Hey.

I've just got back from Malaysia and bought loads of region free DVDs, now all my mates want them. So, I need to find a DVD wholesaler in Malaysia. Please help!

-- Steve McQueen (the_cooler_king77@hotmail.com), May 21, 2001

Answers

Are those DVDs feature films? If they are recent feature films, they couldn't have been legitly region-free and so they can only be pirated. Much to my dismay I have stumbled upon pirated DVDs: yes they are this sophisticated now, and can now be found in Hong Kong, Singapore, and indeed Malaysia. (Note: seriously, these ARE DVDs, NOT VCDs; even the player says so.) I found this out this way: I had a Charlie's Angels region 1 and a friend with the same but region-free. Although at a glance the covers seemed identical, on much closer examination the region-free had portions of the picture smudged and the CMYK out of registration, and the smaller letters were blurred. And the paper it was printed on was thinner than that of the region 1. Needless to say the region free (about $7) was half the cost of the region one. Of course the picture quality for both was the same on playback; not surprising there when everyone and his pet rock already knows how to use DVD Decrypter or cladDVD to the hilt, the only difference being the piraters have DVD presses. So there.

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), May 22, 2001.

Mehmet is right. I am Malaysian. Those DVDs are pirated and definitely illegal. You can get them cheap just about anywhere in Malaysia...but don't.

-- the scorpion king (wincom@asiapoint.net), May 23, 2001.