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How to Tell a Bootleg

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How to Tell a Bootleg

Old 11-18-03, 11:53 AM
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How to Tell a Bootleg

So lately I have purchased several Asian edition boxed sets. I don't mind turning off subtitles and Chinese characters on the box. However, I would mind poor quality DVDs.

How can you tell that a DVD is a copy or a real Asian version? If its a copy, does that mean its of inferior video-audio quality?

For example, I just got The Godfather boxed set. The films looked and sounded fine. However at the end of The Godfather (#1) the credits quit in the middle. Is this an indication of a bootleg?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

Dave
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Old 11-18-03, 12:35 PM
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sounds like a bootleg to me.
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Old 11-18-03, 01:10 PM
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There are a number of high quality bootlegs out there, and it can be tough to tell the difference. People who always say you can tell by quality alone have never seen any number of box sets available.

It sounds like your Godfather set probably is a bootleg, mainly because of the cut off on the credits. With a high number of quality bootlegs out there the only way sometimes to tell if you're buying one is to do a little research on the item. Is the exact same thing being sold on legitimate websites? If not, then it is probably a boot. Is the price of the item incredibly cheap compared to other releases? It's probably a boot.
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Old 11-18-03, 01:48 PM
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If you buy from ebay - you're bound to get bootlegs. If you buy only from legit retailers, then you should be able to avoid that entirely.
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Old 11-18-03, 03:28 PM
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There are "legit" retailers that sell bootlegs, and there are eBay sellers that sell legit releases, so I think it's just a question of educating yourself about the DVD, and the seller.

The quality of bootlegs is sometimes even better than legit releases depending on the movie and the source. Doesn't happen very often, but certainly can, so as mentioned above, quality is not a good tell-tale sign anymore. Ive even seen pirates sell bootleg DVD's in legit packaging to make it look more realistic. Sad, but true.

Credits ending abruptly is a very good sign that you have a bootleg copy.
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Old 11-18-03, 04:26 PM
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Did I just buy a bootleg on EBay? I have been wanting the Toy Story Ultimate Toy Box for sometime and I bidded without reading the description. Here is the link - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...em=3363484959. I won the bid for a set identical to the one in the link. I have not paid for the item yet. The seller told me in a email that

"Both boxed Set are Brand New Asian collector's limited edition just became available overseas, these dvds are original, high quality manufactured disks, not bootleg copies or Vcds. Original English audio and no subtitles by default unless you turn it on. All Region encoding, fully compatible with US and Canada DVD players. Once you see all the movies and episodes, you will find they are no different than the US version. Thanks."
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Old 11-18-03, 05:22 PM
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It could be, but it sounds safe enough.

I didn't mean that all ebay people sell bootlegs - just that if you buy from ebay - you will likely encounter some bootlegs among the legit releases. Find sellers you can trust if you're worried about it. Either that or just start buying stuff from legit sources.
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Old 11-18-03, 05:53 PM
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Yes, the Toy Story set from Asia is a bootleg, if what the seller is telling you is true.

There are many official releases of Disney movies all throughout Asia, but NONE of them are Region 1 or Region Free. ALL of them are Region coded for the region they were released in. So for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea they would be Region 3. For Japan, they would be Region 2. Disney does NOT release non-region coded discs, and they do not release discs in one region coded for another region.

Almost all (there are exceptions) official releases of Hollywood stuff in Asia are going to be region coded.

They are "no different than the US version" because they are probably copies of them.
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Old 11-18-03, 06:27 PM
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Discussion of Bootleg DVDs is prohibited on DVD Talk.

There is no way you can be assured on Ebay that you're getting something legit, it's a hotbed for piracy and there are ton of 'hit and run' auctioneers who rip people off.

Your BEST bet to ensure you get legit product is to purchase DVDs from a legit etailer. In the US we strongly recommend HKFlix who is extremely dillgent about ensuring the quality and legitimacy of their products.

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