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Spotting Bootlegs


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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:58 am Reply with quote
Regannator wrote:
Man, thank you. Thank you all for answering my question. Ya'll are just super. Really opened up my mind and s**t.


Has it ever occurred to you that it's maybe your horrible attitude making people not want to answer your questions?
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EricDent



Joined: 28 May 2008
Posts: 997
Location: Georgetown, TX
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 2:43 am Reply with quote
I must admit that I did buy a couple of bootlegs on purpose.
This was a few years before the legit DVD versions came out.
The items in question were VHS tapes of the '90s Godzilla movies.
As soon as the real ones came out, I got rid of them.

There is one company that makes use of the kinda "grey area" licenses.
IE they don't think anybody will notice.
That's Alpha Video, I'm sure you have seen their collections of stuff like 50 monster movies. They had really crappy quality DVDs of Godzilla Vs Megalon & all of the '60s Gamera movies. Now that legit versions of those are available, there is no need for that crap.

Not sure if I mentioned that I did also accidentally buyba bootleg version of Outlaw Star. It was called the "international" version, and unlike the Bandai version, it only had 3 discs instead of 6.
It was also at least half the price of the Bandai version.
I quickly realized it was fake, and got rid of it. Now I own the Complete Collection version (looks a lot like the Anime Legends version).

After those experiences, I will never buy another bootleg.
I even point them out to certain used DVD stores, though I kinda gave up on doing so at Half Price Books.

They obviously don't train their employees very well, cause I was attempting to sell my Nanoha singles. The guy said they would give me like $2 for them, since they were "region 2". The region 2 thing was totally wrong, it has the number 2 on the back, which denotes how many languages it has. It clearly said NTSC & had Region 1 on the discs. So then they offer me $3...yeah these are so rare that Amazon does not even have a listing for the singles.

Just in case they are NOT for sale anymore.
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Ringking



Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Posts: 338
PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:46 am Reply with quote
Bought a few bootlegs from Ebay back in the day when I was first starting out as an anime fan. Ended up giving most of them away and buying legit versions of everything (though I still kept my Cardcaptor Sakura one, for nostalgia if anything else).

Anyways, does anyone have any advice on spotting bootleg anime art books. I bought one of Ebay, seems fairly reasonable since its coming from Japan (apparently) and the price isn't ridiculously cheap ($34 used and in 'good' condition), but I'm having a hard time finding any other mention of this book on the internet, so im not sure if its legit or not.

This one:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320976067281?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
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EricDent



Joined: 28 May 2008
Posts: 997
Location: Georgetown, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:23 am Reply with quote
Looks real.
The sale is over, but the guy selling it has 99.8% good feedback.
It's pretty hard to keep that if you sell fake stuff on EBay.
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murph76



Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 3291
Location: Akron, OH
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 2:26 pm Reply with quote
Anyone have a copy of Tokyo Babylon vols 1 & 2 that can confirm a few things for me?

I just unwrapped my copy, bought off Amazon marketplace, and need to confirm it's not a bootleg.

I Googled the UPC code, and that checks out. I didn't recognize NuTech Digital, a company on the back cover, but they're in ANN's encyclopedia. So, it looks legit there. The only other company logo is U.S. Manga Corps, and that's one I recognize.

What worries me is that it's all region, and a two-sided DVD. The cover art is just slightly different from the photo on that page. Same image, same perspective (not flipped), but the characters are more toward the left, while the flowers are on the right.

Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid about an older release. But if someone has the DVD could check it out, please let me know how it compares. I can post some scans later tonight if needed.

Thanks!
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Ortensia1980



Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 803
Location: some town near Amsterdam
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 2:33 pm Reply with quote
I don't have that particular dvd, but I do know that U.S. Manga Corps dvds are all regions.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:17 pm Reply with quote
I have that DVD, it is All regions but is single sided. The art work on the disk is the same as on the cover. This is in a clear DVD case with the cast and chapters printed on the inside of the cover.

I had an earlier copy that came in one of those cases that was cardboard with plastic under the disk, it unlatched along the side. That was single sided as well.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:25 pm Reply with quote
I have that title at home which I have never watched or even examined. Mine's a used copy, too, but when I get home, I'll check and let you know what I find.
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murph76



Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 3291
Location: Akron, OH
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:21 pm Reply with quote
Thanks! I appreciate the help. I'm at work now, so I'll check to see if the cover is double-sided when I get home. It's in a black dvd case. The back cover did not mention chinese subtitles or any really obvious tipoffs. I'll test it out after work and see what's there.

Thanks again! Smile
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 6:57 pm Reply with quote
No problem, if you want to PM me your email address, I can scan both sides of the cover and sent them to you.
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murph76



Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 3291
Location: Akron, OH
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:15 pm Reply with quote
Thanks, I'll do that later if this image I found online isn't the one you own. it's very different from my cover, so unless there was some kind of repackaging, I'm feeling less confident about my purchase. I'll scan mine later.



Edit to replace with a thumbnail link.


Last edited by murph76 on Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:23 pm Reply with quote
That is rather different from mine. Mine has a predominately red cover all around that shades to black at the top. It is likely a different issue than mine.

I bought my current copy a couple of years ago, probably on line. It was either from TRSI or RACS so I don't have any fear that it isn't legitimate. As I said, I had an earlier copy in a very different style case. U. S. Manga Corp. likely issued it several times over the period of it's license.
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Brainchild129



Joined: 09 Aug 2011
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:29 pm Reply with quote
I have that too, but mine is a later reprint, I think. It has a solid blue cover with an image of Subaru on the front and the title. Does that sound closer to what you have?
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murph76



Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 3291
Location: Akron, OH
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:48 pm Reply with quote
@Brainchild129: Thanks for lending a hand! Unfortunately, my cover's red. Here's a scan:



And here's a photo of the DVD. Tokyo Babylon's commercially printed on the hub. The other side says preview trailers, in the same commercial printing.



I'm not sure what to think. Confused
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 9902
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:37 am Reply with quote
Brainchild129 wrote:
I have that too, but mine is a later reprint, I think. It has a solid blue cover with an image of Subaru on the front and the title. Does that sound closer to what you have?

Negative. Yours is the 2005 version by CPM: release#3433

murph76 wrote:
I'm not sure what to think.

Yours is fine. It was just one example of experimenting 2-sided DVD-10 back in those pre-millennium days. Once DVD-9 became more mature and cheaper, the inconvenient DVD-10 almost disappeared from the market.
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