hi ppl, VCD shops in S'pore are officiallY banned from selling pirated japanese vcds(yes, tHAT is the ones selling in ts and poh kim and every vcds shops) because of the copyright matters. By this sunday(i think), the shops must stop selling these vcds already. Now all the vcds are either selling at half price or very cheap...go grab them when you can
i ask the salesperson on if there will be any japanese drama selling again in spore she said yes but will be more expensive and will take a longer time to come to spore....sigh!!!
Which are pirated and which are not?
Sometimes even those that look "authentic" have split-seconds of advertisements in them. (meaning they have been taped off the TV in Japan..)
5 years ago, a typical Japanese drama VCD set cost S$50 or more. (in the days of Hitotsu yane no shita and Hoshi no Kinka) Hope we won't get back to those rates...
Oh no!!!!! I thought they are authorised to reproduce outside Japan.....they are all priated? ah!!!!!!
This is what I think had happened......... Since Japanese dramas VCDs has been selling in Singapore for so many years, the relevant authories wouldn't have been so careless not to know about it. Probably, the Japanese authories is taking some form of action or warning against Singapore that they decided to take this step.
This really explains why the VCDs are selling at such a low price even at TS. I am sure to get them before they are faced out.
I think we may be expecting them directly from Japan which is only for selected dramas........sigh........
I just order 3 sets from last season. I believe they are coming from Malaysia where they have not stop making VCDs yet! They have a good selection. Quality is only OK....but you might not have a choice!
My Latest:
Million Stars
Golden Bowl
Wedding Planner
For the latest and cheapest thru the net, try this site http://sensasian.com.(~ USD$20-25 each)
For older dramas before 2001, try www://www.sakuramedia.com. (~ USD$16-25.00 each)
which one is pirated??..in malaysia most jap vcds were distributed by a company called "mestika kasih"..and it costs about RM30 to RM 33..i'm not sure whether they r pirated ones or not..
I believe they all are pirated! The original VCDs are very expensive and each CD contain one epidsode. Many VCD out there with 7 or 8 CDs are not the real thing!. I owned both. Trust me they are not the same in quality and quantity!
The most expensive set I purchased was the DVD version of Beautiful Life with 6 DVD CDs, cost USD $59! But the videa quality is just can't be beat. It's just like watching TV. I purchased it from www.yesasia.com, one of the biggest Web retailer for Asian product. They marked down their Japanese drama stock to around US $29 with limited selection. They were listed at $45 - $50. I believe they get rid of all the pirated ones from their list! Each full epidsode came on one CD with out editing! Just the packaging will surprise you!
I think the only problem about these original DVDs are they are produced only for popular dramas...... There are 100% Japan made DVDs thus much more expensive.... I wouldn't doubt the quality. It should be good.
So far most of the internet suppliers are selling New VCDs, at least for the last two seasons, from the same manufacturer. Their video quality is only marginal! Not good at all!
That's why I have been buying a lot of the famous older ones for my collection. (Drama under 1998, 1999, 2000 & 2001) If they decided to go after other markets. These might run out too!
They used to sell the original sets for the not-so-popular dramas several years ago. But really, nobody bought them. The average cost was SGD$50 per set, with all the nice packaging, each gold CD printed in full photo-colour (some even with different designs on each piece)
After some time, the prices dropped to 30+ when they were left on the shelf for too long. And after dunno-how-long, I even found Hoshi no kinka at $19.90, full 13 CDs. Grabbed it on the spot. :)
J Drama boxsets clamped down in regular VCD shops such as TS Ent - are we talking about those released by Ri-Zun? Or those elongated boxes (Shin Yi, I think)? Or those dubious yellow boxes?
I guess the only 'original' ones are those produced in Japan....the DVDs boxset on popular series such as With Love, Beautiful Life. The rest produced in other countries are unoriginal. I thought they are authorised in some way to produce in the past. Since Singapore has banned them, I guess they are unauthorised and should be considered as pirated. I have not really seen those DVDs boxset, produced in Japan, selling at local VCDs stores. Is there a possibility that we can get those DVDs in stores? If we still want to get those unauthorised VCDs, maybe interested parties can try getting it online or take a risk to buy it from Johor (Malaysia).....and see if they can get pass the custom.
FYI...
I'm from the US. So far Customs checked and passed the shippment I just received a couple of days ago, which includes Million Stars, Wedding Planner and Golden Bowl from Malaysia. (Made by VBOX)