Forum - View topicIs poor dvd releases encouragining piracy and bootlegging
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Fenrir
 Posts: 369 |
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I was just wondering what everyone thought of this. first by poor dvd releases I mean massively long dvd releases with high prices. Such as Full Metal Alchemist a 50 episode show being released across 16 dvds 3-4 eps per disc with an MSRP of 24.95. That means the entire show will cost 400 dollars. Now Bandai is releasing Gundam SEED a 50 episode show at 5 eps per disc at msrp of 29.95 with 10 dvds. Bandai also released 26 episode shows like outlaw star on 9 episode sets which cost 44.95 msrp.
Do some companies just don't get it. I think companies like bandai that release there shows as they come out and have a new series of 26 episodes clock in around 150 dollars is a great thing. However when you get a release like Full Metal Alchemist that is obviously just milking the market for all it's worth it tends to turn people towards piracy because they are feeling cheated. Now it may have to do with the licensing costs. However releasing a 50 episode show over 16 discs is ridiculous. Especially if they are supposed to have amazing extras on the disc considering the fact that the discs will only hold 3-4 episodes. |
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frostedsaiyan
 Posts: 637 Location: Maryland |
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You should consider yourself lucky. If we had the same standards as Japan has then you'd be getting 1-2 episodes per disc costing 50 dollars for 2 episodes. |
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Fenrir
Posts: 369 |
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Those discs are only that expensive because we don't live in Japan. The amout of income the Japanese make and the fact that everything done in yen makes it so that for them that is not that expensive. However because of the price of yen when translated to the US market the DVDs do cost that much. When you live in a country it's completely different. The only reasons why it's so expensive for us is because of how the yen has fluctuated in the world markets. For the Japanese citizens it hasn't really changed all that much.
Back before the yen fluctuated so badly in world markets the price of videos and Laserdiscs were the exact same as there american counterparts in american dollars. If the prices of videos and such had soared that badly over the past 10-15 years the home video market would almost be operating at bankruptcy in Japan. However there prices have in Japan have not changed all that much. |
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the_soultaker
 Posts: 685 |
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If someone has the unethical intention to buy from bootlegers or burn raws/fansubs,(which in his/her eyes is a much cheaper alternative than shelling out $29.99 per disc)there's no convincing him otherwise. IMO the best way to combat piracy is price reduction/affordability for those who don't neseccarly have the luxury of shelling out $200.00+ for a whole series. I just came from Sam Goody while taking my lunch break and behold, Geneon is having a 2 for $20.00 sale on thier Signature series titles; (Trigun,Gatekeepers,Akira,Soultaker etc.) 
Problem is, i already own these titles. Oh wellz, it's still a great deal considering how much they were going for years ago. |
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jsyxx
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I really think thats part of the problem. Most of the people who buy bootlegs do it becaue the US DVDs are too expensive. I think its about time that 3 episode discs go the way of the dinosaur.
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one3rd
 Posts: 1818 Location: アメリカ |
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Okay, let's suppose that the real value of an American anime DVD versus a Japanese anime DVD comes out to about the same cost. Japanese DVDs still have half as many episodes per disc. As a more general response to the question raised by the topic, let's suppose that American and Japanese companies started putting 10 episodes on each disc and selling them for $8-10 each. Bootlegging would stop being a problem only because the production costs are too high to make any money whatsoever and anime would simply stop being made. |
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king_micah
 Posts: 994 Location: OSU |
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You can only cut so far, and you don't have to buy all at once. For instance, Kare Kano I've seen each disc going for around 27 USD. Five dvds, so that makes 135 USD for the set. HOWEVER, the suggested retail price for the complete box set is five dollars less. After that, different sellers have differant mark ups. Amazon is $116, Anime Castle is $104, Buying direct from Right Stuff is $55.
Big differance, and much more reasonable. You just need to wait for such a set. Most shows get a nice cut in MSRP in box set, then the bulk sellers can go down much, much farther. Buying one at a time is quite stupid if you are going to moan and complain about price. Still too high at $55? In the words of Anno, "Too Bad." |
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RedvsBlue
 Posts: 328 Location: snooping through another FF7 walkthrough |
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I buy bootleg rarely, but when I do it's because:
The item I'm looking for is not yet released in America yet and there has been no official release date set for the series. or Companies try to drain your money without giving you a fair deal. A great example of this would be: I dont care for Inuyasha but I certainly feel horrible for it's fans. Shame on you Viz for having each dvd released with only 3 episodes per disc making it nearly impossible to buy the complete series without being rich or having a high paying job. Despite the lack of quality and that I dont like the idea of the creators not getting to see their fare share of the money, if I were to ever buy Inuyasha, It certainly wouldn't be a Region 1 disc. |
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Lucca
 Posts: 67 Location: Amoung the Fern-Growers |
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Bah. If anything, Anime companies have only been getting -better- at their pricing and making anime affordable. I mean, I've only been a fan for a short while, but I've already seen average DVD prices go down from $39.99 per DVD to $27.99 per DVD. Honestly, I don't see too much corralation between the DVD sales and encouraging bootlegging. Yes, more people are becoming fans, but the older fans tend to buy more DVDs because they know what it used to be like, and how great prices are not. Not to say that are great, but compared to some 3 - 4 years ago, they are. Newer fans seem to be the people complaining about price :/ I've always said "Could be worse."
Ok, basically what I'm saying is, the more you buy official releases, the cheaper anime will become in the future. cost + profit = price. The cost of making anime is high, but with what little profit Anime Companies get, they can shift that to the way of cost (think surplus reserve cash, if you will) and make Anime DVDs cheaper in the end. And cheaper will equal more sales, no? But as it stands, I don't think -any- anime company, Bandai aside, that could possibly afford to make anime cheaper. Anime is still a growing industry, and I don't think they could afford to make Anime any cheaper than what it is right now. Ok, I'm done babbling about economics. I don't think it's encouraging bootlegging, per se, but I don't think that bootlegging is helping things any. Those who bootleg will probably continue until prices go down, and people who buy official DVDs will continue to buy the DVDs. I don't think anyone is going from buying DVDs to buying bootlegs. It's not like prices are going up for anime. If anything, more people are buying legit anime now than ever before. |
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kainzero
 Posts: 309 |
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well, you don't really know what they do with the profit... they wouldn't just lower prices of DVDs... they might pursue additional licenses, hire more staff, put more money in the advertising budget, etc. so buying more doesn't necessarily mean lower prices, but it could mean more anime or better quality anime, or a bigger fanbase. cost + profit = price, but if profit rises they could just increase cost and leave price at equilibrium. anyway, bootlegs are cheap because none of the money goes towards the people that put the show together. it makes sense... if you spent years of your life writing a book and you sold it, a lot of the money would go towards your expenses and living expenses among other things. then imagine some guy took the words out of your book, found a cheap printer, and sold copies of your book. he can sell it for cheaper because he didn't spend years making it. so that's why it's more expensive. |
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Lucca
Posts: 67 Location: Amoung the Fern-Growers |
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I'm not saying that IS what they do with profit, I'm saying it's one of the options they have. I know that they put it into other things XP~ I'm not that dumb. |
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DragonofHeaven
 Posts: 115 |
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Bandai seems to be much better with episode count per disc; 4/5 episodes a disc for both Cowboy Bebop and .hack//SIGN. Although 3 episodes a disc sounds ridiculous, it leaves extra space for better extras; I personally love previews. Each licensing company has its own little perks so it's all good. Some have great DVD extras, some have good episode distribution; different companies appease to different people.
It's more like the companies that are being cheated. Pircacy just adds to the problem; anime prices are high enough for me as it is. Prices get inflated because of the money spent into licensing the series, dubbing it, piracy, and whatnot. This is the best we can expect from DVD releases until piracy and bootlegging dies down some; the DVDs have been getting better and the prices seem to be lowering but it would make better progress if the licensing companies didn't get so screwed by the downloading/bootlegging of licensed series. |
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ParaParaJMo
 Posts: 333 Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA |
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I say it depends on where you get your DVDs. For example Suncoast sells their anime at VERY high prices, but Best Buy (ironicially I believed it's own by the same company) sells anime DVDs cheaper from 10-15 dollars.
I was able to get Hajime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit) for like $15 at Target. I'm not innocent of buying pirated DVDs (mostly un-licenced anime), but I've always gotten it at good prices at times as well |
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one3rd
Posts: 1818 Location: アメリカ |
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If by "very high" you mean the manufacturer's suggested retail price, that even ADV charges when you purchase directly from them, then yes, they sell anime for very high prices.
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Kazuki-san
 Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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Indeed, unless you go to Best Buy, sometimes Fry's and others, or buy it online. In which case I would call it "very cheap". Certainly for anyone that bought Anime in the old days. (which isn't really that long ago) |
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