characters on the boxes" and that's the first thing that popped into my head. He never stated where he bought them (though that would be my guess). I just find it funny that three of us now have assumed he bought the titles on eBay simply because they were asian knock-offs. God, that place is such a bootleg breeding ground now.

-JP