![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-54278-100x100.png\")
And where exactly should I get my Judging Amy fix?
1 replies
And where exactly should I get my Judging Amy fix?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-568700-100x100.png\")
I ordered a DVD series off one of those sites once because they offered series that I couldn't find anywhere else. I had a suspicion it was probably pirated because the prices were pretty low. Lo and behold it was. I was actually pretty happy with the quality though. They probably just took all the HD torrents they could find and burned them to DVD.
Went back recently to see if they were still around, their site has since been shut down. Oh well.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
@downwithmonstercable: Well, if you're gonna get something pirated, you might as well just search the torrents or usenet or whatever and download it yourself, rather than shell out fifty-something-plus dollars for a crappy pirated copy and shipping.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-414590-100x100.png\")
@downwithmonstercable: Thats how I got my sliders season 1 and 2 a year or 2 before they were released on DVD. However I got lucky and the quality is amazingly good.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-424444-100x100.png\")
This is the kind of piracy I can't get behind at all.
This is the kind of piracy that ACTUALLY hurts the entertainment industry.
No matter if the consumer knows that he/she is buying pirated material or not, by paying for the entertainment, you show that you are willing to fork over some cash for it.
The reason this hurts the industry is that the money won't ever see their hands. In this case, it is a lost sale.
TL;DR:
Piracy = free = good (comparatively)
Piracy = paid money = bad
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-384699-100x100.png\")
@Kicken: I know someone who wanted seasons 2-4 of the show everwood as a christmas presentf or her mom. WB officially said no one bought season 1 so fuck off. She asked me why this shaddy looking site had them for 60 bucks plus shipping. I said well they likely downloaded them and burned them to a bunch of DVD-rs. I told her I'd do the same for half teh price. But she didn't want to hassle me with it so I found her a seller on buy.com so it'd be more secure at least. Anyways all 9 discs came and were decent quality but they were in envelopes. SO I made DVD covers in PS and helped her out again. The mother loved it and was over joyed.
I honestly don't care what WB wanted to do with everwood. If it's too expensive for them to release the rest of the show...fuck em I'll help people see it(not a fan of the show BTW). I'm sure anyone who actually worked on the show would be glad people care enough to pay 60 bucks to get the entire show. There's cutting costs and then burying a show that some people might actually enjoy one day.
@Kicken: I hate to break it to you, but all piracy hurts the entertainment industry.
You can decide if that matters to you or not, but the fact remains that if you don't hand the actual, legitimate producers of something money, then you're hurting the things you love.
If you don't buy a movie and you download it instead, that director and those actors don't just make less money. They're less likely to get jobs in the future. And producers are less likely to put their money behind similar projects.
Like I said, you can decide if that matters to you or not. But it's the way it is. If you like something, a movie or a cd or a song, then you should buy it. Or at least rent it through Netflix so the powers that be know that people liked it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-83385-100x100.png\")
@Kicken: Hmm. I am not sure how this is piracy. We are talking about a show that was made by CBS...which is free to everyone (although TNT plays its reruns). How is it different than him just taping every episode? Because he is paying someone else to do it for him? We're not talking about a bootleg of John Adams (which requires a subscription to HBO).
Also, it's not available to order. As such, how did CBS lose a sale if they aren't selling it?
@Kicken: In many cases, it's not a lost sale, though, because what's being offered by the pirates isn't available for purchase.
Like I said in a comment below, though, the bigger problem with these guys is that their primary goal is the stealing and reselling of credit card info, not selling DVDs.
@Jackasimov:
The kind of piracy I can get behind is the kind that shows the industry that even subtle nuances will make us not buy your product, if that subtle nuance is going to screw us. A popular example right now is Spore, with its restrictive DRM which is wholly unadvertised. And of course, it has to be entirely free.
The reason I support this and not the kind mentioned in this article is that by not paying for a product, no one benefits. If you buy the product illegally, then you show that you are willing to pay cash for the product. As well, it is commonly said that large companies will only see the numbers put in front of them. And while the lack of numbers (sales) can be something to take note of, I believe that the lack of sales combined with high numbers of pirated copies speak louder.
@Skankingmike:
That entirely depends on your definition of free. If you consider paying for internet, it isn't free. But if you consider that you would pay for internet either way, I would say that is free. Others would disagree. But that isn't the point.
@ophmarketing:
I would rather pirate for free something than buy a pirated copy. If you can find it (Music, Movies, and Games in particular) online to buy via illegal methods, I bet you can find it online to download via free illegal methods.
@Kicken: Still, it is their product to do what they will with. And it's not up to us to decide how they should market it, sell it, or distribute it - however justifiable to us. They created it or own it, we should not have our hands on it if we didn't pay for it the way they decide we should.
As far as making a statement goes, you could just as easily start a letter-writing campaign and it would have just as much meaning. Because you got it for free tells them absolutely nothing of the value or significance, or of your opinion about their marketing of their creative work.
I've dubbed plenty of copies in my time but I don't see there's anyway at all to justify it other than saying \"Yes, I stole it.\" It's the simple truth. And that's called a conscience.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-232165-100x100.png\")
@Kicken: I was thinking more like the ad space that is paid for, on say Piratebay and various other Torrent sites.
But yes the fact that most people have ridiculous speeds on the internet was mostly thanks to Peer to Peer file sharing which was largely pirated material.
Again nothing is free somebody is profiting always in pirating. Even if you go back to tapes people who made blank tapes were profiting of mix tapes back in the day.
\"Respectable\" trackers are ad-supported, but they don't really *make money* on the ads. They're used to pay the bills.
And
@Kicken:
Piratbyran is a non-profit political organization. Blocking ads on TPB is teh bad. They use that money to fight bad DRM/copyright legislation (Such as 'prosecute those who download, because that's easier than going after the people who are distributing material, and far easier than fighting the murderers and money-launderers who typically sell pirated goods' legislation)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-248249-100x100.png\")
Wow, their only contact info is orders@dvdglobe.tv. Looks like an upstanding reputable business to... a 4 year old, maybe.
No address, no phone number? No sale for me.
My Dad gave my Mom the complete Carol Burnett Show on DVD. They all say \"TV Land\" in the lower right hand corner.
He's pretty computer savvy, but he doesn't buy much on-line.
A semi-aside not here:
I searched far and wide for a movie i wanted to see. It was never released in theatres in Canada but was in the US so i never got to watch it there either. No Canadian online stores had it and American ones wouldn't ship to Canada. Long story short only way i could actually see this movie was to download via bittorrent.
Moral of the story, if you can't find it anywhere else you might just have to find a pirated copy.
@k6richar: That's what started my foray into napster a decade (!) ago. One of my favorite movies (widely released) didn't have a soundtrack but had great music. I was literally sitting there, with my teenage fists full of money, and the only way to get the music was to download it.
If they really wanted to make a dent in movie piracy, they need to adapt a more itunes like approach, and release more materials in more \"regions\".
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-561195-100x100.png\")
@HRHKingFridayXX: Funny you should mention itoons. The thing is, apple is so greedy that they only fight for a license to distribute music in countries that matter (read: large, populous and rich countries).
By not opening the god damn itoons store in my country of residence, Singapore, it is in fact encouraging me to pirate music. And since it passively encourages you to have complete albums (cover flow will be so cluttered with only 1 song per album and various other technical reasons on the ipod. I think have OCD or something but I just can't stand this), it actually encourage me to download even more.
And the excuse they give? \"To prevent spread of piracy\"
Yea, sure... It makes sense not to open the store to the few richest countries in the piracy stricken South East Asia region. They only care about the amount of money they are able to earn for high volume of sales, they don't care about \"fighting piracy\" and whatnot. These \"piracy fighting\" measures are just to appease the music company counterparts.
I have to mention there is a quiet little underground of DVD sellers who basically pick up a few bucks here and there of selling burns of stuff that just isn't out on DVD. I can't remember what I was looking for, but I remember searching high and low for it before I finally found a copy that someone must have had on VHS that they recorded over to DVD. It's no less a copyright infringement, but they are filling a need that industry doesn't. I just wish I could remember what led me down that road in the first place, because I'd hate to admit to losing my memory.
@Roclawzi: the problem with filling that need that the industry doesn't is that it simply isn't someone else's to give. Just because it isn't available doesn't mean someone other than the property owner should be able to profit from it whether \"the people\" feel they have a right to the Happy Days episode with Mork from Ork or not.
I'm not saying I'm above it but there's no real way to justify it other than saying I personally just wanted it so bad I'd steal for it.
@Jackasimov: I just believe there's a distinction between rare show traders and straight for profit pirates.
@Roclawzi: Maybe there is, all I'm saying is own your shit and don't try to justify it by saying it's not theft (on whatever scale) or that you're somehow owed it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-142052-100x100.png\")
They claim to have a \"100% Quality Guarantee\" which states, \"We guarantee all our merchandise is of the highest quality. Rest assured that when doing business with DVDGlobe you will always receive exactly what you paid for!\" However, given the fact they don't seem to have any address or phone number listed, they have a private domain registration and all the contact info they have is an e-mail address so it raises some red flags. It is probably going to take things like court orders to get any idea who these people are.
Making sure you know who you are dealing with is always a good idea and yet another reason to deal locally.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-110633-100x100.png\")
Bought a set long time ago on ebay... Thundercats on DVD lol Got a bunch of avi files burnt on a couple dvds. was mad as hell but didnt pay too much and saved me the trouble of finding them online lol
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-483565-100x100.png\")
@Bizdady: That happened to me once on eBay, and I complained to the seller, who was quite indignant at having his honesty impugned. I found that pretty funny.
Heh, how ironical that this is the kind of piracy the MPAA should be focusing on, and yet we hear the most about them going after end users...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-144398-100x100.png\")
I like how the \"Live Online Chat\" just takes you to the Contact Us form page.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-537475-100x100.png\")
I want to say that if it's \"not available elsewhere\" and it's a U.S. based show that was on network television, it's probably not released and whatever you think you're buying is going to be pirated. I don't know how the OP thought he was getting around the pesky problem of a studio not putting Judging Amy on DVD at all by ordering off a sketchy website that claimed it was on DVD. A quick look at Amazon would reveal that it isn't being offered on DVD right now, and it isn't because Amazon hates Judging Amy. It's not offered because official Judging Amy DVD sets don't exist.
I sympathize for the guy (sort of) because my husband did it a few years ago when a movie I loved wasn't on DVD, and the copy he ordered ended up being a German translation. But he was duped into getting something that wasn't available anywhere.
I'm really surprised that the company actually answered him...they either don't care that they might get reported to the MPAA or they think people who buy off their website don't know how to report them to the MPAA. Or the MPAA wouldn't do anything about it, or couldn't.
@Foibles and Weebles: Meant to say, he wasn't duped into getting something that wasn't available anywhere...the German translation was released officially, but there was no U.S. version.
Am I the only person who just won't order from a website that looks like that? Meaning not professionally designed...that raises a red flag for me immediately.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-321187-100x100.png\")
@Lin. Jose: I wish Consumerist would just create a sticky post titled \"I Am Smarter Than You And Would Never Shop There\". Then everybody who wants to clutter up threads posting about their superior skill at discerning legitimate sites would have a home.
@Lin. Jose:
I would say adequate information about the company is a better basis than the way the website is presented.
Although I suppose that also requires a bit of work on the consumer's side, but it IS for your protection after all.
@Skankingmike: Even if a website was designed professionally, and looked very reputable, I really do not trust websites I have never heard of. And when so and so says, \"I ordered from it, and it was fine\" I take stock of exactly which friend I'm talking to (who says friends have to be the smartest people or the best decision makers?) and what the website looks like.
I had never heard of deepdiscount.com until a few years back and I had heard from a lot of people who have purchased DVDs from them with great success, and they are a legit company. I would have never purchased anything from them before I talked to people who have purchased from them, especially because I don't think deepdiscount.com has the most professional looking site.
I never order DVDs from anywhere other than Amazon or an online counterpart of the B&M store, like BN.com or BestBuy.com.*
* I have never ordered from BestBuy.com, it was merely for example's sake, please don't stone me (unless the shrink ray has hit that too, then it'll be like being pelted with an M&M).
@Lin. Jose: I didn't say it did. I said just because a site looks professional does not equate reputation.
I think monoprice.com isn't that professional looking but i order from them whenever i need cables.
That's my point.
@Skankingmike: Thanks for the info, they have some good deals on Pro Audio cables. I just wonder about the quality.
@MightyDwarf56: Their quality is extremely nice. I have a Toslink and HDMI currently for my PS3 and it has no issues pure clean sound and clean video feed. You can also buy a 50 foot HDMI cable for the same price as a 6 foot one in a B&M store.
They can't contact the MPAA!
For God's sake man...she WATCHED it! BLATANTLY! With INTENT!
They're obviously in the wrong now, and the MPAA will consider it well within their rights to pursue the family for the full damages, the production costs of the entire television series, plus everything they and everyone they know own. Plus court costs.
I don't know how Consumerist can get away with giving such shoddy legal advice.
@matthewgerber: She did watch it, but what was she going to do otherwise? I mean, some people just do not react with pitchforks and torches when they find out they've received pirated content. Maybe the wife was just happy she got Judging Amy on DVD, even though it was pirated.
And it seems that the OP legitimately thought he was buying real DVDs that were not pirated, so I'm not sure that it's still his fault. I mean, it seems obvious for us at consumerist, but other people probably don't have the same alarms the rest of us have when it comes to BS detection.
Sorry.
Belatedly:
Dang system.
Imagine a nice sarcasm tag looking thingy above.
@matthewgerber: I remember a forum I used to read where somebody had a signature line that went something like:
I will agree to use [sarcasm] tags if you will agree to use [stupid] tags.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-16075-100x100.png\")
Website is hosted in Ukraine.
The biggest problem with them, though, is not that they're selling pirated DVDs. It's that they're a front for stealing and selling credit card numbers.
Two years ago, I purchased a complete \"WKRP\" series set from one of them (knowing full well that it was a pirated set, but since the show is not available elsewhere...). I put it on a credit card that I rarely use, just because I was leery of the site and wanted to make sure I could spot any subsequent irregularities.
A couple of months later, my credit card company called me to alert me to potential fraud on that card. The card number--which had not been used for over three years prior to the WKRP purchase and not at all since--was being used to charge a SHIPPING FEE of nearly $200 to send merchandise from the UK to the US. I told the credit card company that I did not authorize the transaction, and they would not allow it to be processed. I then cancelled the card.
Just a fair warning: these DVD sellers have a mission statement that goes beyond just pirating hard-to-find TV shows.
@MightyDwarf56: Only the first season of WKRP was released, and it's been chopped to bits.
Every single musical cue has been replaced with generic music, and scenes with 'essential' music (i.e. when a specific song is referenced on screen) have been cut.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-189920-100x100.png\")
They are not going to release Judging Amy on DVD, so if his wife wanted it that bad it was either this route or torrenting anyway. Not much of a choice.
@kylo4iskyle4: There's a third choice here: Suck it up and face the fact you're never going to watch Judging Amy on DVD unless the studio allows it, and go on with your life.
If I were the wife, I'd be all kinds of pissed that my husband risked our personal information and our credit card information on a website out of the Ukraine (as stated by a post above) just to get me something that isn't actually available.
@kylo4iskyle4: Btw, reading the description, how did he think this was legit?
-Judging Amy DVD is a box set as shown above, all 100% in chronological order from the pilot to the finale.
-Judging Amy DVD collection also includes custom artwork and episode guides so you can find your favorite episode at anytime
-Judging Amy DVD collection are formatted region free so they will play on any DVD player, DVD-ROM X-Box or PS2 Worldwide.
-All DVDs are presented in full screen. Exactly the same as it was shown in American television.
@kylo4iskyle4: This is pretty much the same description I found when I googled Judging Amy DVD sets to see whether they actually existed and I found
[www.tvaddicts.tv]
@LeafOnTheWind: The funniest thing on that site is for Booker which says:
Booker was aired on September 24, 1989 and had its last episode on May 6, 1990. The story is about the boy named Booker T. Washington who struggled through slavery to search for Tuskegee Institute. In this TV series you will witness all the sufferings and cruelties of Brooker and how his hard work led him to education and true freedom.
The film was chosen among the top 10 best home video release for children by Parenting Magazine and best script for a children's drama by writer's Guild of America.
The IMDB plot summary says:
Dennis Booker, an ex-cop, is hired by the US office of a large Japanese company to investigate some suspect insurance claims. He is very anti-authority, resents being told what to do, and seems to spend most of his time investigating cases related to his family, friends and colleagues rather than his employers.
Of course it is the one about the ex-cop that the bootleg DVD packaging features.
USE SOME COMMON SENSE. You go on a site called dvdglobe.tv which a lot of people have never heard of and a site that looks like it was made in freewebs. Then you go thru the ordering process, somehow think that 25 dollar shipping is reasonable.
I just googled Judging Amy and apparently it's not released on DVD but you just saw the sponsored link which said Judging Amy on DVD and jumped on that?
Do a chargeback
Phil got what he paid for:
\"All DVDs are presented in full screen. Exactly the same as it was shown in American television.\"
Not what was expected.
\"# Commercials : None\"\"# DVD Format : Format-Free DVD-R (Plays in both PAL and NTSC DVD players)\"
If the first wasn't a big hint the second should have given it away to even a two-year-old. No sympathy for the guy. He's stupid.
A family member of mine ordered the twilight zone series for me from one of these. Thought they were getting a good deal but got ripped off 100 dollars. I think they did get refunded from their CC company though.
The quality was good on some episodes and others looked like they were meant to be viewed on an ipod or something.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-348745-100x100.png\")
My father, and I'm not defending him, has for years purchased pirated high end software from bogus websites. He has never had a problem with stolen credit cards and has always been happy with what he received.
@johnarlington: I'm not sure exactly what \"high-end software\" you are talking about, but I would be willing to guess that if he can figure out how to use such software, then it wouldn't be too tough for him to learn how to get it off of BitTorrent rather than supporting people who sell pirated softrware.
@johnarlington: Doesn't make it right. I get you're not defending him, but just because the pirates are not ripping your credit card information doesn't mean they're good businessmen.
I'm just curious as to why the woman who bought 3 Playstations for a huge inflated price instead of a PS3 gets labelled stupid and this guy doesn't?
Anyone who reads The Consumerist should be well aware of how easy it is to find anything you want for sale by using Google; that doesn't make it legitimate.
When I typed dvdglobe into my google search bar, the second search suggestion was \"dvdglobe scam.\" The third search result for \"dvdglobe\" is a Yahoo Answers inquiry that reveals dvdglobe used to be called dvdworld and is a scam business that sells shoddy dvds or fails to fulfill orders. The nine DVDs on the front page appear to be the only one offered which is highly suspicious.
This website is utterly sketchy, and anyone who knows their way around the net but was silly enough to send this \"business\" their credit card information clearly deserves what they get...
@aguacarbonica: The conversation started out being more about the piracy because while this guy was indeed very stupid for ordering from one of those websites, he's getting a refund (apparently) which is not the same as the woman who ordered three PS3s.
But this guy is a bonehead (I recommend the wunder boner to debone fish and people with poor decision-making skills), but there's no telling some people. And there's no indication he reads the consumerist, only that he is inclined to send his story in to the website.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-21970-100x100.png\")
@Foibles and Weebles: And I think the important thing here is to let readers know where to report websites like this--to the MPAA.
As for Phil, lesson learned I imagine. It's quite possible Phil doesn't shop online much and doesn't have the extremely overdeveloped bullshit sensors re. websites that a lot of veteran online shoppers have.
You overpaid! You can buy entire seasons of a show for less than $10 at the local bootleg place. You just need to know where to go. Of course, I would only use them for out of print stuff.......
My goodwill sells pirated cds and dvds. Not many but I run across a label written with marker when browsing at least once everytime I'm there.
@corinthos: That's different, though... Goodwill probably doesn't look at what they're selling, they just slap a price tag on it and throw it on the floor. Can't tell you how many times I found a CD or DVD I wanted, only to discover it was an empty case (before I bought it, obviously).
If he even knows about The Consumerist, then he knows how to use Google search. Few people just happen upon this website without knowing the basics of traversing the web. He should have researched this website.
It has nothing to do with knowing online ropes. Some people just don't have common sense. This is the same person who would go buy a DVD in Chinatown in NY, and be upset when he got home and it was clearly captured by a camcorder in a movie theater.
Also, just because he was offered a refund doesn't mean he'll get one; I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, he now has to worry about identity theft. That lady with the PS1s may have wasted her money royally, but at least she doesn't have to worry about that!
I am very glad that the Consumerist just posted that story about the anti-Phishing tutorial. People like Phil should take note of the bit about knowing what you're clicking on. It's a life skill that applies to consumerism anywhere.
Re the OP comment that the discs shipped from China. Living in China right now let me tell you these kinds of discs are everywhere. You can buy just about any popular movie or TV show you want on the street for $1 US. What do you get for that price? For TV programs, like the OP, recorded off the TV. For movies, you get a shaky-cam in the theater recording, complete with coughs, cell phone conversations et al. The Chinese don't seem to mind, these things sell like crazy. Of course the average income here is so low these discs are about all the common person can afford.
These types of 'box sets' are really bad at SciFi/comic book conventions.
@sven.kirk: Anime cons used to be really bad about bootleg merchandise (even posters and cds) before the copyright holders actually started attending the bigger cons and cracking down on it. When one of the biggest companies says they won't come to your con if any of your dealers have bootleg merchandise, somehow people suddenly manage to police the dealer's room.
@sven.kirk: Don't forget wrestling shows... someone had a table set up at a Chikara show selling burned DVD sets labeled, say, \"History of DX\". Probably just taped every single show, ever, or raided pwtorrents.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-112580-100x100.png\")
@sven.kirk: Yea, I don't know why the MPAA doesn't show up at these conventions. I have seen bootleg videos at every convention I've ever been to. It's one thing to burn and sell DVDs of stuff that will NEVER be released legitimately; like the Star Wars Holiday Special or fan-produced films; but to reproduce and sell pirated copies of studio owned films is just wrong and bad for the industry altogether.
Monoprice.com doesn't look like crap and has much love from a lot of the internetz.
This is an unknown place that looks like crap and looks like no effort was put into making the site.
@Microshock: hey i love monoprice and compared to say Amazon or Newegg, they look very barebonse.
But I never judge a book by it's cover.
How about [www.steves-digicams.com]
I think it has a great reviews for camerea's, but looks like crap.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-287896-100x100.png\")
Hmmm... the thing about piracy and bootleg items and why it makes me mad that they are all over people for buying them...
A long time ago I fell in love with a tv show. So did a few other people. Not Trek numbers mind you, just about a hundred of us. We had copies of our show from the first airing and had \"tape trees\", where we would copy and share our vids with others new to the fandom who never had a chance to see most of the episodes or tape the show.
When companies started releasing shows on Video, we contacted the studio, lets just call it \"Tony\", we wrote letters, even called. Then DVD's came out, as they got cheaper and box sets became poplular, we continued to write and to call and even got hold of some higher up executive type who told a member of our little group that we were too small to warrant a DVD release. He said and I quote \"Why don't you just buy a copy off of ebay and stop bothering us?\"
@ohiomensch: Here's the question for you though: if there was a legit release, would you stop trading your tapes and buy the release instead?
If yes, then I'm sorry. I have several shows I really love that just can't seem to find the backing to come out on DVD (The State, season two of Invisible Man, Kim Possible) that I would be willing to resort to downloading just to have.
But anime fans used to do the tape trading and stuff all the time. Usually, the big places would stop trading a show as soon as the U.S. license was bought, but tons of people wouldn't and still don't. And it bothers me to no end. Because they're just making the sales numbers lower and lower, and then the companies that are TRYING to bring us good copies of these shows can't make enough money doing it so of course they aren't going to try.
I'm not saying you fall into the latter group, I'm just saying that these days a lot of people do so I'm not so surprised at companies that aren't willing to bother.
@Meiran:
Of course I would. I own a couple hundred box sets. If they release a show I love on DVD I will buy it. I even buy them when they swap out original music and release edited versions of series. I'm talking to YOU Keen Eddie, Quantum Leap and Buffy. The problem is, most of the shows I like are not large market type shows.
@ohiomensch: I definitely have that problem myself. I had only just finished buying a few seasons of Stargate SG-1 when they released the new season in a slim pack and re-released all previous seasons, so I sold my old ones and got the slim ones. THEN once I have all ten they release a box of the entire series that is much nicer and much cheaper. ARGH!
I don't own quite so many boxed sets, but I'm glad there's somebody else out there that buys things when they like them : ) I felt like a dying breed there for a while.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-196563-100x100.png\")
@Meiran: There's this weird entitlement phenomenon in the anime fandom that I really hope doesn't replicate itself anywhere else.
The current Crunchyroll kerfuffle is a good example:
They're going to get high quality, legit releases of at least one title just days after airing in Japan for subscribers and a week later for everyone else, and they're also trying to make deals for a variety of other titles, too. (Thus removing all unapproved material from the site to improve their cred.) As a result, people are freaking out about how they might have to support the companies with money.
One kid even said, and I quote, \"It is depressing, yes, but I do suppose anime creators need to be supported. But why with money? Doesn't the fact they have so many fans doting on their works count as payment enough?\"
@pinkpuppet: I ran into a bit of that when the word started rolling around that \"miniposters\" were actually bootleg merch from Taiwan. Everybody was saying, \"But why do I care if the creator gets money? The real merchandise is so expensive!\"
I still can't wrap my mind around how much they don't understand the way that the industry works.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-373342-100x100.png\")
I love how your wife didn't seem to notice anything wrong. I'll often find my wife watching the non-hd channel for her shows. She doesn't realize that there's a quality difference.
/sexism
This moron should have known better...
Looking at a set on of disks on the site:
- Formatted Region Free
(this never happens with legit disks)
- Video Format : Normal Screen
(\"Normal Screen\" wtf? What is the alternative? \"Abnormal Screen\")
- DVD Format : Format-Free DVD-R
(Yup, the last set of DVDs that I paid $100 for came on a DVD-R, too)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-390249-100x100.png\")
@Jack Doyle: let's all bow down your intellect and lambaste all who don't get everything on the internet as quickly and astutely as you.
There's a good portion of Americans who are functionally illiterate and even more that are computer/technology illiterate but I guess those people are also morons and should magically know all that you know. Most Americans can't name who the Vice-President is and yet you expect them to know DVD-R and region free formatting should be obvious.
People also buy MSRP or even higher than the MSRP because they are clueless. They are the same people who think that like a brick and mortar store the internet is regulated and that pirates couldn't so brazenly sell their wares for long.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-317705-100x100.png\")
@brentbent: \"People also buy MSRP or even higher than the MSRP because they are clueless.\"
As much as I would like to bash on them as well, I do enjoy when they bid on my eBay items. ;)
You should be happy someone went through the trouble to put all of what you wanted onto a dvd. I happily bought a bootleg version of The Wonder years. All episodes, worth every penny.
I purchased the Wonder Years complete set from a site like this once. I knew they would be pirated since the Wonder Years has never been released on DVD. And from what i found out, there is a good chance it never will be because the music rights would be too costly. Getting a pirated copy was the only way i could get the show. The quality that i got was OK, it did have an ABC Family bug in the corner. I am glad to be able to watch the series whenever i want tho!
I'm confused. Doesn't the final \"A\" in MPAA stand for \"America\"? I thought part of the problem with sites/scams like this was the lack of jurisdiction. The DVDs were shipped from China and the site is registered in Ukraine.
Someone who actually knows this stuff, could you please explain? I'm not trying to be a smartass; I really want to understand.
To play devil's advocate, sometimes bootlegging is the only way of watching a full series of a show as it was meant to be seen. Examples include shows with highly-topical content (Australian readers might remember CNNNN and The Late Show), shows with an unlicensable amount of copyrighted music (e.g. The Goodies), or shows with legal issues that leave them in syndication hell (the ironclad guarantee of -mountains- of customer cash has not convinced Fox/WB to joint-release the Batman TV series on DVD).
That said, clearly the people who manufactured the fake DVDs weren't the ones who uploaded the footage to the internet, and unlike the latter were making a healthy profit from copyright infringement (never mind the opportunity for credit card fraud).
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-457717-100x100.png\")
I'd love to buy a copy of Fantasia 2000. We had it on VHS, but we no longer have a VHS player.
Disney, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen not to sell this DVD for some years. So - my son's seen it and has fond memories of it and would love to see it again - my daughter has never seen it because Disney won't let her.
What on earth is all that about? What better way to drive people to piracy than to refuse to sell a DVD that someone wants to buy?
@Skipweasel: This has been a Disney practice for some time, although many titles are now available on an ongoing basis. Their premiere titles are usually in print for 60 days and then get put back 'in the vault' for several years before an additional release.
Supposedly this builds up demand for a title, then it is presented to the video industry like a new release; with a limited time frame for purchase.
@Skipweasel: @floraposte: Oh, I agree that I have no absolute right to demand they sell me a particular product, just that it seems odd that they don't want my money. It'd be interesting to see whether locking up titles for ten years really drives up prices /for Disney/ rather than for second hand sales. I don't see how Disney benefits from it enough to make it worth it.
Anyway, this is The Consumerist - getting what you want in exchange for money is what consumerism is all about.
No@Skipweasel: Not that I'm virtue incarnate or anything, but I'm starting to find it interesting how many comments don't acknowledge that not getting what you want is an actual and legitimate outcome. Kind of opens another window on the whole credit-crunch thing.
@Skipweasel: You can still pick up DVDs of it at Amazon Marketplace. Disney does this with most of their movies to drive the sales. It'll get released on Blu-Ray amidst a \"buy it now\" hype at some point in the future.
@Ragman: That's what I've done with Disney dvds when I suddenly find they've put one in the vault that I hadn't gotten to yet. I hate that tactic, so I admit that I don't feel horrible about buying those used. I just grabbed one for list price because it finally came down enough.
But I'm completely baffled by Disney's refusal to put their series out on DVD. I would pay almost any price they put on a Kim Possible boxed set. Yet, they just put out a couple little piddly four episode discs.
@Ragman: I've just checked, and they've come down a lot - at one point they were selling for over £100. I'll still do without rather than pay £25 for a DVD though. Perhaps I'll have a look at what they're putting in the vault next and stock up on it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-331984-100x100.png\")
Come on...$25.00 shipping and you paid it???
Welcome to the world that anime fans have been living in for a decade or so since dvd burners became more affordable.
You can search for any anime series on half.com, ebay, or amazon's third party sellers without at least one \"import\" dvd boxed set. And people buy them because they're so much cheaper than the official American versions and then they come in and it's some cut-rate badly done, can't even make sense of the subtitles bootleg from Taiwan.
Even with experience dealing with this kind of junk I still infrequently end up with one of these sets. The last time was a few years ago and I got so disgusted that I ended up deciding to just order everything straight from the distributor to make sure, even though there could be plenty of people legitimately selling their used Anime dvds, they probably can't actually do well at it because of all the bootlegs.
Heck, I even came across one in a used video store. I was so excited because it was a kind of obscure series but I had a credit at the store and I wanted that boxed set for a long time. But nope, somebody had traded in a bootleg and the store had no idea.
The worst part is half the time the subtitles don't even get names right. I heard of one where the people actually just switched two character names in the middle.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-431752-100x100.png\")
@Meiran: It still happens. I remember back when I was on vacation in Japan and I stopped into a shop with one of my friends. They had One Piece playing on a DVD in the corner and my friend was going to buy it. I looked at the DVD as it played (was horribly blocky) and told him to take a look at the set first. The people working refused to let him see it unless he bought it first.
I used to fansub too and I remember more than once someone posting a link to an eBay auction where someone was trying to sell DVDs of Naruto fansubs that you could download for free.
If I ever buy anime anymore, I buy from RightStuf. All of their stuff is legit and you can usually get some sweet deals courtesy of the Dark Lord. I've picked up brand new DVDs of slightly older series for $6-8, and like I said, they are new, legit, overstocked items.
@Rctdaemon: That's actually my first stop for anime dvds now. Ever since I found the entire series of Card Captor Sakura on sale for less than I paid for the bootleg boxed sets that I had just returned, I've gone to their webpage before I try anybody else.
Especially considering I'm mostly only interested in the old stuff. I stopped following the hot new titles years ago.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-90329-100x100.png\")
You can actually search the site:
[videoeta.com]
Check and see if what you wanted was ever even released. If it isn't listed then there is no way you could be buying something legitimate.
Using Amazon.com helps at times too, but there are shady dealers on there too. If Amazon.com sells it directly, it is legit though.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-431264-100x100.png\")
How can this be an issue? I just surfed over to Amazon to find Judging Amy, and at the bottom were three sponsored link to these type of gray area DVD stores...
And they all had Judging Amy (all 138 episodes/6 seasons) in stock.
My god! Consumer didn't do a little research about the company before buying? Jeebus.
Simple moral, if you can't find it in stores:
1. Bother company who owns license.
2. Of that fails, BT!
I see nothing wrong with piracy at all.
If it means vast corporations have a zero or two trimmed from their billions of profit, all the better.
Although there is little or no proof that piracy does actually do this.
I would suggest people read the Harvard Business School report on online piracy, which showed that there is NO connection between piracy and sales.
[news.cnet.com]
What is true for the music industry, is equally true for other media industries:
Piracy Losses Fabricated
[www.theregister.co.uk]
\"A draft study commissioned by the Australian Attorney General's office finds that the music and software industries attributes sales losses to piracy without any evidence to back their claims, The Australian reports.
According to a draft report by the Australian Institute of Criminology, the music industry can't explain how it arrives at its statistics for staggering losses through piracy. The Business Software Association's claim of $361m per year in lost sales is \"unverified and epistemologically unreliable\", the report says.
I would suggest folks stop worrying about using shady sites, and instead, simply search for what they're looking for, but adding the word 'torrent' to their search (without quotes). Nearly everything is online these days. You don't have to be spending money for a bit of hard paper printing and a label, in order to get what you want.
@MrFrankenstein: So, if you were to produce a musical album, but freely allowed your show to be pirated, how do you expect to pay for the expenses of creating said work of art? People like you don't understand, because you are not in the artists' positions. Are you seriously telling us that you would not care that you aren't receiving all the funds that you are entitled to? Why make only $30,000 off an album due to piracy, when you could have made $50,000? How about I garnish your salary, simply because other people don't believe you are entitled to the extra money?
Do I believe the monetary claims of media companies' losses due to piracy are ridiculously inflated? Absolutely. Do I think software companies like EA that use archaic copy protection only hurt their paying customers? Definitely. Do I respect and like how other software companies like Stardock create games without DRM? Sure! But, I still don't believe that piracy is inherently acceptable on any level without some form of monetary compensation to the creators of media.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-313178-100x100.png\")
@blackmage439: Technology has demanded that businesses change their business models. If you don't provide an easier or economically fair way of providing your product or service (which any art that is sold or traded is), you shouldn't be surprised that folks resort to getting them through not quite mainstream means.
Do you really think that on-demand movie streaming through Netflix, Vongo, and/or through XBox 360 or PlayStation3 aren't a response to BitTorrent downloads? That iTunes, AmazonMP3, and the Walmart Dowloads store aren't response to P2P file-sharing networks?
The game has changed--20th Century Fox and Arista Records can't rely on selling pieces of plastic and vinyl anymore. Not finding a way to quickly response to even a small niche (say, access to an off-network TV show) could cost you money. If a DVD box set for Judging Amy isn't justifiable, then why isn't there a legal download option for it? We know the studios have lawyers--cross the T's, dot the I's and get the actors/writers/producers on board and get it done!
Why I don't Torrent:
A friend gave me a ripped copy of Hancock. Not a burned ISO image of the DVD, but a cheap ass DVD composed of the movie file and a ghetto title screen from the likes of iDVD. There were no chapter markings, so navigating the movie was impossible. To top it off, the DVD ceased to continue after about half-way through.
I'll stick to Netflix, thank you. At least the actors, writers, camera operators, producers, other affiliated companies, and Netflix are receiving some form of monetary compensation from me.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-460052-100x100.png\")
There's a website that offers a box set of all the Rocko's Modern Life episodes. They obviously are going to be low quality TV recording burnt onto DVD's. But I'm still tempted to buy them since no official box sets of the show have ever been released.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-146474-100x100.png\")
Was the 'original' price not a HUGE TIP? Since when does ANY disc set cost over four HUNDRED dollars? You can walk into Borders and buy a full series, deluxe, collector's box set of Stargate: SG1, a much longer series, for $330. And that's unusual and the TOP END. A full hundred dollars more for a significantly shorter series should have set off warning bells. It's not billed a collector's edition - it should sell regularly for around $200 at most.
If you look in the specifications, all of the shows are listed as: DVD Format : Format-Free DVD-R (Plays in both PAL and NTSC DVD players). Not that I would be happy if I ordered from them, but it clearly states that they are DVD-R.
If you can't find it on Amazon, it probably hasn't been released. With the net today, there isn't a reason to get fooled in this manner.
It would also be helpful if people filed complaints/reviews under dvdset.tv, which is the site that come up for my search of old tv series. I was going to order when I noticed there was no \"security\" lock on my bar. I email and asked why they didn't have one and if they had any cutomer reviews.Here is there response:
\"Dear User,
We are a legitimate company. We have sold to thousands and thousands of customers over the internet and they are all very satisfied. Also we only accept payments by Visa or MasterCard and you are fully protected by your
credit card company for any fraud on the internet. If we were a scam we would not be around for this long.
Customer Support
I had tried to find reviews of dvdset.tv and couldn't, but when I got their response I saw the dvdglobe.tv and found all the terrible reviews.
Thanks to you all. You saved me money in the long run.
I will know pay a little more but I know I'll have a quality product from a reputable company.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1713-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-474181-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-513368-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-44395-100x100.png\")
I'd also suggest that he close the credit card he used and place a fraud alert on it once he gets the refund. If he gets the refund. Surprised he doesn't have to issue a chargeback.
@tedyc03: Bootleggers aren't necessarily thieves.
You can't build a customer base stealing credit cards.
@tedyc03: I'd issue a charge back regardless, and ask for a new card. It's worth the $25 to save the trouble later. There's a good chance that it will get used to pay for hosting or something similar. Also, they're Chinese based which means even the MPAA is powerless.
@tedyc03:
Omg i bought so many of those disks while i was working in china last year I must have gotten over 500 dvds worth of movies that cost about 75 cents each. No doubt it sucks not getting them at the price I did, and the shocker of having the less then dvd quality when your expecting real stuff.
@tedyc03:
Good advice. I bet the company is shady all around.