EyeOnAnime Forum

Evilben1979 · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 14

Hmm I have bought lots of discs online and every now and again I have a look and wonder how to check if they are genuine or not!

Now the reason for this is that they all look the real deal and I only get from what seem legitimate sources but a good example is a copy of Kiddy Grade Vol 3 I got. With all other volumes they had a double sided cover with images on one side and adverts on the other but not in this case. In addition it says on the disc its for regions 1 and 4 and NTSC but simultaneously has a BBFC rating of 12 all the other discs say 2 and 4.

Now is this paranoia or a genuine reason to question its authenticity! The discs all play perfectly and look good and the clear bit which keeps the code says MVM and the rest but whether or not this is genuine I have heard that Ebay has a lot of fakers and the same when you go to comic marts to date Other than the one above I doubt I have any copies but I just would be interested to know others thoughts on how to spot a phoney!

Fudce · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:59 pm Post subject:

That sounds a lot like my copy of Kiddy Grade #3 too. It's legit.

From the looks of it they misprinted the disc label with region 1/4 not 2/4 like it actually is. Also, as you say the cover is only on one side. I can only guess that for this volume MVM had some sort of problem and had to get a coverart done quickly and cheaply, and as such didn't get it done on both sides like normal.

I got my copy from anime-on-line, MVM's own online store, so I can guarentee that it is legitimate (MVM wouldn't sell bootlegs of their own titles!) so don't worry about that. As for the regions, quite oftem MVM titles are both regions 2 and 4, since they share DVD authoring costs with Madman in Australia.

You're right to be wary though, if I didn't buy this from MVM direct, I would have also been cautious.
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Gawyn · Elite Poster Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 610

As far as goes, if it is not region 0 (all region) then you are fairly safe that it is not a pirate copy. All pirate copies are encoded as region 0 (but not all region 0 discs are pirate copies).

What you have there is a legitimate disc without a doubt.

Toraman · Shinigami Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 2517 Location: London

By keeping tabs on the market, I can keep a general track of what is and isn't available and who owns a certain title. That way if I see it on ebay or somewhere I can check out the packaging/compare to legal sites etc. and hazard a guess as to how pukka it is. It's a bit of an OTT way of doing things, but that's how I work it.

Of course if you see a box of 26 episodes on 3 discs with Chinese subtitles, then you're probably onto a loser...

Evilben1979 · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 14

Thanks guys,

Yeah I have been lucky I hdont think I have any pirate stu but its always better to be safe than sorry!

Has anyone ever been caught out that way?

to a certain respect whilst I dont ever buy any pirate dvds and dont advocate it, I do know it can sometimes be difficult to get UK releases of titles.

Straying slightly from anime, I love the DC stuf like Batmn animated and Justice League however whilst in the states they are welcome to a plethora of complete seasons they refuse to release them over here. Also no where is likely to ever have an oficial Star wars holiday special on DVD! Still Just have to do without!

Saucepan · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 12:00 am Post subject:

I recently ordered a complete series box set of "Sister Princess" from Amazon.co.uk. Sadly when it arrived it was clearly a bootleg and looked nothing like the item I'd supposedly ordered, fortunately it was from a UK seller and I managed to get a refund and sent the item back.

That's the first time such a thing has happened when ordering from sellers on Amazon but I feel I'm covered by Amazon's safe buying guarantee should a seller not be so cooperative in future.

PaleBlack · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 11:29 am Post subject:

I've had bootlegs a couple of times before I realised.

I just stuff them in a box out of the way and get the legit releases once they're out.

I still cringe with the Pretear pirate though...all the female characters were subtitled with names like 'Johnny'. Even I could subtitle better than that!

I have a Descendants of Darkness Region 0 boxset though, which I think is genuine. It's four volumes in seperate cases and seems to be a genuine release - anybody know anything about this?

Toraman · Shinigami Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 2517 Location: London

Just Passing Through · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:03 pm Post subject:

http://www.dvdpacific.com/item.asp?ID=76594

Found this info on DVD Pacific, and you can see it's coded for all regions. Shame it's been deleted though.
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PaleBlack · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:28 pm Post subject:

Ah that's a relief. I'd hate to have to take it off my shelf.