Is My DVD fake?

[Nitro89]

Hello, I just recently bought Aerosmith 'Big Ones You Can Look At' from a seller on ebay from American who assured me the DVD was genuine, however, loads of signs point it to being fake, but the disc itself looks genuine.

I googled 'how to spot fake dvd's' and answered myself a few questions:

Q. Research the movie you want to buy. Find out how many versions have been officially released, what special features they have, and which regions they are encoded for. This will allow you to spot a fake more easily when you're shopping, and it will also give you a better sense of which deals are too good to be true.

A. All I know is that this DVD was only released for a limited time.


Q. Look carefully at the covers, both back and front. The cover design should be the same as those for the same movie being sold through a reliable outlet (such as a large retail store), but be sure to compare it with a DVD from the same region, for example a genuine imported version of Disney's Lion King DVD will probably be single disc however the US or UK version will probably be two disc, being single disc does not automatically make it a copy(check for a genuine disney hologram on the front, back or spine of the case). Variations in the cover design should make you suspicious because it's possible that a different cover was printed for pirated copies.

A. I can't compare this DVD to any others because it was released for a limited time about 10 years ago.


Q. If you see any words spelled incorrectly, it's a dead giveaway.

A. Yes, 'crazy' is spelt wrong.


Q. Another thing to look for is image quality. Gritty images, matte paper and dull colors indicate that the cover was probably photocopied.

A. Yes the two images used as screen shots for this DVD cover look like old VHS pictures, however the rest of the cover looks professional enough. Also, the paper feels exactly the same as a genuine DVD cover does.


Q. THE UPC on the back of the DVD case should only be one color, black. If additional ink colors can be seen overlaid over the black in the UPC, or if there the lines in the UPC are indistinct because the image of the bar code has been re-processed with a halftone screen over it, then most likely the DVD case has been copied and re-printed.

A. There is no barcode at all on this DVD, however I've seen this, but only on video demos of games, was this DVD free or released with the Big Ones CD?


Q. The absence of security seals and plastic wraps should also warrant suspicion.

A. It did in a plastic wrap, but a shitty one that was probably put there by the seller.


Q. The advertisement of DVD-9 is often thought to be associated with fake DVDs because many official studio releases never advertise this distinction; it's counterfeit distributors who specify it in relation to quality to differentiate their products from lower-quality DVD-5 counterfeits. In general, any advertisement of "quality" is a red flag, as original releases rarely mention it. The exeption here is some genuine Thai DVDs that do mention DVD-9 if they are also released as DVD-5 (DVD-9 is dual layer and as such often has more extra features).

A. It doesn't advertise DVD-9, although it does advertise DVD 5.


Q. Can you see through the DVD? If you can see through it very well, it is more than likely not authentic, though this is not always the case.

A. No I can't see through it at all.


Q. Is it colorful (like blue, gold, or purple instead of silver)? If it is any of the colors listed above, it is most likely not a mass produced DVD.

A. It's silver.


Q. Hold the DVD up to the light and tilt it to one side. You may be able to see a well known manufacturer's name, such as Maxell. If the disc has a name such as Maxell, then odds are the DVD was a burnable disc, easily available for under £1 ($2), and the disc's contents are counterfeit.

A. Nope, nothing there. BUT, on the inner ring of the DVD, it does say 'Aerosmith Big Ones You Can Look At' along with 46212834


Q. Put the DVD into your Personal Computer, in Microsoft Windows click "My Computer," then click your player's drive. It will give you the size of the disc. There should be close to 5 GB used on a single layer or more on a double layer (but this varies depending on running time). Then go through Windows Explorer and right click on various files stored on the DVD to check properties. Look for the creation date. If the DVD is out of print, for example, and the date is recent, something isn't right. HOWEVER, this will probably not work with Disney imported DVDs with copy protection and results may be misleading.

A. The size of the disc is 3.78GB. I selected a few files, they were all created and modified on 09/07/2002 so I am going to ask a few aerosmith fans about this DVD too.


I am not sure what to make of this, the DVD cover looks a little tacky and has no barcode, but the disc sounds genuine, the quality is good, but when you play the disc, you go straight to the menu, there is no liscene or copy prohibited messages that appear.

I also found that on the cover of the disc, the Aerosmith logo is distorted.

http://img194.imageshack.us/i/66266889.jpg/
http://img30.imageshack.us/i/54359888.jpg/
http://img200.imageshack.us/i/37621238.jpg/
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/696/15187704.jpg

[freebird73717]

Looks fake to me.

Here's another test you can try. Not foolproof by any means but just more evidince. Try putting the dvd in your computers dvd drive then see if dvddecrypter sees any css or other protection on it. Fakes will not have any protections on them. Being a music dvd I would expect to find copy protections on it.

[yoda313]

Also check the file dates in my computer. I don't know when it was produced and how many reissues it had but the file creation date may give you more information.

[minidv2dvd]

silver is a good sign, check to see if it's a dvd-rom or dvdr. start imgburn and check the media to make sure it's a dvd-rom.

even if it's pressed, it still might be a pressed far east fake though. i think the most telling omissions are that all copyright symbols are missing along with company info on who produced it that should be on the bottom of the back cover where those cheesy pictures are. with the copyright logo not there it's harder to prosecute for infringement.


hehe. i just looked it up. it's got to be a fake, it was never released on dvd, just vhs and laserdisc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ones_You_Can_Look_At

[yoda313]

it still might be a pressed far east fake though.

You know that might have been what happened to me one time on ebay. I won't mention the name of the movie but it was a fake. The packaging looked nearly perfect except one of the singers for the soundtrack was misspelled on the packaging. And a closer look at the disc label seems to be a printed label instead of an original pressed design.