British DVDs (Christmas is Coming!)
Oct 13th 2003, 3:00 pm
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
British DVDs (Christmas is Coming!)
I've just discovered this website which offers a good selection of British DVDs for the US market.
The prices are very good and they also have *free shipping*.
For example, I typed in 'Dad's Army' on the 'search' title section (as for some reason it isn't listed in the British Drama/Comedy section). The www.BBCAmericashop.com website is selling this compilation DVD for $59.98 (although free shipping for orders over $45).
This site:
http://www.deepdiscountDVD.com is selling the same DVD for $33.49 including free shipping.
That's a big difference....
PS. I'm thinking of ordering 'Withnall and I' for my husband (which I think has some sort of 'cult' following in the vein of 'Spinal Tap'?). Has anyone seen it or can recommend it?
The prices are very good and they also have *free shipping*.
For example, I typed in 'Dad's Army' on the 'search' title section (as for some reason it isn't listed in the British Drama/Comedy section). The www.BBCAmericashop.com website is selling this compilation DVD for $59.98 (although free shipping for orders over $45).
This site:
http://www.deepdiscountDVD.com is selling the same DVD for $33.49 including free shipping.
That's a big difference....
PS. I'm thinking of ordering 'Withnall and I' for my husband (which I think has some sort of 'cult' following in the vein of 'Spinal Tap'?). Has anyone seen it or can recommend it?
Dec 2nd 2003, 8:11 pm
#2
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
I thought I would 'bump this up' as it's timely.
Examples of prices for DVDs:
Fawlty Towers (the Complete Set)
************************************************** *
http://www.BBCAmericaShop.com = $59.98
http://www.amazon.com = $44.98
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com = $43.19 inc. free shipping
It pays to shop around.....
(I did buy 'This Is Spinal Tap' and it's hysterical)
Examples of prices for DVDs:
Fawlty Towers (the Complete Set)
************************************************** *
http://www.BBCAmericaShop.com = $59.98
http://www.amazon.com = $44.98
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com = $43.19 inc. free shipping
It pays to shop around.....
(I did buy 'This Is Spinal Tap' and it's hysterical)
Dec 2nd 2003, 8:55 pm
#3
Ping-ponger
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Dreich Alba
Posts: 12,006
Has anyone been able to find a DVD of "Cold Feet"? I loved that show, but haven't been able to find it on disk or tape anywhere (at least not the usual places...)
Dec 2nd 2003, 10:49 pm
#4
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: Edmonton.
Posts: 1,043
They have the whole series on DVD here:
Cold Feet
You just need a multi region dvd to play it - or get a hack for the dvd you have.
Audrey at Save Eastenders mentioned a dvd player she bought a few days ago and with a simple open and close of the drawer with no disk in and the pressing of menu followed by 1,9 it pulled up the region which you could change. Change the region to zero, bingo, plays both UK and US dvd's.
I bought one yesterday at Walmart, worked like a charm. It is a Cyberhome CH-DVD 300 and was $47, it's tiny and as I can now watch my British dvd's I love it
Cold Feet
You just need a multi region dvd to play it - or get a hack for the dvd you have.
Audrey at Save Eastenders mentioned a dvd player she bought a few days ago and with a simple open and close of the drawer with no disk in and the pressing of menu followed by 1,9 it pulled up the region which you could change. Change the region to zero, bingo, plays both UK and US dvd's.
I bought one yesterday at Walmart, worked like a charm. It is a Cyberhome CH-DVD 300 and was $47, it's tiny and as I can now watch my British dvd's I love it
Last edited by snorkmaiden; Dec 3rd 2003 at 1:29 am.
Dec 2nd 2003, 11:58 pm
#5
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: Originally Sussex Then Oregon Then Vancouver Now Colorado
Posts: 38
Yeah I purchased a multi region a couple of years ago and now enjoy every series of Cold Feet including the final one as well as Men Behaving Badly and Only Fools and Horses.
Dec 3rd 2003, 12:28 am
#6
Ping-ponger
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Dreich Alba
Posts: 12,006
Originally posted by snorkmaiden
They have the whole series on DVD here:
Cold Feet
You just need a multi region dvd to play it - or get a hack for the dvd you have.
.....
They have the whole series on DVD here:
Cold Feet
You just need a multi region dvd to play it - or get a hack for the dvd you have.
.....
Re: DVD regions, etc. must admit that despite being fairly tech-savvy, this is something that just confuses me, especially the confounding factor of the PAL/NTSC thing. So, if a UK DVD is PAL, if I do rig the region thingy, will it show OK on my TV (I'm asking about the PAL vs NTSC sit'n)?
Dec 3rd 2003, 1:37 am
#7
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: Edmonton.
Posts: 1,043
Sorry, the link isn't working for me anymore either. Just go to Amazon.co.uk and do a search in dvd for cold feet.
They do deliver to the US and they don't take that much longer to deliver than when you order from Amazon.com.
As for the dvd player, I am not that tech savvie either but my TV is NTSC and yesterday I bought the dvd player, adjusted the region and I am now playing both British and American bought dvd's.
This is not the only dvd player that will do this of course. There are plenty of sites out there that tell you how to make your dvd players region free but some require a lot more hassle than others. I got a hack for my other dvd but it didn't work and was a right pain to download, burn the cd etc, this was just so easy and a lot cheaper than some of the multi-region dvd's for sale on the internet.
They do deliver to the US and they don't take that much longer to deliver than when you order from Amazon.com.
As for the dvd player, I am not that tech savvie either but my TV is NTSC and yesterday I bought the dvd player, adjusted the region and I am now playing both British and American bought dvd's.
This is not the only dvd player that will do this of course. There are plenty of sites out there that tell you how to make your dvd players region free but some require a lot more hassle than others. I got a hack for my other dvd but it didn't work and was a right pain to download, burn the cd etc, this was just so easy and a lot cheaper than some of the multi-region dvd's for sale on the internet.
Dec 3rd 2003, 3:48 am
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: Originally Sussex Then Oregon Then Vancouver Now Colorado
Posts: 38
Thought I would give a little insight into the multi region thing.
DVDs unfortunately are region coded one through six for the different countried to enable the indutry to have a better control of release of programs bit like they do with release of movies in theatres. There is also region 0 discs which are uncoded (usually things like national geographic).
Region codes are read from the disc and matched to the firmware on the DVD drive in your computer or on your DVD player and if the two match BINGO you get to watch the movie.
On top of that you have the fact that UK and US operate on different colour signals, UK being PAL and US being NTSC. SO in most cases you'll be buying a British DVD which will be encoded with region 2 and also in PAL format posing you two problems:
1) Can my DVD player read the disc
2) Can my TV play native PAL colour or convert to NTSC
The easiest solution today is to buy a multi region DVD player. Generally the cheapest solution is to find a player that can support software/menu hacks. In other words where the DVD is already built for all regions and you can access a special menu page that allows the changing of regions, disabling of all region checking and output of colour signal.
The advantage of these players is that the majority that support this straight out of the box are the cheaper brands. I actually own two players, one I had to chip and the other two I could menu hack. The two cheaper ones and easier ones to change are Daewoo and Apex which you can pick up in Wal Mart and Costco etc for $79-$99 certain models only though will work. I also own a pioneer which I purchased in the UK but you pay a lot more for these units and really don't gain much over the cheaper brands in my opinion. In fact my pioneer needs its drive replacing due to bad laser whereas my other two (purchased a month after it) are going strong.
Anyway by chipping or enabling the secret menu you can either default the player to region 2 (UK) or you can set it in a numebr of cases like mine to region 0 whereby it will play any disc you put in the drive. Then you need to tackle the output colour issue discussed above.
All DVD players will automatically try to ooutput the movie or DVD in its native colour format in other words you have a British DVD it will try and play in pal.
Generally with the colour thing you will notice one of two things:
1) If your TV does not support PAL playback (and therefore relies on third party conversion) you won't see any image.
2) If your TV does support it you will see an image but it will be black and white.
*Most new TV's do support but not as widely as UK TV's supporting NTSC
Anyways most of us fall under category 1 even with a new TV (my new Sony Wega still doesn't support it) so in this case we need to convert the colour signal.
Therefore in the secret menu you turn on PAL to NTSC conversion and now the DVD player converts the colour signal for you and allows you to watch your favorite Brit DVD's in full colour.
If you fall into category two then it means that your TV is PAL aware and may have a PAL signal switch in its menu.
You will find the colour saturation is much better on PAL DVD's but you'll still lose the great deep colours and higher resolution we are used ot coming from a PAL country as this gets lost in the down conversion process to the lower NTSC format.
Hope that helps and I did not ramble too much. Feel free to send comments, questions etc If I can help I sure will
Thanks
WC
DVDs unfortunately are region coded one through six for the different countried to enable the indutry to have a better control of release of programs bit like they do with release of movies in theatres. There is also region 0 discs which are uncoded (usually things like national geographic).
Region codes are read from the disc and matched to the firmware on the DVD drive in your computer or on your DVD player and if the two match BINGO you get to watch the movie.
On top of that you have the fact that UK and US operate on different colour signals, UK being PAL and US being NTSC. SO in most cases you'll be buying a British DVD which will be encoded with region 2 and also in PAL format posing you two problems:
1) Can my DVD player read the disc
2) Can my TV play native PAL colour or convert to NTSC
The easiest solution today is to buy a multi region DVD player. Generally the cheapest solution is to find a player that can support software/menu hacks. In other words where the DVD is already built for all regions and you can access a special menu page that allows the changing of regions, disabling of all region checking and output of colour signal.
The advantage of these players is that the majority that support this straight out of the box are the cheaper brands. I actually own two players, one I had to chip and the other two I could menu hack. The two cheaper ones and easier ones to change are Daewoo and Apex which you can pick up in Wal Mart and Costco etc for $79-$99 certain models only though will work. I also own a pioneer which I purchased in the UK but you pay a lot more for these units and really don't gain much over the cheaper brands in my opinion. In fact my pioneer needs its drive replacing due to bad laser whereas my other two (purchased a month after it) are going strong.
Anyway by chipping or enabling the secret menu you can either default the player to region 2 (UK) or you can set it in a numebr of cases like mine to region 0 whereby it will play any disc you put in the drive. Then you need to tackle the output colour issue discussed above.
All DVD players will automatically try to ooutput the movie or DVD in its native colour format in other words you have a British DVD it will try and play in pal.
Generally with the colour thing you will notice one of two things:
1) If your TV does not support PAL playback (and therefore relies on third party conversion) you won't see any image.
2) If your TV does support it you will see an image but it will be black and white.
*Most new TV's do support but not as widely as UK TV's supporting NTSC
Anyways most of us fall under category 1 even with a new TV (my new Sony Wega still doesn't support it) so in this case we need to convert the colour signal.
Therefore in the secret menu you turn on PAL to NTSC conversion and now the DVD player converts the colour signal for you and allows you to watch your favorite Brit DVD's in full colour.
If you fall into category two then it means that your TV is PAL aware and may have a PAL signal switch in its menu.
You will find the colour saturation is much better on PAL DVD's but you'll still lose the great deep colours and higher resolution we are used ot coming from a PAL country as this gets lost in the down conversion process to the lower NTSC format.
Hope that helps and I did not ramble too much. Feel free to send comments, questions etc If I can help I sure will
Thanks
WC
Dec 3rd 2003, 4:26 am
#9
Only the Strong Survive
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: NJ
Posts: 188
I hear The Office is finishing (for ever!) - can't think of a better Xmas prezzie to myself than entire series on DVD. Any prices / places people know of?
Dec 3rd 2003, 12:01 pm
#10
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
My husband bought the 2nd series of "The Office" last week in London (we bought the 1st series last Christmas) but we haven't watched it yet (and missed it on BBC America due to the time slots it was on).
(JB - he's off to London again approx 16-18 Dec so he could bring back a copy for you if you can play Brit DVDs? The second series is not yet available in the zone 1 format it seems and isn't being offered by the BBCAmerica online shop).
(JB - he's off to London again approx 16-18 Dec so he could bring back a copy for you if you can play Brit DVDs? The second series is not yet available in the zone 1 format it seems and isn't being offered by the BBCAmerica online shop).
