Do you buy dvds/bluray from other regions besides your own?

[yoda313]

So do you buy foreign (foreign to you) dvds and blurays?

I have bought a handful over the years. I've bought a Godzilla dvd. I also bought a import of a Roxette greatest hits dvd. In order to convert the Roxette dvd at the time I used a soft modded original Xbox and dubbed it to my capture card and did a realtime conversion from pal to ntsc. It wasn't perfect but it beat the heck out of doing a conversion on the computer I had at the time (didn't have the dual core yet).

So how about you? Do you only buy local region dvds/blurays or do you import?

[ntscuser]

Living in the UK have always had to! New releases run an average of six months behind the USA, sometimes less, sometimes more. In the early days especially, UK releases were censored beyond all recognition (action movies) or not legally available at all (horror titles). They were also overpriced even when shipping costs from the USA are taken into account.

Before DVD I used to buy imported laserdiscs and VHS tapes for much the same reasons.

[filmboss80]

Although currently residing in the US, I have friends and relatives in various countries around the world, and travel often to Asia and Europe. There are times when a desired movie or concert is released in DVD solely in a particular country, without a Region 1 counterpart in the US; and thankfully there is a tool like DVDFab HD Decrypter to make region-free backups. For PAL backups, I can either watch on the PC or a portable Philips player that can switch between PAL and NTSC.

[Number Six]

I did buy 1 DVD from England because it was out of print in the US and the price on eBay for an original copy was criminal - the movie was REBECCA with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.

[gadgetguy]

No, all of my DVDs are local (Region1). I've not found anything that I wanted to purchase that wasn't available for Region1, and most of my purchases are from B&M stores and that's all they carry.

[rhegedus]

My first purchase was a R1 season 1 box set of Due South.

[Baldrick]

Yep. I imported most of my first DVDs from amazon. And my first dvd rippping/conversion was Galaxy Quest R1 back in 2000, converted it to SVCD.

[yoda313]

Yep. I imported most of my first DVDs from amazon. And my first dvd rippping/conversion was Galaxy Quest R1 back in 2000, converted it to SVCD.

Wow I'm suprised you can remember your first rip! EDIT - That is not a crack at your age - whatever that might be - just suprised with the bazillion rips/conversions you must have done since you've started up this website

I think that might make a good poll - what was your first dvd rip/conversion - or do you remember your first rip???? I'll have to remember that...

[Number Six]

EDIT - That is not a crack at your age - whatever that might be -

Better watch out, or Baldrick will make TURTLE SOUP :P

[paulw]

Anyone who lives outside the US will vote yes because of the the slow releases and quite often expense of buying locally. Some DVD sets vary quite a bit from the US versions especially with extras and sound (DTS) while other DVDs and BDs are just not released in my region.. 4 / B

[Baldrick]

EDIT - That is not a crack at your age - whatever that might be -

Better watch out, or Baldrick will make TURTLE SOUP :P

I'm hungry now. Maybe time for some soup....

[yoda313]

EDIT - That is not a crack at your age - whatever that might be -

Better watch out, or Baldrick will make TURTLE SOUP :P

I'm hungry now. Maybe time for some soup....

Hmm..


Time to dig up a superman avatar somewhere....... Need that invicibility....

[turk690]

Region coding DVDs and BDs is supposed to preserve a studio's preset schedule for movie releases: a particular global localization, movie theater, DVD/BD, cable/satellite, etc. But what if one tier is missing? There have been NO movie houses in Saudi Arabia for the better part of 30 years. Maybe that's why DVD players here, in general, are not region-coded (although officially sports "2" at the back). But BD players are still all "B".

[ntscuser]

[quote="yoda313"]

I think that might make a good poll - what was your first dvd rip/conversion - or do you remember your first rip???? I'll have to remember that...

Bring it on Funny thing is I can remember my first rip but not my first import?

[guns1inger]

Back in the day, yes (in fact the second disc I purchased was a US release of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to test the region free-ness of my new player), but not so much any more. Why not ?

The quality, for one. Although not no much an issue now, for a long time the NTSC release would be 4:3 or 4:3 letterbox, but waiting for the PAL version would give you a proper 16:9 transfer. The trade off was they we often got less or no extras compared to the US release.

Availability. While there are still some releases that don't make it our way (Critereon, some Anchor Bay/Blue Underground material), most does make it now, usually intact, and the time difference for major stuff is often down to weeks or less.

Cost. When our dollar matched the US dollar, the savings were quite good. Now we have tanked against the greenback, it doesn't make much sense.

Zones. My BD player is a PS3, which is resolutely zone locked. All my DVD players are region free, and when BD players drop in price I will get a zone free player to go with the PS3, but until then it is Zone B or nothing.

[oldfart13]

I have 1 region 2 disc I use for testing purposes. Using it right now to confirm the region change on my new Philips DVP 5990/37...

[hech54]

I have DVDs from all over the world. I even had DVDs from all over the world when I lived in America.
No Biggie.....

[waheed]

Anyone who lives outside the US will vote yes because of the the slow releases and quite often expense of buying locally.

Yes for the reason as mentioned above

[Xylob the Destroyer]

No.

When I first got a burner I had my roomies bring me back a DVD from Germany just so I could play around with PAL and a different region.
They brought me Steinzeit Junior. That's Encino Man to you and me.
I have no idea where this disc is now.

[driguy]

I have bought a few things over the years, mainly stuff that will NEVER EVER be released here in america. Like: AKIRA with the original dub, the BBC version of Day Of The Triffids, Howard The Duck... even though I found out HTD will be released here in the states very soon, go figure...

[Dark Mirage]

Yes. All of my DVD players will play any region and will convert PAL to NTSC.

There are a lot of movies that I wanted that just were not released in the US, or have been very slow to be released here. Also, I have a weakness for wuxia tv series and movies. Most of the remastered Shaw Brothers movies, wuxia and otherwise, were released only with Region 3 coding.

There is a lot of very good material out there that most Americans will never see because of resistance to reading subtitles.

[guns1inger]

The only way to watch a non-English speaking film is Pan and Scan 4:3 with really bad dubbing. Or wait until Hollywood remakes it really badly.

[Lawbringer]

Yup.

A couple of times it's been the availability - bought the UK release of Robin Hood: Men in Tights on DVD, because it was out years before the US release. Bought Spaced: The Complete Series - again, quite a while before it was released in the States.

Play just fine in my region-free DVD player.

Just bought Planet Earth on Blu-Ray from the UK for several reasons:
- Narrated by David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver
- Length: 45 minutes longer than the US edition
- Resolution: 1080i vs. 720p in the US version (ok, that one is not really noticeable )
- Cost: with shipping (from the UK), came to ~$31. The US (Discovery Channel) version was $33 (and that was a one-day sale, normally considerably higher).

Note: Planet Earth is an "All Region" BD, which is why it plays on the PS3

[Chopmeister]

1. Yes for DVD - here in Zone 4 there is a lot of material that doesn't get released in the local zone. In fact, some of the shops even sell discs from other zones, and the rental chains carry some as well (clearly stickered as requiring Zone 1/Multizone player to play if rented). In addition to the fact that a lot of R1 & R2 material doesn't make it out in R4, our pricing can be atrocious compared to the US on some movies, and the release window is terrible (6-12 months later). I have 3 DVD players and 2 recorders (long story) - both the panny recorders are zone-locked, 1 of the players is multizone, and the other two are fully zone-selectable. Hence, each TV that has a recorder attached also has a separate player attached.

2. No for BluRay (but then I haven't bought one in my local zone yet either). This is for the simple reason that I can't find a local supplier of Zone A players, and I am a bit twitchy importing one as there are issues with voltages being different etc (we are 230v at 50Hz) so I am not sure a US player wouldn't simply ignite. This is why I haven't bought BluRay etc. A number of retailers have been clearly disappointed that they couldn't sell me the 7.1 sound system that I wanted (and had the cash to pay for) simply because they couldn't sell me a Zone A player as part of the package - which is the main driver of wanting to get 7.1 as well. I will stick with upscaled DVDs until I can source a Zone A player - don't care about local zone (Zone B) as BluRay hasn't really taken off here. As a consequence there are very few titles available, and prices are waaaay out of line with Amazon.

On a related niggle, I keep wondering when will they release BluRay recorders here? They have been available in Japan for years. Even the local Sony dealer doesn't carry them, and can't import them for me as a special order.

[ntscuser]

2. No for BluRay (but then I haven't bought one in my local zone yet either). This is for the simple reason that I can't find a local supplier of Zone A players, and I am a bit twitchy importing one as there are issues with voltages being different etc (we are 230v at 50Hz) so I am not sure a US player wouldn't simply ignite.

Take a look at the post here, it may help:
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1946804#1946804

[paulw]

I believe there are a couple of BD region free players available in Ozz . Koogan comes to mind and Soniq. Both low end but will be a stop gape measure..

[guns1inger]

2. No for BluRay (but then I haven't bought one in my local zone yet either). This is for the simple reason that I can't find a local supplier of Zone A players, and I am a bit twitchy importing one as there are issues with voltages being different etc (we are 230v at 50Hz) so I am not sure a US player wouldn't simply ignite. This is why I haven't bought BluRay etc. A number of retailers have been clearly disappointed that they couldn't sell me the 7.1 sound system that I wanted (and had the cash to pay for) simply because they couldn't sell me a Zone A player as part of the package - which is the main driver of wanting to get 7.1 as well. I will stick with upscaled DVDs until I can source a Zone A player - don't care about local zone (Zone B) as BluRay hasn't really taken off here. As a consequence there are very few titles available, and prices are waaaay out of line with Amazon.

Have a look at http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/kogan-blu-ray-player-full-hd-1080p/ (although they are currently out of stock). It has had pretty good reviews in the local press, and will run on NZ power.

[fooledagain]

No on Blurays as they are the work of the devil, but I do purchase DVDs from Amazon UK such as "The Six Million Dollar Man" when they are not available in the US.

[guns1inger]

No on Blurays as they are the work of the devil, but I do purchase DVDs from Amazon UK such as "The Six Million Dollar Man" when they are not available in the US.

But the Devil's work is so sweet.

[edDV]

Hey! Japan is in my region I find that cool.

Is there a site that shows anything Euro that I'd want?

Should I look there?

Just kidding of course. But I do welcome Japan. Been there 35 times.

With current $ to Yen, I may stock up.