so today i bought Mei Ah's 2046 and Media Asia's Yesterday Once More...or did i??? they turned out to be pirated versions!!! when i looked at those dvd's, i didn't see anything wrong with it, except the "DVD-9" bugged me a little. i went to 5 different stores in chinatown boston to find the cheapest price and they are all selling the same versions, so i thought they were legit. but when i got home and opened them, the first thing that hit me was "damn, they look ugly inside!"---the jewel case and the letterbox were cheaply made. that's when i knew i've been tricked. i checked the discs, 2046 seemed to be fine, but Yesterday Once More had quite a few scratches. so i watched Yesterday Once More on my "good" american made expensive dvd player (i watch all my purchased goods on that player and i use the phillips divx compatible to play my pirated goods) to see how bad i've been tricked. it started off with a ten minute behind the scene commercial for IA Trilogy Box Set, and then it brought me to the main menu which has no special features, just chapters, setup, and play. i thought it was quite legit, typical hong kong dvd. then after an hour and ten minute of the movie, the dvd was still running smoothly and the pictures and sound are top quality stuff. but then it started skipping, so i was like "@#%$, i did get tricked!" i switched to my phillips player and it plays smoothly without any problem at all. so i've come to the conclusion that the dvd is a complete copy of the original, it would have played fine without those scratches. even though these pirated goods are top quality stuff and only costed me 10 bucks each, i still feel cheated. i meant to buy the legit ones, damn it. it's my way of giving back to the film industry for their hard work (i pirate A LOT). there's no point in buying pirated goods, that just pissed me off. i learned my lesson this time. so guys, watch out for those dvds, dont get blinded by Media Asia and Mei Ah brand names. dvd-9 = @#%$!!! i knew i should not have trusted chinatown, but i've been buying legit stuff from there so i gave in. sorry for the long post, just wanna give you guys the heads up.
