I didn't know they were bootlegs!

[MJS]

Having recently acquired my first DVD player, I decided to pick up some used DVD's from ebay. Though I was vaguely aware that some bootleg DVD's are auctioned on ebay, I had no idea of the scope of the problem. It did not occur to me that an ebay seller of THOUSANDS of DVD's with a stellar record of positive feedback could be selling all bootleg DVD's!

I purchased several "used" DVD's from two sellers who ship from overseas. In both cases, the sellers said they remove the DVDs and cover art from the original box and ship them in plastic sleeves to save on shipping costs and better protect the DVD's. Are all DVD's that are shipped in this manner bootlegs?

It was obvious to me that the DVD's I received from one of the sellers were bootlegs, because they lacked the special features which were advertised on the included cover art! [They also appeared to be new rather than used.] There were also a couple minor problems with the menus (e.g., malfunctioning sound or graphics). The picture quality of the movies seemed quite good, however.

Until just recently, I was convinced that the DVD I received from the other seller was legal. This seller advertised that he is different from other ebay sellers who "sell extremely bad quality (and illegal!) copies DVD..." and offered a 100% money-back guarantee. I now suspect he may be guarantying that his illegal copies are high quality!

This fellow's DVD appears to be very high quality with all the extra features I expected. Is it common for bootleg DVD's to rival the legal disks in quality and include all the special features of the original?

I am suspicious because I noticed a small blemish near the center of the data side of the DVD, as though some identifying marks had been blotted out. The obvious bootlegs of the other seller had similar blemishes. Is this a reliable sign of a bootleg?

The other cause for suspicion is the logo "DVD 9" that appears on the picture side of the DVD. I read on another website that this logo is a reliable indication of a bootleg. Is this true? If so, why do bootleger's put it on their disks?

Regards,

MJS

[disturbed1]

What color is the disc?

If the underside is not silver or gold, it is a home burnt bootleg (either light or dark purple).

The top side of 95% or more of the movies in the last year or two are all full color silk screen images. Not thermal printed with only titles, nor fuzzy printable/labeled discs.

And yes, a dvd backup can rival or be equal to the actual DVD in image quality.

Anybody can download/scan a DVD9 logo and slap it on a disc.

[jaxxboss]

I have no first hand knowledge, but as far as the dvd9 emblem goes, I would suspect that there are some dvd9 discs floating around as they are not that far off selling them to the average consumer. dual burners and dvd9 discs are within a couple months from being available and surely a few people already have them smuggled out or stolen from the manuf.

[sacajaweeda]

Nobody on eBay would knowingly or intentionally sell you an illegal copy or bootleg of a DVD. That's against their rules you know. What you probably had sent to you was probably just an honest mistake, the seller probably just sent you his backup of his original by accident.

[MJS]

The disks appear genuine: colorful artwork on one side and gold (the obvious bootlegs) or silver (the suspicious disk) on the other.

Regarding the DVD9 logo, my question is whether there are any LEGAL DVD's on which this logo is printed? I read somewhere that it only appears on bootleg DVDs.

-MJS

[fravel]

Gold and silver underside are not bootlegs, unless the bootleger has or has access to a DVD press. As disturbed1 says, light or dark purple underside are bootlegs.

[lordsmurf]

Gold and silver underside are not bootlegs, unless the bootleger has or has access to a DVD press. As disturbed1 says, light or dark purple underside are bootlegs.

That's completely untrue. A lot of legitimate small time operations are converting to the cheaper burning methods, especially overseas.

[lchiu7]

Nobody on eBay would knowingly or intentionally sell you an illegal copy or bootleg of a DVD. That's against their rules you know. What you probably had sent to you was probably just an honest mistake, the seller probably just sent you his backup of his original by accident.

Well I bought a copy of 24 Season 1 from Amazon markets (you would think that would be safe) and got bootlegs. The discs weren't DVD-R but had been pressed in plants in China, the show had optional Chinese subtitles, there was not labelled box (just plain DVD cases). That was pretty annoying though the discs were mainly playable and equal to what you would expect from the commercial release

[MJS]

Gold and silver underside are not bootlegs, unless the bootleger has or has access to a DVD press.

I infer from your statement that all recordable DVD media available to the public is purple. I did not really think these DVD's were produced by a home hobyist, however. I think they are produced by large operations based in Asia that sell tens of thousands of DVD's on Ebay alone (probably indirectly via independent "sellers"). I assume they have access to a DVD press or non-purple recordable media.

Regards,

MJS

[disturbed1]

Asia does produce a large number of bootleg DVDs, even DVD9s. The Star Wars Discs are a prime example of this, as were the Indiana Jone's a couple of years back.

It's not just Asia either, as Italy and Russia also have a very large black market for pirated DVDs.

A legal blockbuster movie (non idependant/adult genre) will have Region coding, with usually Macrovision and CSS content encryption. Most of these PDVDs are Region 0 (all region) without any content encryption.

[budz]

sacajaweeda wrote:

Nobody on eBay would knowingly or intentionally sell you an illegal copy or bootleg of a DVD. That's against their rules you know. What you probably had sent to you was probably just an honest mistake, the seller probably just sent you his backup of his original by accident.

Yuh Ebay has there rules but there are lots of people on Ebay selling and willingly know that the dvds they're selling are bootlegs. I had emailed a question to a seller asking if the region free dvds were legit. She emailed me back saying she converts them to region free because people in the USA can't play region 3 dvds. She then said she buys the dvd discs from some guy in chinatown and gives him a cut of what she sells on Ebay. LOL! Those region 3 dvds aren't being released in region 1 format yet. So basically she's bootlegging and selling on ebay. But she calls it converting so people in USA can watch it. Ebay posts their rules and regulations but it's not enforced. They've busted a few sellers but there are quite a few still out there selling.

I've had my share of buying dvds from ebay and finding out they were bootlegs. LOL! I used dvdinfo pro and the manufacturer was PRINCO. LmFAO! So yuh see them sellers on ebay are bootlegging. They can make the dvd case look like the real thing but in the end all it is a bootleg.

[MJS]

A legal blockbuster movie (non idependant/adult genre) will have Region coding, with usually Macrovision and CSS content encryption. Most of these PDVDs are Region 0 (all region) without any content encryption.

Though the DVD was advertised as Region 1 on Ebay, the cover of my suspicious DVD has the letters "CC" in a box with the statement: "This disc compatible with all Dvd players displaying these symbols." Is that synonymous with Region 0?

How would one discern whether a disk has Macrovision and content encryption?

Regards,

MJS

[disturbed1]

CC is closed captioning. Region coding has numbers.

Bottom line, it doesn't matter what the cover says, that can be made, it doesn't matter what is printed on the disc, that can be made.

Pop it in your computer and see what region it is. DVDInfo, DVD Decrypter are 2 tools that come to mind.

If it's a DVD that isn't available for retail sale, it's a bootleg.

[Hardcoreruss]

What color is the disc?

If the underside is not silver or gold, it is a home burnt bootleg (either light or dark purple).

The top side of 95% or more of the movies in the last year or two are all full color silk screen images. Not thermal printed with only titles, nor fuzzy printable/labeled discs.

And yes, a dvd backup can rival or be equal to the actual DVD in image quality.

Anybody can download/scan a DVD9 logo and slap it on a disc.

I thought the same on the colour but my friend had a pirate the other day with 2 new films on where the under side was the same as a retail dvd.

[Hardcoreruss]

Gold and silver underside are not bootlegs, unless the bootleger has or has access to a DVD press. As disturbed1 says, light or dark purple underside are bootlegs.

That's completely untrue. A lot of legitimate small time operations are converting to the cheaper burning methods, especially overseas.

As I said above

[Hardcoreruss]

Nobody on eBay would knowingly or intentionally sell you an illegal copy or bootleg of a DVD. That's against their rules you know. What you probably had sent to you was probably just an honest mistake, the seller probably just sent you his backup of his original by accident.

Bollocks

[andydd]

An obvoius example of bootlegs on ebay is Star Wars DVD, but these are so common now and are of good quality that they are accepted as pretty much being legit although as everyone know they are a 'bootlegs' as they have never been officially released.

If I bought these I know id be buying a bootleg but Id be somewhat pissed off if I received a bootled and I was expecting a legit version.

[MJS]

All the movies that I purchased have been officially released on DVD. However, I discovered these ebay sellers offer single-disk Region 1 (or 0) DVD's of movies which have been released as 2-disk editions in the Region 1 market. Will the contents of most 2-disk DVD movies fit on one disk? It would not surprise me to learn that studios use two disks instead of one so they can charge higher prices.

-MJS

[lchiu7]

All the movies that I purchased have been officially released on DVD. However, I discovered these ebay sellers offer single-disk Region 1 (or 0) DVD's of movies which have been released as 2-disk editions in the Region 1 market. Will the contents of most 2-disk DVD movies fit on one disk? It would not surprise me to learn that studios use two disks instead of one so they can charge higher prices.

-MJS

Movies often now take more than one disc (what with the commentaries etc.) - they are usually on one dual layer disc. A second disc might contain additional extras. It's not hard to remaster the DVD to put it on one disc using tools like DVD Shrink etc. Perhaps this is what they do?

[dphirschler]

In regards to the DVD-9 logo, think of it from the bootlegger's point of view. Here he is trying to sell his bootlegs and went through the trouble and expense (and even risk) of having them pressed professionally. He will want to advertise the fact that his discs are DVD-9's in order to stand apart from the cheap-o DVDR burns being sold. The DVD-9 logo says to the potential customer that the disc features all the things that a DVD-9 can offer:

higher bitrate encodes
more content on the disc
better compatibility (being a stamped DVD and not a +R or -R)
better longivety


Darryl

[SLK001]

Test for bootlegs as follows:

1) Check the real size of the files. If the label says that it is dual layer and it is less than 4,700,000,000 bytes, then bootleg.

2) Check for the presence of CSS and MACROVISION. If these are NOT present (on a major studio release), then bootleg.

3) Region 0 disk. Major studio releases will almost never release a "0". If so, then bootleg.

4) Lack of advertized "extras". Bootleg.

5) I would also say that 99% of the disks bought from Asia are bootleg.

Bootlegs can and do look just like the original released DVD.

Caveat Emptor.

[lordsmurf]

Test for bootlegs as follows:
1) Check the real size of the files. If the label says that it is dual layer and it is less than 4,700,000,000 bytes, then bootleg.
2) Check for the presence of CSS and MACROVISION. If these are NOT present (on a major studio release), then bootleg.
3) Region 0 disk. Major studio releases will almost never release a "0". If so, then bootleg.
4) Lack of advertized "extras". Bootleg.
5) I would also say that 99% of the disks bought from Asia are bootleg.
Bootlegs can and do look just like the original released DVD.
Caveat Emptor.

That's all too harsh and very much untrue outside theatre movies.

[SLK001]

That's all too harsh...

I'm not sure what this means.

...and very much untrue outside theatre movies.

I think that I did say major studio releases. But maybe I should have said US studios.

[handyguy]

A bootleg would copy with explorer.

Anyway, you must be referring to those Malaysia sellers on ebay, you know those ebay sales of '50 dvds' or '100 dvds' for $50/120 Do you really expect them to be originals? lol. Most are very very old films, Im surprised they are even worth that much.

They have been around for quite some time. Who knows if they hired people to write feedback for them or not?

[noki]

never mind what the label says, is it a D9 or not? most "real" dvds are dual layered. check with Decrypter. if a major movie and a D5...bootleg. dvds i bought overseas are pressed/stamped, but D5s...bootleg.

[jaxxboss]

ebay is very clear on selling discs. If it is a CDR or a DVD R (or rw), dont matter if it is -R or +R, any of those are NOT allowed on ebay unless they are BLANK media.
Get this as their example... You record your own music, u own it and record it ona cd r and sell it on ebay, you state that it is your own recording, someone buys it and listens to it and then a month later tney want to sell it on ebay... THEY CANT!! as it is a cdr and they were not the orig cdr music owners. Weird. yea, u can sell a store bought cd but not a cdr unless u are the orig owner.

[indolikaa]

The gold color is most definitely not a guarantee of an original disc.

The Empire Strikes Back '5-Star DVD' release that I came across had a gold surface and was advertised as a DVD-9 disc. I'd bet it was a pressed disc that went through the entire process, from glass mastering to eletroforming to mother-father stamping. Now whether the facility was a 'legal' place with 'midnight' production hours or the same facility in a dockside warehouse in Shanghai, who's to know?

[WizyWyg]

Nobody on eBay would knowingly or intentionally sell you an illegal copy or bootleg of a DVD. That's against their rules you know. What you probably had sent to you was probably just an honest mistake, the seller probably just sent you his backup of his original by accident.

Is being ignorant a learned trait, or were you just born that way?
Oh, I have a bridge in San Fransisco to sell you, if you actually BELIEVE what you just posted.

[WizyWyg]

I purchased several "used" DVD's from two sellers who ship from overseas. In both cases, the sellers said they remove the DVDs and cover art from the original box and ship them in plastic sleeves to save on shipping costs and better protect the DVD's. Are all DVD's that are shipped in this manner bootlegs?

That is the fist tell-tale sign that they are bootlegs.
Being All Region is another.

[indolikaa]

Nobody on eBay would knowingly or intentionally sell you an illegal copy or bootleg of a DVD. That's against their rules you know. What you probably had sent to you was probably just an honest mistake, the seller probably just sent you his backup of his original by accident.

Is being ignorant a learned trait, or were you just born that way?
Oh, I have a bridge in San Fransisco to sell you, if you actually BELIEVE what you just posted.

I didn't think he was ignorant. Smart-ass was the first word that came to my mind.