Are These Discs Fakes?

[consultant]

I finally assembled the entire Classic Animation Collection. I was going through the collection making sure all my discs are mint, have chapter inserts, etc. and noticed a couple things.

Some of the silk screening on the discs is the type that is not perfectly smooth. I know this is typically a sign of a fake disc however I'm pretty sure they are authentic U.S. Region 1 products that I bought from reputable retailers or reputable E-bay sellers. One example is my Fantasia Anthology Set which I am 99.99% sure is legitimate yet the silk screening process on the discs is one that is not perfectly smooth, like on say, Brother Bear.

So my first question is, does the silk screening (or whatever you want to call it - labeling, etc.) process differ over the years so that not ALL the classic animation DVD's have that perfectly smooth finish?

Now I do have two discs in my collection I do suspect may be replicas/fakes after further examination. The packaging looks legit, chapter inserts and everything. They are not the obvious asian fake versions where the package and disc labels are significantly different (along with having DTS advertised and the metallic shimmer on the labels, which is a dead giveaway), however the color of the DVD surface is a light gold instead of the normal silver, AND, you can feel the silk screen. I wasn't concerned much about feeling the silk screening since I'm guessing not ALL the discs has that perfect smooth finish but the light gold color of the disc is a concern. The two discs in question are Aristocats and Hercules.

Can someone verify if some of the legitimate US R1 products were produced on discs that are not silver, and have a light gold color? If not, then these are definitely replicas, and very good ones at that.

Thanks for your help.

[grassmonk]

Many of the earlier produced discs have labels that are not perfectly smooth. IIRC, that was one of the ways to tell a real one from a bootleg. As far as gold vs. silver discs, I'm pretty sure one of the Snow White discs I have is gold, and it's definitely legit.

[Jules]

Dear 'consultant',

I live in Malta, Europe, and most discs here are Region 2. However I do have some Region 1 discs.

All my Region 2 discs are a perfect silver.
However, my few Region 1 discs, I'm pretty sure, are all light gold in colour.

These include:
Robin Hood (Gold Classic Collection)
Sword in the Stone (Gold Classic Collection)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Emperor's New Groove (Old Edition)
Snow White

However, my Region 1 copy of Cinderella is silver, so maybe the old Region 1s were light gold. In fact, the above titles are all rather old editions.

As for the labels I don't know what you mean.
If you are referring to the print of the disc art being 'unsmooth' and 'ugly', that's perfectly normal for early Region 1 discs. Even Snow White is like that!


Anyway, if I were you I wouldn't worry...

[consultant]

I noticed the other day on the ones I know are fake that I bought as duplicates for my kids to watch without scratching the real ones, the quality of the display was a little rough. So I stuck it in my computer and found out it is a 4.7GB disk instead of the 8.5GB disc. Do I checked the discs in question and they are 8.5 so safe to say they are legit.

[Jules]

I really don't know what to say to that...

It's true that copied DVDs are usually 4.7GB, but that's because they're single layered.

But now, dual-layered recordable DVD-Discs are available as well as dual-layer DVD writers.

However, I've never seen a copied movie recorded on a dual-layered disc so far. (And believe me, in Malta you see a lot!! If you visit Valletta (Malta's capital) you'll find people selling pirated DVDs on a stall, or you could go to your local DVD rentals shop and order 'copied' DVDs.)

[consultant]

I make backups of my collection on dual-layer myself for my kids to thrash so I'm aware being dual-layer doesn't necessarily mean it is genuine but being 4.7GB definitely does.