Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaDVD

Topic: I think I got a bootleg

Club rule - Please, if you cannot be courteous and respectful, do not post in this forum.
Becca P.



Subject: I think I got a bootleg
Date Posted: 7/30/2010 8:43 PM ET
Member Since: 7/22/2010
Posts: 5
Back To Top

I don't blame the sender for this... when you type the UPC into this site, it pulls up the DVD I ordered, but the cover is different. 

 

Anyway, it's this cheesy 80's movie, Dream to Believe: http://www.swapadvd.com/dvd/title/158654-Dream+to+Believe

The artwork does not match the listing. The artwork on the DVD I received is obviously a bad Photoshop job. It has a picture of each main actor, NOT from the movie but many years later. The background artwork is not from the movie. The back has three little shots from the movie, but they are obviously crappy VHS screen grabs. The "DVD" logo has lower case letters.

The studio doesn't match either. The SwapaDVD listing says "Origin Arts" but my DVD box says "Miracle Pictures Division of PMC Corp. DE. " which googling turned them up on a list of bootleg companies: http://thelatarniaforums.yuku.com/forum/viewtopic/id/3826

The DVD itself has a really simple print that just has the name of the DVD and the runtime on it, it doesn't look up to par with most studios' DVD.

But playing the DVD was the real clincher. I already watched this movie on YouTube... the quality on this DVD is WORSE than what I was watching on YouTube! The main menu is terrible, very very fake looking, and the DVD quality is that of a really crappy VHS transfer. 

 

So my guess is that SwapaDVD either combined the UPC codes for the legit version of the DVD and the bootleg, or that they just have the bootleg in the system because they got it from Amazon. I think the sender acted in good faith, but I ended up with a bootleg. What can I do?

aylamonster (Shellie F.)


Date Posted: 7/30/2010 8:48 PM ET
Member Since: 6/21/2008
Posts: 23,194
Back To Top

From the help docs:  If you receive a pirated copy of a DVD, notify us.

Hi Becca, the bottom choice under help center is "contact us"  I know SaDVD takes this very seriously.  let them know.

KathrynBlodgett (Kathryn B.)


Date Posted: 7/30/2010 11:29 PM ET
Member Since: 6/16/2009
Posts: 15,095
Back To Top

Chances are the bootleg printed the actual upc of the dvd on the artwork to look more legit, swapadvd will not put up bootleg upcs on their site (if there is such a thing as a bootleg upc?)

Becca P.


Date Posted: 7/31/2010 2:38 AM ET
Member Since: 7/22/2010
Posts: 5
Back To Top

OK I have been researching this for like an hour... I guess I am just not that familiar with the DVD world... I am guessing that this is a public domain DVD? There probably is not an official release. There do seem to be a ton of  questionable copies floating around the internet, they probably are all the same terrible quality.

I did contact SwapaDVD, we'll see what they say... the UPC did match when you enter it in the system, but the DVD cover and studio did not match. If I had seen that cover, I would NOT have requested it because it's too obvious that it's a fake. 

JessyBird03 (Jessica J.)


Date Posted: 7/31/2010 9:03 AM ET
Member Since: 11/28/2007
Posts: 5,176
Back To Top

The DVD Cover Art and Studio do NOT have to match. I ran into this a year or so ago when I received "The Little Princess." I got a dollar store release, and it was not the one I ordered (or thought I ordered).  It had a different release year, different cover art and different studio.  Swapadvd informed me that none of those things have to match.

Public domain dvds, unfortunately, come in wide ranges of quality.  You need to look at the piracy guidelines before saying it is pirated. It may just be a bad public domain printing. Is the underside of the dvd purple? Is it gold?  Is there any asian or arabic writing on it or the cover? Mispelled words?  Is the coverart a piece of printer paper or is it *real* artwork?

Becca P.


Date Posted: 7/31/2010 1:13 PM ET
Member Since: 7/22/2010
Posts: 5
Back To Top

I guess it's not technically pirated, because no one wants to bother to pirate this movie. So we have incredibly awful releases that are just as bad or worse. 

King K.



Subject: Edited by the SwapaDVD Team
Date Posted: 5/14/2018 10:18 PM ET
Member Since: 5/14/2018
Posts: 120
Back To Top
Edited by the SwapaDVD Team

Last Edited on: 6/8/18 7:18 PM EST - Total times edited: 0
Xiaojun X.



Subject: Edited by the SwapaDVD Team
Date Posted: 6/6/2018 12:51 AM ET
Member Since: 6/6/2018
Posts: 199
Back To Top
Edited by the SwapaDVD Team

Last Edited on: 6/8/18 9:59 AM EST - Total times edited: 0
melikedvd (Lory R.)


Date Posted: 6/26/2018 11:24 PM ET
Member Since: 11/1/2008
Posts: 3,825
Back To Top

Miracle Pictures is a low rent distributor that puts out films that have fallen into the public domain (or grey area titles).  They are generally lower quality transfers, often made off another company's DVD or VHS copy.  These are movies that anyone can make copies of, legally.  The only real difference between them and some other public domain distributors like Alpha is they usually have terrible (cheap) looking cover art.  Alpha spends all their money on great looking covers, not what's on the DVD.  What you got from Miracle Pictures is not a bootleg.  It's a legal original DVD (just a bad one). 

To make it even worse, these companies often just use the same UPC as the better companies.  UPC's cost alot of money.  A good example of this is on the movie "Circus Of Fear".  A good company (VCI) puts out a nice clean color copy.  Alpha Home Video puts out a terrible blurry b&w copy but uses the same UPC as VCI.   When you put this UPC in at SwapaDVD, you see the VCI cover art but the person might really have the Alpha b&w edition.   This is why it's a good idea to contact the member before requesting it to make sure they have the one shown, not just the same UPC.

Why do I know all this info?  I used to own a company called Loonic Video that released Public Domain VHS tapes, mastered from the best film prints known to exist.  Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin used to praise our VHS releases.  Problem is, many of the low rent distributors liked our product as well and have used them over the years as their masters to make DVDs from.   So when you get a DVD that looks like it was copied off a VHS tape, it probably was and it may be from a Loonic Video copy.



Last Edited on: 6/26/18 11:26 PM EST - Total times edited: 1
foxhack (David S.)


Date Posted: 6/28/2018 7:54 PM ET
Member Since: 10/10/2016
Posts: 70
Back To Top

Lory, this thread is from 2010. :D

That said thanks for the history lesson, I've actually bought a bunch of Miracle Pictures' stuff over the last year or so. They have really crappy quality, but I can reuse the cases, at least. :)



Last Edited on: 6/28/18 7:55 PM EST - Total times edited: 2