How to Spot a Bootleg

[Tsunami Jones]

id like to know where you all get your dvds from so i dont make the same mistake again

Many buy them from retail stores stuch as Best Buy, Media Play, etc. and there's also quite a few online sites that sell official dvds, such as www.rightstuf.com , www.animecornerstore.com , or even directly from the companies that produce the dvds, like here: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... hp?t=56389

[coruscadragon]

i have been looking at naruto boxed sets on ebay and there are quite a few... some have 140-something episodes crammed onto 8 disks, and are extreemly questionable, but i'm just wondering if anyone happens to know which sets are legit (if any) and what do they look like
that would be very helpful...

thnx

[Rhinne]

I got several items from this seller on ebay.
The feedback was 99.9% positive and they ship from the UK, so it never occured to me that they could be selling bootlegs.
But after reading this thread I decided to take a look at who they get their stock from. One of the sellers shipped from Hong Kong and had several negative feedbacks with people complaining of bootlegs. However, their other providers seemed to be stocking original products.
So, I figure some of the ebay-er's stock is bootleg and some isn't.
The dvds dont look like bootlegs, but I just wanted a second oppinion.

[madbunny]

Most of the stuff in that guys Ebay list is almost certainly bootleg. Although I did recognize a couple that seeemed legit like some of the robotech stuff. It's tempting though. Unfortunately you get what you pay for when it comes to bootlegs. The subs suck beyond comprehension, sometimes ruining a show, the video quality is way below even the cruddiest fansub that you'll ever see, and if your player doesn't support region 0 then you can't even play them.

Remember, "real" companies don't usually produce all region disks.
"Real" companies don't give you 24 episodes on a disk, they give you... 4-6 usually. It's a rip off, and it helps fuel the bootleg trade, but there you have it. Also, the prices are in line with bootleggers. 24.00 buy it price for 78 episodes of Slayers? Heh.. right.

To the person above, so far as I know, there isn't a complete Naruto set. You could get the original Japanese disks at a substantial price, or wait for you domestic release.

[Scintilla]

Unfortunately you get what you pay for when it comes to bootlegs. The subs suck beyond comprehension, sometimes ruining a show, the video quality is way below even the cruddiest fansub that you'll ever see, and if your player doesn't support region 0 then you can't even play them.

Um... doesn't "region 0" mean "region free", meaning that it'll play on anything?

And by the way, I've seen plenty of bootlegs (mostly through the anime club here) that had perfect subs and dub tracks, just as good as the R1s.

[Rhinne]

I guess these are deffinatly bootlegs then?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 6437478861
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 6438592983

For some reason, if a whole series (of anything upto 26 episodes) came in a 3-disc set I always asumed it was genuine. Gah! Bootlegs can be so hard to spot.

And I always thought Region0 meant region-free?

[madbunny]

Um... doesn't "region 0" mean "region free", meaning that it'll play on anything?
And by the way, I've seen plenty of bootlegs (mostly through the anime club here) that had perfect subs and dub tracks, just as good as the R1s.

Yeah, my mistake on the region 0. I was thinking of R2's and R3's. Although it is typical of bootlegs (ie:major complanies don't use it that I know of). You must have been lucky with your subs though, most that I've seen are horrid. It's like a bablefish translation or Japanese into Chineese, and then to English.

[Scintilla]

Um... doesn't "region 0" mean "region free", meaning that it'll play on anything?
And by the way, I've seen plenty of bootlegs (mostly through the anime club here) that had perfect subs and dub tracks, just as good as the R1s.

Yeah, my mistake on the region 0. I was thinking of R2's and R3's. Although it is typical of bootlegs (ie:major complanies don't use it that I know of). You must have been lucky with your subs though, most that I've seen are horrid. It's like a bablefish translation or Japanese into Chineese, and then to English.

I guess it's a matter of knowing what to look for. Back when I didn't know any better, I got a Chinese bootleg off eBay that had the menus and subs and everything in Chinese, and the English subs were so horrible I had to watch it dubbed (at least they got THAT right).

By contrast, none of the "better" bootlegs I've seen have had Chinese subtitle tracks at all, just English.

[cresentmooon]

A while back when I knew nothing at all about bootlegs and not much about anime ( I had no clue they could even make them look so authentic so the thought of them not being the real thing never crossed my mind!)

So I just though "wow ebay is so the way to go! the prices are so low!"

So I bought "chobits" + "his and hers circumstances" ($30 each set)

half way through on both of them the quality got bad, it was hard to hear, lipsync was off, oh jeez it was a mess.

Im glad I read this thread now Im able to be more careful. thanks.

[littlekohitsuji]

The main post pointed out the main signs of an anime bootleg, but don't forget that when cruising Ebay and the like for jrock and jpop, the same thing applies. Avoid getting bootleg jpop CDs! In my more naive days I got a Yaida Hitomi Greatest Hits CD from a guy in Hong Kong, and you could tell that it just wasn't right. The inside art looked like it was delicately photocopied, and some of the text is cut off. Plus there were tracks on there that aren't advertised on legit sites (such as the wonderful yesasia.com).

Probably the most surest way of finding out an anime series is a bootleg is know the production company (FUNimation, Geneon, etc). If its from there, chances are its good.

I'm new to this site, so *wave!*