dr_girlfriend
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I ended up buying a bootleg copy of a DVD anime set, I didn't realize it until after the bidding and came across an article listing what these bootlegs copies looked like. What should I do? Should I pay then report it to E-Bay and try to get my money back? I don't want to not pay and get negative feedback.
I should have known better!! Oh well, hopefully they will be good copies if I wind up getting stuck with them. 8) If anyone is interested, here is what to look for so you don't get ripped off!!
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1. An anime DVD produced in either Taiwan or Hong Kong should be your first tip-off. I am sure that there are legitimate video companies in these countries; however, thanks to lax copyright laws in these countries, most "professional" looking bootlegs generally come either Taiwan or Hong Kong. Therefore, seeing "imported from Hong Kong" or "imported from Taiwan" should at the very least put you on your guard.
2. Anime bootlegs will invariably be subtitled in both English and Chinese. They might also include an English dub. But the important thing to notice are the English and Chinese subtitles in conjunction. Most (but not all) legitimate companies do not release anime with both Chinese and English subtitles. This is one of the surest signs of a bootleg.
3. Bootlegs are always no region/all region - or in other words, they can be played on any DVD player. Once again, this is something that is almost universally not true for legitimate releases. There's one obscure Korean release of an anime that was all region, but so far that's the only one I've ever heard of. If the disk you're about to buy is all region, beware.
4. The bootlegged disks will be incredibly cheap, especially when compared to the prices of legitimate disks. Full bootlegged series usually run about $35-$50, far cheaper than a legitimate company could get away with, because it costs money to author the disks, buy the necessary licenses, etc. Since bootleggers sidestep the expensive legal issues, they can afford to sell their disks for very cheaply. Remember: if the price looks too good to be true, it probably is.
5. Most of the time, the bootlegged product will include fewer disks than the legit version. In the case of Cowboy Bebop, all the bootlegs that I've seen contain 3 disks. It should be obvious that this is a bootleg; the American release of the series was on 6 disks, the Japanese on even more than that. There simply aren't any legitimate companies that will put 8-9 episodes of a series on one disk. The most I've seen is 7 episodes per disk, and those included no extras. There are some exceptions to this rule; for example, I've seen bootlegs of Slayers that were on just as many disks as the legitimate version; so how many disks the video is on will not necessarily help you, but it's a good secondary indicator.
6. Bootlegs tend to be badly translated. Again, this is a secondary indicator, and isn't always true. The main Cowboy Bebop bootleg that's selling on Ebay is a direct rip of the "Perfect Sessions" set that is being sold by Bandai in the USA, so it has Bandai's professional translation (here's a front view of this bootleg). However, this bootleg of the series, and this one as well have very bad translations, due to the fact that they are translated from Japanese to Chinese and then to English. As you can imagine, such a roundabout translation makes for some very low quality dialog.
7. Video quality can also be a secondary indicator of a bootleg. This indicator isn't as reliable as some of the others, but if you're watching a DVD video and you're disappointed at the quality, then it's possible that you own a bootleg.
8. These companies are known bootleggers: "Animation Video," "Anime Cartoon/Manga International" (not to be confused with Manga Entertainment), "Fx" and "Anime Studio." (This is not a comprehensive list)
Also look for the type of packaging. Most bootleg copies are in trifold cases, while legitimate copies are in the hard plastic cases
I should have known better!! Oh well, hopefully they will be good copies if I wind up getting stuck with them. 8) If anyone is interested, here is what to look for so you don't get ripped off!!
__________
1. An anime DVD produced in either Taiwan or Hong Kong should be your first tip-off. I am sure that there are legitimate video companies in these countries; however, thanks to lax copyright laws in these countries, most "professional" looking bootlegs generally come either Taiwan or Hong Kong. Therefore, seeing "imported from Hong Kong" or "imported from Taiwan" should at the very least put you on your guard.
2. Anime bootlegs will invariably be subtitled in both English and Chinese. They might also include an English dub. But the important thing to notice are the English and Chinese subtitles in conjunction. Most (but not all) legitimate companies do not release anime with both Chinese and English subtitles. This is one of the surest signs of a bootleg.
3. Bootlegs are always no region/all region - or in other words, they can be played on any DVD player. Once again, this is something that is almost universally not true for legitimate releases. There's one obscure Korean release of an anime that was all region, but so far that's the only one I've ever heard of. If the disk you're about to buy is all region, beware.
4. The bootlegged disks will be incredibly cheap, especially when compared to the prices of legitimate disks. Full bootlegged series usually run about $35-$50, far cheaper than a legitimate company could get away with, because it costs money to author the disks, buy the necessary licenses, etc. Since bootleggers sidestep the expensive legal issues, they can afford to sell their disks for very cheaply. Remember: if the price looks too good to be true, it probably is.
5. Most of the time, the bootlegged product will include fewer disks than the legit version. In the case of Cowboy Bebop, all the bootlegs that I've seen contain 3 disks. It should be obvious that this is a bootleg; the American release of the series was on 6 disks, the Japanese on even more than that. There simply aren't any legitimate companies that will put 8-9 episodes of a series on one disk. The most I've seen is 7 episodes per disk, and those included no extras. There are some exceptions to this rule; for example, I've seen bootlegs of Slayers that were on just as many disks as the legitimate version; so how many disks the video is on will not necessarily help you, but it's a good secondary indicator.
6. Bootlegs tend to be badly translated. Again, this is a secondary indicator, and isn't always true. The main Cowboy Bebop bootleg that's selling on Ebay is a direct rip of the "Perfect Sessions" set that is being sold by Bandai in the USA, so it has Bandai's professional translation (here's a front view of this bootleg). However, this bootleg of the series, and this one as well have very bad translations, due to the fact that they are translated from Japanese to Chinese and then to English. As you can imagine, such a roundabout translation makes for some very low quality dialog.
7. Video quality can also be a secondary indicator of a bootleg. This indicator isn't as reliable as some of the others, but if you're watching a DVD video and you're disappointed at the quality, then it's possible that you own a bootleg.
8. These companies are known bootleggers: "Animation Video," "Anime Cartoon/Manga International" (not to be confused with Manga Entertainment), "Fx" and "Anime Studio." (This is not a comprehensive list)
Also look for the type of packaging. Most bootleg copies are in trifold cases, while legitimate copies are in the hard plastic cases
