Welcome waskydiver! And everyone who has joined us tonight!

We love workshops to be interactive, so please feel free to ask your questions that directly relate to this topic.

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The statements and opinions made in this workshop are those of waskydiver only and do not reflect eBay policy or eBay's opinion with respect to such statements.

Deirdre
eBay Community Development

DVD Aspect ratio(Continued)

Many people consider the black bars to be a drawback. They feel that since their TV screen is not being filled that the picture is inferior. But, remember that the alternative is having a cropped picture. Below is an example from “The Mummy” in a Pan and Scan version and a Widescreen Version:

Pan and Scan Version



Widescreen Version


As you can see, while the Pan and Scan version certainly does fill up the entire screen, you get much more of the picture in the Widescreen version.

While the majority of DVD’s are available in widescreen format, many also offer Pan and Scan or “Full Screen” versions available as well, so in some cases you do have that option, and any film originally shot in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio (particularly older films) will only be available in “Full Screen”. (Obviously films shot in a 1.33:1 ratio will not be cropped, as are modern motion picture releases).

Keep in mind, though, that the industry is moving towards a widescreen standard. So, your next TV very well may be a widescreen TV. In that case, any full screen DVD you own will have black bars – on the sides.

There are other topics in regards to aspect ratio such as soft matting and hard matting, but I think I went into enough detail here about aspect ratio. If you are interested in more information, drop me an email, and I will provide you with some web sites that provide more detailed information.

Workshop Host: WASkydiver

DVD’s, HDTV and Progressive Scan

The purpose of this section is to provide you with some very basic information on how to get the best possible picture from your DVD’s. I’m going to be very brief, because this workshop is not a hardware-buying guide. Also, if you have the equipment, you probably know about this already and if you are looking to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on the equipment, I will not be able to provide you with enough information in this short space to make an informed decision.

Today, standard TV’s display the video image by presenting only ½ of the lines of the image at a time. This process is called “Interlaced”. Basically, the odd lines are displayed, then the even lines. Odd and even lines are alternated 30 times a second (in the US) to produce the appearance of a complete image.

A “Progressive Scan” image will display all the lines at the same time. This gives you much better detail and much less picture distortion or flickering.

In order to take advantage of Progressive Scan technology, you need to have a Progressive Scan DVD player, and a TV set capable of processing the progressive signal (such as a HDTV).

One thing that is important to note is that even if you get a HDTV and a progressive scan DVD player, you are not seeing a true HDTV signal when watching DVD’s. HD-DVD is a thing of the future.

Workshop Host: WASkydiver

Region Encoding and NTSC vs. PAL vs. SECAM

Often times a movie will be released at different times in different countries. Or, sometimes a movie will only be licensed for release in some countries and not in others. In order to facilitate this, DVD players sold in various countries are hard coded in order to play only DVD’s that were meant to be played in that region.

The following is a list of how the regions are currently defined:

• Region 1: 1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories


• Region 2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)


• Region 3: Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)


• Region 4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean


• Region 5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia


• Region 6: Peoples Republic of China


• Region 7: Reserved


• Region 8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)

In addition, some DVD’s are produced which are “Region Free” or “Region 0”, which can be played in any DVD player. (I will be discussing region free DVD’s when I talk about bootlegs – yes I am getting to it).

If you attempt to play a Region 2 DVD in a Region 1 DVD player, it’s not going to work.

There are “Region Free” DVD players available, which can play any DVD from any country.

Bottom line is before you purchase a DVD that is from outside your region, you have to make sure that you can play it.

In addition to region encoding, you should also be aware that there are different broadcast standards. These are known as NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. In North America, NTSC is the standard. In the world of VHS, this is a big deal. You can’t play a foreign (PAL) VHS tape on your NTSC VCR. Many DVD players are able to play at least the NTSC and PAL formats (don’t know much about SECAM). A good rule of thumb is that if region encoding doesn’t keep you from playing a DVD, chances are that the broadcast standard won’t be a problem either.

Workshop Host: WASkydiver

How to Identify Bootleg DVD’s

It is difficult to provide a foolproof formula to help people identify bootleg DVD’s. If there were characteristics that identified bootlegs 100%, bootleggers would simply manipulate the auction description in order to avoid detection.

As it is, I am going to offer some hints on how to identify bootlegs. But, remember, they are hints, not rules. For every characteristic presented here, there are exceptions.

Region 0 or All Region DVD’s: As discussed previously, region encoding is a means by which the movie studio’s can control the release of DVD’s to particular regions. Obviously, bootleggers do not care about region encoding. They wish to have their illegal copies available to as wide an audience as possible. As such, the vast majority of bootleg DVD’s are All Region or Region 0.

This is not to say that if you see a region 0 DVD, then it’s a bootleg. There are quite a few legitimate DVD’s that are region 0. For example, many early Criterion DVD’s are region 0.

A good rule of thumb to follow is that if a region encoded DVD is available by the same studio, for purchasing purposes, you should probably assume that any region 0 DVD is a bootleg.

VCD’s: Briefly, VCD’s are MPEG1 movies that are produced on to standard CD media in a standardized format. A VCD holds about 650 meg worth of data. The quality of VCD’s is much lower then the quality of DVD’s.

There is a common myth that all VCD’s are bootlegs. This is not true. There are legitimate VCD’s out there. Some movie studios have produced, and released VCD’s in other markets (particularly Asian markets). Even though there are legitimate VCD’s out there in the world, some of the movie studios who have released them do not allow them for sale in the United States. For reference, see Disney’s About VeRO About Me page ( Link ):

The Video Compact Disc (or VCD) is an optical disk format that is popular in some markets in Asia. Disney has released VCDs in some markets, but Disney has not authorized distribution of VCDs in the United States. All Disney VCDs offered for sale in the United States are infringing as pirated product or unauthorized parallel imports and may be taken down.

My advice when it comes to VCD’s is that if there is a legitimate DVD available, go for the DVD and enjoy the higher quality. If there isn’t a legitimate DVD available, then there is a good chance that it’s a bootleg.

Workshop Host: WASkydiver

How to Identify Bootleg DVD’s (Continued)

“Chinese” Characters on the DVD Cover: This guideline mostly pertains to major US release films. Legitimate Region 1 DVD’s authorized for distribution in North America are not going to have “Chinese” characters. Here is an example of a bootleg that contains additional “Chinese” characters:



Rule of thumb here is to look around to see if the legitimate version of the DVD has Chinese characters. If the legitimate version does not have Chinese characters, avoid those that do.

Foreign Sellers: Not all foreign sellers are selling bootlegs. There are many excellent sellers who sell legitimate DVD’s. But, common sense should be used.

For example, if you were to see a seller from Malaysia (for example) who is claiming to have legitimate Region 1 DVD’s, with no picture, and brief descriptions selling well below market value, that should cause you to think about it for a moment. How would this seller get region 1 DVD’s (many of which are authorized for sale only in region 1 companies), get them shipped to his country, then ship them back to US eBayers, at a significantly lower cost then US sellers?

I am not trying to dissuade anyone from foreign sellers. Just use common sense.

Unreleased DVDs: There are many DVDs that have not been released at all yet. Therefore, any of these DVDs are bootlegs. Some of the more popular titles that have not been released include:

• Bambi


• The Lion King


• Raiders of the Lost Ark Trilogy


• Schindler's List


• Star Wars Trilogy

Unreleased Movies: Obviously, if a movie is still in the theaters, you can be 99.99% sure that any DVD you see listed on eBay is a bootleg. You will even see copies of the movie show up before the theater release date. These copies are usually pathetic. Frequently they are obtained by someone sitting in a movie theater with a video camera.

Check the sellers other auctions: Sometimes, you may not be able to identify if a DVD just from the auction itself. If everything checks out with the DVD, check the seller’s other auctions. If you see he is listing a bunch of obvious bootlegs (for example, Star Wars Trilogy DVD’s or Scarface DVD’s with DTS tracks), then you should assume that all the seller’s DVD’s are bootlegs.

Workshop Host: WASkydiver

What to do if you receive a bootleg

So, you’ve done all your research, but, despite all your precautions, you received a bootleg. What do you do?

Well, the first thing to do is to contact the seller and confront him with the problem. I always give the seller the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he was unaware that the DVD was a bootleg. Give the seller a chance to rectify the problem. You should seek a full refund, including shipping charges, and return shipping. Remember that it is reasonable for the seller to request you return the item prior to receiving a refund.

If the seller is unwilling to make amends, then you should use every means at your disposal to get your money back, to get the seller removed from eBay and to possibly bring charges against the seller. Below are some resources to accomplish this:

1. File a chargeback through Paypal (if used). When filing the chargeback, make sure you quote the Paypal User Agreement that the seller is in violation of:

   Your Information and your activities (including your payments and receipt of payments) through our Service shall not: (a) be false, inaccurate or misleading; (b) be fraudulent or involve the sale of counterfeit or stolen items; ... (e) infringe on any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other property rights or rights of publicity or privacy;



2. If Paypal denies your chargeback, you can then file a chargeback through your credit card company. It is important to file through Paypal first if you used Paypal. Failure to do so can cause you to loose your Paypal account.



3. Make sure you file an online fraud report with eBay after 30 days through the following link: Link



4. File a mail fraud report through the United Postal Service: Link



5. File a fraud report with the National Fraud Information Center: Link



6. File a fraud report with the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center: Link



7. See if the Copyright holder is a member of eBay's Verified Rights Owner (VeRO): Link. If they are a member follow the instructions for reporting in the appropriate "About Me" page.



8. Notify the Motion Picture Association of America at hotline@mpaa.org. Or call 1-800-NO-COPYS



9. Finally, leave appropriate feedback for the seller.

Workshop Host: WASkydiver