Bootleg?

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Jett Blu

Is it safe to assume that anything bought from Amazon LLC is 100% real, and not a bootleg?

not 100%... amazon has been known to get bootlegs before (very rarely, but it happens) and the marketplace is just as susceptible to boots as ebay or half.com is.

really some of them have become REALLY good but it's STILL cost prohibitive to do mass level bootleging of blu-rays...dvds not so much. if you look on the inner ring you should see the serial keys of the batch... if those keys are not there than it's usually a bootleg. those numbers and letters are basically the "vin" # of the machine and location (as well as describing what the item is) of where they are produced. PRESSED bootlegs (not just some douche using a burner) are usually professionally done using the ACTUAL pressing machines from the distribution companies themselves (usually done at night or off days on the sly) since it's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo insanely expensive to buy the equipment.) so they scratch off or mar the digital signature of the machine so it can't be traced back to that location. that's the most obvious dead giveaway for the really good boots...they may be good at copying but they can never cover EVERYTHING up. as long as you look at what you're getting you can weed out most of the bad ones.

[djgeneral]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Actually, I don't have any bootlegs. I am simply too obsessive with quality to have something like that.

Sorry, but I don't buy it for one minute.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

Sorry, but I don't buy it for one minute.

I do. if you know what you're looking for it can be easy enough

1. check the rings.. that's a dead giveaway
2. run dvdinfo or bdinfo in your computer drive that can give you a bit for bit comparison that is unmistakable
3. check the silk screening, there are usually little errors and oddities that can be seen.

I've bought 100's of blu's and dvd's off of ebay and I've caught every single bootleg that tried to come in using these methods.

[Jett Rink]

Originally Posted by wormraper

not 100%... amazon has been known to get bootlegs before (very rarely, but it happens) and the marketplace is just as susceptible to boots as ebay or half.com is.

really some of them have become REALLY good but it's STILL cost prohibitive to do mass level bootleging of blu-rays...dvds not so much. if you look on the inner ring you should see the serial keys of the batch... if those keys are not there than it's usually a bootleg. those numbers and letters are basically the "vin" # of the machine and location (as well as describing what the item is) of where they are produced. PRESSED bootlegs (not just some douche using a burner) are usually professionally done using the ACTUAL pressing machines from the distribution companies themselves (usually done at night or off days on the sly) since it's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo insanely expensive to buy the equipment.) so they scratch off or mar the digital signature of the machine so it can't be traced back to that location. that's the most obvious dead giveaway for the really good boots...they may be good at copying but they can never cover EVERYTHING up. as long as you look at what you're getting you can weed out most of the bad ones.

That is really messed up, thanks for the info though. I am going to check my collection later.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Jett Blu

That is really messed up, thanks for the info though. I am going to check my collection later.

lol, yeah most PROFESSIONAL bootlegs are done by organized crime overseas and they use employees within the companies doing the pressing to use their machines. that's been the most common way for the really good copies. I'm sure some hugely rich syndicate may have bought their own , but those machines are tracked pretty religiously to prevent them from pressing willy nilly (kind of like how printing presses are strictly regulated in a smaller sense).

you always catch the easy ones where someone burns a DVD-R and silk screens it or what not to try and snow a stupid person, but those aren't as common anymore since they're so easy to spot

[pitchman]

I've been wondering the same thing about a used Blu-ray I recently got from GoHastings.com. During one of their recent used sales, I noticed they had a copy of the 2-disc G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra in stock. Since it was only $6 or $7 I decided to gamble on it. It plays just fine, but something about the cover looked a little "off" to me. When I hopped on Blu-ray.com to add it to my collection, I was unable to find a version with the same cover art. Has anyone ever see this before and is it legit?

[jdw89]

Originally Posted by pitchman

I've been wondering the same thing about a used Blu-ray I recently got from GoHastings.com. During one of their recent used sales, I noticed they had a copy of the 2-disc G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra in stock. Since it was only $6 or $7 I decided to gamble on it. It plays just fine, but something about the cover looked a little "off" to me. When I hopped on Blu-ray.com to add it to my collection, I was unable to find a version with the same cover art. Has anyone ever see this before and is it legit?

Looks fine to me.

[jdw89]

Originally Posted by Lizard King

Always look at the ring of the BD/DVD if the ring has the name of the Tv show or Movie Its A bootleg, There Should Only Be Numbers And UPC Bar Codes Around The Ring

Are you serious? I've bought releases brand new from BBY and Amazon that say what the show is.

Also on the bottom of my T3 Blu it says:

BVDL-019190B1

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by pitchman

I've been wondering the same thing about a used Blu-ray I recently got from GoHastings.com. During one of their recent used sales, I noticed they had a copy of the 2-disc G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra in stock. Since it was only $6 or $7 I decided to gamble on it. It plays just fine, but something about the cover looked a little "off" to me. When I hopped on Blu-ray.com to add it to my collection, I was unable to find a version with the same cover art. Has anyone ever see this before and is it legit?

that's what the original pressing looks like without the slip cover. the slip had all the info on the back and the regular paper insert was just that. nothing wrong with it.

[pitchman]

Originally Posted by jdw89

Looks fine to me.

Any idea which version it is? The front and back cover image are unlike any version listed on the site. Or, is this just what it looks like without a slip?

Whoops! I was typing that before Wormraper answered my question. Thanks all!

[jdw89]

Just looked at a couple BD's on my shelf, most of them have a combination of letter and numbers with - marks in between and what looks to be a mini barcode or something, not sure if these are legit or not but they seem to be.

[Steve Lilley]

From my understanding, it's much, much more likely that you would have a bootleg DVD you don't know about than a Blu-ray. I guess BD replication is super hard/expensive. But DVDs are like the wild west.

Give BDs six or seven years and watch out, ha.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by jdw89

Just looked at a couple BD's on my shelf, most of them have a combination of letter and numbers with - marks in between and what looks to be a mini barcode or something, not sure if these are legit or not but they seem to be.

99% sure they're legit. you'd actually see them "seared" or "burnt" off and where the letters would bis slightly scratched plastic... that's them trying to cover there tracks.

[Packerfan75]

Fortunately, of the used dvd's and blurays I've bought, I've never got a bootleg.

On a side note, if you bootleg or buy bootlegs purposefully, you're a thief. It's amazing how many people I've met who feel ok about taking something without paying for it. But isn't that the definition of stealing? Rationalize it any way you want. If you didn't pay for it or paid someone who illegally copied it, you're stealing and you're a thief.

Before someone points out the fact that I buy used movies, they're legitimate, people have the right to sell things they own and it's legal.

[Steve Lilley]

Originally Posted by Packerfan75

Before someone points out the fact that I buy used movies, they're legitimate, people have the right to sell things they own and it's legal.

No need to explain. The First Sale Doctrine has your back, brah!

[jdw89]

I bought Criminal Minds on eBay awhile back for my grandma and it was like $80 for all 7 seasons, I received them and there's like Chinese or Japanese writing on the inside of the outer box, also some Breaking Bad DVDs I had bought on eBay looked like the artwork for the slim cases was extremely fuzzy but the discs themselves were OK it seemed, not sure if the artwork looks pretty awful or not on the DVD sets? It looks similar to the Harry Potter collection I was speaking of earlier, not to mention the PQ is really awful for a newer show, unless the DVDs of those shows were just never really good to begin with?

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by jdw89

I bought Criminal Minds on eBay awhile back for my grandma and it was like $80 for all 7 seasons, I received them and there's like Chinese or Japanese writing on the inside of the outer box, also some Breaking Bad DVDs I had bought on eBay looked like the artwork for the slim cases was extremely fuzzy but the discs themselves were OK it seemed, not sure if the artwork looks pretty awful or not on the DVD sets? It looks similar to the Harry Potter collection I was speaking of earlier, not to mention the PQ is really awful for a newer show, unless the DVDs of those shows were just never really good to begin with?

now those are all signs of bootlegs, using TV sources for the discs.

[jdw89]

Originally Posted by wormraper

now those are all signs of bootlegs, using TV sources for the discs.

You are right, especially about Criminal Minds but I think the BB sets are real though I'm not sure how I could tell? They even had the AMC inserts.

[Steve Lilley]

Originally Posted by jdw89

You are right, especially about Criminal Minds but I think the BB sets are real though I'm not sure how I could tell? They even had the AMC inserts.

Put the BB DVDs in your computer. What is the capacity of the disc? That will tell you - and it'll also explain why they look awful.

My MST3K and COMMUNITY sets had all inserts (except for the aforementioned mini poster on MST3K).

[jdw89]

Originally Posted by Steve Lilley

Put the BB DVDs in your computer. What is the capacity of the disc? That will tell you - and it'll also explain why they look awful.

My MST3K and COMMUNITY sets had all inserts (except for the aforementioned mini poster on MST3K).

How do I check the capacity?