Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

I'm not trying to start a bootleg discussion OR suggest that anyone buy them. I'm curious, since many on here like foreign films that either never make to the US or take forever in doing so. Do you patronize a retailer like HKFlix which has many DVDs of questionable legitimacy? I just purchased Ong Bak 2 )Malay)and Miike's Puzzle of God (Malay) from them. I'm a Miike nut, like many others, and I couldn't stand that there was an English subbed film out there that I didn't own. It did take me a couple of days to pull the trigger though, because I know that many Malaysian DVDs are either pirates or of very sub-par quality. After doing what I considered due-diligence on these two titles I pulled the trigger and I'm hoping for the best. The Ong Bak 2 DVD has been mentioned on several websites as being legit, so I'm less worried about that. Where do you draw the line? If the choice is between having the film and not having the film, what makes the decision for you?

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

Used to shop around, but generally I only need to use yesasia.com for most of my Asian imports these days.

http://www.yesasia.com/us/1019784337-0-0-0-en/info.html - Ong Bak 2 - the HK subbed release. $14

edit - doesn't look like that "Puzzle of God" one is available yet. Still, yesasia normally covers HK, Taiwan, Korean, Japanese and mainland Chinese releases - pretty comprehensive.

Now for some exclusive subbed releases, you can look at this Singaporean store (haven't checked if they have that other film listed yet) - http://www.moviexclusive.com/estore/

Only place I ever found a legit subbed version of the Russian flick "Bimmer" - among others.

edit again - here's one more store I've used occasionally for Filipino releases and other SE Asian DVDs: http://www.dvdasian.com/
Although despite having a surprising number of Indonesian flicks - they're not necessarily very comprehensive - I've got a few subtitled releases that my folks mailed me (legit, pretty good quality domestic releases) - still better than most options.

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

That release is not subbed even though it was announced initially as having them. That site in Singapore is tempting, but the shipping costs are pretty high.

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

Ooops - my bad. I read articles, but then don't always follow up on them (http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/ong-...dvd-april-9th/). Sorry. I'd probably just wait. I remember when the Korean release of Tom Yum Goong came out (theatrical and director's cut versions) months before the US release though - so there'll probably be something similar.

I guess this is also the Malay release: http://www.dvdasian.com/_e/Thailand/...n_ALL_DVD_.htm

Your call.

Movie-exclusive is a good store - great customer support and whatnot - but yeah, shipping hurts unless you find 3 or more titles to order at one time.

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

I pass on "Questionable" DVD's. It sucks not to have a movie you are curious about or love around to watch, but in the end I would rather spend money on a legit release.

This happened around the time the Vietnamese Action Flick "The Rebel" showed up on HKFlix.com as well as other various retailers. As much as I really wanted to see it (and be proud of a Vietnamese Film that wasn't "Scent Of A Green Papaya"), I was hoping for a great release for it in the future.

Luckily Dragon Dynasty did more than their share in terms of the DVD treatment.

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

Initial disclaimers aside, I'll have to keep a close eye on this because such threads have a tendency to go "bad"....

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

Fair enough, I realize it is a possibility.

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

Speaking of that Tom Yum Goong Korean release, I actually bought it literally 3 days before the R1 was announced, I was a bit irritated with that. That is why I'm a bit hesitant to plunk down $25-$30+ for Korean releases unless they are super fancy editions. However, most of these Malay releases are roughly the same prices as HK releases, which leads me to believe that they are legit, and I do check around to see who is selling it and what they say about it. For example, one thing that was holding me back about the Puzzle Of God DVD was that the only audio is stereo, but I overlooked that for the chance to see the film which I otherwise wouldn't be able to do. It has to be something I'm really itching to see to make me take a chance like this.

Re: Do you buy DVDs of questionable legitimacy or quality?
 

...or maybe they're just gouging. Some of HK Flix's Malaysian releases are most certainly bootlegs -- for example, they were stocking a Malaysian DVD of Chocolate a couple of months before it even came out in Malaysian theaters. The Ong-Bak 2 disc might be legit though (the Malaysian theatrical release was in February).