James Bond 20 DVD set (1 Viewer)

[Brian Thibodeau]

The box set referred to by jake in the original post is a bootleg

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3378238487

I've seen this set in a variety of different boxes and the big giveaway is always the price. Would MGM in any of their world markets, really sell 20 fully-loaded Bond DVDs (and they are fully loaded!) for $70? Unlikely.

I saw this set, albeit with a different box in a video/cd/dvd store in a Toronto asian mall about a year ago for $130 CDN and was staggered by the price and the fact that the back of the box shows all twenty special edition covers. Even though I already had the MGM originals, I got the guy to pop in one of the discs and was stunned to find it was absolutely identical to the version I had at home, bonus features and everything else. It's now to the point where the pirates are effortlessly matching the quality of the mainstream studio releases from nearly everywhere in the world.

There was another thread around here recently where piracy was discussed (perhaps in Movies forum?), and the topic eventually veered away from grainy theatre steals and screener dupes and VHS-to-DVD copies, which most people seem to think are still the norm, to the new stuff emanating from Asia these days, where you can barely tell the difference between legit and illegit save for some dodgy text on the odd DVD sleeve. The general consensus was that the Asian bootleggers have inside help, most likely someone within the Chinese branch offices sharing the files with triads, or someone without, like "janitorial" staff, stealing the components as required to make the copies. Given that, plus the fact that wonders can be worked with photoshop, a scanner and existing print and text elements by even the most moderately talented graphic artist, it's not hard to figure out where things might be headed.

That said, if Scott actually saw a 20-set in a Canadian HMV that looked like the one linked above in my post (at least in the shape of the box), then it's very interesting to know that even mainstream stores are getting in on the act.

Kinda scary.

 

[Ruz-El]

I can't speak for Scott, but the box set in HMV Canada is completly different from the one pictured in your post. It was a legit release, and I imagine a HMV exclusive for the Christmas season. It came out when vol 2 and 3 came out of the other box sets, and the packaging looked identical, just bigger to hold all the movies, in their individual cases. It retailed for about $180 Cdn (which isn't a bad deal.) and all the movies were in their original disc art, and their were no bonus materials/features to the set, other than getting all 20 of the MGM SE at once. I don't know if they still have them, but they had literally stacks of them at Christmas time. I had it in my hands numerous times, but decidecd to hold off for the eventual 2 disc rel-releases.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Granted, I have to admit I've not seen the 20-set that HMV was selling, so Scott and Russell are no doubt correct, but the one Jake's referring to (also linked in the twelfth post in this thread, if my count is correct) is definitely a bootleg. Again, the price and the Chinese text on the box (as well as the fact that the box reworks the art from Die Another Day) are the giveaways. Mind you, everything in the boot is identical to the legit releases, so if you're conscience won't bother you, it's a good deal. Chinatown malls are overflowing with "Asian Special Editions" like this. I've seen Jurassic Park, Godfather, Aliens, Sopranos, Angel, 24, Dark Angel, Buffy, not to mention the Tinto Brass Collection, Amicus Collection, Emmanuelle Collection and just about any other Eurotrash release of note, not to mention the usual run of Asian and American single-disc knock-offs that are virtually indistinguishable from the real deal apart from the wonky package text.

Same set, different package, also a boot:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=2289

And another one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=2289

Funny how the set details for these, regardeless of the sellers, are virtually identical and use words like "Brand New, Factory Sealed" (well, technically, yeah!) and Genuine Original, Not A Copy!" (yeah, right!). There's no way the HMV boxes looked anything like this. The second one linked above looks like the "faces" in the art were taken from the old VHS sleeves. Slick work, but still looks unofficial to me.

Ya takes yer risks, I sez...

 

[Scott Hamilton]

It didn't look like anything like the one in the link.

I was also going to pick it up but it was going for $321 at the HMV in my city.

I had it my hands many times too but held off also.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

That sounds like a more reasonable Canadian price for 20 legitimate DVDs. However, $70 US is a fair price for bootlegs, considering the chances you take. I have to assume the reason MGM put out the legit full set was to include Die Another Day and because they reconfigured the smaller box sets, which must have sucked for folks who couldn't get all three original box sets a few years back, or maybe only got one. Seemed silly to me. Were the box-set reissues also sold separately?