By Jonathan Duffy BBC News Online Magazine

DVD is the home entertainment phenomenon of the decade. Almost a quarter of households in the UK now own a DVD player and sales of the discs increased last year by 111% on the previous 12 months.

But where the movie moguls go, the pirates are never far behind. And just as illegal copying has been blamed for plunging CD sales, so entertainment bosses fear for the burgeoning market for pirated DVDs.

No one knows exactly how big the market is for bootleg discs, but already this year more than a million copied DVDs have been seized in the UK.

Compared to videos, which are bulky and offer compromised quality, the new digital format is a bootlegger's delight. The discs are cheap, light and easy to transport, while copying is quick and quality does not degrade.

It's not only the movie industry and cinemas that are at risk. A conference later this week in Dublin will hear how proceeds from intellectual property, such as counterfeit discs, are becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terror groups.

New release

Any notion of nipping this black market in the bud has already passed. But there are hopes in the industry that while piracy can never be stamped out, it can at least be suppressed.

CLUES TO SPOTTING A PIRATE Many use "All' in region coding Often lack a BBFC age certification (eg: 12 or 15) Misspelled film credits on cover

The sheer scale of DVD piracy is all too apparent for trading standards enforcement officer Richard Lugg - his office is crammed full of counterfeit copies seized from the streets of Hounslow, in west London.

Across the country, enforcement officers like Mr Lugg are tackling the problem at local level.

The vast majority of pirated DVDs are sold on the street, usually in markets or car boot sales, he says, and while the packaging is often professional what lies inside is a different matter.

Many are simply filmed on digital camcorders in a cinema, and are poor quality. They sell for between �6 to �10 in markets or car boot sales.

The biggest premium is on films which have not yet been released or those that are awaiting official DVD release. There seems to be little appetite for bootleg DVDs that are already in the shops.

"We've got a lot of Kill Bills at the moment. And we get a lot of counterfeit Bollywood stuff in this area," says Mr Lugg.

Kill Bill copies abound

A month ago his council crushed pirate DVDs and CDs with a street value of �2m. Seizing is one thing, prosecuting traders is harder. It takes more manpower and can involve the police. More often traders shift their patch to a neighbouring area and return when things have cooled off.

Mr Lugg's job is made marginally easier by Fact - the Federation Against Copyright Theft, which works closely with HM Customs to target pirates before they reach the streets.

So far this year it has seized 1.2 million bootleg discs - an increase of almost 400% on the same period in 2002.

Matrix method

As well as enforcement efforts, the film industry is starting to face up to practical measures aimed at making life harder for counterfeiters.

Many recent film-goers will be familiar with the warning against use of camcorders in cinemas. Another new tactic has been to scrap the staggered release system in which films are normally shown first in the US.

The British film industry is more vulnerable than Hollywood - pirating has the potential to cause it massive damage Ian Thomson, British Film Council

The latest Matrix movie was released at exactly the same time in 107 countries - the idea being to draw the sting out of the craze for seeing films before they are released.

At the same time, some cinemas are said to screen customers for video cameras and use night-vision goggles in the auditorium to find anyone using recording equipment.

In Hollywood, efforts are being made to plug leaks at production stage, when initial edits can seep out. A recent study found that 77% of popular movies being illegally traded over the internet came from industry insiders.

The opportunities are plenty since films reach digital format - when they are easier to copy - earlier than they used to; at editing stage for example.

Another weak point is so-called "screeners" - DVDs sent to judges of awards such as the Oscars. In the past, these have also leaked onto the market, complete with on-screen text that announces "For your consideration".

Just a fraction of the 1.2m DVDs seized this year in the UK

Lately, studios have added "watermarks" to these screeners, which at least can help trace a leak to its source. Another approach tried by Walt Disney last year was to send out screeners on good old VHS. It seemed to be effective.

Ultimately, though, courts must take a more serious view of this sort of copyright infringement, says Lavinia Carey, of the UK's Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.

The maximum prison term has gone up from two to 10 years but "what courts hand down is another matter entirely".