WTF? How come the U.S. is so far behind?!?!?!

[JonathanLB]

I went to Amazon.co.uk and they have Season FOUR of Buffy on DVD, we just got season TWO. That is pitiful. Then Futurama is on DVD there, but we don't even have an ANNOUNCED DATE yet. WTF? Family Guy is on DVD, Simpsons Season Two is already on DVD, need I go on?

So what gives here? Why is it so hard to make the DVDs available to us too? Anyways, this is the biggest market for all of these products, the USA, so why not let us have them at least at the same time?

This brings me to my next question. Is it possible to get around the region encoding? How can I do this? Could I get something that would allow me to play region 2 DVDs on my computer or something...? I would love to get Buffy seasons 3 and 4 without having to wait ANOTHER YEAR for them.

Or... what about getting a new DVD player? Do they make players that play all regions of DVDs or ones that play at least region 2 and US discs...?

Any help would be appreciated. :)

[JonathanLB]

Your prices suck hard, though. Jesus, are people in the U.K. all rich or something?! ROFL.

Yeah, I want to pay $100+ for Buffy Season Two when it really only costs $47. Hmm, no.

The funny thing is, a dollar is worth less than a pound, yet it costs more pounds to buy Buffy Season Two than it costs dollars, by far. I think it works out to something like $115 for Buffy Season Two in the U.K., still, and $47 WITH shipping included here in the USA.

Hmm... well... I guess it comes down to whether or not Amazon.co.uk could take dollars on that site and whether or not I'd really want to pay more than double the price to get something early. Possibly...

[ReaperFett]

Remember that box set could well be different to the US one.


And I dont know what you're moaning about, our DVD catalogue over here has huge holes in it. Oh dear, 2 or 3 DVDs come over here first. Thats compared to nearly every other one

[Jen]

The Buffy boxsets are only something like 50 pounds in my local HMV/Virgin :)

[Dutchy]

Hey Jonathan, now you know how it feels to live in Europe, movie-wise. We wonder WTF we're so behind here with EVERY movie on ANY medium. :)

[Jen]

Not just movies, it's everything. :x

[ReaperFett]

Yep :)



£50 is about $75 btw. I just see it as £ is 2/3 what it says for $




And yes Jon, you can chp your player. THats what we have to do :)


If you search online, you'll find it. Dont worry, its just a code to input, no damaging. The odd DVD may not work, but I wouldnt expect it.

What you got?

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by Jenny
Not just movies, it's everything. :x

No, it's not. With music for instance, we're definitely up front with different styles of music. Americans basically only listen to American music. Actually, they basically only watch American movies, too.

Heck, basically anything they do is American. :)

[Oriadin]

The UK sucks. We get everything last and have to pay more than anyone for it!! Its just not fair :(

[Jen]

No, it's not. With music for instance, we're definitely up front with different styles of music.

It takes a long time for songs to come over from the US to England though :| Plus, if you think about it, the UK has just - in about the last 5 years - opened up its markets to a lot of alternate US music. Mainstream US music, the alt stuff, is just becoming popular in the UK.

[JonathanLB]

Dutchy, that's because we make the best music and movies so we listen to and watch our own stuff more than we do other countries' ;) Hate to say it, but someone had to.

"£50 is about $75 btw"

Sure is, but the Buffy sets are not 50 pounds, they are 78 pounds, which is well more than $100!

I doubt the U.S. releases will miraculously have less on them, LOL. They'll be the same, but 1/2 the price.

Still I hate having to wait.

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by JonathanLB
Dutchy, that's because we make the best music and movies so we listen to and watch our own stuff more than we do other countries' ;) Hate to say it, but someone had to.

Hahaha, you couldn't be further from the truth, dude. :)

[ReaperFett]

I doubt the U.S. releases will miraculously have less on them, LOL. They'll be the same, but 1/2 the price.

It's happened before :)


Oh, and you should find it for £50 if you look, at least. Thats the shop rate for them

[JMK]

Opinions lads, opinions....

[Jen]

It depends on where you shop how much things are, plus if you go to MVC - and get a little card thing - they give you a big discount for free :D

[Figrin D'an]

To answer an earlier question:

If you use a DVD-Rom drive in a computer, there are ample ways to get around the region code. There are software cracks available that will allow you to change the region code at will.

For stand-alone players, like Fett said, you can mod the player with a chipset that will allow you to access different region codes. Remember when many people in the US would mod their Playstation consoles so they could play the Japanese releases of games? Same concept. Your warranty is voided though, so if you screw up, you'll end up with a nice paperweight. :D

[ReaperFett]

Not always. Its hard for them to know, and you could always uncrack it :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

No, it is not hard for them to know. Any clueless tech will see the mod chipping in a blink.

[JediBoricua]

Plus, if you remove the seal in any sony dvd player, or a playstation, the letters VOID are written in red! It happened to me.

[ReaperFett]

No, it is not hard for them to know. Any clueless tech will see the mod chipping in a blink.

Mine plays any DVD after I entered a 5 digit code. How will any cluless tech detect that, hmm? :)

[Morgan Evanar]

Thats because your DVD is ready for the general world market. Many players in the US are essentially hard coded US region, although you can burn CDs with the firmware to flash many of them to region free.

[ReaperFett]

No Morg, mine was Region 2 only.

[Morgan Evanar]

Right. Irrelevant. You overrode it with a simple code because its prepared to be shipped anywhere. My point was that many US players require a firmware change before you would do that sort of thing.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Reaperfett, if you mod a DVD, believe me it becomes obvious real quick. Now, in Aust we have similar situation that you do, however the DVD players with Zone 0 (all) are availible as an alternative. Most DVD's that are for Intl consuption have flash chips or are hard coded, or have the codes. Most also alow a certain number of region changes before becoming permanatly set to one region.

[imported_QuiGonJ]

As for the original question, Buffy was going to be released last spring, until the decision was finalized that the show was to be released to syndication.

So, in order to get better ratings for the syndicated Buffy, it was decided to hold the DVD releases back till their seasons had aired.

Can't fault the logic really. :)

[ReaperFett]

Oh, and if youre complaining, think about this. We get games and DVDs delayed ebcause of translating the FRENCH and GERMAN editions. Ours is ready, but we wait for some dumb EUropean release time.