from what i've read, its still not feasible to pirate BD's because of expensive BD-R's and BD recorders.
those from HK or China are not really BD but are actually DVD's which are encoded in the AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format at 720p .
http://www.hd-report.com/2008/11/17/bootleg-blu-ray-discs-on-the-rise/
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/11/fake-blu-ray-discs-hatched-in-china-industry-is-concerned.ars
It's not feasible, but that doesn't mean pirate copies in true BD discs don't exist.
High def fakes in AVCHD came out around 2008, and they were reported on the web in the same year. Unfortunately, those reports are outdated, as there have been fakes in true BD discs since last year.
Try playing these so called BD's in your DVD players and im pretty sure it will be read by the DVD player.
And I'm pretty sure AVCHD discs will not play on any DVD player.
To play AVCHD discs, you need a BD player that is AVCHD-compatible (not all BD players can read AVCHD).
Anyhow, i've bought some of these discs in nice looking BD boxes (metal cases) @ 70 pesos per disc in our place and the picture quality is quite good in my 42" LCD.
There is no DVD player that can play AVCHD.
Those discs are standard DVDs. They were sourced from BD, transcoded to DVD format, then burned on a DVD disc.
Check on your PC. File structure of DVD is different from AVCHD. DVD video container is VOB (Video Object); AVCHD video container is m2ts (MPEG-2 Transport Stream).
Picture quality of the P70 Quiapo cross-converted BD to DVD?
As long as you have a static picture, the picture quality is good. But once the picture moves, the motion cadence error is obvious.
When picture is static, quality is the same as a regular DVD. When in motion, regular DVD is better. Therefore, regular DVD is still better.
On the other hand, picture quality of an AVCHD 1080p is astounding for such a small file size. Almost the same as a real BD, as long as the movie's runtime is not too long.