Why are DVD's for Japan so expensive?

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Sakari
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Why are DVD's for Japan so expensive?

Post by Sakari » Jun 4th, '07, 07:42

Yes, why? On YesAsia's website, say, Jumong and Cloud Stairway KDrama boxsets are priced about USD180 if there are Japanese subtitles. That's about twice what I would expect to pay for corresponding boxsets with English subtitles or none. A couple of JDrama examples - Orange Days, no subtitles, USD180; Pride, no subtitles, USD208. What gives?

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Post by ruisu » Jun 5th, '07, 14:52

I don't know, but regional box sets are expensive, so imported ones are gonna cost even more. I agree with you though that it's too expensive. The Import CD's I want are sometimes $40USD for a single, total putoff.

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Post by viet_la_amour » Jul 17th, '07, 19:45

heyy. i have always wondered too why korean and japanese english subtitle dramas are hecka expensive. and i am really curious to as who buys it that they can sell it like that!! my parents cry over 25-30$$ Paris by Night shows..... let alone 80-100$$!!!!!!

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Post by Issy » Jul 17th, '07, 20:07

i was always wondering about this. thank you for starting this thread.
i really can not get my head behind this fact. why are Japanese DVDs in general are so expensive????????
specially dramas are so expensive that i never think of buying original version at all. most of the time the don't even come Englsih subbs. i just want to know what is so is special about them that they this expensive. is this s normal price in japan so all japanese fans can afford to buy them with such a prices?
i was looking on HYD2 dvd box set that has not been released yet, the price $185 :blink :blink :blink , are these dvds are made of gold or something.
latest US and UK dramas box set original are sold here for £20-40 (max) which is equal to $40-80. and they are definitely more than just 11 eps.
they always say support region 2 dvds by buying them, how can we do this with such prices. i am just so annoyed about this fact. :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

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Post by hasenzahn » Jul 17th, '07, 20:27

I think it depends on how much money people normally earn (in japanese way I'm poor, in domestic way I'm average) and how much people are willing to pay for it. In Japan they ever paid much for DVDs and even CDs aren't less expensive.

Don't compare countries in that way. Shoes or clothes (except european and expensive brands) are very cheap. My friend told me, very cute shoes hardly cost over 10 EUR. Here I have to pay at least 50 EUR.

You need shoes to live in a "human" world but not DVDs ;).

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Post by Magicus » Jul 18th, '07, 07:16

I'm starting to get the feeling that these television companies have sort of banded together to create a monopoly in Japan, allowing them to set whatever prices float there boats. Not to go all conspiracy theory on everyone but it really is frustrating when a drama is 3-4 years old and is still 150 dollars at the cheapest, cmon! We all know the cost of making these dvds is basically nothing but that is not the point. I'm willing to shell out a decent amount for dvds but not when I feel like I'm being cheated by some greedy business people.

I really wish someone who knows more about this would come in and prove me wrong so I can spend 200 dollars of my money and sleep peacefully at night :whistling:

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Post by Shadow Hexagram » Jul 18th, '07, 07:24

it has always been like that (at least as far as I remember, which means in the early 90's when we would import goods from Japan)
So, it may be very expensive to buy CDs or DVDs from there and that it may be rebuking for some (myself included), but that's the way it is. You want this? Pay for it.

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Post by rotor_kid » Jul 18th, '07, 07:43

i was wondering too. Im in the US but things are expensive in yesasia.com that why i never buy things from them. If keep serching there could be less expensive one. that just what i do

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Post by Genmai_cha » Jul 18th, '07, 07:49

True... I wouldn't mind paying that much if it is in HD or Blue Ray, but it isn't. *cry*

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Post by Keizou » Jul 21st, '07, 20:38

if anyone here is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada....go to Pacific Mall
You can find some Japanese and Korean dramas for really low prices and most of them have subs.

But there's a reason why they're sooo cheap..hehehehe :D ...if anyone's from Toronto, they'll kno what i mean...

so if you want j-dramas for a lower price than go to Pacific mall in Toronto, On, Canada

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Post by Issy » Jul 21st, '07, 20:49

Keizou wrote:if anyone here is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada....go to Pacific Mall
You can find some Japanese and Korean dramas for really low prices and most of them have subs.

But there's a reason why they're sooo cheap..hehehehe :D ...if anyone's from Toronto, they'll kno what i mean...

so if you want j-dramas for a lower price than go to Pacific mall in Toronto, On, Canada

i don't think that they original tv companies DVDs because they hardly come with English subbs. i have seen some malaysian dvds that came with English subs (japanese dramas), i was so happy that finally i was able to buy original dvds with subs and decent price but when i got it, it was the same tv rip with really wrong translation. they looked very original though. so know i don't trust them any more.

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Post by 8thSin » Jul 22nd, '07, 01:22

Keizou wrote:But there's a reason why they're sooo cheap..hehehehe :D ...if anyone's from Toronto, they'll kno what i mean...
ROFL!! I used to get Jpop DVD and PS games from there, I know what you mean XD


Back to the topic, YesAsia is not ripping you off for Japanese subs. It's just priced like that in Japan. They charge that price because they can: People still want to spend money to get their entertainment. (and maybe compared to US, Japanese products go through more hands in wholesale etc, and there is less demand, which boosts price more)

It IS weird how they don't give you discount for dramas though... 1 DVD movie = $30, 6 DVD dramas are still $30 per disc :-(

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Post by nophankh » Jul 22nd, '07, 01:34

I think it has some something to do with tariffs.

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Post by spokeydokey00 » Jul 23rd, '07, 09:50

so if I buy a region free DVD from some website, will it be the same video quality as a Region 2 DVD from Japan?

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Post by oceansportrait » Jul 26th, '07, 16:21

spokeydokey00 wrote:so if I buy a region free DVD from some website, will it be the same video quality as a Region 2 DVD from Japan?
From my experience---no. It really is worth it in the long run to just fork over the extra bucks for the Region 2DVD, because bootlegs (most of them) are of terrible quality. I used to live in Richmond, B.C. which is probably THE place to go if you want to buy bootlegs (you can usually find anywhere from 2~4 bootleg DVD stores in one mall), so I've bought my fair share of bootlegs before concluding they were a waste of money.

I bought a region-free boxset of Escaflowne (an anime show). It was terrible...TERRIBLE quality. The english subtitles weren't even worth reading (it's pretty obvious no one fluent in English translated this), and at several points in EACH disc, the screen would suddenly just freeze. For five seconds. Plus, the video quality itself was pretty bad---it's worse than watching ancient VHS version of this show. I payed $30 for this crap.

Another DVD I bought region-free was Battle Royale (the original). Again, the same thing. The same "translator" probably worked on this as well, because all the spelling/grammar misses are glaringly apparent here. No freezing, but the video quality was very very shoddy. With my copy, the video was so dark (which made it even worse, since Battle Royale has quite a few scenes that take place at night) that I couldn't even tell what was going on half the time (I could only guess from the voices). I just threw that one away, went to Book Off and bought the official Region 2 DVD (for $15. I paid $10 for the region free DVD...)

I say, if there's a Book Off near you, go there. They have second-hand region DVDs that are practically in perfect condition for a fraction of the retail.

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Post by InTr4nceWeTrust » Jul 26th, '07, 16:24

higher cost of living =>higher wages=> higher price for goods =>expensive DVDs

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Post by KurosakiKaien » Jul 26th, '07, 21:00

Just in case anyone is wondering, almost always below the yesasia item descriptions, they list the retail price of the product in yen for reference.

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Post by Egg-chan » Jul 26th, '07, 21:08

Seems like both DVD and CDs are very expensive in Japan.. I mean, singles are 10$ and you get like 2-3 songs at most. Albums are usually 30$-40$.

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Post by nalika » Jul 26th, '07, 21:15

InTr4nceWeTrust wrote:higher cost of living =>higher wages=> higher price for goods =>expensive DVDs
true but it's still too expensive :goggle:

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Post by InTr4nceWeTrust » Jul 26th, '07, 23:41

Yes, in general it will be expensive. Especially if you're going through a registered importer (YesAsia or whatever). Japanese retail on a laptop I want is about $650. Imported through Dynamism (popular technology importer) is about $1200. If you want stuff, hope a friend is going to Japan and will buy stuff for you.

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Post by Manatsu » Jul 27th, '07, 00:07

Egg-chan wrote:Seems like both DVD and CDs are very expensive in Japan.. I mean, singles are 10$ and you get like 2-3 songs at most. Albums are usually 30$-40$.
The CD's are expensive because Japanense CD's = good quality.
I read an article about it.
About DVD's I dont myself. Its maybe the same.

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Post by InTr4nceWeTrust » Jul 27th, '07, 00:09

MiIiyah wrote:
Egg-chan wrote:Seems like both DVD and CDs are very expensive in Japan.. I mean, singles are 10$ and you get like 2-3 songs at most. Albums are usually 30$-40$.
The CD's are expensive because Japanense CD's = good quality.
I read an article about it.
About DVD's I dont myself. Its maybe the same.
Not really. It's their economy. Cost of living in Japan is higher than the US.

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Post by groink » Jul 27th, '07, 00:09

I don't know what the big beef is about pricing. "Expensive" is relative.

For example, my hourly rate I charge people for my IT services is $135/hour. People tell me my rates are too high. I tell them they don't have to subscribe to my services. BUT, they won't receive the expertise that I have, AND possibly no one else in my industry can match. RESULT: I am still almost 100-percent billable in a given work day.

Simple economics. You have a unique product or service that no one else has. Many people want your product. It is fully your right to charge a high profit margin. I just don't understand how consumers can decide for us what our profit margins should be when we have products and services they want. That's the beauty of having something unique for sale. And each of us have the same attitude: you either buy it at our p_rice, or you live without it.

When I purchased all seven volumes of Oshin, I never once balked over the US$1000 price tag. Never. NHK has a unique product that no one else has. I want to own Oshin. NHK has set the price - no negotiations. I decided that $1000 is worth the cost of owning this product.

So for those of you who are complaining about $150 for a DVD box set, you must make the simple decision: you either buy it at $150, or you don't own it. Stealing it is NOT an option in this kind of decision making - you're basically lowering yourself to the level of being a crook if you end up doing so.

It is like Super Chicken always said: "You knew the job was dangerous when you too it, Fred. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaak!" You chose Asian dramas as a hobby. That can always change.

--- groink

the _ in the word price was to get around a strange filter.

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Post by groink » Jul 27th, '07, 00:12

InTr4nceWeTrust wrote:
MiIiyah wrote:
Egg-chan wrote:Seems like both DVD and CDs are very expensive in Japan.. I mean, singles are 10$ and you get like 2-3 songs at most. Albums are usually 30$-40$.
The CD's are expensive because Japanense CD's = good quality.
I read an article about it.
About DVD's I dont myself. Its maybe the same.
Not really. It's their economy. Cost of living in Japan is higher than the US.
Correct. Tokyo and Osaka are two of the top-5 most expensive cities in the world. I believe Seoul is in the top-20.

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Post by Manatsu » Jul 27th, '07, 00:12

InTr4nceWeTrust wrote:
MiIiyah wrote:
Egg-chan wrote:Seems like both DVD and CDs are very expensive in Japan.. I mean, singles are 10$ and you get like 2-3 songs at most. Albums are usually 30$-40$.
The CD's are expensive because Japanense CD's = good quality.
I read an article about it.
About DVD's I dont myself. Its maybe the same.
Not really. It's their economy. Cost of living in Japan is higher than the US.
I only wrote what I read. They compared CD's from other lands with Japanese CD's and the result was that Japanese CD's cost more because of their good quality.
Maybe it also is because of their eco. Connected~

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Post by groink » Jul 27th, '07, 00:20

MiIiyah wrote:I only wrote what I read. They compared CD's from other lands with Japanese CD's and the result was that Japanese CD's cost more because of their good quality.
Maybe it also is because of their eco. Connected~
I think you're mis-interpreting that statement. "Quality" isn't something physical in this context. It means many people like Japanese music because they think the music is of good quality. So basically they're not comparing the physical CD by country, but rather the content of the CD by genre. In other words, I think Japanese enka CDs are better quality than Irish dance CDs.

--- groink

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Post by Manatsu » Jul 27th, '07, 00:25

groink wrote:
MiIiyah wrote:I only wrote what I read. They compared CD's from other lands with Japanese CD's and the result was that Japanese CD's cost more because of their good quality.
Maybe it also is because of their eco. Connected~
I think you're mis-interpreting that statement. "Quality" isn't something physical in this context. It means many people like Japanese music because they think the music is of good quality. So basically they're not comparing the physical CD by country, but rather the content of the CD by genre. In other words, I think Japanese enka CDs are better quality than Irish dance CDs.

--- groink

I read the article again and I think you are right.
Also what you wrote above was mentioned there(seems I read over)
Sorry for the mis-interpreting.

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Post by blue.berrii » Jul 28th, '07, 02:44

It's not really that DVDs' are expensive, its more like everything is more expensive. I bought a bowl of ramen at the Tokyo airport, and it cost me 50 USD. And the taste wasn't all that great either. That's why DVDs and CDs are expensive, because they have to match up to the price of everything else.

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Post by Bokas » Jul 28th, '07, 03:07

Maybe it's to fight against the DVD pirates:
1. They wouldn't care much if a DVD is to be copied and sold cheaply as long as the copier is willing to buy the expensive original.
2. The cost may not be worth the profits since pirated DVDs are normally cheap --> less pirating
3. Only small number of fans buying drama on DVDs anyway. higher price --> higher value ?? (like brand named products)

I don't really know.. just guessing :P

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Post by Bokas » Jul 28th, '07, 03:16

blue.berrii wrote:It's not really that DVDs' are expensive, its more like everything is more expensive. I bought a bowl of ramen at the Tokyo airport, and it cost me 50 USD. And the taste wasn't all that great either. That's why DVDs and CDs are expensive, because they have to match up to the price of everything else.
A ramen bowl doesn't normally cost that much, does it? Maybe coz it was sold in an airport. :blink

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Post by Crazy Penguin » Jul 30th, '07, 08:40

InTr4nceWeTrust wrote:higher cost of living =>higher wages=> higher price for goods =>expensive DVDs
Exactly. By domestic standards I'm extremely well paid, but by Japanese standards I'm not. I'd get paid more if I would work in a Japanese company in Tokyo, but I'd have to pay more for my rent, etc, as well. That's perfectly normal. And it's not just DVDs in Japan. Railroad tickets are more expensive over there than they are here. Of course. Different economy.

But don't forget import taxes for us foreigners. I usually pay an additional ~25-30% of the shipment's value in import taxes. That's the real rip-off and it's being done by my own state.

Tokyo can be expensive (but well, you don't have to eat out in Roppongi Hills, do you, I mean, honestly, if you eat out in the best restaurant in Paris, you'll pay a lot, too). And if you eat at the airport, well, of course it's expensive. Go to Frankfurt or Vienna airport and you'll pay more than in other locations of these two towns as well. That's normal. Or take areas with tourist industry. Though, a ramen bowl for ~5,000 Yen? Sounds a bit odd to me.

@groink: 135USD/hour? Hmm... I don't think that's so bad (honestly, I sometimes wonder what people expect, all the work for 50 per hour?) Frankly, many years ago, when I was working as a lowly computer repairs man, my boss charged ~90 USD per hour for a technician who would just deal with hardware repairs (mostly monitors). The point is, if you're good, and I have a problem that only you can fix, I'd pay those 135 per hour without hesitation.

And I totally agree. If NHK has a product, nobody else has it, and I want this product, then I will pay for it. Funny thing is, I've never mumbled at the DVD prices in Japan (I don't think they're so bad, then again, I either order at Amazon Japan, or CD-Japan, or bug a friend of mine to bring me stuff once he's over there), I always cuss at the import taxes imposed on me by my own country. THIEVES!

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Post by Néa Vanille » Jul 30th, '07, 08:52

I don't really know anything about this topic, so I'm just curious. People say that DVDs in Japan are naturally more expensive because of the higher cost of living, which makes perfect sense, yet according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting( http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/15/pf/most ... /index.htm ), Seoul is more expensive than Tokyo, as is London. For Seoul and London I know that DVDs are way cheaper than in Japan. Why is that? :blink There is either something wrong with these statistics, or DVDs in Japan really are more expensive in relation to the cost of other goods compared to other countries.

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Post by groink » Jul 30th, '07, 09:24

Néa Vanille wrote:I don't really know anything about this topic, so I'm just curious. People say that DVDs in Japan are naturally more expensive because of the higher cost of living, which makes perfect sense, yet according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting( http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/15/pf/most ... /index.htm ), Seoul is more expensive than Tokyo, as is London. For Seoul and London I know that DVDs are way cheaper than in Japan. Why is that? :blink
Because I don't think it that the cost of living in Japan is THE reason. There are other factors that cause DVDs to be expensive:

1. Licensing involved in the production of the DVD. Licensing include: licensing of the theme and incidental music, licensing of the artists' images in the packaging, etc.

2. I explained this in another topic, where production costs of entertainment in Japan is generally more than in other Asian locations. However, from what I've read, the cost of producing a Korean drama is more expensive than producing Japanese dramas in Japan. I'm not sure if it is because Korean dramas are longer; I'd like to see a per-episode breakdown which would be a better statistic. I've also read that Korean artists are paid more, but once again is it because they put in more hours?

With that, my theory about Korean drama DVDs being so cheap is because the Korean industry is actually selling the DVDs at a LOSS.

In business, the purpose of selling products at a loss is to promote the content of the product itself. For example, SONY sells the Playstation 3 at a loss of about $500 per unit (cost of manufacturing a single unit is about $750-$900.) SONY is gambling on the idea that they're going to make money on the tangibles - the games. Cell phones is another example - the money is actually made on the 2-year contracts and the outrageously expensive penalty fees for breaking the contract.

So what is the Korean drama DVDs doing for the Korean wave? It is encouraging these fans to invest in products beyond the DVDs. At the little Korean knick-knack stores in Hawaii, they're making thousands of dollars off everything from framed photos of their favorite Korean artists to decks of cards containing 52 of their favorite artists. Drama trips to South Korea are also another source of revenue caused by the sale of the DVDs. So at the end, there are huge profit margins as a whole.

I also explained in another topic as to why Japan doesn't do the same thing. To summarize... The Japanese are not interested in expanding their markets beyond Japan. For whatever reasons they have, it is their choice to make. Therefore, they probably don't sell as many DVDs as the Koreans. The less product you sell, the more you must charge for the product. The Japanese are also not as big on merchandising of their stars as the Koreans. The talent agencies would rather market their stars via the media than via retail store merchandising.

In order for the price on the media to drop, there must be some kind of a major invasion from the outside to make a huge impact on the life of the geinokai. People think that the Korean wave hit Japan big-time. I say the wave had very little effect, if any effect at all. At most, it caused some people to talk about Korean dramas around the watercooler. Taiwan and China was hit by the wave much heavier - so much so they had to pass laws that cut international programming during prime-time by 50-percent. It is that kind of an impact that Japan needs. If the Korean wave didn't drop the price on Japanese drama DVDs by now, NOTHING will.

Last, why should the Japanese even buy DVDs? The Japanese has probably the largest, regulated (HOBANKYO) TV show rental industry in the world. If you want the entire season of Orange Days, you can go down to the rental store and get it for just a few yen. And they can rent these shows MONTHS before they ever come out on DVD. The only people I can see who are buying the DVDs are those who one have no access to rental stores (they must be living deep in the woods and caves with Miyamoto Musashi), or who want a top-quality DVD product with the menus and the extras. Same thing in Hawaii - I get most of my Japanese dramas from the rental store; I don't even download them from D-Addicts. The reason I bought Oshin is because the rental stores didn't have it.

--- groink

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Post by Kanin » Aug 29th, '07, 20:04

I got another question that I hope is not off-topic here.

A while ago I bought Long Vacation and 1 litre from dvdasian. I was fooled cause it appears they were Malaysian versions of the series and they only costed about 50 dollars each. How is it possible they can sell these series for about half the price a Japanese vendor like cdjapan would have?

I'm pretty sure they're not pirated stuff like the ones you can find in China cause the Malaysian company is labeled visibly on the back. But it's not likely I will ever buy from them again as the subs sucked big time.

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Post by groink » Aug 29th, '07, 21:17

Kanin wrote:I'm pretty sure they're not pirated stuff like the ones you can find in China cause the Malaysian company is labeled visibly on the back. But it's not likely I will ever buy from them again as the subs sucked big time.
No, this is not the way to detect bootlegs. Even if the merchandise consists of serial numbers or holographic decals, they're bootlegs. What you indicated first - the price - is the give-away that it is indeed a bootleg. Maybe in some markets the DVD set may be a little cheaper than in Japan. But something substantially lower like $50 is screaming bootleg. Consider YA Entertainment as a rule-of-thumb, where their Korean drama DVDs are still in the $75-150 range, which is consistent with the actual Korean-made counterparts. So when it comes to the Japanese DVDs, you should be paying $120-250.

--- groink

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Post by Kanin » Aug 29th, '07, 21:49

groink wrote:
Kanin wrote:I'm pretty sure they're not pirated stuff like the ones you can find in China cause the Malaysian company is labeled visibly on the back. But it's not likely I will ever buy from them again as the subs sucked big time.
No, this is not the way to detect bootlegs. Even if the merchandise consists of serial numbers or holographic decals, they're bootlegs. What you indicated first - the price - is the give-away that it is indeed a bootleg. Maybe in some markets the DVD set may be a little cheaper than in Japan. But something substantially lower like $50 is screaming bootleg. Consider YA Entertainment as a rule-of-thumb, where their Korean drama DVDs are still in the $75-150 range, which is consistent with the actual Korean-made counterparts. So when it comes to the Japanese DVDs, you should be paying $120-250.

--- groink
Doh then I'm fooled. My only intention was to contribute to the Japanese drama scene in some small way and not to some black market. I'm still surprised by how the whole package looks pretty decent though, if it is a bootleg. But I guess 40-50 $ is a sure tell. Even for other Asian countries to sell them that cheap should be strange.

Edit: I see now "Long Vacation" goes for 170 dollars. That's def. not originals I bought.

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Post by la_contessa » Aug 29th, '07, 22:06

groink wrote: Same thing in Hawaii - I get most of my Japanese dramas from the rental store; I don't even download them from D-Addicts. The reason I bought Oshin is because the rental stores didn't have it.
When you go to the rental store, what region are the DVDs? If they're regionless, are they legit (I know very few region 0 DVDs are, but it happens)?

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Post by Kazuya_ » Aug 30th, '07, 07:28

la_contessa wrote:
groink wrote: Same thing in Hawaii - I get most of my Japanese dramas from the rental store; I don't even download them from D-Addicts. The reason I bought Oshin is because the rental stores didn't have it.
When you go to the rental store, what region are the DVDs? If they're regionless, are they legit (I know very few region 0 DVDs are, but it happens)?
Here in the SF Bay Area, there are many HOBANKYO regulated video stores. The ones I go to have primarily VHS tv rips of the dramas and variety show, etc....

They also have DVD copies for those that don't have VHS anymore ( ??? ) but those are also tv rips. They have many copies of all the current shows to meet the demand of the customers.

I think my parents represent the majority of the customers in that they just want to see the shows they can't see here that air in japan, which cost $1 or $2 to rent per day and they don't care about DVD quality. Once they watch it, that's it. On to the next show or drama.

I don't know for sure, but it doesn't seem like an unlawful practice to operate in this manner (renting out numerous copies of tv rips, that is ) because the stores carry tapes that bear the HOBANKYO sticker on them so it's a legit business.

As for DVDs of an entire series, I seldom see them. The DVDs that are there are usually for movies and there are very few of them in contrast to the sheer number off VHS tapes. ( amazing that people still watch them )

I 've never rented a DVD at one of these video stores so I don't know what region it is. Maybe that's why there aren't many dvds? The players here would all be region 1 and imcompatible with japanese version region 2 discs?

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Post by la_contessa » Aug 30th, '07, 13:19

Kazuya_ wrote: I 've never rented a DVD at one of these video stores so I don't know what region it is. Maybe that's why there aren't many dvds? The players here would all be region 1 and imcompatible with japanese version region 2 discs?
That's the same thing I was wondering about when I asked about the region--how could people rent region 2 DVDs, unless everyone happens to buy a regionless DVD player (or one that can be made regionless)? But region 1 tv rips would explain a lot, because I was also wondering how there could be a region 1 release and we hadn't heard about it.

That's all so interesting! I didn't know you could do that out west. If HOBANKYO has an agreement with the television companies (and it sounds like it does) for North American raw distribution rights, it would be perfectly legal, too.

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Post by groink » Aug 30th, '07, 23:26

la_contessa wrote:
groink wrote: Same thing in Hawaii - I get most of my Japanese dramas from the rental store; I don't even download them from D-Addicts. The reason I bought Oshin is because the rental stores didn't have it.
When you go to the rental store, what region are the DVDs? If they're regionless, are they legit (I know very few region 0 DVDs are, but it happens)?
They're actually burned DVDs. Going along with the more recent posts...

HOBANKYO is good all over the world. Remember that copyrights are governed internationally - especially between Japan and much of the West. As someone indicated, if the DVD or VHS tape does not bear the HOBANKYO decal, then it isn't legit. HOWEVER, there are times where the video rental store will make copies of a HOBANKYO-labeled video so that they don't run out of it - that duplication process is also legit even though the physical product does not bear the decal. Besides the decal, the video store also has the HOBANKYO license in their books, in case someone from HOBANKYO were auditing the store.

I'd say 80-percent of what's being shipped out of Japan are still VHS. Speaking to one of the workers at the store, a vast majority of their customers still use VHS. There are some shows I've seen at the store that come in both VHS and DVD. I've also seen VHS-converted-to-DVD, which is also legit (preserves the life of the rental.) One possible reason for the heavy VHS usage is compatibility. A few times, I was unable to play the burned DVD disc; one of the discs even looked like someone took a metal brush and scraped the read-side. It's unbelievable how some renters treat these things.

--- groink

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Post by fatmouse » Feb 10th, '09, 06:47

Yes, I had the same experience before. I purchased some Japanese DVD from the net it costed a lot.

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Post by noobee » Feb 11th, '09, 13:59

maybe bcos the video is made in Japan haha

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Post by groink » Feb 12th, '09, 01:07

noobee wrote:maybe bcos the video is made in Japan haha
Although you may be joking there, there's actually some truth to your comment.

For most other countries, you can't rent TV shows. More specific, in the U.S., you cannot go to the video store and rent the episode of Desperate Housewives you missed two weeks before.

But, in Japan, you can do just that! If you missed an episode of a TV series, wait a few days and your neighborhood video rental store will have the episode available.

In short, DVDs of TV series do not sell well because of what I said earlier - people can rent the shows for just a few yen, versus waiting a few months for the DVD release and pay 12,000 yen for the same series. The reason DVDs are so expensive in Japan is because the TV companies are not allowed to manufacturer a small amount of DVDs. Most DVD manufacturers require large orders of 10,000 or even 100,000 discs. In order to make up for the huge orders, the DVDs must be sold at an expensive price in order to make up for the cost of manufacturing.

Even during the 1990s, when they introduced laser disc to the market, the laser disc sets were running around 25,000 yen. Same reason - there wasn't enough of a demand for the disc sets.

--- groink

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Post by Keiko1981 » Feb 19th, '09, 15:47

groink wrote:I also explained in another topic as to why Japan doesn't do the same thing. To summarize... The Japanese are not interested in expanding their markets beyond Japan. For whatever reasons they have, it is their choice to make. Therefore, they probably don't sell as many DVDs as the Koreans. The less product you sell, the more you must charge for the product. The Japanese are also not as big on merchandising of their stars as the Koreans. The talent agencies would rather market their stars via the media than via retail store merchandising.
A little :offtopic:
Is this the reason why Japanese dramas isn't bought by Western countries to be aired on TV? As an example one European country buying a TV serie from the US and airing it.
But then I don't understand how Hawaii is so... lucky :)
I guess it's history that's made the impact on that.

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