Being a movie lover, I buy a lot of DVD's. I have had many experiences buying DVD's on-line. Most of the time everything works well but there are unscrupulous dealers/sellers, even on e-bay.

  The most important thing, as with anyone looking to get into a hobby, is to educate yourself about the subject. Here's some hopefully helpful information about the differences in DVD's and buying tips.

Some DVD's come in different viewing formats.

WIDESCREEN: refers to the aspect ratio of how the film will show on the DVD. You may have already seen 2:35:1, 1:77:1, and others on your DVD's. When you play a widescreen DVD, you will see black bars along the bottom and top of the picture. This allows you to see the movie as it was originally filmed and shown in theaters. If you have a 16X9 TV and the right aspect ratio, you will not see any black bars. Toy Story I and II are a good examples. Anything in aspect ration 1:77:1 would do the same. Many people do not like to see the black bars and prefer the second type of picture viewing format.

PAN and SCAN: refers to one aspect ratio, 1:33:1. It fills the entire TV screen with the picture.   It's the way most TV shows, commercials, etc, display on your TV screen. Some TV stations, especially High Definition channels, now use a widescreen format. Some fill the screen but some do not. The undesireable thing about pan and scan is the movie is literally re-filmed, (hence the name "pan and scan"), and compressed so it will fit on your TV screen. It does not matter what size your TV is. This means you miss some of what was filmed. Ever watch a movie where two people are talking opposite each other but you may only see one person? Did you notice the camera moving from one person to the other? Likely you were watching a pan and scan version. The widescreen version would show both people if it was originally filmed that way. I did not like widescreen at first but that was years ago. Now, I only buy widescreen movies. It's easy to become oblivious to the black bars and once you've seen what you've been missing, (thanks Fox Video), you'll always want widescreen.

  Some DVD's are widescreen or pan and scan only. Some do both.

SOUND: Basically, there are four-Dolby Digital-digital sound processing but usually mono, Dolby Stereo-digital sound processing in stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1-digital sound processing with five or more channel separations, (this means audio signals are seperated allowing the speakers to produce wide ranges of sound and detail independently from the others), and DTS-(Digital Theater Sound)-the big bad boy of sound. Really loud and booming sub-woofer effects without distortion. All of your newer DVD's will be at least Dolby Digital 5.1. Some also include DTS. You must have a compatible DVD player AND sound system to get the proper effect of DTS and 5.1. One note about DTS, it takes up a lot of space on the DVD to produce this sound so many DTS DVD's do not have the all extra features most DVD's have. However, some may have a second disc in a set with the extras. Many times the extra stuff is nothing worth watching anyway.

  Now, let's talk about buying DVD's. The package of the DVD will usually tell you everything you need to know, what the aspect ratio is, what sound it has, what region it's for, (I'm sure you all are aware different parts of the world have their own regions. This means you can not play a DVD made for region 4 if you are in region 1 unless you have a region free DVD player which right now you don't want. The picture will look weird for lack of a longer explanation). So when you are in a store, you can see what you are buying. Online should be the same case but it's not always so.

  Some DVD's have been made in different versions, extended/director cuts, anniversary editions, special packaging, different soundtrack. A good example is Jim Carrey's, "The Mask". It recently was re-released with a DTS soundtrack not found on the original release. Saving Private Ryan has at least three versions and I think even a fourth.

  This is where I can start with the unscrupulous sellers. I was wanting a, "Saving Private Ryan", with DTS sound. Only one version exists with it as I found out too late. I saw an auction on for the D- Day Anniversay edition. It was advertised with DTS sound so I bought it. When I got it, I did not see the DTS symbol on the package as all my others with DTS sound show. I called the seller to ask about that. He checked his information and swore it had the DTS sound. When I played it, I found out this version did not have DTS sound. I e-mailed and called the seller back a few times. He blamed everything on the source he got the information from them and refused to take any responsibility or accept a refund or exchange based on his false advertising. Another on-line seller had a store I went into and searched for DVD DTS. It gave me a large listing. Even though I have gained knowledge about DVD's, I still don't know everything. There were some listed with DTS sound but when I got them, they did not have it. One was not even stereo, (two were backordered even though they showed as in stock). Unfortunately there are not a lot of research resources to try and find out if a DVD was ever released in a certain way. I do use Tower Records as a cross reference. If they don't show a DVD in DTS, it likely does not exist.

    Some of the listings may show "Superbit" DVD's. Superbit DVD's are real but are also bootlegged. Sony/TriStar Pictures produces Superbit. They are specially made and offer superior picture and sound quality, (always DTS but has 5.1 also). Bonus features are eliminated and the space is used for more sound and picture bits, (the digital imprints of sound and picture on the DVD are called "bits"). Superbit has a website you can go to and see what's available. If it's not on this list, it's not available. As far as I know there is no such thing as a "promo" Superbit. They either make it or they don't. 

  Another thing to watch for are bootlegs. As you search e-bay and other online auction listings, you will come across sellers from China, Korea, Hong Kong, Europe, The Russian Federation. Unfortunately most of these are bootlegs-illegal copies. If they work at all, the picture and sound qualities are poor. Disney DVD's are very popular to bootleg. Some listings may show Disney DVD's with DTS sound. Disney has produced a few DVD's with DTS sound but are generally only on re-issues like with Toy Story I and II, or "straight to DVD" titles. So most of what you see are bootlegs. Many times you will see DVD's listed from foreign sellers with/without DTS sound for $4.99 or something close. Most of the titles have been released in the U.S. and already have DTS sound. So how can they sell brand new DVD's so cheap? Easy, they are likely bootlegs and cost 20 cents to produce. Many times you will see a listing from an American seller, who may not be a DVD seller, selling a bootleg DVD they bought unknowingly. Dead give-aways for bootleg DVD's are ones that do not come in a case, (some sellers will explain the disc was taken out of the case to test it, (why?), and also reduces the shipping costs), comes with a case but no artwork or chapter insert, (although I have bought DVDs at Wal*Mart that did not have any), come from sellers in the countries mentioned earlier, listed as "region free", noted as a DVD9, or the DVD is advertised as a U.S. version but all the other U.S. versions do not have the features they list. There are legitimate foreign DVD's that are made differently than the U.S. versions, but those would be for that region only. For example, Independence Day has been re-released in some European countries with DTS sound. That DVD would only work in that region. The U.S. has not had such a version released. How /why would someone in another country have a region 1, (United States region code), DVD that can not be purchased here? Generally then, if a seller is out of the country but selling DVD's for region 1, they are likely bootlegs. If the DVD is advertised for the region of the country it's being sold in it's likely genuine. Your DVD player then must be region free or "0". As a disclaimer, I can't say 100% of sellers from these countries, or with these types of DVD's, are bootlegs. From other people I've spoken with who have bought DVD's from these countries or of the type mentioned, so far have all been bootlegs. I have bought a few before I knew better. UPDATE 12/03/07: As testimony to the above, many sellers have stopped listing phony DVD's on e-bay although there are still a few that pop up from time to time.

  I know this is a lot of information. But if you spent big money for a killer TV and/or sound system, why spend your hard earned money for DVD's that are fake? Never take for granted that information in someone's online listing is accurate or even the truth. Even sellers that might generally be honest can make mistakes but may not care. Check return/refund policies. If there are none, stay away! Ask questions! If you do not get an answer or don't feel confident with the answer you do get, don't buy! Contacting a seller can be helpful but if they don't know their product, there's no guarantee you will get want you want. I have first hand experience in that area. Use the internet. Search for the DVD title. You can find reviews and compare what version DVD's really exist. If 50 sellers have a DVD listed the same way and one has it listed differently, it's likely a bootleg or a super, super rare DVD. Trying to contact the movie studio or production company is useless. They just don't respond. Talk to people in stores that specialize in selling DVD's, like Tower Records. Media Play, Suncoast Motion Picture Company. Wal*Mart, Target and such stores are not good sources of information. Feel free to contact me although I do not have all the answers.

  If you have any information I missed or you you think could be useful in this guide, let me know and I'll add it in.

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  Thanks for reading this. I hope it was helpful. Now go watch a movie!

Dennis