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The 7 - Random - DVD piracy... Register and log in to post!
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ekedolphin
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#1 Posted on 13.7.02 0411.12
Reposted on: 13.7.09 0411.25
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents major Hollywood studios, said Tuesday counterfeit movie DVDs have mushroomed in Asia and are now a major headache.


Movies like "Spider-Man," "Lord of the Rings," "Monsters Inc.," "Harry Potter ( news - web sites) and the Sorcerer's Stone" were available in pirated optical disc formats soon after their debut in cinemas in the United States, the association said.

"The problem that we have here in Asia at the moment is DVD piracy," Michael Ellis, vice president and regional director of the MPA's Asia/Pacific Anti-Piracy Operations, told a news conference in Hong Kong.

The MPA Tuesday launched a US$150,000 reward program offering money to people supplying information on DVD piracy.

He said some 4.8 million pirated DVDs of movies made by MPA members, or 98 percent of a worldwide seizures, were seized in Asia in 2001, up from zero in 1998.

Of those, about half a million were seized in Hong Kong.

"We anticipate that seizures in this region (this year) will be matching pretty much close to the previous year," he said.

Ellis said there were more than 80 underground facilities replicating DVDs in Asia, including Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

"Taiwan is the major base of replication of legitimate products," Ellis said.

"The replication that takes place in China generally stays in China and are not exported around the world, whereas in Taiwan and other countries in Asia, there is an export problem."

The MPA said discs replicated in the Asia-Pacific found their way to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

"Since DVDs are so compact in size, they are relatively easy to conceal and ship by boat, car or air," the MPA said.

Ellis said new target markets included Australia, Latin America and South Africa.

The association estimates that its members lost US$598 million from piracy in Asia last year, with worldwide losses estimated at more than US$3 billion.

--

First off, DVD piracy does suck. I don't know why I differentiate between downloading music from the web (which is OK with me) and buying illegal DVDs (which is reprehensible to me), but I do. May have something to do with the fact that the people who are copying this material are making so much money off of it.

Second of all, Reuters is going to receive tons of mail from agonized Chinese because of its implication that Taiwan is not a part of China. And I'm gonna laugh.
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chazerizer
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#2 Posted on 16.7.02 1459.07
Reposted on: 16.7.09 1500.03
OK, now for the really useful information - where can I buy them?
Fuzzy Logic
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#3 Posted on 16.7.02 1507.14
Reposted on: 16.7.09 1518.31
Well, go to China. walk around till you find an underground market entrance (an entrance to a market under the streets). Walk around in said underground market and listen for a man or woman to shout "HELLOR! DVD? VCD?". It'll be about $1.25 USD a movie.
SmooveK
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#4 Posted on 16.7.02 1808.02
Reposted on: 16.7.09 1808.13
Remember that these will be so inferior in quality, though.

I bought a Taiwanese DVD of public domain Japanese music videos, because DVD is the most convenient format for me. However, the quality is less than VHS, about the quality of VCD.

For Asian pirates, the most important thing is quick cash, so ANY source material will do. Bootlegged VHS tape? Let's NOT clean it up and just do a straight transfer. Old VCD lying around? Just make a crappy menu screen and it can be sold on DVD! You also run the risk of having scenes lost, and don't even THINK about getting any extras, subtitles, or even chapter stops. The sound output might be stereo if you are lucky, but smaller pirates just record in mono if it would take effort to do otherwise.

The way I see it, as long as I have shelter, food, and no impedence in my education, I have all I need, and I have no right NOT to pay for a luxury like entertainment. And by paying for it, I HAVE the right to receive high quality in return. I don't care if 99.9% of the world copies music and movies.I'll keep paying full price for CDs and DVDs because I can afford it, and damn it, I deserve it.

-K

Fuzzy Logic
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#5 Posted on 16.7.02 2258.41
Reposted on: 16.7.09 2258.42
Oh, and when we bought 'em (the group of people I lived with at the school I worked at in china), I think it worked out at the end that 25% were defective, the good street vendors (the ones we went back to repeatedly) would always take 'em back and try to replace 'em (or let you pick another movie). Quality wise, They were mostly better than VHS and VCD. The exceptions were movies that had been released in theaters in north america 2 weeks prior (that's actually about the time we'd be able to buy the first round of movies), and the person who filmed the movie did a really bad job, but, about 2 weeks after them first copies came out, better ones were available (that didn't suck ass, you couldn't hear people talking and laughing during it, and so on). But, if'n your paying more than $1.25 USD ($2.00 CAD) for 'em, you're paying too much.

And if'n you gots extra features (other than other langagues for audio and subtitles in many different languages), you're lucky.
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