General

Topic Bootleg Quality (A Warning)

KCPenguins

24-Apr(#1)

So I ordered DragonBall Super from eBay. The complete set on DVD for around $35. They claimed they were new with no mention of authenticity. I'm guessing they are bootleg based on the price. (Before you judge too harshly I got them for a long trip for the kids and wanted something I wouldn't get upset if they got lost, stolen or damaged.) They came in a fit box, all 10 volumes wrapped together. Unwrapped those and each volume was wrapped individually.

Unwrapping each volume it struck me how good the quality is. They could sell these in bestbuy or any other store and the quality would be on par with most movies, better than many. They even added a foam insert on all but one volume to keep the discs from falling out. Never seen legit dvd's or blu-rays do that. It's not all roses, being DVD the menu's are a bit pixelated. The menus are pretty basic, but may be on par with the legit ones... can't say for certain. The biggest tell for me that it's a bootleg is the spine design. All the volumes except 5 have the same font, and the alignment is off across all 10 volumes. No way a legit release does that.

I seen these at Half Price Books, and I can't say if they were bootlegs there 100% (they likely were), but they looked identical and were charging $10-15 per volume (reminder I paid $3.50 per). So what I'm getting at is the quality of this fake is pretty impressive. I never thought DVD's would be bootlegged. DVD's are basically outdated. Be weary of buying used merchandise even at stores. Some years ago I got a Criterion Collection Seven Samurai DVD used which was a bootleg, but it was obvious as soon as I put it in. This one I wouldn't have thought twice as not being legit.

There were other sets that were obvious bootlegs. All DVD's in a single case for the same price. Generic covers. This one looked legit. Extremely good for a likely fake.

beavis

24-Apr(#2)

I know we aren't supposed to talk about these things here, but with major retailers (Best Buy being the latest) getting out of physical movie/tv media, soon the only option available will be through these "homemade" options. And yes, the quality has gotten insanely good on these things. I remember when Battle Royale wasn't available in the states, ebay was flooded with these boots. It was clear someone just snuck a camcorder in the theater and through it on a disc.

KCPenguins

* 24-Apr(#3)

I initially thought about subscribing to a streaming service to watch them, but we will be driving through some pretty desolate areas, and I know at least a portion won't have any coverage. I'm guessing many hours would have poor streaming, and with kids trapped in a car that's a disaster. Anyways, it's going to get to the point where there is no other option.

Lunar

24-Apr(#4)

This is an issue with the OG release as well. Alot of bootleg sets, the spine is a tell but sellers typically don't post the spine to lure unsuspecting buyers

Anxiouz

24-Apr(#5)

KCPenguins wrote:

> All the volumes except 5 have the same font,

> and the alignment is off across all 10 volumes. No way a legit release does that.

It's not common but some official seasons/series releases have had production issues and needed to reprint just 1 disc or case to correct some mistake. If it's done well after the initial release I suppose maybe they lost the source artwork and had to recreate it, or had to use a different manufacturer. So slightly diff colors, fonts, or spine alignment shows up.

ryanflucas

24-Apr(#6)

I bought a bunch of bootleg Paul McCartney live sessions for $3 each at Goodwill today.

Foxhack

* 25-Apr(#7)

I've been finding a LOT of bootleg sets at my Amazon dumpster store in town. I got fooled by a set of that cowboy show with Kevin Costner, they looked almost right, but the ringcodes on the discs were the tell. Also the fact they smelled like mortuary chemicals.

I've been seeing folks on Reddit post about the extra cheap TV season sets for stuff like Tales from the Crypt and... they look almost right, but the spine is usually missing a detail or two that gives it away.

So of course the SELLERS don't post the spines. Because they know exactly what they're selling.

One of my usual sources at the flea market brought boxes of warehouse return DVDs, full of Mexican movies (legit releases.) But a couple of the boxes had very obvious bootlegs of some items, and one was full of bootlegs of Blood In Blood Out ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&lo... ). I bought it for funsies, then found a legit copy about a month later. The bootleg is obviously cheaply made, but the contents seem to be the same.

There's a market for this movie and the bootleggers figured they would get in on it.

I do collect funny or curious bootlegs (living in an area where 95% of people buy bootlegs will do that to ya), but I loathe sellers that try to pass them off as original.

Edit: I can't get the embedded link to work, bleh.

ryanflucas

25-Apr(#8)

In a future market where media becomes digital only, not much of this is going to matter. Sure it will still violate copyright but even the rights holders won't go after violators. They'll just embed commercials/product placement into everything.

Miranda

26-Apr(#9)

I went looking for several older TV shows and came across a few of these. I didn't buy because I didn't trust the quality. I ran in to far more "digital downloads" for sale for crazy prices. I wanted the full series of "The Practice" and "Boston Legal." They started at $72 and went up to $160 for a digital download link to be emailed to you. These people are torrenting them and storing them on cloud sites and making bank. I wonder how many people buy without knowing what they're doing. Oy.

longhornsk57

26-Apr(#10)

You can get a free trial to Crunchyroll and they let you download the entire series like on a tablet etc. just FYI because I did this because I fly a lot

ryanflucas

26-Apr(#11)

Older shows are harder to find as downloads especially in high quality. Check Pluto and Tubi first. They have some older shows in their free libraries.

longhornsk57

26-Apr(#12)

ryanflucas wrote:

> Older shows are harder to find as downloads especially in high quality. Check Pluto

> and Tubi first. They have some older shows in their free libraries.

Dragon Ball super is not old at all it's pretty new.

Foxhack

26-Apr(#13)

ryanflucas wrote:

> Older shows are harder to find as downloads especially in high quality. Check Pluto

> and Tubi first. They have some older shows in their free libraries.

Youtube, too! There's some companies that have been uploading legal versions of full shows there.

Gypsy

27-Apr(#14)

Foxhack wrote:

> I've been finding a LOT of bootleg sets at my Amazon dumpster store in town. I got

> fooled by a set of that cowboy show with Kevin Costner, they looked almost right,

> but the ringcodes on the discs were the tell. Also the fact they smelled like mortuary

> chemicals.

|

I was at garage sales this weekend and ran into a few. One seller had a lot of dvds/bds. Most were legit (I bought quite a few dirt cheap) but Supernatural and Smallville were bootlegs. Disc count was around half of the authentic set and the discs were in binder sleeves (housed inside an outer box). Ironically, Smallville is what they had the most money on by far.

nonamesleft

28-Apr(#15)

This reminds me of around at least 10 years ago, I wanted to buy the show Scrubs. I found the set for a price that was insanely good. I didn't think I'd actually receive the item. That's how good the price was. But I actually received it. Looked good, each season in its own case. Though the coloring did look off if you were paying attention to the details.

I don't remember the price, but for that sort of deal, it was a must buy. Though, had I known it wasn't real, I don't know if I'd have bought it. Only figured out after.

BucketofJustice

28-Apr(#16)

This topic reminds me of when Eurotrip was bootlegged, and then the official release had the bootleg on it. That movie was so good.