Are these DVD's pirated?

[DARKasstheRAIN]

I just bought a series four box set of Doctor Who from a seller on Amazon.com and there are some weird things about it that made me think it might be a bootleg (though a really well made one). The pictures on the slip cover are very dark, much darker than on my other Doctor Who DVD sets, and much darker than the pictures of it online. The DVD's inside were also all out of order even though the set was sealed. And the slip cover was a very tight fit and didn't want to go back on (the slip covers from my other box sets don't do this). But most unsettling was that on the DVD's themselves, there are no barcodes and serial numbers on the inner ring on the silver side like on the DVD's from the other four Doctor Who box sets I own. Instead they just say "Doctor Who Season Four" the disc number in brackets then "D9-B". Which is a bit strange because to my knowledge they don't even call it a season in Britain, they call it a series. They're the region 1 (American) versions, but still. And on every other DVD set on the plastic things that hold the DVDs, around the little clasp thing that holds the disc in, there are markings that say "patented by POZZOLI(Italy) EP" and a long number, but this is absent from the series four set. It also doesn't have the BBC video feedback postcard that the others have.

I've contacted the seller and they seemed legitimately surprised when I said that the DVD might be a bootleg. Am I imagining things or do these things seem like legitimate indications of piracy or would it be more obvious? Is there anything else I should look for? The Amazon seller said they got it from Big Lots and that Big Lots sometimes sells dvd's that have manufacturing problems. Could these be manufacturing problems?

They seem to play okay, and like the other Doctor Who dvd's I have. And the images and text on the packaging are clear (except that they're very dark) and it has a booklet and the right amount of discs and seem to have all the special features and stuff that they're supposed to have.

[aedipuss]

open imgburn and put one in. get the info on the media. is it dvd-r or dvd+r? is the bottom purple or blue? if not they are probably pressed and ok, or at least high quality chinese pressed fakes.

[deadrats]

here's the realistic response, assume they are pirated, what do you think you can do about it? i would be more concerned with whether or not they are of the same video/audio quality as the other dvd's you have, if yes then stop worrying about it.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

The person offered me a refund, and I don't want to keep them if they are pirated because if I wanted to watch the show illegally I could have just watched it on youtube and not paid money for it that won't get back to the people who made the show but to some idiots who have no right to it.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

open imgburn and put one in. get the info on the media. is it dvd-r or dvd+r? is the bottom purple or blue? if not they are probably pressed and ok, or at least high quality chinese pressed fakes.

They all say DVD-ROM, but when I tried putting in discs from every other set to compare a window came up saying "This disc is copy protected!". On the series four set, no such window. It isn't looking good to me.

[AlanHK]

The person offered me a refund, and I don't want to keep them if they are pirated because if I wanted to watch the show illegally I could have just watched it on youtube and not paid money for it that won't get back to the people who made the show but to some idiots who have no right to it.

Well, if the disks were perfectly legally manufactured, but seconds of some kind (because of the poor images that you noticed on the cover, say), than the BBC probably wouldn't get anything either.

Buy some Doctor Who merchandise from the BBC Shop if you want to be sure they get their cut.


Doctor Who Ride in Dalek £193.99

[lordsmurf]

Are you trying to compare British DVDs with USA DVDs?
If so, then that's the problem.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

The question is whether or not they're bootlegs. Not anything else.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

Are you trying to compare British DVDs with USA DVDs?
If so, then that's the problem.

They're all American region versions of a British TV show.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

Here are some pictures of the differences between the inner rings

series four disc photo 1 & 2
vs
disc from another set photo 1 & 2 (all the sets are like these except for series four, the one I think might be pirated)

The series four ones just look so unprofessional compared to the others.

[Noahtuck]

I think someone needs to stop checking under their bed every night for the boogeyman and get over being so paranoid.....

"patented by POZZOLI(Italy) EP"

If they were made outside of the country they probably are going to look different, depending on where they were made, even if they were made for the same region/country.

I have many dvd's of the same movie, series, etc. that are all official releases yet the covers, disc's, and disc content is all different apart from the main title/movie.

Which is a bit strange because to my knowledge they don't even call it a season in Britain, they call it a series.

Well, regardless of where you are, a series is a series and a season is a season.

A series is the entire run of a show, all seasons, in which a season is usually the entire run for that specific year.

Even in America the addams family TV show originally ran only 2 season yet there are 3 dvd set's, volume 1, 2 & 3.

QUOTE=DARKasstheRAIN;2088897]and not paid money for it that won't get back to the people who made the show but to some idiots who have no right to it.[/QUOTE]
Too late as if they are pirated pressed dvd's the original pirates already have their money, it will just be some poor schmuck reseller who will be screwed.

And as deadrats said,

here's the realistic response, assume they are pirated, what do you think you can do about it? i would be more concerned with whether or not they are of the same video/audio quality as the other dvd's you have, if yes then stop worrying about it.

Which is what i would be more worried about...

Because we all know the MPAA & RIAA are only worried about getting the people that really deserve the $$ their fair share!!!
LMAO!!!!

Back in the day there were tons of titles commonly available on pirated dvd's, we called them "silvers" because they were actual pressed disc's yet they were not released officially by the movie studios....

If they were so worried about losing money, i guess they should have released them on dvd!!!
LOL!!!

To this very day the movie studios have still not released tons of titles on dvd and a lot of the one's they have released are totally hacked and changed around from the original versions!!!

[DARKasstheRAIN]

Well, regardless of where you are, a series is a series and a season is a season.

A series is the entire run of a show, all seasons, in which a season is usually the entire run for that specific year.

Have you lived everywhere in the world? I watch a lot of BBC and every time they talk about a single season of a TV show, they call it a series. Not everybody uses the same terminology as Americans.

I can recall once hearing a Brit call it a season, so who knows. But everywhere else on the packaging of these DVD's (and all my others) they say series: "The Complete Fourth Series" not season.

[AlanHK]

Here are some pictures of the differences between the inner rings

I've got lots of DVDs I buy second hand in Hong Kong. A good proportion are bootlegs; usually these have nonsensical English text on the covers (if they have a cover at all). The disk itself usually has a smudged region near the hub, where there would be a barcode in the legit version.
I suspect they simply use the same masters after making the official run.

I think more likely you just have grey market disks, and/or seconds.
Are there any unusual subtitles? Thai, Malay, Philippino?

[AlanHK]

Well, regardless of where you are, a series is a series and a season is a season.

A series is the entire run of a show, all seasons, in which a season is usually the entire run for that specific year.

No, that's an American usage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_program
A television series that is intended to be broadcast as a finite number of episodes is usually called a miniseries or serial (although the latter term also has other meanings). A short run lasting less than a year is known in the United States and Canada as a season and in the United Kingdom and (not necessarily) the rest of the PAL countries as a series.

However, Doctor Who is a special case.
The convention has grown to use "Season" for the "classic" episodes, 1963-86 (Seasons 1-26), and "Series" (starting from 1), for the current show that restarted in 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_serials

Hey, how come the "World Series" only lasts one year? Shouldn't it be "World Season"?
Not to mention how it doesn't actually have any "world" teams.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

I think more likely you just have grey market disks, and/or seconds.
Are there any unusual subtitles? Thai, Malay, Philippino?

No, they seem to be exactly the same as the proper ones except for these few little things. (also the cardboard on the inside of the case isn't glossy like the outside, and the insides of my other cases)

They just seem to me like things that someone making copies of DVD's with access to pretty good tools would overlook/not care about/not be able to get exactly right/not think worth the effort of getting exactly right.

I keep getting mixed responses (here and elsewhere) lol, and I keep going back and forth on whether or not I think they're bootlegs. Sometimes I'm almost certain and then I start to think maybe not.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

Edit: Sorry, this post was meant for another forum

[aedipuss]

Here are some pictures of the differences between the inner rings

series four disc photo 1 & 2
vs
disc from another set photo 1 & 2 (all the sets are like these except for series four, the one I think might be pirated)

The series four ones just look so unprofessional compared to the others.

there's no effing way those series four discs are fake.

from a different manufacturing plant yes.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

Here are some pictures of the differences between the inner rings

series four disc photo 1 & 2
vs
disc from another set photo 1 & 2 (all the sets are like these except for series four, the one I think might be pirated)

The series four ones just look so unprofessional compared to the others.

there's no effing way those series four discs are fake.

from a different manufacturing plant yes.

Then why is it that every other BBC Video DVD I've seen looks like the others? And why is it that every other DVD I looked at from other proper manufacturers looked similar to the others and nothing like the ones from this set?

And as an after thought, why do they spell season with a random capital S in the middle?

[AlanHK]

Then why is it that every other BBC Video DVD I've seen looks like the others? And why is it that every other DVD I looked at from other proper manufacturers looked similar to the others and nothing like the ones from this set?

And as an after thought, why do they spell season with a random capital S in the middle?

Typos indicate carelessness. And you see that in legit, American DVDs.
But I've seen some really hilarious bootleg covers. They clearly just Googled for the movie name and copied out the first reviews they found. So they have featured reviews like: "Awful garbage, What were they thinking?" etc...

And I've also got what I'm pretty sure are legit videos of old Hollywood movies made in Taiwan with cover text which is almost totally gibberish, because they only really care about the Chinese text.

Anyway: if it bothers you so much you should never have bought discs from a private vendor, obviously there is some reason they're cheap. Maybe all the imperfections you've noted are because they were rejects and sold off cheap instead of being destroyed.

I was quite serious before, buy something from the BBC Shop directly if you think you need to do penance.

[lordsmurf]

I think there's over-analysis going on here, and I'm still not convinced anything is wrong.

DVDs have typos all the time -- carelessness is all that is.
That and companies being too damned cheap to hire copy editors and proofers.

[aedipuss]

they have custom stampers and are pressed dvds. no one could make money trying to duplicate that illegally.

[deadrats]

The person offered me a refund, and I don't want to keep them if they are pirated because if I wanted to watch the show illegally I could have just watched it on youtube and not paid money for it that won't get back to the people who made the show but to some idiots who have no right to it.

ah, you're one of those. now i understand.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

ah, you're one of those. now i understand.

Ah, you're one of those. Now I understand.

[chowmein]

What a pointless thread.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

What a pointless thread.

Not entirely. At least I got one useful bit of advice before people started taking my not wanting to own bootleg DVDs personally.

But I guess that's what I get for asking about this on a site that's primary purpose seems to be to teach people how to rip and burn DVDs. I suppose one can't expect much helpfulness when seeking council on the bootleggers home turf, there's always the danger of unwittingly coming face to face with the enemy and his allies.

But the issue's resolved now anyway (I got better council in friendlier territories). Thank you to those people on this thread who were actually helpful.

[robjv1]

Before you go and break out your microscope that can go down to the atomic level -- The set you bought on Amazon -- can you purchase it direct from the BBC store? Does any legit retailer sell the set you have?

[lordsmurf]

primary purpose seems to be to teach people how to rip and burn DVDs..

Bullcrap.

[DB83]

Your comments 'bootleggers home turf' are incredibly offensive. As a new member you really should take two steps back and engage brain before putting your thougjts in to print.

AlanHK summed this up quite well. You had these disks froma private vendor. I checked Amazon.com and this set is offerred privately at a fraction of what Amazon sell it direct. Surely that could tell you something - inferior stock or suspicious sources should immediately come to mind.

But you have been told more than once that, in the opinion of many who have been here a long time and whose 'bootlegging' comment is addressed to, that these disks are genuine. Now if you think they are not, having got that from another forum then why not be graceful and echo that opinion in here so that this thread is properly concluded and not with some spurious comment from a newbie.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

primary purpose seems to be to teach people how to rip and burn DVDs..

Bullcrap.

If you say so. I was just going by the board titles. It seemed like it's more about making videos and DVDs than anything else. But really I don't know anything about this site, videohelp.com just sounded like somewhere than people might know about and be willing to help in recognizing pirated DVDs. But the way things turned out, it seemed that I might have made an error of judgement.

Anyway, I'll leave you to whatever it is you do here. Goodbye.

And if you like, good riddance.

[DARKasstheRAIN]

Your comments 'bootleggers home turf' are incredibly offensive. As a new member you really should take two steps back and engage brain before putting your thougjts in to print.

AlanHK summed this up quite well. You had these disks froma private vendor. I checked Amazon.com and this set is offerred privately at a fraction of what Amazon sell it direct. Surely that could tell you something - inferior stock or suspicious sources should immediately come to mind.

But you have been told more than once that, in the opinion of many who have been here a long time and whose 'bootlegging' comment is addressed to, that these disks are genuine. Now if you think they are not, having got that from another forum then why not be graceful and echo that opinion in here so that this thread is properly concluded and not with some spurious comment from a newbie.

Oh, calm down. I said thank you to the helpful people who stayed on topic. It was the people who were more concerned with making disparaging comments about my caring in the first place that irritated me. And if not a single person on this entire site is a bootlegger himself, I still think I'm justified in calling those who defend the practice their allies. Or perhaps I should have said piracy sympathizers.



Here's a rule of thumb that will help you not to take things so personally. If somebody says something that doesn't apply to you, chances are they're not talking about you.