Chinese 007 DVD
 

I have a Chinese "The James Bond Collection" (see pic) as a result of a fouled up deal on ebay and I am not sure of what to make of it. What I can tell you is that it says that it is Region 2, pre-Blu-Ra, and that it was Printed in USA :).

The UPC code is 2547485010023, but that is not much help. I have tried.

What do I have here?? Thanks, Lar

http://home.earthlink.net/~lbblock/s...esbondcol4.jpg

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

Does it look like this 40th anniversary Japanese 20 disc Special Edition?

http://www.amazon.co.jp/007-%E8%A3%B...0859972&sr=1-2

The ISRC code on the second image indicates CN (China), so the Chinese version/boot of the Japanese set? Have you checked to see if really is R2 (Japan)?

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

It's a bootleg set, though the quality is likely every bit as good as the originals (be they sourced from Japanese or American discs). Chinese pirates have been "boxing" the Bond titles for years (and Disney, and Miyasaki, and The Simpsons, and and and) without licence; I've seen several variants floating around Chinatown shops here in years gone by, usually in the $40-$60 range, down considerably from where they were maybe five years ago. Sign of the times, I guess, but I'll stick with the real deals.

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

Thanks for the info. Being that is says that it's Region 2, I guess that I need to develop from friendships in Japan... or just continue to use it as a paperweight. Can't really sell it on ebay, either. Hmmmm.

Thanks again!

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

With the mix of Chinese and Japanese writing on there, definite bootleg

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

If it's a Chinese bootleg, which it is, it's probably not region-coded despite what it says on the box.

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

Though it is currently sealed, it sounds like I should open it up and see what I've got. Region 0 would be great. I wonder how the inserts will look, too. Lar

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

What DVD player do you have? Most players can be made region free with a few remote control keystrokes nowadays.

See http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

I have a Pioneer 563. From what I understand, if you have the original firmware, it might work. If you have updated firmware (which I have) it will not. Once I open the DVD box, this will be my chance to find out definatively.

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I will report back.

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

I opened it up last night and the discs do say ALL-NTSC instead of Region 2. I compared them to the Ultimate Edition series and the quality of the sound and the picture are far inferior. The earlier movies are only in stereo and there are no audio options. The Special Features option on some movies are inaccessible, as well. The subtitle option list was impressive with a long list of Asian languages.

The discs themselves came in a book of poly sleeves.

It was a mess. I'll send it off to a friend who is still into lo-fi.

Thanks for the help and insight.

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

The "Region 2" on the box is just to identify where the source discs came from. No Chinese bootlegger is going to region-lock their discs (China isn't even a region 2 territory). And most Chinese bootlegs are DVD-5s, so if the source disc is a DVD-9 they'll strip most (or all) of the extras, remove all but one or two audio tracks, and re-encode the video at a lower bitrate, which is probably what happened here. You get what you pay for.

Re: Chinese 007 DVD
 

Exactly, and I paid nothing for it.