Spottedfeather

I don't know why, but I just got to thinking about people getting bootlegs without knowing it. Has anyone here ever ordered a movie and gotten a disc and case that just doesn't seem right ?

Hazel Motes

I bought John Huston's "The Dead" from Italy. I'm pretty sure it's a bootleg, but I don't really care since it's never been properly released in North America.

Coincidentally I came across the insert for the botched Region 1 release of The Dead, so I just ended up using that sleeve instead of the "Dubliners" sleeve I had. It looks pretty good. It'll have to do until its properly released.

DVDude!

I recently bought a Korean TV show off eBay. I think it's a Chinese boot, but the quality is okay. Other releases either have crappy English subs or are OOP.

I've unwittingly bought a couple of bootlegs off of eBay. Both swore they didn't know. In one case, the seller asked that I return it. The other told me to keep it (Disney's Beauty & the Beast). Both refunded my money, including shipping.

On the other hand, I've purposefully bought bootlegs where there isn't a DVD/BD release available anywhere in the world. Once it gets released, however, I trash the boots. Examples include Bloody Mallory (no English subs on original French release), Tales of the Gold Monkey (TV), and Star Wars. I currently own several boots of TV shows which haven't been released (G vs. E, Freakylinks, and a couple of others).

kd5

I bought Blade Runner (the theatrical version) from Ebay back before they finally got to work on the re-released final cuts because I didn't much care for the weird ending in the Director's Cut. Grainy reproduction, poor quality, the picture-disc looked fine, the case looked fine, but I could tell it was bootleg. Finally bought the 2-disc Final Cut when it was released (only to find it's the Director's Cut ending, should have bought the 4-disc but didn't want to spend that much $$$ at the time.) -kd5-

joltman

Years ago, on eBay, I came across Demonic Toys, Dollman and Dollman vs Demonic Toys. For some reason, I thought they were legit, thinking that they might have been released and one time and pulled like the Puppet Master movies. I realized once I got it that it was a bootleg, but kept it anyway. Full Moon has since officially released these, but I haven't picked them up yet, and quite honestly, I don't know that the quality will be much better, if at all, to bother upgrading.

Dane

Donīt JUST assume everything from China must be Bootlegs. Thatīs far from the truth as China release excellent "authentic" DVDs & Blu-rays.

Evan Meadow

I got a season two set of Alias I think is a bootleg.

But that's because I did buy it from somewhere in Asia and everything about it felt fake. They weren't in real DVD cases, the packaging feels very flimsy, etc.

But the quality and all the extras and what not were there in perfect condition so it might just be how they produce them out there,

adrenaline78

I once bought "star wars" cant remember which episode.. but I knew it was a bootleg as soon as I popped it in. This was before they were officially released on dvd and the listing said he got some recalled ones. Anyhow I sold it for as much as I paid for it at a garage sale. So no loss to me.

chocoboy87

Only fakes I accept in my collection are wrestling TV shows that aren't officially released on DVD. That is if they have quality cover art/packaging.

critterdvd

I've been pretty lucky ordering DVDs online and don't believe I've ever received a bootleg that I didn't know was one. I've only ever bought 4 bootlegs and they are movies/tv shows I doubt will ever get a proper release: "Young Americans" (The Dawson's Creek spin-off), "Doug," "The Legend of Billy Jean" and the Producers cut of "Halloween 6".

asianxcore

Early on in my collection, I ordered Battle Royale off a seller on Ebay. It ended up being a bootleg of the Korean Starmax release.

Haven't thought about replacing it since the quality is surprisingly good.

islandclaws

Plenty of times, always off ebay. Got a refund for almost every single one.

Cheato

Amazon (not the Marketplace) was (and still is) selling bootlegs of Battle Royale and Battle Royale II. I ordered them both, just to check them out, and once I received them, I confirmed they were indeed bootlegs. Someone had reauthored the 2-disc sets of each into single-disc releases. There were no copyright notices anywhere on the packages or the discs. The discs had code numbers on them, and I searched the web and found a bootlegger selling them.

I contacted Amazon, gave them the links to the bootlegger along with links to other sites showing the details of the originals these were reauthored from, and they promptly refunded my money. A week later, I got a great deal on the Korean Starmax release of BR1 from HKFlix, and I don't really care about BR2, so I don't intend to get it. Bootlegs went into the trash.

TheKing

I bought KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park that was put out by a company called CheezyFlicks. It's a legit pressed DVD and everything, but the company had no rights to the material. It went out of print almost immediately but I was lucky to snag a copy.

The film was eventually released officially on KISSology Vol. 2, and I still own both copies. (The bootleg is of the original TV version, the official release is of the theatrical version made for Europe).

Boba Fett

I got stuck with a "Red Sun" DVD of "Ong-Bak"

I kept it though because its the only R1 release that has the uncut Thai version; no edits, no French rap.

chuckydj

I bought the Kiss Phantom of the Park DVD right after it came out also. Didn't even realize it went OOP again. I had long since sold off my vhs copy. Thanks for the info.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I have a legit version of Invasion of the Blood Farmers and one made by a company that has a actual print of the movie. The "legit" version is cropped so I ended up keeping both versions.

milo bloom

I thought it amusing how the thread title could be read two ways: like either you got stuck with a bootleg that you weren't aware of; or that you bought a bootleg and decided to stick with it because there wasn't anything else available. Interesting to see both kinds of responses.

I've never been stuck with one, but I'm always amazed at how the used CD/DVD stores around here (not pawnshops) seem to have no problem putting bootlegs out for sale, and when they're so blatantly not right. Like one was a fairly nice looking boxset of the Bond movies, would look very cool on a shelf, but when you opened it all the discs were in those vinyl-like disc sleeves. I knew no studio would release something like the Bond films in those kinds of sleeves, but the clerk thought the set was all that.

Mikael79

I have only purchased used a handful of times, so I've never been stuck with a bootleg.

milo bloom

About 3/4 of my several hundred large collection is used, and I've never gotten a bootleg either. I can just pick them up and "know". I mean, some of the public domain stuff is iffy, but even stores like Best Buy and Walmart carry those so it's understandable if you can't tell.

smurr05

I'm pretty sure I just bought a bootleg of The Golden Girls CS from an Ebay merchant. The PQ is so poor its unwatchable! I tried 4 times emailing her to get a refund but never got an answer so I filed a claim /complaint with Ebay and they are attempting to get my refund. SUCKS all the way around!

Dragon Lee

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've bought plenty of bootlegs. Still got my Panmedia copies of Ong-Bak, The Blade, and Drunken Master. As a matter of fact, I just placed orders for bootleg copies of Masked Rider Z-O (remastered DVD w/ english subs) & Drunken Master II - Remastered "Uncut" version. Over the years I've gotten pretty good at spotting fakes but I just dont care. Sometimes theres just no other option.

hilts

I bought 100 Rifles at Big Lots and it was packaged in one of these:



Has to be a boot. No legit company would put their product in this piece of crap.

asianxcore

Dane

Itīs legit all right.