One of the most annoying things about anime series is the rampant bootlegging that goes on. Merchants like eBay and even Amazon are littered with bootleg dvd's of anime especially Sailor Moon. Now it is true that many of these seasons are no longer licensedagain like Sailor Moon making bootlegs the only avenue to obtain a set. And people do buy them on a regular basis along with many trying to convince themselves they bought a legit set when clearly they haven't.
If there was an anime set not available in your region, would you buy a bootleg if it was reasonably priced with good sound and video quality? I ocassionally think about it, then dismiss the idea. If a bootleg set which is usally illegally derived from an official set then compressed and sold for profit, why bother buying it. Downloading them really is no different then buying them in terms of legality of ownership. So then why pay money for a non-legit item when you can download them. I don't condone the latter obviously but I have a hard time understanding how someone justifies spending on something with no actual value or legitimacy attached to it thus actually promoting bootlegging.
Full Version: Bootleg DVD Sets
To be completely honest I have bought bootleg DVD sets. It wasn't of an anime. But of Power Rangers! They were on a site called iOffer. While I'm not really proud that I spent $120 USD on the first six seasons of Power Rangers. At the time I bought them I was desperate enough to watch them. I didn't have the space on my old computer to download the episodes. So I chose the next step. Sure, buying more has crossed my mind like for old WWF episodes, or some animes.
From my mindset right now. I don't know if I would do it again. My mindset at the time was that I didn't have the space or time to download. Plus, they were cheaper than ordering the actual copies.
From my mindset right now. I don't know if I would do it again. My mindset at the time was that I didn't have the space or time to download. Plus, they were cheaper than ordering the actual copies.
No, I would never buy a bootleg. I would download something before I bought the bootleg. My code of ethics prevents me from giving money to pirates, but not necessarily from downloading, funny isn't it?
Here's an interesting quote from an online bootleg store:
"Under no circumstances can we accept returns on this product due to the high risk of copying or just the likelihood of renting a set for a weekend."
Due to the high risk of copying? Your the ones selling illegal copies for profit! I find it comical on how they determine pricing for these sets. They charge $60US per set. They figure they can charge more because they use 6 dvd's insead of four while also boasting:
"Completely remastered in mind with modern HD standards."
Companies sure like to scam people with bizz words like remastering and hd. All remastering means is to create a new copy from exisiting material. Most likely R2 dvd's with subtitles added if applicable. Remastering doesn't neccessarily mean better quality. When you see digitally remastered on most cd's, it means they made it worse. What does modern HD standards even mean?
These people have some nerve creating illegal copies and making claims as if they own some sort of license.
"Under no circumstances can we accept returns on this product due to the high risk of copying or just the likelihood of renting a set for a weekend."
Due to the high risk of copying? Your the ones selling illegal copies for profit! I find it comical on how they determine pricing for these sets. They charge $60US per set. They figure they can charge more because they use 6 dvd's insead of four while also boasting:
"Completely remastered in mind with modern HD standards."
Companies sure like to scam people with bizz words like remastering and hd. All remastering means is to create a new copy from exisiting material. Most likely R2 dvd's with subtitles added if applicable. Remastering doesn't neccessarily mean better quality. When you see digitally remastered on most cd's, it means they made it worse. What does modern HD standards even mean?
These people have some nerve creating illegal copies and making claims as if they own some sort of license.
Those are the kind of bootleggers I would never buy from.
At least when I bought mine they were honest about it. They stated in the description "these videos were either copied from old tapes, or downloaded".
But what you posted Jefferson is there way of one giant scam.
At least when I bought mine they were honest about it. They stated in the description "these videos were either copied from old tapes, or downloaded".
But what you posted Jefferson is there way of one giant scam.
Normally I would never buy a bootleg, but I did buy one on Ebay once on accident. I thought I was buying the japanese copies (I've bought them for some anime before) of Naruto but it turned out they were bootlegs, I was pretty mad. Also the seller closed his account afterwards.
It really wasn't that bad of a purchase though. The sound and picture are both DVD quality, and I got all 220 something episodes of Naruto, 40 something episodes of Shippuuden, and all the movies and ovas. Still I was dissapointed and have ever since been very careful when buying online.
It really wasn't that bad of a purchase though. The sound and picture are both DVD quality, and I got all 220 something episodes of Naruto, 40 something episodes of Shippuuden, and all the movies and ovas. Still I was dissapointed and have ever since been very careful when buying online.
I can't say I would never do it, because unfortunately, I have. And they were from a legit brick and mortar store, too. They way they had it advertised was that it was the original Japanese versions, just like Brojasu mentioned happened to him. Sadly, if I had stopped to think about for a minute, I would have realized that couldn't be right, since they hadn't been produced in America for many years, let alone Japan. That was the last time I bought anything from them. Lesson learned, I guess. Since then though, as I've heard, they've gone to being an online store because they couldn't afford the rent on the building they were using.
Unfortunately, I am not allowed to shop from Ebay, Amazon or any other online store, to begin with. Nonetheless, if I was allowed to, I would only buy a legit set. Just like Jefferson said, in the first post of the thread, it makes no sense spending money on something that it is not official, nor legal. Besides, buying those bootleg sets is not more legal that downloading them, so I just don't see the point of buying them.
On a side note, if you're wondering why I'm not allowed to buy over the Internet, it is due to the fact that you have to write the number of your VISA card, and Internet hackers can use it to steal you money.
On a side note, if you're wondering why I'm not allowed to buy over the Internet, it is due to the fact that you have to write the number of your VISA card, and Internet hackers can use it to steal you money.
| QUOTE (MMPRmaniac @ Aug 25 2009, 07:21 AM) |
| Unfortunately, I am not allowed to shop from Ebay, Amazon or any other online store, to begin with. Nonetheless, if I was allowed to, I would only buy a legit set. Just like Jefferson said, in the first post of the thread, it makes no sense spending money on something that it is not official, nor legal. Besides, buying those bootleg sets is not more legal that downloading them, so I just don't see the point of buying them. On a side note, if you're wondering why I'm not allowed to buy over the Internet, it is due to the fact that you have to write the number of your VISA card, and Internet hackers can use it to steal you money. |
I'm not a huge fan of giving your credit card number online and try to limit direct credit card purchases. That's what makes Paypal really good is that you can use your credit card but only they have your credit card on file. Thats helped me a few times with some sellers who seemed reputable but weren't but was able to have my money refunded and have no consequences because other than my ship address, had no info about my bank or credit card info. The only real place I use my credit card directly for which they also have my card on file is on Amazon which I'm fine with because they're quite reputable. When you buy from third party merchants on Amazon, Amazon gives them funding but not your card number.
As long as you don't deal with shady merchants directly with your card, in many ways using your card online can be actually safer. 128 bit excryption is quite secure and most merchants use 256 up to 2048 bit miltary strength encryption. It would take a fast pc running non stop for millions if not billions of years to crack the code. When your buying something by credit card at the store, you are trusting people around you and trying to quickly read your credit card as you pull it out not to mention the cashier who needs to type the last four digits of your card into the system in most cases and gets a good long look at your full card number.
Back on bootlegging, I was under the impression that someone buying a bootleg at leats concedes it has no resale value. Then I go on eBay and see someone has the nerve to not only sell a bootleg, but a used one at that probably after they copied the discs. I reported the auctions to eBay because this bootlegging is one of many reasons Toei and other Japanese anime copyright holders won't allow North American licensing on some of their products. But surprise surprise, eBay seems to care less. They probably handle many requests per day but there's no need to start an investigation to determine if its a bootleg. It's more than obvious as I stated in my description to them. Of course that's flawed too. They give you only a handful of characters to "twitter" explain why you say its a bootleg which is insufficient to properly clarify.
I would rather download something before I give someone money who is selling something illegaly even if downloading something can be illegal too. But at least it's better than making a pirate rich. And if my computer doesn't have enough space to download it all by once I'm trying to get it from Youtube step by step and safe it on CDs and delete it from my computer in between. I'm used to a low quality. And moreover I'm mostly watching videos on my MP3 player. On that little screen even the lowest quality video gets a better quality.
| QUOTE (Jefferson @ Aug 25 2009, 10:17 AM) |
| I'm not a huge fan of giving your credit card number online and try to limit direct credit card purchases. That's what makes Paypal really good is that you can use your credit card but only they have your credit card on file. Thats helped me a few times with some sellers who seemed reputable but weren't but was able to have my money refunded and have no consequences because other than my ship address, had no info about my bank or credit card info. The only real place I use my credit card directly for which they also have my card on file is on Amazon which I'm fine with because they're quite reputable. When you buy from third party merchants on Amazon, Amazon gives them funding but not your card number. As long as you don't deal with shady merchants directly with your card, in many ways using your card online can be actually safer. 128 bit excryption is quite secure and most merchants use 256 up to 2048 bit miltary strength encryption. It would take a fast pc running non stop for millions if not billions of years to crack the code. When your buying something by credit card at the store, you are trusting people around you and trying to quickly read your credit card as you pull it out not to mention the cashier who needs to type the last four digits of your card into the system in most cases and gets a good long look at your full card number. |
Jefferson, thanks so much for the information...
I had no idea that most reliable merchants used such high levels of excryption. I'll sure bear that in mind! Besides, I brought this issue to a friend of mine and he told me something that you might find interesting. Apparently, at least here, in Portugal, but certainly in many other countries, as well, banks offer a service that works like this: the bank creates a "phantom" credit card, to which is given a card number different from yours; that credit card can only be used once and its value especifically equals the price of your shopping; after the transaction is concluded, that credit card is erased. That way, even if any hacker cracks the code, there is no way he can use it to shop. It seems to be the safer strategy to shop online.Concerning Ebay's answer to your report, I find it outrageous. If they want to be seen as a reliable online shop, they shouldn't take care of these illegal bootlegs with that ease.
QUOTE (MMPRmaniac @ Aug 25 2009, 02:19 PM)
| QUOTE (Jefferson @ Aug 25 2009, 10:17 AM) |
| I'm not a huge fan of giving your credit card number online and try to limit direct credit card purchases. That's what makes Paypal really good is that you can use your credit card but only they have your credit card on file. Thats helped me a few times with some sellers who seemed reputable but weren't but was able to have my money refunded and have no consequences because other than my ship address, had no info about my bank or credit card info. The only real place I use my credit card directly for which they also have my card on file is on Amazon which I'm fine with because they're quite reputable. When you buy from third party merchants on Amazon, Amazon gives them funding but not your card number. As long as you don't deal with shady merchants directly with your card, in many ways using your card online can be actually safer. 128 bit excryption is quite secure and most merchants use 256 up to 2048 bit miltary strength encryption. It would take a fast pc running non stop for millions if not billions of years to crack the code. When your buying something by credit card at the store, you are trusting people around you and trying to quickly read your credit card as you pull it out not to mention the cashier who needs to type the last four digits of your card into the system in most cases and gets a good long look at your full card number. |
Jefferson, thanks so much for the information...
I had no idea that most reliable merchants used such high levels of excryption. I'll sure bear that in mind! Besides, I brought this issue to a friend of mine and he told me something that you might find interesting. Apparently, at least here, in Portugal, but certainly in many other countries, as well, banks offer a service that works like this: the bank creates a "phantom" credit card, to which is given a card number different from yours; that credit card can only be used once and its value especifically equals the price of your shopping; after the transaction is concluded, that credit card is erased. That way, even if any hacker cracks the code, there is no way he can use it to shop. It seems to be the safer strategy to shop online.Concerning Ebay's answer to your report, I find it outrageous. If they want to be seen as a reliable online shop, they shouldn't take care of these illegal bootlegs with that ease.
I agree that Ebay should do more about bootlegs, but if you know what you're doing its pretty hard to be scammed,
1. Know what the item you're buying looks like, and make sure it looks the same in the description.
2. Make sure the person you're buying from has good feedback, and a LOT of it. The more positive feedback they have the better. I personaliy prefer people that are "Power Sellers" and have 98% positive feedback at least.
QUOTE (Brojasu @ Aug 25 2009, 11:33 PM)
| QUOTE (MMPRmaniac @ Aug 25 2009, 02:19 PM) | ||
Jefferson, thanks so much for the information... I had no idea that most reliable merchants used such high levels of excryption. I'll sure bear that in mind! Besides, I brought this issue to a friend of mine and he told me something that you might find interesting. Apparently, at least here, in Portugal, but certainly in many other countries, as well, banks offer a service that works like this: the bank creates a "phantom" credit card, to which is given a card number different from yours; that credit card can only be used once and its value especifically equals the price of your shopping; after the transaction is concluded, that credit card is erased. That way, even if any hacker cracks the code, there is no way he can use it to shop. It seems to be the safer strategy to shop online.Concerning Ebay's answer to your report, I find it outrageous. If they want to be seen as a reliable online shop, they shouldn't take care of these illegal bootlegs with that ease. |
I agree that Ebay should do more about bootlegs, but if you know what you're doing its pretty hard to be scammed,
1. Know what the item you're buying looks like, and make sure it looks the same in the description.
2. Make sure the person you're buying from has good feedback, and a LOT of it. The more positive feedback they have the better. I personaliy prefer people that are "Power Sellers" and have 98% positive feedback at least.
The funny thing is is that the person has 99.4% feedback and is a power seller selling bootleg material. You'll probably find many power sellers actually selling bootlegs. For anime that's unlicensed in your region, I'd avoid any auction using a stock photo. Mst anime lincensed in north america for example usually are completely void of any bootlegs on eBayand you can trust a stock photo. Also read the item description and as I like to do copy the upc number and run the number through a search engine. You should be able to get results showing exactly what the item is. If it matches the real thing, great. If you get no reputable search results, then its a bootleg. If the search yields a good result but you strill receive a bootleg, you can then demand a refund and report the seller to eBay for selling you an item different to what's described.
For anime saying region 0 gives a 99% chance it's a bootleg. Region 0 doesn't automatically mean bootleg as a legit music dvd I own is region 0. Of course that's not anime and when anime licenses are given out one company usaully never has full distribution rights. It's usually ADV or Funimation in North America while Australia's main anime distributor is usually Madman Entertainment. Manga Entertainment is one of few distributors to sell anime to all major region 1-4 though of course their products are still region locked in order for certain regions to not lose on sales by someone importing from other regions instead of buying from their own. One prominent bootlegger in Australia just so you know is L A Entertainment.
eBay won't actually tell you their decision for obvious privacy reasons so I decided to watch the items I reported. If they end early then I'll know they decided to do some investigative work and actually cancelled the auctions and/or suspended the seller's account. As of now the auctions are still available to bid on five days later.
The only thing I thought about buying online at one time or another was the Mighty Morphin' Box Sets that were bootlegged. I can't remember which website it was from, but I believe tvdisks.com or something like that. They were trying to sell them at a ridiculous price as well, around $60 a season. Once I found out about the German Sets though that ended that.
| QUOTE (Jefferson @ Aug 25 2009, 11:17 AM) |
| 128 bit excryption is quite secure and most merchants use 256 up to 2048 bit miltary strength encryption. It would take a fast pc running non stop for millions if not billions of years to crack the code. |
It is funny that you bring up encryption, Jefferson, because this past week in my Operating Systems college class we learned about encryptions. Our instructor explained to us that if you use 128 bit encryption it would take a million years, probably more like a billion, to get the information. His exact words after that were, "And by then you'll be dead. If not, your computer certainly will be."
I would never buy a bootleg DVD boxset. To me the whole point of having the series, is to have the official set to be able to show off and brag about. Now I will admit I have quite a few bootleg dvds. I get them after they came out, and most of the time I burn them myself.
A friend of mine came over so we could watch a movie that was still playing in theaters. I was kinda etchy about it but I went with it. Low and behold it was GREAT quality for a movie recorded in the movies with a cam in some ladys purse. I was excited and pretty entertained with it, until 30 or 40 mins into when CLEARLY a man gets up, and walks across the screen, 5 or so minutes later he returns to his seat. I about died laughing. I had to turn it off. When people walk through you movies, its time to turn it off haha.
A friend of mine came over so we could watch a movie that was still playing in theaters. I was kinda etchy about it but I went with it. Low and behold it was GREAT quality for a movie recorded in the movies with a cam in some ladys purse. I was excited and pretty entertained with it, until 30 or 40 mins into when CLEARLY a man gets up, and walks across the screen, 5 or so minutes later he returns to his seat. I about died laughing. I had to turn it off. When people walk through you movies, its time to turn it off haha.