DVDs Manufactured for Asian Market - Kosher?

[Margaret]

Does anyone know anything about the U.S. useability of DVDs manufactured for the Asian market? I saw this great deal for West Wing DVDs, and noticed the Asian (Korean?) characters on the packaging.



The seller claims that they're compatible with US players, but since they're not returnable, I'd just want to be sure I'm not going to find something hinky about them, like discover that the commentary or liner notes are in Korean ONLY, or something. Caveat emptor, and all that...

This seems to be a legit website, but do you suppose it's possible the disks are pirated?

If anyone has any direct experience with or knowledge about this kind of thing please let me know. Thanks.

 

[fkl118]

Is it possible they're pirated? Well, it's like it's possible the sun will rise tomorrow.

Save your money. If you really want to get pirated DVDs, at least look at the quality of the video first. For that, you'll need to go to a reputable bootleg DVD store in your local Chinatown strip mall.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

It seems like a pretty sophisticated package for a pirated boxed set, so if that is what the product actually looks like, it's more likely that they are manufactured for a different region code and you wouldn't be able to play them without a region free dvd player. (My best guess is region 2, since it looks like Japanese.)

I happen to have one, but I'm a complete nerd. If they truely ARE All-Region disks, then yes, they are probably pirated.

 

[Arethusa]

If they're compatible with US Region 1, they're bootlegs. Whether or not you care is another matter.

 

[Margaret]

I would have a problem with buying unauthorized copies; besides, on a practical level, it's not worth it to me to save $150.00 only to end up with substandard quality disks. I had no idea bootlegs used such sophisticated packaging, or that they would be sold so openly on the web.

 

[Arethusa]

It isn't just the packaging that sophisticated. Bootlegs these days are usually about the same quality as legitimate discs.

Personally, I think the MPAA deserves every bit of reaming that can possibly come to them, but I don't like the idea of paying for bootlegs. p2p is out there for a reason.

 

[Matt]

that costs 14000 dong a disk in Vietnam, same box etc. I think its 6 or 7 discs, so about $6ish

Expect customs issues if you mail order it though.

What kind of DVD player do you have?

The Chinese cheapie ones will pretty much play anything since they have their region encoding removed. Weird rule of thumb is the better the player the more the problems. A lot of the better players (notably Pioneers from my own experience) you will be able to remove the region encoding, often just with some fancy remote controllin'.

 

[acidboy]

first off, and i know my fake dvd's, that is in all probability a fake. authentic region 3 (asia) dvd releases are the same as that of region 1's and 2's (usa and europe). that means unless the producers of west wing suddenly thought it would be better to lump all of their episodes from start to end in one box, which is highly unlikely, then this box is fake. and you'll probably get in trouble for passing off an illegal pirated merchandise through the mail.

my sister has one almost the same as that.

 

[SJX]

The presence of Korean/Chinese/Japanese etc characters on a box does not necessary make it a fake. There are legitimately licensed DVDs/VCDs like that made for sale only in specific countries. HMV, Tower records etc over here sometimes carries discs like that. They are usually cheaper, but the quality of the content is identical to those with English only packaging.

 

[Matt]

yeah you make a valid point sjx.

When i lived in Singapore I knew a guy who used to eBay legitimate DVDs at a huge markup to the US.

He used to buy classic DVDs - Gone with the Wind type stuff - from bargain bins at the Carrefour supermarket at Suntec City in Singapore. Would cost him like SGD3.99, then collectors in the US would snap them up at like 20 USD.

I guess it's possible this is the case here - the odds are against it - but it's possible.

 

[Bic Pentameter]

Originally Posted by Margaret

Does anyone know anything about the U.S. useability of DVDs manufactured for the Asian market?

The seller claims that they're compatible with US players, but since they're not returnable, I'd just want to be sure I'm not going to find something hinky about them, like discover that the commentary or liner notes are in Korean ONLY, or something. Caveat emptor, and all that...

This seems to be a legit website, but do you suppose it's possible the disks are pirated?

If anyone has any direct experience with or knowledge about this kind of thing please let me know. Thanks.

I would shy away from these DVD's. My mother sent me a DVD player she bought at Costco. It is supposed to be region free and all that, but it doesn't play some of the DVD's I rented from my local video store here in Japan. She sends me DVD's she has taken from US television, and I watch DVD's I buy from Amazon.com on it, so I still get quite a bit of use out of it. Caveat emptor....

Bic

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by Bic Pentameter

I would shy away from these DVD's. My mother sent me a DVD player she bought at Costco. It is supposed to be region free and all that, but it doesn't play some of the DVD's I rented from my local video store here in Japan. She sends me DVD's she has taken from US television, and I watch DVD's I buy from Amazon.com on it, so I still get quite a bit of use out of it. Caveat emptor....

Bic

Costco (as far as I know) has never sold a true region-free DVD player. There aren't any major retailers that will because the distribution companies like Warner and etc would pull all their dvd's she probably got one that was 'unlockable" but may not have unlocked it

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by acidicboy

first off, and i know my fake dvd's, that is in all probability a fake. authentic region 3 (asia) dvd releases are the same as that of region 1's and 2's (usa and europe).

Saying that Region 3 is "Asia" isn't neccesarily true.
Region 6 is China,
Region 2 is Japan (and Europe, Middle East, South Africa, and Greenland)

Just to clarify.

 

[Margaret]

Thanks, everyone.... FOR CONFUSING THE HELL OUT OF ME!

I think I'll stay away from this one, and just make the MPAA and Aaron Sorkin richer.

BTW, my 'DVD player' is just the drive in my 3-year old Dell.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by Margaret

Thanks, everyone.... FOR CONFUSING THE HELL OUT OF ME!

I think I'll stay away from this one, and just make the MPAA and Aaron Sorkin richer.

BTW, my 'DVD player' is just the drive in my 3-year old Dell.


this is what happens when you ask a room full of nerds a question...