Thankfully there’s NO reason for anyone to buy Bootlegs theses days, as there’s so much HD stuff available free at the touch of a button. 
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Thanks for the concern, but I still want only the disc format, so therefore I have bought many DVD-Rs the last few months when there are no official DVD/Blurays available for sale.
I wouldn’t mind if scarce SWs that I might want in much better image quality and that could be found in HD format would be officially converted to discs if possible. Then I would be a buyer.
Twice I have received substitutes for damaged discs from the seller, and maybe I will demand a new one in this third case also, but due to my uncertainty If I will like this SW or not I am not sure yet if it is worth it.
I may be “oldfashioned” who craves discs, and furthermore who also refuses as long as possible to own a smartphone (which I think is very inpractical with its small display and buttons) 
Bootleggers will be delighted to hear this … as there are sellers out there, on eBay for example who simply download HD rips available free from YouTube, burn them to DVD-R and sell them to those who are unaware that they can download for themselves.
I use Win X YouTube downloader , which is free to download and install - it downloads the videos without the logos or adverts seen when viewing live.
HD films are saved very quickly, usually mp4 format … which can be converted to a DVD-R using suitable burning software.
You will kick yourself when you see how easy it is to use this software and you can find most titles you’re interested in online, the same way the cunning bootleggers do.
Nice to hear arguments that at least theoretically could influence me in the direction of overcoming my (possibly ignorance influenced ) laziness 
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I came very late to using computers, my first email while I was in my 40s … but it’s true that whatever hangups I had about technology, were overridden by my desire to find out more about my childhood passion for SWs … so from a former technophobe’s point of view, I’d say use the tools available to broaden your interests and research into this hobby.
I understand. I haven’t exactly gone in the opposite direction but partly so and nowadays often delegate some technical or practical matters to my clever and practical wife, even if it usually primarily is due to my laziness (and impatiens) ! (I might add that she is smart enough to accept to watch all my SWs at least once !)
Interesting discussion.
I have bought a number of dvd-r’s to complete my collection as I had difficulty finding some SW’s.
Seems like I need to start looking harder online for hard to find SW’s. I have only watched them online in youtube and dailymotion (usually these are poor quality).
Picture quality on YouTube in the past few years has advanced hugely - Most of the SWs or other Euro movies I save are from Gringo Westerns, which does have a watermark appear at 15 minute intervals … and ‘Film and Clips’, which has excellent content in multiple languages and no watermarks. There are many other channels providing HD content, but for readers here, these are the two most significant.
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Does Win X YouTube Downloader result in no watermark for the Grjngo videos? Thanks.
No, that’s permanently on the rip they upload.
you fellas went a bit off topic so moved it… please not that the SWDb is not supporting any kind of intellectual property theft and on principle we encourage all spaghetti western fans to consume legit streaming, VOD or retail discs, because only if it’s commercially viable for companies to invest money into restorations and put these out, will there be more.
Just to clarify, the two YouTube channels mentioned have legit licensing agreements, and the suggestions I was making were for individuals personal use, NOT to start up a bootlegging business In fact the comments made were to help @runner and other members avoid being ripped off by these type of dealers.
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Thanks Aldo,
I have watched some Grjngo westerns on youtube so I must seek out them all.
Films & Clips is owned by Minerva and they post their own stuff so that’s clearly fine but is there anything else about Grjngo’s licensing agreements besides them claiming so? I mean they might have them, they might not, but just claiming it doesn’t make it true. 
I know some companies have been quite hard to deal with regarding licensing these older Italian films and Grjngo seems to have uploaded films from many many different companies. It is so easy nowadays? And these uploads most of the time seem to be simply upscales of various versions available online at various places. While licensing films why don’t they get better quality material from the rights owners?
Although they do have some better looking ones, like the Minerva films. Those come out on Amazon (and Minerva’s own channel sometimes) first and then quite fast find their way into Grjngo.
Have they released anything that isn’t already available in same (or better) quality somewhere else?
That’s a good question - ‘They Call Him Cemetery’ with HD picture and clean English audio was the first release I was aware of … that must be over a year ago now? I have noticed some of the rips are from WildEast … so I’m not sure how that works … one bootlegger getting bootlegged by another?
I am in touch with the guy but have so far shied away from entering any kind of partnership. whether it’s legit or not, it is eating into the DVD/BluRay market. If that market dries up, no boutique label will invest any money in restorations and unearthing of rare movies for us…
Well most of the rips offered on youtube, even in HD are not much bigger than 2GB, were as a BD can be up to 40GB in size … so there’s obviously a big difference in quality. I don’t see it as a threat to DVD/BD releases - Fans will always want the best possible quality releases, even when they already own multiple copies of the same films.
What should not eat into the DVD/BluRay market are DVD-R:s of lower image quality of lesser known films that have no official DVD/BluRay release at all with English audio.
On the contrary should popular such films/SWs give an indication that there could be a potentially profitable new market for DVD/BluRays.
For example would I be a buyer of a high image quality of for example Blood River (1974) to give an extreme example .
Obviously more well known El Puro would have an even higher market potential if released officially.
But the die hard fans are not all of the market, and even those think twice about buying a disc of a mediocre spagnetti after having seen it online, rather than the disc having been the only option.
But thats a too demand sided view. It eats into the market from the supply side as well: a publisher like Koch etc will not splurge on an expensive license for a film that is cheaply available to stream, from that POV such streams have the same effect as gray market discs: they shrink the potential market for a product hat was niche even before…
Are you advocating that fans shouldn’t watch free material, or that these uploads should be deleted by youtube ? … when in many cases it is the only option to see a particular film.