HBO Home Entertainment (Warning Screens)

1st Warning (November 1981-1982)

Warning: On a black background is the following text in white:

WARNING:

The program contained in this videocassette is licensed only for unadvertised, private home use. All other rights - including, but not limited to, duplication, broadcast by any means, rental or loan circulation for profit-making and/or library purposes, and all forms of public display - are retained by the copyright proprietor. The FBI investigates allegations of copyright infringement, and federal law provides severe criminal and civil penalties for those found to be in violation.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Found on the earliest Thorn-EMI Video releases, preceded by the still Thorn-EMI logo.

2nd Warning (1982-1985)

Warning: On a black background, two red lines appear near the top. On top of the first big line, "LEGAL WARNING", in white and in big letters, types itself in. Then, in the middle of the lines, "FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY", in white as well, types itself in. On the bottom of the second red line, "ALL OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED", also white, types itself in. Finally, below that, the following text in white types itself in:

ANY UNAUTHORISED COPYING, EDITING,
EXHIBITING, RENTING, EXCHANGING,
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, DIFFUSION,
RADIO OR TELEVISION BROADCASTING
OF THIS VIDEOGRAM OR ANY PART
THEREOF IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Variants:

• As seen at the end of American prints of Duran Duran, the British version of the warning uses a different warning text. This variant was also seen on many tapes released by SVS.
• A black and white variant exists on the 1983 VHS of The Captain's Paradise.

FX/SFX: The words being typed in.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on all Thorn-EMI Video releases of the era in the US and the UK, including Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings. This also appears on a variety of locally-pressed New Zealand tapes by various distributors (Thorn-EMI Video had left there in 1985), and also on UK tapes released by Cannon Video from 1986-1990.

Legacy: This warning, alongside much of the subsequent warnings, says that "editing" tapes is illegal, which shouldn't actually be if splicing VHS tapes to fix them counts as "editing". This part of the warning became the subject of a spoof in episode 23 of Oddity Archive, "Scary Logos (and Other Nostalgic Video Terrors)", in which the series' host (Ben Minnotte) mentions this, only to open his house door to discover cops sent by the FBI, who beat him up (off-screen) for doing so.

3rd Warning (1985-1988)

Warning: Same as the Aries Video warning.

FX/SFX: A fade-in and a fade-out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on most Thorn-EMI/HBO and HBO/Cannon releases, as well as 1987-1988 HBO Video releases, early GoodTimes Home Video releases, and Aries Video Corporation releases. Does not appear on the first edition release of Amadeus, though the second edition release, from 1986, does have it.

Legacy: Same as the last warning.

4th Warning (1988-1993)

Warning: On a fuchsia/dodger blue gradient background, the words "LEGAL WARNING" appear on top with the same text from the previous warning below, all in white. It looks like this:

LEGAL WARNING
FOR PRIVATE HOME USE ONLY
ALL OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED

ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING,
EDITING, EXHIBITING, RENTING,
EXCHANGING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE,
RADIO OR TELEVISION BROADCASTING
OF THIS VIDEO PROGRAM OR
ANY PART THEREOF IS
STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

FX/SFX: Same as the previous warning.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on HBO Video releases of the era, such as Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Mom and Dad Save the World, and Ricochet.

5th Warning (August 19, 1992)

Warning: On a gray backdrop of multiple copies of the HBO Video logo, we see the red words "LEGAL WARNING" with an underline and the warning text from the previous warnings below, all in white. It looks like this:

LEGAL WARNING

FOR PRIVATE HOME USE ONLY

ALL OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED

ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING,
EDITING, EXHIBITING, RENTING,
EXCHANGING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE,
RADIO OR TELEVISION BROADCASTING
OF THIS VIDEO PROGRAM OR
ANY PART THEREOF IS
STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

FX/SFX: Same as the previous warning.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare, as this warning's only known appearance is on Rock-a-Doodle.

6th Warning (1993-2005)

Warning: Same as the previous warning, except the warning text is in a yellow Futura font, and it stands against a shimmering red curtain with multiple copies of the HBO Home Video logo. It looks like this:

LEGAL WARNING
FOR PRIVATE HOME USE ONLY
ALL OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED
ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING,
EDITING, EXHIBITING, RENTING,
EXCHANGING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE,
RADIO OR TELEVISION BROADCASTING
OF THIS VIDEO PROGRAM OR
ANY PART THEREOF IS
STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

FX/SFX: Besides the curtain shimmering, the bumper fading in, the text fading in, the text fading out, and the bumper fading out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on HBO Home Video releases of the era. It is unknown whether this ever appeared in Spanish or the Spanish-subtitled release of Last of the Dogmen used the standard version.

7th Warning (1997-2003)

Warning: Same as the 1997 PBS Home Video warning.

Variant: On Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team, the warning appears squeezed.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on certain DVD releases from HBO, such as Flashpoint, Jeff Foxworthy: Totally Committed, Above Suspicion and Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now. Also on PBS DVD releases, as well as the Trimark Home Video DVD release of Hercules in New York.

8th Warning (1998-2005; December 25, 2007)

Same as the 1990-2005 MGM Home Entertainment Warning Screen at the time.

Variants:

• On some DVDs, such as ¡Three Amigos!, Sex and the City: The Complete First Season, The Volunteers, and When Trumpets Fade, the warning is taken from a video master, as evident in the fuzzy picture and the fade out.
• On the 2007 DVD of Living & Dying, New Line's warning screen is used in widescreen.

Availability: Seen on most DVD releases from HBO, such as Goodnight Moon and Other Tales, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and 61*, as well as season sets of shows like Everybody Loves Raymond and The Sopranos.

9th Warning (1998-January 14, 2020)

Same as the DVD variant of the 1988-2005 Universal Studios Home Entertainment Warning Screen at the time.

Variants:

• Starting in 2005, the warning is presented in widescreen.
• On Blu-rays, such as Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season, the warning text is rearranged.

Availability: Seen on a lot of DVD releases from HBO, such as Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, I Spy: A Thing that Flings and Other Stories, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Out of Season, Warm Springs and Flight of the Conchords: The Complete First Season.

10th Warning (January 6, 2020- )

Same as the current Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warning Screens at the time.

Availability: Seen on current American HBO releases distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment since January 6, 2020.