Is it a copy or an original?

[clodomiro]

Hi, I'm new to dvd's and I was wondering, how can you tell if a dvd is a copy or not? I just rented The Panic Room and the dvd has a purple/bluish tone (the other I've seen are either silver or gold), and it seems that if I tried hard enough I could peel the label off, any ideas/links for me? THanks

A.Lanza

[Feoke]

Normally, when you've got an original, the label is *printed* on the dvd surface.
So you will not be able to peel it of.

[clodomiro]

Thanks

[gooki]

Sounds like a copy to me.

[waldok]

I've yet to see an original DVD with a purple dye. Some are yellow or white, some light blue, but I've only seen purple dyes on DVDRs and DVDRWs.
It's a copy if you'll ask me.

Waldok:cool:

[clodomiro]

Thanks everyone. I asked the guy who rented it to me, and contrary to my expectations he was very open about it, he says they are mexican made copies that he gets for about $10, very expensive for a copy if you ask me.

[waldok]

This sounds pretty interesting..

I wonder if the movies you rent there always come on one single DVDR ? And if so, may I ask how much they charge you for renting ? I don't mean to judge anybody here or anything, but it doesn't seems quite honest to charge people for renting copied DVDs when you know that quality always suffers when "copying" from DVD9 to DVDR...
I've never seen any renting store doing this kind of stuff...
The guy takes a lot of risks, especially when you know how much renting stores normally have to pay for "legitimate" DVDs before they can rent them...

Very dangerous if you'll ask me... I don't mean to scare you nor act like a moralist here, but I would be very cautious about not being considered as an "illegal users" if ever the renting guy gets into problem with the law...Be carefum with this kind of stuff...

I of course don't mean to mind your business here or tell you what you shoudl or should not do, it's just a friendly advice.

Waldok:cool:

[clodomiro]

I know what you mean. Actually my first reaction was to ask the guy for an original copy or my money back (we pay $2.04 per 2 nights for DVDs and $1.53 for VHS), but things are a bit different around here, I live in Costa Rica, and since we are a 'poor'country, police resources go to more crucial stuff, more inmediate stuff if you will, than intelectual property, so chances were he would just tell me to take my business elsewhere. I have had my DVD player for only a couple of months, but before that, I rented a lot of VHS and I can tell you that no matter how small a town is, it always has at least one video store, so there are probably 3000-5000 video stores in 51000 km2 (small country eh?), however I can name you only 3 stores that would guarantee original copies every time.
This is the first time I spot a copy, and the second time I rent there (the first was Attack of the Clones, which came in 2 originals). The other place I go to has been clean so far in 5-6 DVD rents.
It's even weirder, this copy (Panic Room), was ~3.8 gigs, they didn't even use the whole capacity of the dvd.
Thanks foy your advice, and next time I'll ask for an original or drive the extra mile to the other renting place, but just because I feel ripped off, as I think legally they would really have a hard time probing people knew they were getting illegal copies, even I wasn't sure of it until I asked you guys. Now, if I could find a copy of 2 Smoking Barrels my morals and quality exigencies would go away, can you believe no video has it? I'm sick of my friends talking about it. Bye

[atreides93]

hi guys,
since the original question was answered, and we don't want to discuss illegal DVD movies in here i'm closing the thread.
for what its worth, these illegal movies are usually inferior quality and crap. to only use 3.8 gigs is really pathetic....shows you how bad these pirates are.