Careful about the bootleg Voayger dvds!

[seigezunt]

I should have known better, but I recently purchased a dvd set of Voyager, only to find out it was a clever bootleg.

Cheaper, yes, and pretty convincing, but i found the image quality inferior to the real thing. After some soul-searching (I was saving money after all), I've opted to initiate a return through amazon. Wish me luck.

Here's a good site that helped me figure out:

http://www.squid.org/uncategorized/524/my-new-star-trek-voyager-s1-7-dvd-set-is-a-faaake.html

I had no idea they were so prevalent, and slick.

 

[belle paris]

I had that same problem. I got lucky, though.

I got all my money back.

I'd argued that the bootlegs constituted "mail fraud";and, if the company didn't return my money, they would have to deal with the RCMP and my credit card.

I also got to keep the bootlegs. I'd argued, since the bootlegs were illegal to make, it was also illegal to send/return. Also, that I'd received permission from Paramount Canada and they said I could keep them

I politely gave them a week to return all my money before I went to the authorities. During which they offer me all sorts of deals (discounts, etc), but eventually they caved in.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Ugh, I only knew about the Asian versions on ebay. Those ones linked are very convincing.

 

[Klaitu]

I never buy media like this off ebay for that very reason. Several years ago I bought a sopranos box set off ebay and I ended up having to get ebay involved and it was a huge mess.

Save yourself some time, use Amazon. Even the amazon marketplace people have to have the correct item or you get your cash back.

As for trek dvd's though, I'm waiting on blu-ray. You know it's coming, no need to buy twice.

 

[Emnabtond]

I bought "the chosen collection" when I was in China, still cost me £50 though and I don't regret it. Mind you, some of the discs are unwatchable now, but they were still good for a couple of run throughs.
It also had perfect subtitles and all the special features, sometimes I watch the episodes in Chinese to practise my Mandarin
Also, how cool is the box?? I don't see why you're so down on bootlegs, you managed to get the entire collection of Voyager for $80 less, stop your whining.

 

[seigezunt]

I bought "the chosen collection" when I was in China, still cost me £50 though and I don't regret it. Mind you, some of the discs are unwatchable now, but they were still good for a couple of run throughs.
It also had perfect subtitles and all the special features, sometimes I watch the episodes in Chinese to practise my Mandarin
Also, how cool is the box?? I don't see why you're so down on bootlegs, you managed to get the entire collection of Voyager for $80 less, stop your whining.

who's whining? I just didn't get what I thought I was going to get, and the seller misrepresented. And the dupes were lower quality images. I'd like to save more than about $10 per season if I am getting that kind of quality drop-off. besides, it's not right to support bootlegging.

 

[Klaitu]

I don't see why you're so down on bootlegs, you managed to get the entire collection of Voyager for $80 less, stop your whining.

This is ridiculous.

Let's say you saw an ad for a brand new Ferrari on ebay for 20,000.. so you buy it, and when it arrives you discover that you've actually bought a Pontiac Fiero with a custom body on it that looks like a Ferrari.

Oh sure, they look similar, but they are not at all the same item.

 

[Kai Winn]

huh? are not the dvd's still coded in ntsc over there in america, and if so, what quality are you talking about?

 

[seigezunt]

I don't know about the coding, but I compared the discs against a legal copy, and there is some image degradation. Particularly noticeable in the effects shots. There's some pixelization around titles, it looks like a reproduction. And as I have an HDTV, it makes them even more noticeable.

I might have been tempted to keep them of the image quality was better, and I had saved more money. But I can save about that much money or more if I wait and buy each season used.

 

[Praxius]

huh? are not the dvd's still coded in ntsc over there in america, and if so, what quality are you talking about?

Yes North America is NTSC, but of course if you play DVD's/Bluerays through your computer, it doesn't matter if they're PAL or NTSC, they'll play.

I believe the quality he's speaking of is the video/audio compression levels.

If the original DVD is on a dual-layered disc or otherwise a larger storage size then your typical burn discs, then in order to duplicate them, they need to be compressed in quality, thus reducing their file sizes so they fit on the discs.

Then you get the disc labels to print out, etc. and apply to the blank discs at they look on the originals (usually one can scan the originals, photoshop them a bit and there you go)

It's quite simple really, but only the pros know how to make them almost identical.

I only know all of this because it's part of my training/education/job..... that and I remember seeing my brother's pile of Playstation 1 games he got over the years in Toronto.... which 90% of them were not the official discs..... even though he bought them from a legit game store.

Also, Canada is know world wide for it's theatre rippings, bootlegs and pirating..... not to mention our drugs.... but that's a different topic.

 

[seigezunt]

and I couldn't get the bootleg discs to run on my computer, for some reason. Which I watch my dvds on a part of the time, so another argument for returning them.

 

[AntonyF]

The biggest warning sign, and this'll be clear on eBay, is they'll say "region free". I never buy region free DVDs.

 

[freak]

Hmm..this is interesting. I never have run into this problem before..but I'll definitely watch what I will buy in the future though!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The biggest warning sign, and this'll be clear on eBay, is they'll say "region free". I never buy region free DVDs.

Thanks for that tip. I will soon commence buying TNG (my last Treks series to buy and my least favorite). While a lot will be bought in the shops I will be keeping my eye out on ebay as well.

 

[seigezunt]

I should also have paid attention that they were selling them at Amazon NIB for $100 less than the other dealers.