Ben W Bell

In the UK it is. In Canada it isn't. Mind you if you rip them, then get rid of the originals then you are no longer the owner and now have illegal copies of them.

Cookie

If you check out the BBC Canada website you will see the prices are much higher and most of the stuff is really old especially comedies which are ranging mostly from the 1970 to the 1990s. Great if you want Are You Being Served lol I was flicking through their website and did a comparison:

All Creatures Great & Small Complete Collection - $349.48 (plus tax) BBC Canada
All Creatures Great & Small Complete Collection - 71.48 GBP HMV UK

Doc Martin Series 1,2,3,4 - $99.98 + tax BBC Canada
Doc Martin Series 1,2,3,4 - 17.49 GBP HMV UK

I used to order from Sendit.com (UK) but they have hiked up their delivery charges from 1 GBP to over 4 GBP per item to Canada :-( They are now even charging for UK deliveries too.

If you are taking over a container, fill it up the brim, including all your kitchen and garage nik naks otherwise you will just have to go out and replace it all.

helcat12

Yep, and some things you cannot get on Amazon.ca at all. Having sent our entire complement of DVDs (and everything else) to my OH in BC already, I treated myself to "Dougal and the Blue Cat" on DVD, which was under a tenner.
I couldn't find it anywhere for sale in Canada. (I would have thought with it being in English and French they would have been all over it like a rash!)
I think Christmas presents are going to involve a lot of this sort of thing from now on.

EssentialP

Insanity!

Before moving, along with bringing all my DVDs, I actually went through my Amazon wish list for all the DVDs I wanted — especially seasons of TV shows — and purchased them ALL. Easily saved me hundreds upon hundreds of dollars.

I also think i'll just stick with my region-free DVD player and get family to ship me UK DVDs every so often.

helcat12

Or you could do what my OH did - leave your spouse in the UK, get her/him to ship all your things including your entire DVD and CD collection over to Canada, leaving her/him with next to nothing, thus assuring that in the meantime while the house is being sold she/he will probably buy several lovely DVDs that you also wanted and bring them with her/him when she/he finally comes over.
Not that I am bitter or anything.....

ultrarunner

Really....where did you pull that one out of? You might want to look into that again matey

EssentialP

I believe what he said is correct actually. The only legal evidence you have of ownership is the original DVD. Otherwise what's to stop someone ripping DVDs to their hard drive then selling the originals to someone else after?

Ben W Bell

Nope, in the UK format shifting is actually illegal (but rarely enforced.) And even in countries that allow for format shifting, if you then sell your DVDs you no longer have the rights to have a copy of them as you don't own the copyright usage anymore.

NoreenC

We brought ours over and bought a reasonably priced multi-regional dvd player. It works fine.

Nicola N-A

we brought all of ours over and watch them via the laptop - link it to the tv and watch it big screen or leave the kids with the big tv and hide away with my 'decent' shows and a glass or 3 lol

helcat12

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!!!

Howefamily

Hi, we bought a Progressive Scan player from Canadian tire for $30 (I think) it plays all our UK DVDs. We got the Digitron make but they also sell a Sony one for $50
Google Canadian tire for these and you can see both.

pontcanna

Comparing BBC Canada to HMV or Amazon UK in terms of price is apples and oranges. BBC charges full whack and moves very little product compared to Amazon Canada, Walmart or any high volume/discount retailer. You can always order specialty UK DVD's from Amazon UK once you're here anyway. Postage isn't too bad, especially since you're not charged VAT - and unless it's a large order, Canada Customs usually ignores it as well on the way in.

rivingtonpike

Multi-region DVD players are comfortably under $100 and they can be good reliable names. We have our entire UK DVD collection and they all play absolutely fine on the Canadian 110v TV. Having looked into various options, we've found that even with shipping costs, Amazon and its contemporaries are still by fay the most cost effective way of acquiring DVDs.

Incidentally, I don't know whether this is true of all Canada, but here in BC, DVDs can be taken out of the Library for a week at a time absolutely free. You search for the programme or film you're after online and then you receive an email when it arrives at your local branch for collection. In the winter months, we've wiled away many a dark evening with Lovejoy, Pie in the Sky, Hetty Wainthrop, Maigret, The Good Life, Only Fools etc etc.....

helcat12

Yep, my husband is a big fan of the library DVD lending system in BC!
He gets DVDs there quite often - FREE, as you say, rivi!
Libraries are often overlooked for media other than books and so well done for mentioning it!