Bootlegs

[fred20]

After finding what I thought to be a reputable dealer on e-bay and purchasing 3 "GENUINE" OOP Disney DVD's , I am now convinced that I have been duped

While the artwork and the disc itself seem pretty convincing - the actual size of the DVD's are all 4.2 GB - Now I have had a quick scim through my collection and none of the DVD's ( which are all Region 2 genuine DVD'S) are this size and if I recall correctly 4.2 Gb disks are the standard blank DVD sold in computer storer . The other puzzling thing is that marked on the inside of my genuine DVD's is the name of the film etched onto the actual disks in the very middle on the silver surface. The 3 new disks have no such marking

Can anyone lend fuel to my suspicions - for info the three disks I have purchased are Lady and the Tramp , Jungle Book , and Little Mermaid . Does anyone know the actual capacity of the original DVD's and if they were etched in the way that my Dumbo and Snow White disks are . All 3 were advertised as genuine Region 1 Disney DVD's

I guess I'm learning about the perils of ebay and just need a couple of people to confirm my thoughts before confronting the vendor

Cheers

Dave

[castleinthesky]

The only times I buy online, I buy directly from a store. I say never to by form Ebay or Amazon unless it's directly from them.

[PheR]

I own those titles on bootleg too...I do not know the size of the originals but I supose they are single layered so yes, those bootleg dvds are exact copies and don't miss anything, since there are not special features and are very compresed.

[fred20]

Had another quick check over the potential "bootlegs" and the DVD are in fact all differing sizes so that doesn't look to be the evidence I need , all are small in comparison to me Region 2 disks but that could just be the lack of extras

Can anyone confirm if the three Region 1 DVD's in question had the name of the film etched onto the disk itself on the original releases

Also anyone have a contact email address for Disney to see if they can offer any guidance on how to spot if these disks are bootlegs

Thanks once again

[Mermaid Kelly]

Are all the ones on ebay bootlegs? I really hope to find a Little Mermaid dvd! I don't know if there are any tips to tell if they are fake, all I know is don't buy if it says "dvd sleeve" cause then it's not the real case, and make sure chapter insert is included.......any one have other tips?

[Anders M Olsson]

"The Jungle Book" and "Lady and the Tramp" are both single layer discs.

"The Little Mermaid" is a dual layer disc, though. Mine has 5,233,588,224 bytes of data in the VIDEO_TS directory.

None of these discs has the film's name etched at the disc center.

I don't think you've been cheated, unless you have some other evidence that these are bootlegs. Perhaps you should check the amount of data on "The Little Mermaid" again? You might have made a mistake about that one.

[fred20]

Looking at the three DVD I purchased they all appear to be the real deal at first glance - they covers and inserts are like new and the DVD has an image on the front

The things that are making me suspicious are the slightly blurred print on the back of the case

The fact that the DVD has been shipped in a white case

and the fact that the film name is not etched onto the DVD which certainly is a trait on Region 2 disks

Hope you are lucky though !!

[Mermaid Kelly]

I thought The Little Mermaid is supposed to come in a white case.

[Anders M Olsson]

Most region 1 Disney DVDs do come in white cases, so that's a good sign.

[fred20]

I'm learning all the time , if it's supposed to be shipped in a white case then maybe the disks are genuine and I'm worrying unduly - I'm just not sure !!

Like yourself I am looking for a concrete way of deciding if a DVD is the "real deal" - what I don't want to end up doing is at some stage selling the DVD on and then finding out from a buyer that it was a pirate

[Mermaid Kelly]

Is Little Mermaid Full or wide screen? Do you know?

[BasilOfBakerStreet427]

The Little Mermaid is widescreen,but non-anamorphic.

[fred20]

According to the box it's widescreen 1.66 : 1

However with my television I'm never sure what format a film is in !! It certainly look ok in widescreen , but then it also looks oK IN 16:9 and superwidescreen

The back of the cover also has the ISBN No. , the bar code and then another Number all on the Proof of Purchase tab

[Maerj]

The name of the movies will not be etched onto the ring in the disks themselves. There should be a serial number there, so they are most likely exact copies.

[Mermaid Kelly]

The only movie I have in superwidescreen is Sleeping Beauty...I don't like it that wide!! I think it looks weird! Also what is non-anamorphic?

[BasilOfBakerStreet427]

Hercules
Lady and The Tramp(in Cinemascope)
Mulan
The Black Cauldron

Just a few.

[Luke]

Also what is non-anamorphic?

Non-anamorphic basically means that the black bars are encoded on the DVD, and are taking up resolution instead of the film being encoded within a 16x9 frame, and the bars being auto-generated. There's more to it than that, but suffice it to say that anamorphic means higher resolution for the video.

[BasilOfBakerStreet427]

I think she means what Disney DVD's are non-anamorphic.

[catNC]

i thought that she meant what does non-anamorphic mean. for some reason, i don't think kelly cares about which films are non-anamorphic..

all she cares about is getting the little mermaid on dvd, which i greatly understand her desire

[indianajdp]

fred--

How about a link to the website or a link to the seller so we can check out auction details and the like?