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how can i know if a LD is legitimate?




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Bosque



Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 102
Location: Chile (castillian-talker)
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:27 am Reply with quote
hi, I just want to read some recommendations for how to recognize a legit laser disc.
I didn't found information on the pirate faq and also search for information on internet search engines like google so, please, don't kill me for posting this.

Here are some pics of an oold LD of mine, can you know if it's original?






The magic word was missing: please!
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 9902
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:24 am Reply with quote
Bosque wrote:

It should be legit, for there's the mecha label of U.S. Manga Corps (part of Central Park Media) at the lower left corner, and according to the Encyclopedia USMC/CPM is the North American licensor of Iczer 3.
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Bosque



Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 102
Location: Chile (castillian-talker)
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:33 am Reply with quote
thank you for your post, i forgot to search in the ann's encyclopedia.

But i still wonder if there are any differences between origianl discs and non-original discs. I mean the discs them-selves, like the round lines o something.


Sorry for the horrible grammar but english is my second languaje.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4512
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, and I'm not saying that it never happened, but I don't think that the LaserDisc was popular enough outside of Japan for there to be the scale of piracy that there is for DVD, where I believe the per-unit cost of replication is much, much lower than it is for LaserDisc.

Plus, bootleg LaserDiscs can't hop borders as freely since they are purely analogue (well, the picture anyway) and can only be exported to other countries with the same analogue television picture "standard" (NTSC, PAL, or SECAM).

EDIT: Another thing you do have to take into consideration is that the World Wide Web as we know it today didn't even come into existence until the final few years of LD's nearly 20 year reign as the format of choice among high-end videophiles, and eBay only arrived on the scene barely months before the DVD format became commercially available, so what little Internet there was prior to DVD did little to facilitate international distribution of pirated LDs.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:07 pm Reply with quote
The only bootleg LD I remember seeing is the old HK release of Akira which had the Both Chinese and English audio tracks. This was released long before the Criterion Akira, although it was not much cheaper and was of poor image/audio quality. Bootlegs for DVDs are indeed far more attractive to pirates since they are often of okay A/V quality and are very cheap to make. Then again I didn't look too hard for bootlegs back in the good old LD days since I've never had any interest in bootlegs.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:09 pm Reply with quote
Randall Miyashiro wrote:
This was released long before the Criterion Akira, although it was not much cheaper and was of poor image/audio quality.


There was never a Criterion Collection version of Akira, dude. In any format.
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Iron Chef Junkfood



Joined: 23 Oct 2005
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:45 am Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
Randall Miyashiro wrote:
This was released long before the Criterion Akira, although it was not much cheaper and was of poor image/audio quality.



There was never a Criterion Collection version of Akira, dude. In any format.


Sure there was. I've even held it in my hands...and then i put it back because it was priced at $125 Shocked (this was about 10-12 years ago).
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4512
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:16 am Reply with quote
I remember seeing it in the store too, circa 1995, though I couldn't afford it and didn't even get a LaserDisc player until 1997 anyway (thinking that they'd be around a lot longer than they actually were). Here's a review of the Criterion edition of Akira. I think it was a co-release with Streamline the way Disney/Touchstone co-releases the Wes Anderson movies through Criterion.

Since Streamline ceased-to-be in the DVD era, they couldn't sublicense a DVD version to Criterion.

EDIT: Correction, it's not a review but an essay from the old Criterion website.

This 1995 review from Sci-Fi Entertainment also confirms the existence of the two Criterion releases, whose catalogue numbers were CC1294L (CAV) and CC1435L (CLV).
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CrackaJax



Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 250
Location: Mount Olympus, Syracuse University
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:54 am Reply with quote
I remember hearing something of the like about this, but searching on Criterion's website http://criterionco.com/asp/ I couldn't find it.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4512
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:59 pm Reply with quote
Oh, I just noticed, both the CAV and CLV are listed on the "Browse Laserdisc" section of the official Criterion website. (LD spine numbers 151 and 283.)

I think that's the only place on the current version of the official Criterion site that mentions them, but it certainly is the most authoritative proof of their existence one can find.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:49 pm Reply with quote
The most authororatative proof is actually seeing and owning a copy. It does exist. There are many titles that didn't make it to the DVD transition. I have a copy of the Criterion Blade Runner complete with scene by scene analysis and Syd Mead still frame archive.
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JETBLACK87



Joined: 14 Apr 2002
Posts: 1073
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:39 pm Reply with quote
I bought my laserdisc player this year. The only laserdiscs I have are the original version of the Star Wars trilogy(which is why I got the payer), Boys in the Hood, The Fugitive, and Stray Dogs(no english subs. I have it on my wall).
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 1709
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:21 pm Reply with quote
There were apparently two versions of the Criterion Collection Akira--CAV and CLV:

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/laserdisc_browse.asp

As for bootleg laserdiscs, it would seem to me to be more trouble than it would most like be worth, as (if I understand and remember the process correctly) in order to make a laserdisc it is necessary to create a glass master for the cost of ~$10,000.

http://www.oz.net/blam/LaserDisc/FAQ/FAQ_intro.htm#MediumMovieToLdMasterer

Compare this to videotape and DVDs, where recordable media are available in bulk for pennies each.

"What are the facts? Again and again and again--what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what 'the stars foretell', avoid opinion, Care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable 'verdict of history'--what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always in to an unknown future; facts are your only chance. Get the facts!

"-- Lazarus Long"
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