Techno-Crime

By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles

Movie pirates have found a new format in which to load their ill-gotten wares: the video-compact disc, also known as VCD. Popular with Asian counterfeiters for a year or so, the VCD, which resembles the digital videodisc but offers lower-quality images, has begun hitting the U.S., with boots of Deep Impact and Armageddon now available on the black market in Los Angeles. The discs, which can be played on a DVD machine, are going for as much as $200 each.

--By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles