How can I tell is this is a pirate copy...?

[Mike the Fish]

A friend (really!) lent me Prison Break seasons 1 & 2 today. He bought it from a 3rd party seller via amazon so he should be protected if what I suspect is true.

This aroused my suspicions:

1) It claims to be regions 1,2 & 3. I've not seen that before. In the UK we tend to get region 0, or 2, or 2 & 4 on the packaging.

2) There is no barcode on the slip case or the box inside.

3) It states on the slip case and inner box "WARNING: For non-commercial private exhibition in houmes only..." - note the spelling of homes.

4) There are no conventional plastic holders for the discs, just a few pages of what you would find in a small CD wallet.

5) Each disc appears to have a small indent shaved out in the centre hub on the playing side removing some kind of symbol and/or text.

I can post scans/photos of the product if required, and would be particularly interested to hear from people in the industry too.

Thanks

- Mike

[jupiter8]

sounds like a bootleg to me...are they on dvd-r's (purple/blueish underside)?

[dmagalhaes]

A friend (really!) lent me Prison Break seasons 1 & 2 today. He bought it from a 3rd party seller via amazon so he should be protected if what I suspect is true.

This aroused my suspicions:

1) It claims to be regions 1,2 & 3. I've not seen that before. In the UK we tend to get region 0, or 2, or 2 & 4 on the packaging.

2) There is no barcode on the slip case or the box inside.

3) It states on the slip case and inner box "WARNING: For non-commercial private exhibition in houmes only..." - note the spelling of homes.

4) There are no conventional plastic holders for the discs, just a few pages of what you would find in a small CD wallet.

5) Each disc appears to have a small indent shaved out in the centre hub on the playing side removing some kind of symbol and/or text.

I can post scans/photos of the product if required, and would be particularly interested to hear from people in the industry too.

Thanks

- Mike

Tread lightly and don't post the photos, you're thread will get canned.

[MikeT]

Sounds like a bootleg to me also. Since you were lent the discs and you didn't actually purchase them yourself, is there a real concern here? You merely want to watch then and return them to your friend. On the other hand if you are wary about having possession of these, give them back to your friend post haste and rent or buy legitimate copies.

[Michael]

from as described...boot fur sure...

[Dudley Morris]

Definitely a boot (or more properly, a pirate). This is the kind of DVD set you buy in small, crowded shops or on the street in China or Vietnam.

I've always wondered why these tend to have multiple spelling errors in the sleeve text, or descriptions of completely different movies...you'd think this stuff would just be copied from the DVD they're pirating.

[inperson]

Sounds like a Chinese pirate (how can it be a boot, it isn't unreleased stuff?) I always wondered why they have the misspellings too. Maybe they think if they change the spelling on a few words it is not an exact pirate, lol.
They have the wrong descriptions because there are times that the actual dvd isn't around for them to copy (maybe from a download) and they just use the text from another dvd to fill up the box. After all, the majority of the buyers probably aren't native English (or other) speakers.
The shops are getting fewer and fewer here in Beijing due to the Olympics. Government wants to save face:)

[Mike the Fish]

Thanks guys. (They are silver surfaced discs by the way.) I just wanted to make certain before I got this guy to pursue it thru amazon - again let me say THEY did not sell/supply the disc. I feel fairly safe that posting pictures for identification/eradication purposes would be fine - but it looks like that's not needed now.

Thanks again.

- Mike

[LEONPROFF]

#5 is a dead giveaway for any boot/pirated copy. I believe it's a way of disguising the manufacturing plant.

[Mike the Fish]

Yeah, that one made me very suspicious.