Questions about imports

[Kersus]

Hi, Im new here. I see some of these amazing prices for some of my favorute animes out there and am really looking forward to buying some (especially if it only costs this much).

I was just wondering if someone would explain to me about these import dvds. Do they have region encoding? Will I need to mod my dvd player in order to view them? (I have a region 1 player). Is it legal to get imports from hong kong, or is it all under the table? Are they the same quality as normal dvds?

Any other info I should know thats not on this list would be appreciated as well, thanks!

[-spike-]

Hi, Im new here. I see some of these amazing prices for some of my favorute animes out there and am really looking forward to buying some (especially if it only costs this much).

I was just wondering if someone would explain to me about these import dvds. Do they have region encoding? Will I need to mod my dvd player in order to view them? (I have a region 1 player). Is it legal to get imports from hong kong, or is it all under the table? Are they the same quality as normal dvds?

Any other info I should know thats not on this list would be appreciated as well, thanks!

First, the dvds have region code 0 so they work on pretty much any dvd player. Second, they are not exactually legal and not exactually illegal. Others can explain it better than I can. Some are almost the same quality as R1's, while others are worse. Read the dvd reviews to find out.

[Cidien]

They are illegal. It's no different from walking into Best Buy and jacking a dvd. If you're fine with that, you've stumbled into the best pirated site on the internet. I'd encourage you to buy the R1's and support the companies for any anime titles you like, but that choice is yours.

[Elcoholic]

Read the FAQ in the anime discussion part of the forum. Its stickied in the top of the page.

They are illegal but most of us don't care because the official product is to expensive with to little eps. per disc (6-8 discs for R1 releases vs. 3 on HK). Customs wont hassle you. There has never been anyone getting caught or had their order confiscated as far as I know. The difference between this product and the official ones are hardly noticable since the packaging looks very proffesional and if your not into anime you won't know they are bootlegs.

Don't let Cid scare you :p

[Gemini]

being how they are, i just ordered some last night, what do you think, are the quality of them pretty good?

[Vicious]

They are illegal but most of us don't care because the official product is to expensive with to little eps. per disc (6-8 discs for R1 releases vs. 3 on HK).

But there are some of us who don't think most R1's are overpriced and thus support those. I don't buy nearly as many boots as I used to. I mostly hang around because alot of the R1 forum users are snobs and in a competition to see who has more DVD's. It's much chiller with the people in HK forums, but occasionally you get completely ignorant dumbasses in here.

[Kersus]

Hmm thanks for the help. , if they're just bootlegs though, wouldn't it just be easier to DL the series via bit torrent then do the encoding to dvd yourself, or use the rent n' burn method with a good dual layer writer? (once the blank media for that drops in price anyway, to maybe around 2 bucks a disk)

Though I understand the packaging looks pretty professional, so they'd stack much nicer with the rest of your collection. I might try it out for that reason, but I'm a little uneasy over some of the reviews I see about the titles. A lot of my choice favourites I had my eye on seem to say things like "It's *almost* perfect!" or "It's amazing... except for a few scenes here and here where you can't see the text or it pauses and gets out of sync." Though I suppose I'm just taking the negative too harshly, when in reality when watching it the errors in quality they mention probably aren't so bad.

[Japschin]

Hmm thanks for the help. , if they're just bootlegs though, wouldn't it just be easier to DL the series via bit torrent then do the encoding to dvd yourself, or use the rent n' burn method with a good dual layer writer? (once the blank media for that drops in price anyway, to maybe around 2 bucks a disk)

Though I understand the packaging looks pretty professional, so they'd stack much nicer with the rest of your collection. I might try it out for that reason, but I'm a little uneasy over some of the reviews I see about the titles. A lot of my choice favourites I had my eye on seem to say things like "It's *almost* perfect!" or "It's amazing... except for a few scenes here and here where you can't see the text or it pauses and gets out of sync." Though I suppose I'm just taking the negative too harshly, when in reality when watching it the errors in quality they mention probably aren't so bad.

Bit torrents: generally without dubs, fan subs. Think they are TV quality too. If you don't mind them, just go ahead d/l them and burn them.

As for being uneasy with the quality, those sets with some negs aren't really that bad, unless rated really poorly. However, if you are really particular about it, go ahead and stick with R1s.

[Ryoku Slayer]

if you still want licensed anime and the nice professional packaging, try buying the sets off of ebay user- Foreign_movie_buff. His stuff is impressive and they are all licensed. For example, I bought a Hikaru no Go set from him (Main Land China Edition, 6 dvds), they had good video, audio, and good subs, may better than MI. So those of you who love the story/anime like Mr. Zagatto here can now purchase these sets with out any ph34r!!!

[Kersus]

Well I think I'll give it a go with one and see how it goes. The worst that can happen is I find im out 30 bucks.

Oh and thanks for the tip Ryoku, I think I might give that a try too

(wow you guys answer posts fast)

[babyeater0]

But there are some of us who don't think most R1's are overpriced and thus support those. I don't buy nearly as many boots as I used to. I mostly hang around because alot of the R1 forum users are snobs and in a competition to see who has more DVD's. It's much chiller with the people in HK forums, but occasionally you get completely ignorant dumbasses in here.

Am i the most ignorant of the dumbasses?

[Puppet Master]

Read the FAQ in the anime discussion part of the forum. Its stickied in the top of the page.

They are illegal but most of us don't care because the official product is to expensive with to little eps. per disc (6-8 discs for R1 releases vs. 3 on HK). Customs wont hassle you. There has never been anyone getting caught or had their order confiscated as far as I know. The difference between this product and the official ones are hardly noticable since the packaging looks very proffesional and if your not into anime you won't know they are bootlegs.

Don't let Cid scare you :p

I can confirm that from when I got my first set of HKs off E-Bay...Only knew they were not the originals because the person who sold me Cowboy Bewbop told me in the package but great quality and it still looks professional and its perfect for those who can't afford the R1s though I still had no idea what it meant...But personally I have only bought two but I still buy SOME R1 used...

[rarnom]

Am i the most ignorant of the dumbasses?

Dare to dream babyeater0. Dare to dream.

[Mantis421]

I think that most of us would by R1 if they were alittle more affordable. It just doesen't help when you are like me live in an area were anime isn't very popular so finding it is difficult to begin with. Anime when you find it around here is grossly marked up. But the last and most important thing which I am sure some of you know about being a student who only gets to work a non paying internship right now I rely on my military school benifits that is around 1200 a month after paying for school

[Japschin]

I think that most of us would by R1 if they were alittle more affordable. It just doesen't help when you are like me live in an area were anime isn't very popular so finding it is difficult to begin with. Anime when you find it around here is grossly marked up. But the last and most important thing which I am sure some of you know about being a student who only gets to work a non paying internship right now I rely on my military school benifits that is around 1200 a month after paying for school

I'm a student and I live in an area where the only anime series ppl know abt are Pokemon, Digimon, Dragonball and Kill Bill :eek: . I work only part-time.............. but I don't find R1s unaffordable.... Generally, if I have the patience, I wait. If not, I'll pre-order the volumes as they are released.