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Is the dvd industry nuts? To non-US inmates...

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Sorry... venting off!
Finally, after some waiting, I decided that maybe dvd format is mature enough and I can join... no way! Not this season. Maybe, never.
The smart fellas who invented the region coding really deserve the worst ever marketing award. OK, the hardware is 75% multiregional already, and 25% is hackable (but who would buy it if it needs hacking?). This isn't a problem.
But what about software? I live in a R5 country (Russia) with a tiny dvd market where half of legit software is R1, the rest R2, R5. For those who are not 100% satisfied with current shoot-em-al-harrison-ford-meets-van-damme crop - the only source is buying online from US suppliers. But woops! they don't ship overseas, R1 is only for R1 citizens. I may bite the argument about protecting new software, but why the heck they want to censor movies from 1940s?
I checked this with parents who live in R2 country. Same situation. How do they get around? Order R1 disks to a US address, then pick it up on a routine business trip. Many Euro film classics are still not released in R2. And anyway, Euro retail prices are nuts.
I hope that one day the industry will accept the fact and announce R1, deleting any restrictions as the only region simply because of it's size.
In the meantime, local market already said goodbye to DVD standard in favor of low-grade MP4. One more year without software, without buyers - and the few retailers still selling dvd will discontinue them. No software - no rental business. My money will go elsewhere.
The media will fold down to an antques category like vinyl audio. Cool, expensive, hard to find - why bother? Why should I invest in a dying format?

Follow Ups:

Have you considered what goes on in your country? - Larry S 18:01:35 11/29/02 (1)
You can't blame a publisher for wanting to protect his/her investment. The international releases of original films must preceed the DVD releases so that people have an incentive to watch the movie in a theater first. For every blockbuster movie, there are lots of duds. It's the blockbusters that fund the production, and the studios have GOT to make a profit overall, or you won't be getting anything.
I remember reading an article this last year on software piracy. Think it was in Widescreen Review, but not sure (could have been in a PC magazine). Anyway, they showed in many open markets and sidewalk vendors, you can buy the latest movies on DVS, as well as various versions of computer software in the former Soviet state/republices for very cheap. All pirated, of course.
I am tired of people pirating software, because it holds back progress! I don't steal software, but all the "file sharing" services and other blatant piracy discourages the movie companies from relasing high def DVD's, and other advances I would be willing to pay for.
If you want to change the rules regarding release of software (including DVD's) then get your house in order first! Don't ask for priority in releases when piracy is rampant in your own country.
- I did not, I just live here - klaus 01:31:39 12/01/02 (0)
  Your sources are correct.
  But your conclusion that the best tool against software piracy is banning legitimate product is wrong. As long as it happens, supply and demand will meet in the shadow.
  Besides, over 99% of all films will never be released internationally (or nationally, or anyway - because they are old, they were already released years or decades ago). These are banned forever, aren't they?
Re: Is the dvd industry nuts? To non-US inmates... - tazdevl 15:47:35 11/23/02 (0)
Yes ,it is stupid right? Who the hell,or better yet ,why the hell would (they) have so many different regions and different release dates? Everyone wants to spend their money anyway so why not let the world have equal access too? Corporations are always complaining they never make money then they go out and pull boneheaded stunts like this with the public. I think it would be cheaper to have one world region , and worldwide release dates instead of making five different regions and five different players inside with the same cases outside. Thats another reason I went back to vinyl..I'm tired of replacing my music library every 8 years when new hardware comes out and replaces the older hardware. Let me off this merry go round! Now stop bitching ..I'm watching Episode 2 here in region 1

lol
Taz
Re: Is the dvd industry nuts? To non-US inmates... - Mick Jones 15:27:39 11/23/02 (0)
I live in England and I buy lots of region 1 DVDs from the USA and Canada, region 4 from Australia, French only R2 DVDs direct from France. Everyone I have tried ships to the UK. Are you sure that your problem isn't really that lots of online retailers won't ship to Russia? Many sellers have lists of countries that they won't send stuff to anymore because too much of it goes missing.
The "opposite" bitch. - Joe Murphy Jr 15:21:48 11/23/02 (3)
Here are my bitches on the subject:
Where do R2 and other regions get off with getting DVD releases of US-made movies (for example, Terminator and Predator2) before the R1 release?
Why do other regions get DTS releases and R1 just gets a Dolby Digital version? Stargate was released "overseas" in DTS. The Monsters Inc DVD has a DTS-ES soundtrack in R3 and R4. These regions scrapped (righfully so) the 4:3 version of the movie.
By the way, why are there any 4:3 DVD releases of any post-1950s theatrical movie anyway? From then on, there were few (if any) 4:3/1.33 movies even made. As of the 1996 DVD birth, for those that don't have a 16x9 TV/monitor... too bad. They can use the zoom/stretch mode in the DVD player or watch the black bars. Why hold us back because they don't like progress. Instead of giving in to these people, the industry should educate them as to "why" there are black bars on their set. Check out the back of the "Hannibal" DVD for a step in the right direction. Do you really think DVD would have failed if it never included 4:3 material? No way! The worst that would have happened would be the earlier dust-gathering of 4:3 sets in wharehouses. And why are 4:3 sets still being manufactured anyway? Because there are ignorant people that are purchasing them! What's going to happen in a few years when 16:9 HDTV is widespread?
It's 2006. "Gee Doris, look at dem dar black bars. Just like on sum dem new fangled DVDs." His smiling common-law wife, proudly revealing her two remaining teeth, manages a comment. "Henry, pull ya britchiz up. Ya been sneekinup bahin dem cavs gain, havincha?".
And on the hardware side, why do many of the Japanese manufaturers keep their top Hi-End models at home and ship the US their 2nd best? For example, the US gets mostly CD changers while other countries get single, often better quality, units.
And what's the holdback on gold and champagne colored hardware. Seen the Denon DVD9000 and AVR A-1 on Denon's Japanese site? The US gets black. Oh boy! Couldn't we even get a choice?
By and large, the US spends more on electronics and movie purchases than any other region/country in the world. The US also produces the most movie content in the world. Why don't we at least get a choice of the best products and the first releases?
- Before it's gone to whiners woad... - klaus 16:16:41 11/23/02 (2)
  Fully agree.
  You didn't mention native Japanese cars. If you don't know what I mean.. feel lucky - you don't know what you miss.
  - I was trying to stick to HT/video. - Joe Murphy Jr 21:56:28 11/23/02 (0)
    Cars, motorcycles, etc just add to the fraustration...
    :-(
  - Agree too - cfraser 17:41:01 11/23/02 (0)
    They think the R1 is "rich" (is, relatively), and they re-release the same thing multiple times each time a little bit improved. Sometimes only a few months apart. Don't blame them, business is to make money, blame us for giving it to them.
    I bitch about certain distributors releasing de-contented (compared to the U.S.) DVD's in Canada. So far I have returned them all for refund (after watching). Getting harder to do...

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