DVDs: Difference between revisions
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==Bootlegs== | ==Bootlegs== | ||
Due to the previous lack of official | Due to the previous lack of official DVDs, there have been numerous bootleg DVDs (in some cases, all over the world). Such bootlegs can have issues with disc and picture quality. | ||
Bootleg DVDs often show up on eBay and elsewhere. Fans are cautioned that these are ''illegal!'' The footage on the DVDs was likely recorded off TV and is undoubtedly low quality. Fans are urged ''not'' to buy these. | Bootleg DVDs often show up on eBay and elsewhere. Fans are cautioned that these are ''illegal!'' The footage on the DVDs was likely recorded off TV and is undoubtedly low quality. Fans are urged ''not'' to buy these. | ||
Revision as of 14:01, 13 August 2009
DVDs are currently available of the first and second season of "CHiPs".
Official DVD release
It was announced on February 7, 2007 that a DVD box set of the first season of "CHiPs" would be made available June 5, 2007. The DVDs are official products from Warner Bros.. "CHiPs": The Complete First Season DVDs include all 22 episodes of season one with introductions by Erik Estrada on select episodes and a CHiPs: The Ride Out of Spanish Harlem featurette.
Season 2 became available on June 3, 2008.[1]
Other seasons will follow, but a complete release schedule has not been announced.
Retailer link
Bootlegs
Due to the previous lack of official DVDs, there have been numerous bootleg DVDs (in some cases, all over the world). Such bootlegs can have issues with disc and picture quality.
Bootleg DVDs often show up on eBay and elsewhere. Fans are cautioned that these are illegal! The footage on the DVDs was likely recorded off TV and is undoubtedly low quality. Fans are urged not to buy these.
TV Show Monster
A web site is selling 22 DVDs of all six seasons for $59.95. For features, they list:
- Excellent video and audio quality
- 100% in chronological order
- Commercial free and unedited
- This box set contains all 22 DVDs with Custom Artwork.
- These DVDs are region free so they will play on any DVD player Worldwide and DVD-Rom, X-Box or PS2 worldwide.
- Presented in English
The fact they are region-free is a big clue to these being bootlegs, not to mention the horrible DVD cover art.
This DVD set has also shown up on several other sites (which is very likely the same bootlegger operating several storefronts since the exact same FAQ appears on some of these sites). Some of these sites use the following description:
- A light-weight action crime drama (that played as more of a comedy in some episodes, particularly in the first season) created by Rick Rosner, it starred Erik Estrada as macho, rambunctious Officer Francis ("Frank") Leonidas (as translated in France) "Ponch" Poncherello and Larry Wilcox as his straight-laced partner, Officer Jonathan "Jon" Baker. With Ponch the more swarthy, trouble-prone of the pair, and Jon generally the more level-headed one trying to keep him out of trouble with the duo's gruff yet fatherly commanding officer Sergeant Joseph Getraer (Robert Pine), the two were Highway Patrolmen of the Central Los Angeles office of the California Highway Patrol (CHP, hence the name "CHiPs").
The odd mention of Ponch's name in France is another clue that this is a bootleg and the content is not to be trusted. One site claims that TV shows unreleased in the United States are in the public domain, but this is blatantly false!
Empirical
One DVD set that has shown up multiple times is sold by a company called Empirical (or Empirical Film). The company sells DVD sets of many television shows, many of which are already legally available on DVD. The company is based in the Philippines, making it difficult for license holders to shut them down.
Clues that this is a bootleg are:
- No copyright information on the DVD cover
- Not available at trusted retailers such as Amazon.com
- Strange 2/2/4/4/4 episode count per disc
- Episodes out of order...and hardly a "best of" set
- Inclusion of the E! True Hollywood Story as one of the episodes
- Use of the word "disk" rather than "disc" to refer to the DVDs
- Region-free
Unfortunately, the text description is too small to read, but it was likely taken from CHiPs Online.
TV Addicts / TVMediaStar
Although the producers of this DVD set aren't named (which in itself is a clue they're bootlegs), they have been found on sites called "TV Addicts" and "TVMediaStar", so those are the names that fans have used to referred to this set. TV Addicts claims to have 139 episodes on 15 DVD-R discs. (That's about nine hours per disc, so the quality must be terrible!) TVMediaStar shows the same image, but claims 139 episodes on 22 DVDs.
Clues that these DVDs are bootlegs are:
- No copyright information on the DVD cover
- Not available at trusted retailers such as Amazon.com
- Very amateur package design
- Region-free
- DVD-R (TV Addicts) or "DVD-Rom" (TVMediaStar) format, not even regular DVD format
TVMediaStar was charging $79.95 for this rip-off.
Unfortunately, the text description is too small to read, but it was likely taken from CHiPs Online.
CHiPs '99 VCD
This may look like a legitimate Philippine release of CHiPs '99 on VideoCD by Warner Bros., but it is not. The bootleggers have apparently just taken the VHS release, copied information from the box, and put it on a VideoCD. Please note that this is not a DVD and VideoCD quality is very poor.
Clues that this VCD is a bootleg are:
- It's a VideoCD
- The UPC code is not listed as belonging to Warner Bros. It's not listed anywhere!