If you’re considering buying a DVD from a private seller or someone off of the street, the one thing you’re probably asking yourself is: is this a bootleg movie? You’re buying a movie hoping that it has great video and sound quality so that you can actually enjoy it. So, before you make the purchase, you should keep this list in mind so that you can tell if the DVD you are about to purchase is a true copy or not.
How to Spot a Bootleg DVD
Research the movie that you want to buy. How many versions have been officially released? Are there special features of the movie? Which regions is the movie is encoded for? These are all questions you will want to know the answers to in order to be able to spot a fake copy.
Look carefully at the cover. The cover design should be the same as those for the movie being sold at a reliable seller, such as Best Buy. But you should make sure you are comparing the cover to one from the same region. Variations in cover design are a little fishy. Some other things you should keep in mind are:
- A dead giveaway for a fake copy is misspellings on the cover and bad image quality.
- If you’re thinking about ordering a DVD that doesn’t come with a cover, don’t buy it!
- The absence of security seals and plastic wraps is pretty suspicious.
- The advertisement of DVD-9 is often typically associated with fake DVD’s because many official studio releases never advertise this distinction. “Quality” advertisements are a red flag – original releases almost never mention it. The exception would be genuine Thai DVDs that mention DVD-9, which will probably has more extra features.
Examine the actual DVD if you’ve already made the purchase. If the quality is questionable, you may have bought a bootleg DVD. Some other questions you should ask yourself are:
- Can you see through the DVD? If you can, it’s probably not authentic.
- Is it colorful (like blue, gold or purple instead of silver)? If so, it most likely wasn’t mass produced, and therefore a fake.
- Hold the DVD up to the light and tilt it to one side. You may be able to see a well-known manufacturer’s name, such as Maxell. If the disc has a name such as Maxell, then the DVD was a burnable disc, proving that the contents on the DVD are counterfeit.
Put the DVD into your computer, click “My Computer,” then click your player’s drive. It will give you the size of the disc, which should be close to 5 GB used on a single layer or more on a double layer, depending on running time. Then go through Windows Explorer and right click on various files stored on the DVD to check the properties. Look at the creation date – If the date is recent, you may have purchased a fake copy of the movie.
If the spine of the DVD is very thin, and the case is clear, it is most likely a fake.
When you play the movie, if random messages pop up about how bootlegs are illegal, or the colors are distorted, these are messages that only regular cameras can pick up, which are otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
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