Hopefully a simple question from a newbie

[canonball]

Just bought a PS3 this week, and naturally had to purchase a slew of blu-ray discs ASAP.

Several of the discs I purchased via ebay arrived today, and as I was opening them, I was wondering if bootleg blu-ray discs have been much of a problem yet and how I would spot a bootleg if I were to end up with one.

I have received bootleg Criterion DVDs from sellers on ebay in the past, and just want to know what I should be looking for, if anything. Thanks.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by canonball

Just bought a PS3 this week, and naturally had to purchase a slew of blu-ray discs ASAP.

Several of the discs I purchased via ebay arrived today, and as I was opening them, I was wondering if bootleg blu-ray discs have been much of a problem yet and how I would spot a bootleg if I were to end up with one.

I have received bootleg Criterion DVDs from sellers on ebay in the past, and just want to know what I should be looking for, if anything. Thanks.

I have not heard of bootleg Blu-ray being sold anywhere.

[WriteSimply]

There are a small number of BD replication plants around the world and so far, excluding Japan and Taiwan, there are none in the rest of Asia. So chances of getting bootlegs is very small.

A prerecorded BD has a near transparent quality, if the surface does not receive off-set printing. A BD-R is purple-blue on the data side.


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[WickyWoo]

If anyone does start pressing boots, they'll get nailed like that, every replication line is fingerprinted by the BDA

[nhaase]

I think the bigger issue now is regular DVD bootlegs being sold as Blu-ray, complete w/ fake packaging.

[gdluck]

I just received two "new" blu-ray dvds that I bought off Half.com and they look a little fishy. Please tell me what you think!

1. They don't have that white sticker with the Blu-Ray logo on the top of the case.
2. The shrink wrap is heat sealed together, not with the folded corners like most new dvds.
3. The back of one of them doesn't have a "proof of purchase" clip out on top of the upc code. It does have a "blu-ray catalogue number," though.

I contacted the seller (reviews are in the thousands, but they're mostly books or regular dvds, not blu-rays) and the customer service rep. didn't confirm or deny my suspicions. He just offered either a full refund if I send them back, or a half refund if I keep them.

What do you think? Should I keep them? These are my first Blu-Rays, so I don't have anything to compare them to.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by gdluck

I just received two "new" blu-ray dvds that I bought off Half.com and they look a little fishy. Please tell me what you think!

1. They don't have that white sticker with the Blu-Ray logo on the top of the case.
2. The shrink wrap is heat sealed together, not with the folded corners like most new dvds.
3. The back of one of them doesn't have a "proof of purchase" clip out on top of the upc code. It does have a "blu-ray catalogue number," though.

I contacted the seller (reviews are in the thousands, but they're mostly books or regular dvds, not blu-rays) and the customer service rep. didn't confirm or deny my suspicions. He just offered either a full refund if I send them back, or a half refund if I keep them.

What do you think? Should I keep them? These are my first Blu-Rays, so I don't have anything to compare them to.

Get a refund mate.

[Beta Man]

I'd try to play them in regular DVD player and see if they work

it seems odd that they'd offer up a 50% refund if you decide to keep them

[Disco]

Originally Posted by gdluck

I just received two "new" blu-ray dvds that I bought off Half.com and they look a little fishy. Please tell me what you think!

1. They don't have that white sticker with the Blu-Ray logo on the top of the case.
2. The shrink wrap is heat sealed together, not with the folded corners like most new dvds.
3. The back of one of them doesn't have a "proof of purchase" clip out on top of the upc code. It does have a "blu-ray catalogue number," though.

I contacted the seller (reviews are in the thousands, but they're mostly books or regular dvds, not blu-rays) and the customer service rep. didn't confirm or deny my suspicions. He just offered either a full refund if I send them back, or a half refund if I keep them.

What do you think? Should I keep them? These are my first Blu-Rays, so I don't have anything to compare them to.

Keep them ,and notify the FBI. that you believe you have bought fraudulant
Blu-ray discs.
As if indeed they are Fraud, your seller will have to answer some questions along with being investigated.
Save all the emails proving the sale.

[Disco]

Call your local police department and notify them you may have bought fraudulant Blu-ray disc over the internt.
They will take a report and notify the FBI.

That is the right thing to do.

Again save the emails proving the sale, and do not reply, or say anything to the seller. See what the authorities want you to do with the Blu ray movies.

Again, that is the right thing to do, if honest, and legality mean anything to you!
That is what I would do!

[aramis109]

Actually, chances are the guy opened them, used the upc code on a rebate, and then printed up a custom cover, resealed them, and sold them as new.

If you have a player with a bitrate counter, that'll tell you. If the bitrate is low, or if it's MPEG-2, I'd look up the title here or elsewhere online to see the codec and average bitrate. Check the audio selections and see if you can at least get PCM 2.0 if you don't have an HD receiver. Like mentioned, see if it'll play in a DVD player.

I wouldn't go running off to the authorities just yet. That could really be a jerk move if they aren't counterfeit.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by gdluck

I just received two "new" blu-ray dvds that I bought off Half.com and they look a little fishy. Please tell me what you think!

Pictures would help a great deal.


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[gdluck]

Thanks for all your responses!

Aramis: That's a good scam idea. Not for me, you know... but it makes me feel better to think that I might still have real blu-ray discs.

WriteSimply: Don't know if they would help much at all. The BDs look exactly the same as the ones you'd see in a store except for the three differences I described.

But I'm going to Target on the way home from work to check out the real deals and compare. And when I get home, I'm going to open one, since the seller didn't tell me I couldn't and see if it plays in the dvd player.

I will let you all know what happens, and post pics if they are definitely bootlegs.

[gdluck]

Okay, so I'm pretty sure that these BDs are NOT bootlegs...

When I went to the store, I noticed that mine also don't have the Blu-Ray logo stamped on to the plastic wrap. But I did notice that there were quite a few BDs with heat sealed (sorry, I don't know what this process is called) wraps as opposed to the folded corners.

So maybe the wrapping is just different vendor by vendor? Who knows, but this is the only thing that points to possible piracy.

The one BD with the "Blu-Ray Cat. Number" instead of a proof of purchase clip-out is apparently normal, as all the BDs in the store were like that too.

When I opened them, the art work was glossy, die-cut, and holographic in the case of Harry Potter 5. Harry Potter also had a BD advert in the case. And the discs themselves are flawless. No scratches or sign of use.

The BDs did not work in my DVD player. Unfortunately I have no blu-ray player yet to test them. But they look good. They are not blue or purple. And they are only transparent in front of a light.

Thanks again for helping me everybody!

[aramis109]

Yeah, I meant to mention that I received a few that were sealed like that as well. Not sure if it's the distributor doing that or not.

Also... lol, how many movies do you own while not owning a BD player?!

[gdluck]

lol, just these two so far. I need some motivation to actually purchase a Blu-Ray player. I'm also contemplating getting a PS3...

[jerix]

its simple to detect.. if it plays in a DVD player, then its bootleg.