Bootleg DVD's-Post 1 of 5

DarqueKnight

I like to buy used DVD's from Amazon.com and other online stores. I like Amazon because they usually have the largest inventory from various sellers. I pay an average of $10.

I purchased my "Sideways" DVD from Amazon seller Wholesale-Direct-To-You.com. Their ad stated:"Our DVD's are used, like new, and are purchased from DVD overstock companies, various Government and other auctions, rental companies, and overstock salvage companies."

The company had a 4.5 out of a 5 star feedback rating. I didn't bother to read their feedback. Turns out I should have.

This is what I received. It was obvious the minute I opened the mailing envelope that the case cover label was printed on an inkjet printer.

DarqueKnight

Here is a comparison of the "real" Sideways" DVD case cover on the left and the bootleg on the right. Maybe the faded color is due to their inkjet printer running low on ink.

audiobliss

Bummer. How is the DVD?

DarqueKnight

Rear case covers. Bootleg on right.

DarqueKnight

Comparison of the real (left) and bootleg DVD disks.

DarqueKnight

The bootleg DVD on the right has the purpleish color of DVD recordable disks. Even more troublesome than that is the fact that the DVD recordable disk only holds 4.7 GB of data. A commercial double layer disk holds 9.4 GB of data. The real Sideways DVD disk contained 7.66 GB of Data. The bootleg only contained 4.36 GB of data. This means that the bootleg DVD had a compression rate of 46% and one of the extra features was deleted ( the "Behind the Scenes" featurette).

There was noticeable difference in the picture quality between the real and bootleg, but the bootleg didn't look that bad, even on a 57 inch HDTV. The bootleg's colors (particularly reds) were a little paler and fine details were a little softer. The bootlegger obviously applied more compression to the audio and the extra features in order to apply the least amount of compression to the video data. The video quality of the bootleg's extra features looked terrible (grainy). They were crystal clear in the real DVD. The audio of the bootleg was "flatter" sounding (less dynamic), but not objectionable or unlistenable.

I emailed the seller and told them that if I wanted burned DVD's, I could rent DVD's and burn my own copies. They replied within two hours notifying me that a full refund had been issued and that they would be sending a prepaid mailing label for the return of the bootleg DVD's. They said that they didn't know how the copies got mixed up in their inventory. Yeah right. I went back and read their Amazon.com feedback and they have numerous complaints (8%) in their feedback profile for selling burned copies of DVD's.

Toxis

oops

stereo55

Thanks for the heads up .... purchased a few dvds from the Amazon seller site , but never from Wholesale-Direct-To-You.com .

heiney9

I burn my own DVD's for personal use and only a few for that matter. This may not be the most ethical thing to do.

But........come on you need to report these people to Amazon. I'm sure if the higher up's at Amazon knew what was going on they'd put a stop to it!

Paying money, albeit a discounted price, is pure and simple piracy. This is the kind of crap that the RIAA and equivalents are so up in arms about. Letting this kind of piracy continue is only going to hurt us (the consumers) in the long run. They will either come up with a copy guard that may interfer with quality or some other horrid thing.

I say nail these guys!!!

H9

michael_w

"This DVD was purchased from a DVD rental company, Salvage Company, or various Government (Customs, Seizure) Auctions."

So the ripped off dvds get seized then sold at auction to internet companies to turn around and sell them to someone else? Arn't they just kind of shooting themselves in the foot by letting this out again? Try and see if there is somewhere you can report these bashtards.

DarqueKnight

The only place this company really purchases their DVD's from is the bootlegger. :mad:

Look at the last sentence of the note in the first picture:

"They will play on any DVD player made in the last 5 years"

This lets me know that they really are in the business of selling burned DVD's because some older DVD players could not play DVD-r disks.

They are counting on a lot of people either being fooled by the packaging and disk labeling or not caring about receiving a copy.

Schris22

Thanks for the heads up. Sucks to get somethign completly different from what you were told.

Chris