Asian Text
 

So here's the deal. I bought the James Bond Volume 3 set. I found it on Ebay for about $20 less than retail. Great deal right? Well, I toss it onto the player and everything is fine, sounds is great, crisp transfer (anybody heard if this is coming to HD-DVD?) etc. Well after the FBI and Red Screen Warning, I get the screen that tells you that the commentary doesnt reflect the views of the studio blablabla only it isnt in English, it's in Asian text. NOWHERE on the box does it say it is a Region 6 or Region 0 releasse. It looks like Volume 1,2 and 4. It has all the inserts, etc.

So what gives? What are the thoughts on this?

There is more info on the Bond Boxset thread,
but the US boxset, (assuming you didnt get a bootleg from ebay)
are encoded for Region 1,3,4, so there are subtitles and menus in South American and Southeast Asian languages.

Some DVD player setups didn't default to the English menus, so you'd have to look through the setup.

Congratulations! You were duped into buying a bootleg!

Bootleg
 

My reason for thinking it isnt a bootleg is that it has the full color booklets for the film along with the MI6 book that comes with the set. Also, the dvd's don't have that bootleg smell. You know what I mean? That burnt plastic smell.

???

Thanks Manic. That would explain it. Would I just get that text on the one screen though? All others were English it was just that one shot that had the Asian characters.

Here's an example with another Sony multi-coded release: Seinfeld

When I play Seinfeld on my Region 1 player, the Comment warning appears in English, French
When I play it on my Region Free, comments appear in Spanish and Portugese.

Just depends on the setup.
No Asian characters on the discs themselves and the box, right?

Right. Asian characters only appear on that particular screen. Sound slike you have it nailed. My first thought was bootleg, but it just didn't add up. How would a bootleg have the same book and inserts included. Thanks for the help buddy!

Lots of bootlegs do include copies of the original booklets/inserts--usually on real thick and glossy 'printer stock' paper, though. So assuming it's not on that, and considering it doesnt have 'that bootleg smell' (I definitely know what you speak of--my cheap asian bootlegs of The Killer and Hard Boiled Criterion editions smell "delicious"!)--I say you're good.

Glad I am not the only one who recognizes the smell. Not that it's bad. In fact I love the smell of Bootlegs in the morning.

The paper is just like the other bond sets.

even my boxset, purchased at best buy, switches languages on the menus since i have region free player. no need to worry.