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HOW CAN I TELL WHETHER A MOVIE IS PIRATED?
Identifying Illegal DVDs
Watch for Titles That are "Too 'New' to be 'True'": Movies that have yet to be released in theatres, or which are still out in theatres, generally are not be available in the DVD format. If very recent titles are being sold on an auction or other online retail sites, they are most likely pirated.
Remember the Adage "You Get What You Pay For": Even if you are hoping to get your favorite movie titles at a discount, new or used, the extremely low prices offered on some Web sites might indicate pirated product.
Read the Label: Carefully look over the packaging and beware of products that do not look genuine. The inferior quality of print work on the disc surface, and slip sleeve cover, as well as the lack of original artwork and/or missing studio, publisher, and distributor logos on discs and packaging, are usually clear indicators that the product is pirated. In addition, if anywhere on the package it reads that the disc is an "All-Region," "0-Region," or "No Region" product, it's highly likely that the DVD is pirated.
Identifying an Illegal Video
The absence of any of a series of indicators can help point to pirated cassettes including: the lack of special markings on the plastic cassette, low quality labeling, tape length that does not correspond to the film’s running time, or the absence of special colored gates on the cassette. Most importantly, pirate videocassettes are ALWAYS of inferior quality to an original. Consumers are cheated into purchasing a sometimes shoddy, unwatchable product where the sound is garbled and the graphics are poor. Videocassettes can also be analyzed on special electronic equipment to determine if they are counterfeit, as well as to identify the source of the piracy.
Legal Alternatives
As a consumer, there are plenty of sites that offer legal downloads such as CinemaNow, ifilm, Movielink, Movieflix, Vongo, AtomFilms and more. You can also get showtimes and tickets online. There are also many options available to buy or rent movies, without even having to leave your home. Thanks to the many resources on the Internet, there are ways to become better informed on the issue. For students, services such as Cdigix and Ruckus are becoming readily available on college and university campuses across the nation.
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