Disney’s The Little Mermaid Special Edition from Pacific Marketing

Disney the Little Mermaid DVD

Pacific Marketing is currently my favorite Asian distributor of genuine Disney DVDs, and this is a very good example of a high quality genuine release which can be bought in Asia for as little as £3.

It’s incredible to UK and European buyers that real Disney DVDs can be that cheap, but it’s true.  Pacific Marketing is only one of a handful of licenced distributors of Disney DVDs, but  for me they represent the best quality at a good price.

This edition features all the extras, including Music Video, Games & Backstage Features.  It has only English writing on the front cover, and a mixture of English and Thai on the back cover, it has English and other languages such as Korean, Manadrin etc and as with all DVDs any subtitles can be switched off easily with the subtitle button on the DVD remote.

Like so many new releases of Disney DVDs this is copy protected, so results on PC’s and some DVD recorders may vary, though it plays on my Mac it does not play on my Panasonic DVR recorder (but these days very few new titles do!).

All in all this is great value for money.  A few sellers on eBay and on the ‘net are selling this import version, if you are buying on eBay make sure that the seller mentions the distributor as “Pacific Marketing and Entertainment Group and the barcode number is 8856021 035307, if in doubt ask because we all know that eBay is a magnet for counterfeit sellers, better to stick to professional sellers on websites.

Imported Disney Beauty & The Beast DVD for UK Buyers

Disney have not sold Beauty and the Beast on DVD in the UK for a few years now, so the only option for most people is to buy an imported version.  It’s possible to buy an imported version because whilst Disney do not market this title in the UK or in the USA, it is marketed in many countries around the world.

Buyers from the UK are often surprised to find that UK Disney DVDs differ substantially from nearly every country outside Europe.  Main areas of surprise include the following.

• Imported Disney DVDs do not have the hologram ring on the disc itself (however no Beauty and the Beast DVDs have ever yet been manufactured with the Hologram ring anyway)
• Unlike UK DVDs many Imports have no hologram, or if a hologram is present then the Disney hologram is on the front cover and not on the back or spine like most new UK titles.
• USA Disney DVDs have NO HOLOGRAM on either the box nor the packaging, this comes as a surprise to many UK buyers.
• Imported Disney DVDs DO NOT come in blue or purple plastic boxes, they come in black or clear boxes that do not say “Disney” inside the actual box.
• Imported Disney DVDs rarely have insert leaflets.
• Imports can be 1 or 2 Disc versions depending on Origin

As if all that does not make it complicated enough the quality of the printing can vary a great deal depending on the country in which it’s manufactured.

With Licenced Disney DVDs being manufactured worldwide in more than 100 countries, and Beauty and the Beast being manufactured under licence in a handful of those countries at any one time how do you tell an original from a counterfeit?

It’s even more difficult now that traditional “dodgy” countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia now manufacture genuine licenced Disney DVDs that are sold at a fraction of the UK price and often find their way to the UK via eBay and DVD Websites.

How to Tell: The only genuine imported Beauty and the Beast DVDs that I have seen recently are 2-disc editions, surprisingly the genuine 2-disc special edition of Beauty and the Beast IS available in parts of Southeast-Asia including mainland China.

Note:  The USA release has not been on sale new for many years, the few sealed ones that are around are unlikely to sell for less than US $100, If it’s coming from anywhere outside of the USA or Canada then it’s very very unlikely to be USA Edition.

DON’T even look for a hologram ring on the disc, it will not be there.  BEAUTY & THE BEAST has NEVER been manufactured with a HOLOGRAM on the DVD.

Genuine Disney Title with NO DISNEY HOLGRAM, ALL REGION (Yes Really)

I always thought that Genuine Disney DVDs always had a Disney Hologram, I was wrong.

The photo above shows a 100% Genuine Disney DVD, Bridge To Terabithia distributed by EVS Entertainment which DOES NOT have a Disney Hologram anywhere on the outside or inside of the box or on the DVD, the only Hologram is not a Disney hologram, yet this is a thoroughly genuine Disney DVD.

To as insult to injury to the so-called Disney DVD experts, note that it comes in a black case and has a red DVD 9 symbol on the DVD, and it’s ALL-REGION

Many so-called Disney DVD experts (I call them Know All’s who know F**K All) will tell you the following lies.

1:  Genuine Disney DVDs must have a hologram on the DVD.

This is TOTAL RUBBISH.

2:  Genuine Disney DVDs will have the hologram on the back or spine of the case, not the front.

Again, TOTAL RUBBISH

3:  Genuine Disney DVDs only come in Clear or Blue plastic boxes and never Black.

Rubbish, Completely Untrue.

4:  Genuine Disney DVDs say “Disney DVD in the plastic box”

Not true, again total lies.

5:  Genuine Disney DVDs never have a red DVD9 logo on the box or disc.

Rubbish, as shown in the photo they can have the DVD9 logo on the disc or box.

6: Genuine Disney DVDs are never all-region.

Not True, see photo above.

There are many more myths about what makes a Disney DVD genuine, here is the Bottom Line:

” Payment of  licence fee from the manufacturer/distributor to Disney (Buena Vista) is what makes a Disney DVD authentic, there is next to nothing about the packaging, origin, location of markings, hologram etc, or even regional coding that makes a Disney DVD either fake or real”.

But the know all’s will pay no attention to this and will continue to circulate lies, bullshit and half-truths.

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Thailand Release.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End just landed on my desk, but this one is a thoroughly genuine release from Pacific Marketing (Thailand), it’s a high quality DVD but the buyer was concerned for three reasons:

1. The buyer complained that there was no hologram on the DVD itself, I’m not entirely sure why the buyer would feel that there should be as very few Disney DVD’s (or any for that matter) have been manufactured with a hologram on the DVD.

2. The buyer was concerned that the Hologram was on the front of the packaging and the text in the back of the hologram says BVHE. The buyer was not justified in this instance as the hologram is quite right to say BVHE as that means “Buena Vista Home Entertainment”, also this distribution does have the hologram on the front of the packaging and there is no problem with that, many other genuine imports also have the hologram on the front bottom left.

3. The buyer thought that the printing on the DVD printed side looked wrong. The printing on the printed side of the DVD is correct, though I appreciate that it can cause confusion where no region is marked on the DVD itself, in this instance the DVD is thoroughly genuine.

It’s also interesting to note that this DVD is copy protected and does not play on many PC’s with DVD software and I have heard that it will not play on some DVD recorder machines, these are getting quite common now in the home and are often used as a primary DVD player, so if you are thinking about buying a DVD recorder you may want to keep a plain old DVD player also.

This costs about 3 UK pounds, or 6 US dollars in Thailand, amazing value in my opinion and it’s a totally genuine and fully licensed Disney DVD.

Counterfeit Disney Box Set 110 DVDs

I just came back from a trip to China and I just could not resist this! It’s an absolute counterfeit though the quailty is amazing. This 110 DVD boxed set has every Disney movie ever made up to about 2006 and it comes in an impressive metal tin.

As is usual with Chinese counterfeit goods, the devil is in the detail. This set includes at least 3 movies which are not Disney at all.

Now some of you will say that I should not be buying stuff that I know is counterfeit, and normally I would not, but I just wanted to see how good this really was. The whole set cost me UK 20 Pounds (40 USD) and the ones that I have watched so far are perfect quality.

I would be interested to know if disney have ever made anything like this for real.

Note to Disney:  This is counterfeit and I’m happy to hand this over to Disney, I have sent a message to that effect to the disney head office and await collection by courier if Disney wish to have this.