Questions about China DVDs & VCDs

[Dagger Lee]

I bought Hero Extended DVD and the China VCD of House of Flying Daggers and both movies have the company's logo on the left side of the screen periodically. Is this how China DVDs and VCDs are like? I'm pretty sure none of these are bootlegs because the store I bought it from only carries legal products.

[mind_wander]

I am sure it is legal to signify that this is a legal copy and infringe copy.

[zhaozilong44]

I bought Hero Extended DVD and the China VCD of House of Flying Daggers and both movies have the company's logo on the left side of the screen periodically. Is this how China DVDs and VCDs are like? I'm pretty sure none of these are bootlegs because the store I bought it from only carries legal products.

Well, no. However, 99% of the DVDs and VCDs in China are bootlegs. Just cause they say it's legal doesn't mean that it's not a "copied" of the real thing. Every copied DVD and VCD sold in China is considered "legal", but it's not the same deal once you leave the mainland. I don't know if the DVD and VCD you bought are real or not, but if they put their company's logo on it, then it gives them much more creditbility. I remember renting Chinese series from this one video store in Calgary and they always put their logo in all the tapes (I mean onscreen that is).
Oh yeah, they weren't copies.

The bootleg ones won't bother to put anything on the screen. I should know this for I've spent the last year or so in China. I never had to buy VCDs or DVDs though cause I could just go into any cyber cafe there and watch all the latest pirated movies and serials to my heart's desire. Then again, I could also buy them for dirt cheap. Damn, I wish I had the courage to smuggle a few back (plus all my bootleg PS2 games, which went for $.60 CDN or $.50 USD). I got GTA: SA for 60 cents. I really wish I would've smuggled that back.

[Dagger Lee]

Well, no. However, 99% of the DVDs and VCDs in China are bootlegs. Just cause they say it's legal doesn't mean that it's not a "copied" of the real thing. Every copied DVD and VCD sold in China is considered "legal", but it's not the same deal once you leave the mainland. I don't know if the DVD and VCD you bought are real or not, but if they put their company's logo on it, then it gives them much more creditbility. I remember renting Chinese series from this one video store in Calgary and they always put their logo in all the tapes (I mean onscreen that is).
Oh yeah, they weren't copies.

The bootleg ones won't bother to put anything on the screen. I should know this for I've spent the last year or so in China. I never had to buy VCDs or DVDs though cause I could just go into any cyber cafe there and watch all the latest pirated movies and serials to my heart's desire. Then again, I could also buy them for dirt cheap. Damn, I wish I had the courage to smuggle a few back (plus all my bootleg PS2 games, which went for $.60 CDN or $.50 USD). I got GTA: SA for 60 cents. I really wish I would've smuggled that back.

Mine are the real ones because it has the sticker on the case and I've seen other stores sell the exact same kind as the one I bought. The disc isn't burned since I've checked it already. Thanks for clearing everything up though.

[tinlunlau]

no...there are actually legit dvd releases in China. and the reason they release much earlier than Hong Kong is so they can combat piracy in China. This has been happening since the early DVD/VCD release of "Infernal Affairs" 2 years ago. Note that these Mainland releases only contain the Mandarin dub.

and most of these Mainland releases are in PAL only so if you have a TV designated for NTSC, you won't be able to play them. It wasn't up until recently when GD FACE started having their logo pop up in their DVD's.

[zhaozilong44]

no...there are actually legit dvd releases in China. and the reason they release much earlier than Hong Kong is so they can combat piracy in China. This has been happening since the early DVD/VCD release of "Infernal Affairs" 2 years ago. Note that these Mainland releases only contain the Mandarin dub.

and most of these Mainland releases are in PAL only so if you have a TV designated for NTSC, you won't be able to play them. It wasn't up until recently when GD FACE started having their logo pop up in their DVD's.

Then it's a losing battle. When I can go into any DVD / VCD (although that's starting to become a rarity in China) store and buy them for $10RMB, then why would anyone want to buy the real thing (some of the copied ones aren't that bad in terms of quality). I have yet to see one single un-pirated DVD / VCD the whole time I was in China, which was from Nov of 2003 to Nov of 2004.

Not to mention, every single cyber cafe in China has their own personal ftp website with all the latest illegally downloaded movies and tv serials, I can't see
the Chinese government really combating piracy. In fact, they are the ones who's contributing to the problem. All those DVD/VCD stores and cyber cafes have to do is pay government officials under the table, then they can do whatever they want.

[tinlunlau]

you probably seen the legit dvd's in China. they are as cheap as pirated stuff.

[strawberry]

I do know for a fact that when it comes to quality and prices, china'a dvd and vcds give the ones sold in singapore a good run for our money. and I am talking about original dvds etc. the made in china ones are cheap and of high quality. you never want to buy vcds and dvds in singapore after seeing the ones in china.

[tinlunlau]

i don't know about you guys but i feel quite at home with my hong kong dvd's.
i don't touch mainland DVD's anyway. they're dubbed, and they're icky.

[Dagger Lee]

no...there are actually legit dvd releases in China. and the reason they release much earlier than Hong Kong is so they can combat piracy in China. This has been happening since the early DVD/VCD release of "Infernal Affairs" 2 years ago. Note that these Mainland releases only contain the Mandarin dub.

and most of these Mainland releases are in PAL only so if you have a TV designated for NTSC, you won't be able to play them. It wasn't up until recently when GD FACE started having their logo pop up in their DVD's.

The funny thing is that my relatives got PAL vcds yet it works perfectly on NTSC TVs.

[tinlunlau]

The funny thing is that my relatives got PAL vcds yet it works perfectly on NTSC TVs.

how is that funny? you can watch PAL stuff on NTSC tv's when you have a PAL -> NTSC converter or a player that can decode PAl to NTSC. (Playstation 1, when attached to the VCD upgrade, can view PAL vcd's on NTSC tv's.)

[Dagger Lee]

how is that funny? you can watch PAL stuff on NTSC tv's when you have a PAL -> NTSC converter or a player that can decode PAl to NTSC. (Playstation 1, when attached to the VCD upgrade, can view PAL vcd's on NTSC tv's.)

The player doesn't convert PAL to NTSC and I know because I bought the player.

[Zhuge Liang]

Holographic stickers, no copy text, logos, factory burned dvds may all still be pirated.

Imagine how cheesed of i was when i bought the official hk vcd set of heaven sword dragon sabre 2003. My mum bought xiao zhuang mi shi pirate dvd. Hers had nicer packaging. Mine had audio sync problems and some video problems and hers was a fraction of the price. -.-

On the other hand some licensed stuff in china actually used pirate sources for the video as they were too cheap to pay for the proper masters.

Priated and official material are often pressed in the same factories in China.

[Jenny_shiny]

huh? sorry, but i got confused by your discussion here.
so, does that mean that in mainland china, the legal and pirated dvds\vcds not only have almost the same price, the same quality but may actually have been porduced by the same company as well?!
huh? what the heck?
hey, since i came from the philippines, i buy my dvds\vcds from the shop here, the Mei Ah shop. so where do their products movies from? HK or China? how bout their series? most of the wuxia series i buy have the GD logo or FACE on the left side, while the Taiwan series that i buy have nothing on them, in terms of quality, they are video perfect and the audio's okay too.
so if the legal and pirated ones are of the same in almost every aspect, what's the difference then? then there are no more boundaries between them, right?

oh, regarding that Pak-NSTC thingy, the tapes that i bought from the shop have all played in my dvd player, does that mean that it will accept tapes bought straight from hk and china too?

[atlantean0208]

The player doesn't convert PAL to NTSC and I know because I bought the player.

LOL - all region free player plays either PAL or NTSC

R1 - NTSC
R2 - PAL

Region free can play all region = Play R1 and R2
= Substitute R1 and R2 variable
= Play NTS and PAL

[Dagger Lee]

LOL - all region free player plays either PAL or NTSC

R1 - NTSC
R2 - PAL

Region free can play all region = Play R1 and R2
= Substitute R1 and R2 variable
= Play NTS and PAL

Okay let me clear this all up. I only have a Region 1 NTSC player yet it plays PAL VCDs not PAL DVDs.

[mind_wander]

That's because vcd's are all region coded.

[tinlunlau]

nonono~! some of you are getting things wrong.

some VCD's are PAL and won't play on certain DVD players. unless you're lucky enough to get a DVD player that converts PAL to NTSC, then you're safe. my dvd player, although it is hacked to play all regions, is only able to view NTSC dvd's, it can't play PAL standard. VCD's don't have region coding. DVD's do.

and not all Region 2 DVD's are in PAL, you're forgetting Japan's DVDs are region 2 and yet, their DVD's are set on NTSC.

TV standards (NTSC/PAL/SECAM) and dvd region coding are totally different matters. don't mix up the two.

[mind_wander]

That's for clearing it up, I mean the vcd is no region so all dvd should play vcd's if it is updated version. I got a dvd converter so, I don't have to worry about that .

[Long]

Original DVDs and VCDs aren't supposed to have the company logos on them. I've bought many of the orginal Chinese/HK movies and they are free of the company's logos. I also have the extended DVD version of "Hero" and it does not have the logos.

Usually when you see a companies logo on your DVD/VCD disc, it's an indication that they have been taken/copied from a digital satallite broadcast of the show...