1970s series released in USA?

[Yan]

Yesterday I´ve been informed that someone found an interesting item on ebay australia:

[...]

Looks like an official release of the 1970s series (maybe from USA for it´s in NTSC).
Or is it just a bootleg from the australian release?

[Viking Star]

Looks very interesting!

[Viking Star]

I had a look on ebay Australia but couldn't see it. I hardly ever use ebay so maybe did something wrong - but I searched for Famous Five in DVDs...

[Petermax]

It would appear that the DVDs advertised on Ebay Australia are bootleg releases probably copied from the Australian DVD edition released in error a few years ago. However, they are NTSC format which is the TV standard for North America which is something of a mystery as the TV standard in Australia is PAL, the same as the UK and Western Europe. NTSC DVDs play fine in all DVD players but PAL to NTSC copies usually have a loss in picture quality as well as jittery movement in the picture.

The DVDs are listed here; http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FAMOUS-FIVE-Comp ... dZViewItem

and here; http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FAMOUS-FIVE-Comp ... dZViewItem

My advice would be to tread very carefully before considering purchase, better to wait for the official DVD release.

[Yan]

My advice would be to tread very carefully before considering purchase, better to wait for the official DVD release.

That would be my advice, too.
Probably these really are illegal copies from the Australien "error" release.

But if they were not Chorion had to answer some questions ...

[Tony Summerfield]

Something is wrong somewhere as the cover says 'The Complete Series 1' and some of those titles come from Series 2 - it seems to suggest that the 3 DVDs don't really belong in that box. It is also a fairly cheap price for a 3 DVD set - about £10 UK money, so I would guess that Johnny Depp and his fellow pirates might have something to do with it!

[Lucky Star]

I would agree that this has to be a bootleg release. If there had been an official release we would have heard about it by now. I have a bootleg set as well, its just the old VHS copied onto a DVD. Like petermax said, wait for the official release (if it ever comes).

[Gary Russell]

That is absolutely 100% a bootleg. Nice cover though...

[Yan]

You are right.

In the meantime, Karli from the German website informed me that it is a bootleg (and not even a copy from the Australian DVD release but from the English video tapes. )

[Yan]

I cancelled the picture.

No advertising for bootlegs in this forum

Since we all wish a legal DVD edition to be released, don´t we.

[blytonseeker]

I have the dvd's that are mentioned. There is the complete series 1 and the complete series 2 and both sets have three dvd's. They are not a genuine release, but i have to say that compared to the blank set of four disc's which contained the entire series and that sold for stupid prices on ebay, this is value for money. The footage isn't going to be brilliant but this is an old show. The art work on the discs and the covers is very professional and I know everyone wants to see a genuine release but I wouldn't hold your breath. I'm pleased with my set and I think they were worth every penny and to be quite honest I appreciate this is a breach of copyright but then whoever has copyright should really get their act together. These play on any dvd player.

It's the same old story for most of the TV shows. For some strange reason having anything produced in English and on dvd in the Uk seems to be impossible.