RAHRL wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2024 11:15 pm
I got the same DVDFab/MacTheRipper error on each of the discs when I tried to rip te dvd box "The Six Million Dollar Man" that I bought from (a partner of) Amazon US a few months ago.
The counterfeit was very professionally made and I would not have taken a closer look at it, had MakeMKV not alerted me.
How can I be so sure, it is a counterfeit? Three reasons:
1. The discs in this box do not have any copy protection at all.
2. All the discs in the box are layer 1 discs.
3. On the covers of each the cases in the box, it is claimed that the discs are layer 2, but, as mentioned, that is not the case. So the covers do not match with the actual discs.
I couldn't believe it but, again, MakeMKV was right.
Once you’ve received an illegal copy while you thought you’d bought a legitimate version, there are still a number of hurdles to overcome.
1.
Trying to convince the seller or Amazon that the box is truly a counterfeit.
Big chance the seller is not the manufacturer and might not have been aware of the fact. They could just be a trading company. For that reason I would not easily write a negative review. But if they lack the technical knowledge, it is hard to convince them using terminology as single and double layer discs, copy protection, etc. They could just as well deny there is any problem and then your complaint is going nowhere.
2.
Complaining months after delivery.
In this case, the copy is so professionally made, that I didn’t suspect anything when the box was delivered. I have so many boxes to rip, so I got around to it only a few months later. But it doesn’t really support your case with Amazon when so much time has elapsed.
3.
Getting my money back (partially).
I paid about 100 US$ for the box through Amazon and I had no reason to suspect anything. If I had acquired it for 25$ through a private seller on some dubious site, I would have known there was probably something wrong with it. The easiest way for me to get some of my money back, is to ignore the problem and sell the box on to somebody else. Everything that is supposed to be on there, is there, so big chance the buyer won’t even notice it, just as me.
4.
Counterfeits are always single layer discs?
For some reason illegal copies are mostly on single layer discs. I don’t know for certain if that is always true and I don’t know why this is. Probably it has to do with the production machines, i.e. double layer is harder or more expensive to produce. But this is my biggest nuisance: as the illegal producer is bound to the same number of discs (if the box would have a different number of discs, it would be obvious that it is counterfeit), the use of single layer discs that have half the storage capacity means that the video files themselves can only be roughly half the original size, i.e. they are of lower quality.
5.
Region code also wrong.
I also found out the region information of the discs is incorrect. According to the cover, it is supposed to be a region 1 (only) box, but, as my dvd-reader is configured for region 2, I usually get a message from MakeMKV in the log about this discrepancy. With the discs of this box, I see no message about region code, so it is probably region free. Using DVDFab, I have determined the discs are in fact region free (or regio all, i.e. region 1-8). According to the cover, the box should also be NTSC, and I think it is, because VLC says the framerate is 29.97 fps and NTSC is also confirmed by DVDFab.