Hello all...  I need the help and opinions of the DVDP Community to determine if I have purchased a sophisticated bootleg of this 2015 release.  I purchased this release from a vendor on eBay, and received it fairly quickly.  It arrived new sealed and in excellent condition.  However some things about it have made me suspicious of not believing that this can be an authentic release.

1. The box measures 7 1/2 inches high by 5 3/8 inches wide.  This would seem more the size of a DVD box than a Blu-ray box.  Here are pictures of the Front and Back Cover.





Comparing these photos to the 2015 release as defined in the Profiler database as UPC 024543-742180, the images from the database are cropped more on the top and bottom (like would be for actual Blu-ray box), than what I have received here.  Also note in the next picture of the upper-half Back Cover of the suspicious set...



2. Although the UPC information seems legit, other things don't seem quite right.  The Headline "9-DISC SET! ALL 6 MOVIES! MORE THAN 40 HOURS OF EXTRAS!" is missing from the top, and the MPAA Rating for Revenge of the Sith is shown as PG when it has certainly been known to be PG-13 since its initial theatrical release.  I can't believe Fox Home Entertainment would make such a grievous printing error as this!


3. A close-up of the spine of the box, and then the Inner Box itself show that the inner box is of Clear plastic instead of the normal Blue plastic for Blu-ray sets.  Also the size seems to be larger than a standard Blu-ray box.














4. Upon opening the inner box, the Blu-ray discs look like the ones I have seen pictured for the previous 2011 release.  The artwork printing on the discs is just very slightly blurry in my opinion.  My understanding is that the discs for the 2015 release show the main characters from each of the Star Wars films.  Examples follow from this suspicious set:







Moving the discs out of the box, again you note that the inner box is Clear instead of Blue to see the innersleeve pictures.




5. Next we look at the included Guide Booklet.  The front and back pages are normal, but the inner pages are printed out-of-order.



Starting with first-half Bonus Disc One info on page 1, and second-half Bonus Disc Three info on page 2...



...First three movies titles on page 3, and second-half Bonus Disc Two info on page 4...



Darth Vader image on middle pages looks normal...



First-half Bonus Disc Three info on page 7, and second-half Bonus Disc One info on page 8...



First-half Bonus Disc Two info on page 9, and Second three movies titles on page 10.



Not just simply fixed by removing the staples and realigning the pages, it is completele printed out of sequence.  Again, I can't believe Fox Home Entertainment would make such a grievous printing error as this!

6. Now the real suspicious problem:  The Playing Side of Discs are dark in color, almost like burned Blu-rays, instead of the normal reflective silver or gold that you would see from a manufactured disc.  All 9 discs are like this! 




It is these 6 main points and more that make me feel like that I have purchased a rather sophisticated Blu-ray Bootleg set.  But I would like to get verification from you all, especially those of you that may actually have the "real" Star Wars Saga set so that we all have a better idea of what is an actual official release and what may be a bootleg release.  I look forward to reading everyones' responses.  Thanks much!

The discs definitely look like BD-R copied bootlegs or something. I've never yet seen an official Blu-ray release that hasn't had the typical "silver" factory pressed color...except for a couple of limited indie releases that were stated as BD-R's from the get-go. I seriously doubt Fox would use them.

Are the discs all 50gb discs though? BD-R 50's are still pretty expensive to use, especially for a multi-disc set like that. I think 8 were BD-50's in the original authentic Blu-ray set, and one disc was a BD-25.

Quoting Katatonia:

Quote:
Are the discs all 50gb discs though?

I did play three of the nine discs in a stand-alone Blu-ray player, and they loaded and played fairly well.  The quality of the images were quite good for what I think is a bootleg.  But still I don't think the quality would match what comes from a legitimate source.

I do not have a Blu-ray drive on my PC, so I am unable to determine if the discs are single or double layer.


Quoting ateo357:

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first thing wrong is the shrink wrap. Not a very good job of sealing the product. How often do you see a loose wrapping like this on a major studio release.

Well the loose shrink wrap is my fault.  I had already opened the package and became suspicious of it before I took the pictures to be posted.  I'll have to give them credit that the shrink wrap was originally tight, much like an on-the-shelf retail release.

Quoting ateo357:

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this is what you should have

Does the Set actually look like this?  I have seen this picture before, but thought it could be of a pre-release design and not the actual final product.  Can you verify that the final 2015 retail release actually looks as pictured?

Quoting ateo357:

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was the eBay seller alfon.brend. If so he has 2 items on eBay and the 2nd item has been returned for being a knock off.

Wow, you're good!  Yes that is the seller.  I've submitted for a Return through eBay.  Fortunetly so far, the process is going smooth.  The seller has accepted and a Return Label has been generated.  I'm going to send it back in tomorrow morning's postal mail.


Thanks much for your input!

Quoting perryoakridge:

Quote:
6. Now the real suspicious problem:  The Playing Side of Discs are dark in color, almost like burned Blu-rays, instead of the normal reflective silver or gold that you would see from a manufactured disc.  All 9 discs are like this! 

Those are BD-R discs and the set is a bootleg.  I'd report it to Fox in addition to eBay.

Quoting jfrench:

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Hi Perry,
Just out of curiosity; does your player have internet access?  I have a guess that disc copies would be detected.  I've always suspected that this BDLive stuff was a two-way street.
Jim F.

It's not.

Quoting jfrench:

Quote:
Hi Perry,
Just out of curiosity; does your player have internet access?  I have a guess that disc copies would be detected.  I've always suspected that this BDLive stuff was a two-way street.

Accessing additional data and downloading it from the internet is obviously a two-way street but my concern was that data sent in the request could contain information that the disc was a bootleg.
Jim F.

From what I remember, I did not see that these discs supported any BD-Live functionality.  Or it was not mentioned on the front menus when checking the three discs that I tested.  In any case, I have sent the discs back to the seller for a refund, with a stern letter about selling bootlegs!


Quoting rdodolak:

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Those are BD-R discs and the set is a bootleg.  I'd report it to Fox in addition to eBay.

So far I have reported the seller to eBay, but haven't seen too much action there.  I would let Fox Home Entertainment know too, but have been unable to find a link or webpage on their sites to initiate a report.


Quoting huskersports:

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I have this set. The case holding all of the discs IS clear, not a blue color to be seen anywhere. The discs have no pictures on them. They're just like the pictures perryoakridge submitted. The underside of the discs are what you'd expect to see, as well. Other than that, yes, it's a bootleg set.

Thanks for the confirmation on this set!  Just wondering, do you plan to keep yours or send it back?


Thanks much to all for your input!

Quoting perryoakridge:

Quote:
6. Now the real suspicious problem:  The Playing Side of Discs are dark in color, almost like burned Blu-rays, instead of the normal reflective silver or gold that you would see from a manufactured disc.  All 9 discs are like this! 

Those are low-to-high BD-R's. (BD-R discs made on a machine that was used to make blank DVD-R discs using organic dye; it saves money because manufacturers can re-use their DVD-R blank making machines. Most consumer equipment can read these discs, but low-to-high BD-R's are considered to be lower quality discs than regular high-to-low BD-R's.)

Anyways, yes, major studio commercial releases will pretty much never use any kind of BD-R discs, low-to-high, high-to-low, or otherwise.

Very well produced and packaged bootlegs are very common in the Asian markets, especially for anime. It can often be very difficult for importers to even know they have bootlegs in some cases because the quality is so good. It's big business, companies have had the machinery to make well produced bootlegs for decades now, and they are very good at staying out of trouble.