Fakes, bootlegs copies and piracy in general.
07-12-09, 12:15 PM
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07-12-09, 05:23 PM
#27
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Re: Fakes, bootlegs copies and piracy in general.
I actually own quite a few music bootleg dvds that I purchased from places like Kim's Video in NY and a few others. Some music shops still carrying a number of unofficial stuff. I don't care for bootlegs and especially paying for them but at the time it was the only way to really see any of this stuff since it's "grey" area material not officially released. It's kind of a different matter than a counterfeit dvd
Last edited by statcat; 07-12-09 at 05:26 PM.
07-13-09, 01:45 AM
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Re: Fakes, bootlegs copies and piracy in general.
I work in a store that sells DVD-Rs, and like clockwork the same 5 or so guys come in every week and each buy 200-300 DVD-Rs and 100 CD-Rs. One of them even dropped a disc once and when we put it into a laptop, it had a camera copy of the newer Star Trek on it. I can only imagine they are selling it in their neighborhoods.
Last edited by NitroJMS; 07-13-09 at 01:47 AM.
07-13-09, 05:13 AM
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Re: Fakes, bootlegs copies and piracy in general.
I have been buying dvds online for about 10 years now. I have bought from everywhere imaginable in the US. Only once have I gotten a bootleg. This was within the last month from an Amazon seller. The item was fulfileld by Amazon, so I simply returned it and got my money back.
When trying to spot bootlegs, i find that a little common sense goes a long way. If the dvd is advertised as an authentic region 1, the pictures of the disc for sale should match the pictures of the officially released product on Amazon, or Best Buy. Obviously the printing should be crisp, with no misspellings. If region 1, the language ont eh back should be in proper English. Price, i find, isnt really an indication of bootlegs for the most part. I have bought many mainstream titles for $5 and under. Where price becomes a factor is in the rare titles. If someone is selling a rare title for dirt cheap, it's a bootleg. If someone had mulstiple copies of a rare or out of print title chances are they are bootlegs. there is a guy selling a copy of the killer Criterion on Ebay right now, for $650. It is sealed, and according to the seller is an authentic Criterion disc. But who knows? the seller is an idiot, and trying to sell the disc for way more than it's worth, and I find it very unlikely that he actually has a sealed genuine criterion dvd.
Of course, the converse of all that could be true as well. Which makes trying to spot the fakes very troubling indeed.
When trying to spot bootlegs, i find that a little common sense goes a long way. If the dvd is advertised as an authentic region 1, the pictures of the disc for sale should match the pictures of the officially released product on Amazon, or Best Buy. Obviously the printing should be crisp, with no misspellings. If region 1, the language ont eh back should be in proper English. Price, i find, isnt really an indication of bootlegs for the most part. I have bought many mainstream titles for $5 and under. Where price becomes a factor is in the rare titles. If someone is selling a rare title for dirt cheap, it's a bootleg. If someone had mulstiple copies of a rare or out of print title chances are they are bootlegs. there is a guy selling a copy of the killer Criterion on Ebay right now, for $650. It is sealed, and according to the seller is an authentic Criterion disc. But who knows? the seller is an idiot, and trying to sell the disc for way more than it's worth, and I find it very unlikely that he actually has a sealed genuine criterion dvd.
Of course, the converse of all that could be true as well. Which makes trying to spot the fakes very troubling indeed.
My view of buying DVDs on ebay is that I never pay more money than I can afford to chalk up to a bad experience. If you deal with people with a history of good feedback, you will probably not get ripped off (either by bootlegs or out-and-out crooks). I would never buy a rare OOP DVD off ebay because the odds of being ripped off are too great.
