so I got one of those DTS-ish bootlegs

[Little Red Henski]

I bought a bootleg Studio Ghibli DVD box set many years ago because I got sick and tired of waiting for Disney to start releasing those films. Eventhough I own that bootleg boxset I still buy the official releases. Besides the bootlegs have better subtitle translations than the offical Disney release. I also own a copy of Song of the South because I wanted to share that film with my niece & my nephews.

[Escapay]

"It's more or less a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy."

Well. It's obvious people are telling.

Well of course people are telling if we're discussing it in this thread. UD just doesn't condone bootlegging sales/transactions (check out the rules in the Trade Forum).

The bottom line is, if you got gypped in a sale and you may have received a bootleg, post about it to warn others, or to have someone help check its authenticity.

Or, if you want to buy a DVD from e-bay or Amazon Marketplace, ask around here for how to spot a bootleg and how to spot an authentic DVD at good prices.

But UD isn't really a place to freely discuss the benefits of having a bootleg Disney DVD over the authentic. UD has always been about authentic Disney DVDs, reviews for authentic Disney DVDs, and news about upcoming authentic Disney DVDs. Bootlegs just stand for everything UD isn't.

I agree with most others, Disney does lose money by keeping their movies on moratanium. Bootlegging sales probably lose the company millions of dollars a year. With the current trend of dual-releases (single-disc barebones and #-disc special edition), Disney should really apply this on their film library, as they have the really stupid moratanium practice. Yet even if they keep their movies on the shelves and never retire them, there will still be bootleggers, simply because they know they can make them for cheap, sell them for cheap, and still earn money.

Like netty, I sympathize for those who are just starting their Disney DVD collections and can't find the classics like "Little Mermaid" or "Peter Pan" on DVD because they're OOP. By sheer luck I found Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, and Tarzan CE at a GameStop all in one trip, and I count that as a blessing. It'd have been a miracle if I found Sleeping Beauty there as well, but beggars can't be choosers. I'd love a copy of Sleeping Beauty, I'm not going to pay exorbitant amounts of money on e-bay or Amazon Marketplace for what may or may not be a bootleg. If I find it used for a decent price, that's better. Otherwise, I'm content enough to wait. DVDs are made to be watched, not had.

While I'd love to have all 44 animated classics, I'm not in a rush to make sure I have all of them now, and while I understand the "building up the collection" angle, some people tend to forget that not all collections are built up in one fell swoop (unless of course you've got more money than Bill Gates and the resources to find everything you need in a day). It always starts with one. There was a time when I had only three DVDs (Charade, The Lucy Show 10-episode collection, Swiss Family Robinson). That has since grown to nearly 400. I was impressed with my collection when I reached 10. I was more impressed when I reached 50. By 100 or 110, I felt that my collection was too small. By 250, I felt still impressive, but wanted to get more and more. By 400, I really don't care anymore. Who am I competing with in order to have such a large collection? Who am I trying to impress? So while there are still 22 Animated Classics I don't have, I'm not rushing out to buy the 17 in print that I don't have, and I'm not going to scour the universe for the 5 that are out of print. The best part about building a collection is the joy when you can add a new item every so often. Doing it all at once just cheapens it.

Most of my DVDs I've watched at least once. Probably 20 or so I still haven't watched. But there's probably only 50 or so that I watch repeatedly. I consider that my collection, while the others are just "DVDs I own".

Going through my DVD list, here's what I'd consider my true collection:

1. Aladdin: Platinum Edition
2. The Band Wagon: Special Edition
3. Beauty and the Beast: Platinum Edition
4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
5. Bringing Up Baby: Special Edition
6. Camille
7. Casablanca: Special Edition
8. Chocolat: Collector’s Series
9. Clue
10. Cocoon
11. Cocoon: The Return
12. Coupling: The Complete First Series (netty, if you read this, say Inferno in a response, lol)
13. Coupling: The Complete Second Series (netty, if you read this, also say Jane and the Truth Snake in a response, lol)
14. Coupling: The Complete Third Series (netty, if you read this, also say The Freckle, The Key, and the Couple that Weren't in a response, lol)
15. Coupling: The Complete Fourth Series (netty, if you read this, also say Circus of the Epidurals in a response, lol)
16. Dirty Dancing: Ultimate Edition
17. Dumbo: 60th Anniversary Edition
18. Empire of the Sun
19. Finding Nemo: Collector’s Edition
20. Galaxy Quest
21. Goldfinger: Special Edition
22. The Goonies
23. How Green Was My Valley
24. The Incredibles: Collector’s Edition
25. Laura
26. Legend: Ultimate Edition
27. Love Actually
28. Mary Poppins: 40th Anniversary Edition
29. Mommie Dearest
30. Moulin Rouge!: Special Edition
31. The NeverEnding Story
32. Newsies: Collector’s Edition
33. Ninotchka
34. Now, Voyager
35. Ordinary People
36. The Outsiders – The Complete Novel: Special Edition
37. Peter Pan: Special Edition
38. Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl: Collector’s Edition
39. A Place in the Sun
40. The Princess Bride: Special Edition
41. Robin Hood: Gold Collection
42. The Rocketeer
43. St. Elmo’s Fire
44. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: Special Edition
45. Singin’ In The Rain: Special Edition
46. Song of the South: Hong Kong Laserdisc DVD bootleg
47. Star Trek: IV: The Voyage Home
48. Swiss Family Robinson: Vault Disney Collection
49. The Ten Commandments: Special Collector’s Edition
50. When Harry Met Sally: Special Edition


Escapay

[MinnieMe]

"What about people who get tricked into buying bootlegs?"

1. Request a refund.

2. Return item.

3. Report the seller.

If you read Ebay's, Amazon's and Half.com rules, you'll see that they will suspend sellers who sell bootleg materials. Problem is, nobody follows thru. They simply get mad, whine, but do nothing.

Ok... welllll like I said in my original post that you obviously didn't read all of: I bought this at a flea market. I was visiting in Florida (from Virginia) and bought two dvd bootlegs at a STAND in a flea market and realized they were bootlegs a few weeks after I got back to Virginia.

Thanks for the advice though.

[mcduck]

Of course a bootleg would never be a part of a collection, they are like temporal supplements, and it is true that a original copy it always shall be a nice piece of art for the animated library, I think nobody is thinking to replace completely their dvd collections for a ship copy, and it is not a promotional when one talk about, but the reality is that many fraudulent things happen around getting a simple movie... like those guys who sell “oops” dvds for more than 3 times their original price, why is not this illegal???...

I always respect the art that Disney produce, but their distribution and business is another thing completely apart, and the truth is that they never loose a penny, I amazing when people think that a dvd cost actually 20 bucks, we have to pay that because the “rest” pay with out a question, and making dvd unavailable for a period of time it is just a strategy which side effects are the bootlegging... nevertheless I will encourage people to got the most for their money, and get the bootlegs as the Ultimate resource (and when they know they got one) there are many forms to track good discounts or find dvds in the internet, many times you wold be satisfied with the result of a research...