Statistics of DVD market in Russia, 2005-2007

Purist’s gripes with Russian DVD market

a tiny bit of statistics collected by Vadim Makarov in 2005—2007

Monument to Vladimir Lenin in St. Petersburg

Having discovered in 2005 that my PC could playback movies recorded on DVDs, I started buying some discs in the shops in St. Petersburg. To my surprise, it turned out that a significant fraction of DVDs present on the shelves had some sort of visible technical problem on my monitor.

Like spelling errors in a literary work can distract the reader from its content, substandard or inconsistent display quality can distract the viewer from being absorbed in a motion picture. Unfortunately the latter appeared to be the case with me.

My definition of a nice, trouble-free watching experience for movies on personal computer is this:

progressive scan display at the film frame rate (24 or 25 fps) resulting in smooth motion
image looking artefact-free and sharp at all times (i.e., sufficiently high encoding bitrate and a clean master source)
English soundtrack with no subtitles in movies that originally had English soundtrack.

It turned out that whenever I had to buy a more expensive licensed disc, it only increased the chances of my watching experience being soaked or ruined by technical problems. The charts based on the 49 discs I bought and watched illustrate this. First, let’s see if there is a correlation between the licensing status of a disc and the probability of encountering problems during playback:

Licensed DVDs:

50% problem

50% no problem

Pirated DVDs:

27% problem

73% no problem

Now, let’s see what disks I got versus the price paid. On the following two bar charts, each colored square represents a disc; the horizonal axis is the price paid for the disc:

Two bar charts: number of pirated and licensed DVDs vs. price, number of problem and no problem DVDs vs. price

Quite useless but funny statistics, isn’t it? By the way, all the half-hearted measures to curb piracy during this time period only increased the average street price of DVDs in St. Petersburg by 20–30%, in my estimate. (You remember the threats: USA won’t let Russia enter WTO unless the piracy is stopped, and stuff like that.)

I moved out of Russia in early 2007, which closed this study.

Data on which the charts are based

Below is the full list of DVDs I bought in 2005—2007, and how well they fared during playback. Of course, this statistical sample is both small and biased by my movie preferences at that time. The list is sorted by the price paid. Where the price was the same, more recently bought discs are listed first. I was informed of the licensing status of each disc by salesmen in stores, who were usually quite certain of it (a few stores only sold licensed discs, while the most had a mix of licensed and pirated ones).

Please note that Russia is firmly a PAL country. There is, in my view, no point to sell non-widescreen movies in NTSC format here, let alone DVDs mastered with fixed NTSC optimization (e.g., irremovable pulldown). Yet many DVDs with films I wanted were just this.

Title Price Licensed
or pirated
copy? Format Problems
during
playback? What problems?
The Great Dictator (gift-packaged) $14.40 Licensed NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed Yes I don’t quite get what has happened to the image, but it looks like irremovable 24 to 30 fps conversion. Instead of encoding 2-3 pulldown (which my software player recognizes and converts to progressive), the film frames seem to be blended into 30 fps video frames. The result: any motion looks blurred, with flicker at moving edges.
War and Peace (gift-packaged) $12.60 Licensed NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed Yes For some reason, it displays with 2-3 pulldown as it would be on an NTSC television set. The result: moving objects flicker.
Cinderella $10.80 Licensed PAL, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No Nit-picking: altough excellently mastered, the bitrate on this disc is still slightly insufficient. Some frames show visible compression artefacts. Additionally, a piece of the movie ten or so seconds long (just when the clock starts ringing midnight) exhibits comb-like aliasing in my player — this probably won’t be visible on a TV set, but is disastrous for a progressive display.
War & Victory Songs; The Victory Parade $10.80 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes The main title on the disc, 18-minute color footage of the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945, has an irremovable frame rate conversion problem. For some reason, every video frame has double contours (i.e. appears to be a blend of two adjacent film frames). The result: any motion looks very blurred.
Tchaikovsky
(RUSCICO two-disc edition) $9.00 Licensed PAL, SS-RSDL x2,
factory-pressed No
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(two-disc extended edition) $8.90 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL x2,
factory-pressed No
A King in New York $8.50 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Frame rate conversion (some video frames are a superposition of two adjacent film frames). All motion, especially camera pans, visibly stutter and shimmer.
Troy $5.70 Pirated PAL, SS-DL,
factory-pressed No
2001: A Space Odyssey $5.50 Licensed PAL, SS-DL,
factory-pressed No
City Lights $5.50 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No
The Matrix $5.40 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Pinocchio
(Master Tape) $5.40 Licensed NTSC, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Image becomes slightly unsharp and has visible compression artefacts after the first fifteen minutes of film. Insufficient bitrate.
The Hunt for Red October $5.40 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
The AristoCats
(Svetla) $5.20 ? PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Manufacturer’s logo (Svetla) is obtrusively displayed in the corner of the image for a couple minutes every half hour. Video is slightly overcompressed: small artefacts around lines are constantly visible.
The Humpbacked Horse (USSR, 1947) $4.80 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No
The Snow Maiden (USSR, 1952)
When (Christmas) trees light (USSR, 1950)
New Year’s night (USSR, 1948) $4.80 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes The last short title is poor quality, with interpolated frames. The other two are fine.
Air Force One $4.80 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs $4.70 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes This is the first disc with this movie I’ve bought.
Starting ca. ten minutes into the movie and throughout the rest of it, image goes slightly but very annoyingly unsharp for few seconds at a time many times. Insufficient bitrate (movie only takes two thirds of the disc, the rest is additional material). My watching experience of this wonderful movie was totally ruined: I got angry at the end of viewing.
I actually tried to return this disc. The store gave me a merry-go-round with me calling them several times, getting two empty promises they replace my disc with a good edition if only I wait a week, and visiting them two times. Probably after a couple more visits I could get back my $4.70, but what the hell. Why should I be calling to arrange a meeting with the manager, coming at a specified time, providing my passport details and filling a complaint form, waiting, calling again, and coming once more to get my money back? They did not need all these formalities when they sold me this lemon. So I gave them the disc with a note saying this was my last purchase ever in this store chain, and left (this was “Айсберг”/“Iceberg” media store chain in St. Petersburg).
Eyes Wide Shut $4.70 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Image unsharp, pixelated in places. Insufficient bitrate.
Cartoons by Garry Bardin 3: Grey Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood; etc. $4.60 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No
Mickey Mouse (series from 1936—1938) $4.60 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Insufficient bitrate. Moderately visible compression artefacts all through.
Weird title structure that makes it impossible to start watching cartoons in sequence not from the first one.
Peter Pan $4.60 ? PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Frame rate conversion (all video frames are a varying superposition of two adjacent film frames). All motion blurred. Additionally, the image itself is a bit unsharp.
Bambi,
Make Mine Music
(two in one) $4.60 ? PAL, DS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Mastering of the second title (Make Mine Music) is just awful: image area smaller than the frame, skewed and blinking lines at the top, frames interpolated (botched fps conversion).
Fantasia $4.60 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Disc unreadable at the very end of the movie (at the credits). Incorrect movie length listed on the cover. Otherwise fine.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(Twic Lyrec) $4.60 Probably licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No This is the third disc with this movie I’ve bought.
Now the compression artefacts are mostly gone. The unsharpness of some scenes turned out to be the condition of the original footage (on this disc, this can be clearly seen).
Alice in Wonderland,
Melody Time
(two in one) $4.30 Licensed NTSC, DS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes The cover says PAL. The movies are NTSC, and one of them (Melody Time) displays with 2-3 pulldown as it would be on an NTSC television set. Also, the frame in the latter movie is smaller than the screen, with an extraneous blinking line at the top. Also, the title of the latter movie is incorrectly translated into Russian, giving it the meaning “A Melody of Time”. This is a licensed disc, after all?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
(Extrabit Russian edition) $4.30 Pirated NTSC, DS-SL,
factory-pressed No Shadow details sink into solid black on my screen. Not sure if this is my problem or bad mastering.
Dumbo,
The Three Caballeros
(two in one) $4.30 Licensed NTSC, DS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes The cover says PAL. The movies are NTSC, and one of them (Dumbo) displays with 2-3 pulldown as it would be on an NTSC television set. It’s not that bad actually, but why sell with an incorrect information on the cover? Also, the disc is unreadable in one place.
The Nutcracker (Russia, 2004) $4.30 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Forces three-minute unskippable advertising before the film (UOP). Otherwise fine.
Star Wars Episode III
(from Collector’s Edition set) $4.30 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Star Wars Episode I
(Superbit Russian edition) $4.30 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs $4.30 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed Yes This is the second disc with this movie I’ve bought.
Motion looks not as smooth as it should be (fixed NTSC optimization made by Disney), image more or less uniformly unsharp. Besides, why make an NTSC disc of a 4:3 aspect movie if you can sell PAL in Russia?
Lola rennt $4.30 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No
Clockwork Orange
(Extrabit Russian edition) $4.30 Pirated PAL, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed Yes Forces Russian subtitles when user chooses English soundtrack (UOP).
La Marche de l’empereur $3.60 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No
Alexander Nevsky
(Master Tape) $3.60 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No Nit-picking: image is apparently cropped too much.
Lady and the Tramp,
Lady and the Tramp II
(two in one) $3.60 Pirated PAL, DS-SL,
factory-pressed No Nit-picking: my player doesn’t deinterlace correctly some frames in the second title.
Robin Hood $3.60 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No
Mulan $3.60 Pirated PAL, SS-DL,
factory-pressed No
Alice in Wonderland (USSR, 1981)
Through the Looking-Glass (USSR, 1982) $3.60 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No Transfer from VHS, poor quality (oversharpened, drab colors). No problem here though, because the quality of what I am getting on this disc has been more or less clear from the images printed on its cover.
Apocalypse Now Redux $3.60 Pirated PAL, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Saving Private Ryan
(Superbit Russian edition) $3.60 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Star Wars Episode II
(Superbit Russian edition) $3.60 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Star Wars Episode VI
(Superbit Russian edition) $3.60 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Star Wars Episode V
(Superbit Russian edition) $3.60 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Star Wars Episode IV
(Superbit Russian edition) $3.60 Pirated NTSC, SS-RSDL,
factory-pressed No
Modern Times $3.60 Pirated PAL, SS-SL,
recordable Yes Disc unreadable at the end of the movie. Getting a replacement disc didn’t help (recordable media probably incompatible with my drive). Otherwise fine.
Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV (four in one) $3.60 Pirated NTSC, DS-SL,
factory-pressed Yes Seems to be mastered from a VHS tape or from a broadcast. Double contours present in all frames (poor source or defective conversion equipment).
There are a lot of “N movies in one” discs like this on the local market, but I don’t buy them because it’s clear they are overcompressed. Not that I was going to watch these movies, either: this particular disc was only used to extract a short fragment of Rocky IV for the Russian Anthems museum.
Cartoons by Garry Bardin 2: Choo-Choo $3.00 Licensed PAL, SS-SL,
factory-pressed No

Title	Price	Licensed or pirated copy?	Format	Problems during playback?	What problems?
The Great Dictator (gift-packaged)	$14.40	Licensed	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	Yes	I don’t quite get what has happened to the image, but it looks like irremovable 24 to 30 fps conversion. Instead of encoding 2-3 pulldown (which my software player recognizes and converts to progressive), the film frames seem to be blended into 30 fps video frames. The result: any motion looks blurred, with flicker at moving edges.
War and Peace (gift-packaged)	$12.60	Licensed	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	Yes	For some reason, it displays with 2-3 pulldown as it would be on an NTSC television set. The result: moving objects flicker.
Cinderella	$10.80	Licensed	PAL, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No	Nit-picking: altough excellently mastered, the bitrate on this disc is still slightly insufficient. Some frames show visible compression artefacts. Additionally, a piece of the movie ten or so seconds long (just when the clock starts ringing midnight) exhibits comb-like aliasing in my player — this probably won’t be visible on a TV set, but is disastrous for a progressive display.
War & Victory Songs; The Victory Parade	$10.80	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	The main title on the disc, 18-minute color footage of the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945, has an irremovable frame rate conversion problem. For some reason, every video frame has double contours (i.e. appears to be a blend of two adjacent film frames). The result: any motion looks very blurred.
Tchaikovsky (RUSCICO two-disc edition)	$9.00	Licensed	PAL, SS-RSDL x2, factory-pressed	No
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (two-disc extended edition)	$8.90	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL x2, factory-pressed	No
A King in New York	$8.50	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Frame rate conversion (some video frames are a superposition of two adjacent film frames). All motion, especially camera pans, visibly stutter and shimmer.
Troy	$5.70	Pirated	PAL, SS-DL, factory-pressed	No
2001: A Space Odyssey	$5.50	Licensed	PAL, SS-DL, factory-pressed	No
City Lights	$5.50	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No
The Matrix	$5.40	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Pinocchio (Master Tape)	$5.40	Licensed	NTSC, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Image becomes slightly unsharp and has visible compression artefacts after the first fifteen minutes of film. Insufficient bitrate.
The Hunt for Red October	$5.40	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
The AristoCats (Svetla)	$5.20	?	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Manufacturer’s logo (Svetla) is obtrusively displayed in the corner of the image for a couple minutes every half hour. Video is slightly overcompressed: small artefacts around lines are constantly visible.
The Humpbacked Horse (USSR, 1947)	$4.80	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No
The Snow Maiden (USSR, 1952) When (Christmas) trees light (USSR, 1950) New Year’s night (USSR, 1948)	$4.80	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	The last short title is poor quality, with interpolated frames. The other two are fine.
Air Force One	$4.80	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	$4.70	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	This is the first disc with this movie I’ve bought. Starting ca. ten minutes into the movie and throughout the rest of it, image goes slightly but very annoyingly unsharp for few seconds at a time many times. Insufficient bitrate (movie only takes two thirds of the disc, the rest is additional material). My watching experience of this wonderful movie was totally ruined: I got angry at the end of viewing. I actually tried to return this disc. The store gave me a merry-go-round with me calling them several times, getting two empty promises they replace my disc with a good edition if only I wait a week, and visiting them two times. Probably after a couple more visits I could get back my $4.70, but what the hell. Why should I be calling to arrange a meeting with the manager, coming at a specified time, providing my passport details and filling a complaint form, waiting, calling again, and coming once more to get my money back? They did not need all these formalities when they sold me this lemon. So I gave them the disc with a note saying this was my last purchase ever in this store chain, and left (this was “Айсберг”/“Iceberg” media store chain in St. Petersburg).
Eyes Wide Shut	$4.70	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Image unsharp, pixelated in places. Insufficient bitrate.
Cartoons by Garry Bardin 3: Grey Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood; etc.	$4.60	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No
Mickey Mouse (series from 1936—1938)	$4.60	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Insufficient bitrate. Moderately visible compression artefacts all through. Weird title structure that makes it impossible to start watching cartoons in sequence not from the first one.
Peter Pan	$4.60	?	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Frame rate conversion (all video frames are a varying superposition of two adjacent film frames). All motion blurred. Additionally, the image itself is a bit unsharp.
Bambi, Make Mine Music (two in one)	$4.60	?	PAL, DS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Mastering of the second title (Make Mine Music) is just awful: image area smaller than the frame, skewed and blinking lines at the top, frames interpolated (botched fps conversion).
Fantasia	$4.60	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Disc unreadable at the very end of the movie (at the credits). Incorrect movie length listed on the cover. Otherwise fine.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Twic Lyrec)	$4.60	Probably licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No	This is the third disc with this movie I’ve bought. Now the compression artefacts are mostly gone. The unsharpness of some scenes turned out to be the condition of the original footage (on this disc, this can be clearly seen).
Alice in Wonderland, Melody Time (two in one)	$4.30	Licensed	NTSC, DS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	The cover says PAL. The movies are NTSC, and one of them (Melody Time) displays with 2-3 pulldown as it would be on an NTSC television set. Also, the frame in the latter movie is smaller than the screen, with an extraneous blinking line at the top. Also, the title of the latter movie is incorrectly translated into Russian, giving it the meaning “A Melody of Time”. This is a licensed disc, after all?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Extrabit Russian edition)	$4.30	Pirated	NTSC, DS-SL, factory-pressed	No	Shadow details sink into solid black on my screen. Not sure if this is my problem or bad mastering.
Dumbo, The Three Caballeros (two in one)	$4.30	Licensed	NTSC, DS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	The cover says PAL. The movies are NTSC, and one of them (Dumbo) displays with 2-3 pulldown as it would be on an NTSC television set. It’s not that bad actually, but why sell with an incorrect information on the cover? Also, the disc is unreadable in one place.
The Nutcracker (Russia, 2004)	$4.30	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Forces three-minute unskippable advertising before the film (UOP). Otherwise fine.
Star Wars Episode III (from Collector’s Edition set)	$4.30	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Star Wars Episode I (Superbit Russian edition)	$4.30	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	$4.30	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	Yes	This is the second disc with this movie I’ve bought. Motion looks not as smooth as it should be (fixed NTSC optimization made by Disney), image more or less uniformly unsharp. Besides, why make an NTSC disc of a 4:3 aspect movie if you can sell PAL in Russia?
Lola rennt	$4.30	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No
Clockwork Orange (Extrabit Russian edition)	$4.30	Pirated	PAL, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	Yes	Forces Russian subtitles when user chooses English soundtrack (UOP).
La Marche de l’empereur	$3.60	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No
Alexander Nevsky (Master Tape)	$3.60	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No	Nit-picking: image is apparently cropped too much.
Lady and the Tramp, Lady and the Tramp II (two in one)	$3.60	Pirated	PAL, DS-SL, factory-pressed	No	Nit-picking: my player doesn’t deinterlace correctly some frames in the second title.
Robin Hood	$3.60	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No
Mulan	$3.60	Pirated	PAL, SS-DL, factory-pressed	No
Alice in Wonderland (USSR, 1981) Through the Looking-Glass (USSR, 1982)	$3.60	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No	Transfer from VHS, poor quality (oversharpened, drab colors). No problem here though, because the quality of what I am getting on this disc has been more or less clear from the images printed on its cover.
Apocalypse Now Redux	$3.60	Pirated	PAL, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Saving Private Ryan (Superbit Russian edition)	$3.60	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Star Wars Episode II (Superbit Russian edition)	$3.60	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Star Wars Episode VI (Superbit Russian edition)	$3.60	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Star Wars Episode V (Superbit Russian edition)	$3.60	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Star Wars Episode IV (Superbit Russian edition)	$3.60	Pirated	NTSC, SS-RSDL, factory-pressed	No
Modern Times	$3.60	Pirated	PAL, SS-SL, recordable	Yes	Disc unreadable at the end of the movie. Getting a replacement disc didn’t help (recordable media probably incompatible with my drive). Otherwise fine.
Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV (four in one)	$3.60	Pirated	NTSC, DS-SL, factory-pressed	Yes	Seems to be mastered from a VHS tape or from a broadcast. Double contours present in all frames (poor source or defective conversion equipment). There are a lot of “N movies in one” discs like this on the local market, but I don’t buy them because it’s clear they are overcompressed. Not that I was going to watch these movies, either: this particular disc was only used to extract a short fragment of Rocky IV for the Russian Anthems museum.
Cartoons by Garry Bardin 2: Choo-Choo	$3.00	Licensed	PAL, SS-SL, factory-pressed	No

The software player I used was neoPlayer 6.00 on Windows XP.

The rate of discs I was satisfied with grew with time, as I was getting more experienced and picky in what to buy. However, the beginning was frustrating: out of the fourteen first purchased discs, only five were trouble-free; out of the five first purchased licensed discs only one was trouble-free.

Vadim Makarov Add a comment

Purist’s gripes with Russian DVD market

Data on which the charts are based

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