Originally Posted by rkkwan
I have never bought bootleg movies/music, but for the sake of research, I borrowed a couple of concert DVDs that were bought in Shenzhen. Both are the same Hong Kong concert - Alan Tam/Hacken Lee 2003. And I compared them to the official set that I have. Here are the observations:
1. Picture Quality. Both bootleg copies are about equivalent to VCD quality, which is about half the horizontal resolution of DVD, and about the same as VHS.
2. Sound Quality. Both are crap. The DD 5.1 tracks are actually 2.0, with no signal in the other 4 channels. One set retains the DTS logo of the real thing, but when you choose "DTS" in the menu, nothing happens.
3. Compatibility. One set will play on about 3 of my 4 Region 1 NTSC DVD players. Another set won't play on any.
Conclusion - These aren't even copied from the DVD. Instead, the material is lifted out of the VCD releases, and burn onto DVD. I believe it's probably the same with many bootleg movies. Since you can buy the official VCDs in Hong Kong or elsewhere for only about US$3, I would even bother with getting the bootlegs to save US$2, and letting the bootleggers profit, and making yourself nervous/uneasy, and worry about the discs not playing.
I also picked up a couple of bootlegs in Shenzhen (as research -- I'm an intellectual property litigation attorney and I collect amusing knock-offs.). Specifically, I found Band of Brothers and the second Harry Potter film (this while it was still in initial release in theaters). The Band of Brothers bootleg was impeccable -- perfect transfer with all features, in a high-quality slip case printed in English and Chinese. Harry Potter was a "screener," a review/Academy copy that is distributed by the studios and flashes a "Property of Parmount Pictures" subtitle every 10 minutes or so. Again, the quality of the transfer was perfect. The slip case, however, was rather funny -- though, at first glance, it looked legitimate, it bore large blocks of English text that _looked_ like reviews but, in reality, were simply gibberish (I sent the Harry Potter DVD to Paramount's counsel).
Both DVDs played on my Region 1 DVD player, and both had a good 5.1 surround sound track. I guess you didn't go to the right store.
The place where I found these was incredible -- very classy, brightly lit with hundreds of titles for sale. It didn't have the slightest feel of "back alley" to it.