Several of them are easy to spot - Some of the new studios, particularly PXP, Zero Tolerance, Sineplex, and I think a few RLD use a lot of metallic ink on their DVD slicks, this obviously comes out "flat" on pirated copies. Others can be easily spotted if the colours on the cover, particularly the blacks, have an unusual sheen to them, which means they've come off a colour photocopier/printer.

Picture and sound -should- be much the same, since it'd most likely be a digital->digital transfer, though it also would not surprise me if a lot fo them have digital breakup here and there (when the picture looks messed up and pixillated).

I'd expect that most would lack the extra menus and other extra materials, since it'd be easier to strip all of that sort of thing out for a simple transfer of the feature (sadly this is what the locally-produced Licenced Private and Evil Angel titles are like here in Australia.

I'm sure the industy is aware and not especially pleased with these instances. When I saw the metallic covers used by the abovementioned companies for the first time, I just thought it was because they looked nice, but after seeing pirated copies of all of the above's titles, I think it's also so a slightly educated consumer can tell the difference between the original legitimate product and a copy.

cheers,

scipio

[Link]