Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. With July 4th fast approaching and after watching the prices passively for about a year I've decided it's time to own the Twilight Zone on DVD. It seems there is controversy, however, as far as the packaging of The Twilight Zone Complete Definitive Collection DVD release. The initial (only legitimate?) variation of this set featured each season separately in plastic gate cover packaging (like on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist The Complete Series, The Gilmore Girls Seasons, and The Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition), and had the old Image logo on the back.

However, on Ebay, Amazon, and elsewhere there are copies that feature new packaging, with each season contained in a hinged amaray case, and the new Image logo on the back, though the old Image logo still appears on the spines. There have been unsubstantiated claims that this packaging belongs to a bootleg knockoff, however a seller became very insulted by me when I called it such and suggested to me that it could be a repackaging. I've decided to e-mail Image, but I was wondering if anyone here had knowledge of this situation? As much as I want to own this title I do want to be sure I own it legitimately, but I certainly don't want to alienate anyone over this either.

Thank you.

What about the boo-ray versions?

I guess there's not much interest in this but upon inspection, after taking a chance on an ebay set due to no word from Image, the "new" packaging has got to be a bootleg. Single layer discs, files written in 2010, discs falling out of the case when opening them for the first time, listed extras not being present, disc art of somewhat reduced quality. At least they're giving me the option to return it. I hope to find a seller on ebay or amazon explicitly listing the legitimate set, because after watching a bit of the bootleg before returning it I want the real one so bad, lol.

I had asked about the packaging change when the amaray version appeared at costco last Christmas. I have the original packaging & bought the amaray for a friend for a present, but they returned it so I didn't get to see it open. But there is a repackage.

Wow that complicates things more perhaps... in any case I cannot imagine that these single layer discs with omnipresent compression artifacts, without the PDF extras, etc are legitimate.

EDIT: On the site sell123 I've found at least one of the sources of this bootleg "BLAZERS International Trade Co., Ltd.", here's their description of it:

US $122.00 - 184.00/ lot
5 pieces / lot, $24.40 - 36.80 / piece
Min. Order: 1lot
Wholesale Price:
Quantity (lot) Price (Per lot) Processing Time
1 - 2 $184.00 3 Days
3 - 5 $174.00 3 Days
6 - 10 $169.00 3 Days
11 - 50 $165.00 3 Days
51 - 100 $122.00 3 Days
Place of Origin:: Tianjin China (Mainland)
Brand Name:: HX
Model Number:: HX-465
DVD:: movies
Unit Type:: lot (5 pieces/lot)
Package Weight:: 6.0kg
Package Size:: 20cm x 40cm x 30cm

They've got lots of other professional quality bootlegs of other titles that I suppose are also flooding reseller markets. Their sales pitch has some fairly glorious engrish:

"We will provide you with range of high and affordable dvds. at the same time we will regularly provide you with the latest and hot of the DVDs! We have been convinced that your smile for our job is the greatest way for payback! Of course, if you think that our is good, we also hope to become your supplier! If you do and like to have cooperation with us for long time, we will give you the best price and better service"

Nothing makes me smile more than ordering an American Region 1 boxset for a reasonable price and receiving a crappy Chinese bootleg instead.

I bought the definitive set on Black Friday last year from Amazon and it sounds like the repackaging you are talking about. Each Season is in a plastic case about an inch thick. Inside each case there are a few clear plastic "sheets" with a disc on each side. The booklet kind of just fits in there. Do you have pictures? My set is definitely not a bootleg. The discs are dual layer and the picture is very solid.

Hi,

I can't post URLs yet because I don't have 30 posts. The amarays for each season that I recieved were about 3/4in thick. They had two discs overlapping on the front inside, one disc on each side of a middle hinge, and then two discs overlapping on the rear inside. There was no slot for the insert, which had the new Image logo on it. The covers on the cases were quite thin and overlapped the plastic. Thank you for confirming to me that the original set is dual layer. The bootleg was compressed down to a single layer and this was quite evident in the video quality.

Now you got me worried since it sounds an awful lot like my set. I will double check that the discs are dual layer but I was definitely pretty impressed with how they looked considering they were standard DVD's. I didn't notice any pixelation or weird video issues (except those 6 video taped episodes). I will also check if there's any PDF extras. Do all the discs have them or only specific ones?

The PDFs are advertised on the back of the cases... I think every set should have some kind of PDF extra, like I know that on Disc 6 of season 1 there's supposed to be one. On my bootleg the PDFs were listed in the DVD menu, but not actually on the disc, which only had the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders. The title of all the discs on the PC was NEW, and the date of the discs was in August/September 2010.

Ok, I can confirm that they are dual layers. However, when I popped in disc 6 it was single layer but it did have the PDF. It's a bonus disc with hardly any features so that would make sense. The discs are also named properly. The cover is not too big for the case however the actual case sounds the same as you describe.

So I guess there's a repackaging, and a bootleg that was developed to mimic it. I guess if it was simple and logical it wouldn't be the Twilight Zone.

Honestly, if you're a fan of the show, the sets are worth going out and just buying a player. They're that awesome.

I just finally (on the fourth try, as my third bootleg set is en route to being returned and not refunded yet) acquired all legitimate DVD season sets for $80 and they look very nice upscaled, however over time if the blu ray prices fall to around $20 I would be happy to pick up seasons 1, 3 and possibly 2 and 5 as they must look absolutely stellar in 1080p.

As far as the differences between the legitimate and bootleg DVD discs if anyone is concerned:

Region:
Legitimate: Region One.
Bootleg: All Region.

Layers for disc 1-5 of each set:
Legitimate: Dual.
Bootleg: Single.

PDF Extras when listed (S1 Disc 6, S2 Disc 5, S3 Disc 5, S4 Disc 6):
Legitimate: Exist.
Bootleg: Nonexistant.

Disc Names as displayed on a PC:
Legitimate: "TWILIGHT_ZONE_SEASON_3_DISC_3", etc.
Bootleg: "NEW"

Overall Bitrate (from S3 episode "Deaths-Head Revisited"):
Legitimate: 5123 Kbps (Video: 798Mb, no visible macro blocking)
Bootleg: 2881 Kbps (Video: 395Mb, quite visible macro blocking)

Print on ring on bottom of discs:
Legitimate: Random code.
Bootleg: Twilight Zone Season 3 Disc 3, etc

Folders on discs:
Legitimate: VIDEO_TS, AUDIO_TS, JACKET_P
Bootleg: VIDEO_TS, AUDIO_TS

I hate bootlegs. That really sucks with the Twilight Zone set. I often wonder if the studios new love for MOD DVD-Rs will make it more difficult to tell bootlegs from the legit stuff.