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Being a bit of an Internet Auction site addict, it has become apparent that 'Region 0 DVD's', imported from the Far East are becoming increasingly available and popular. These discs, arriving mainly from Malaysia are available at a fraction of the price of standard Region 2 DVD's released in Britain. Not only this, but many titles are available months before general release in the U.K and sometimes can even be bought before the film opens in our cinemas. Occasionally you can buy these foreign imports even before the film is made! ( Sorry, only joking about that one ).
Whilst all this sounds too good to be true, the fact is, it is too good to be true. Anyone buying 'All Region' DVD's for the first time will immediately notice the difference between these and the genuine article. The picture quality is no better, if not worse, than video and the sound, just as bad. Surely this defeats the object of having DVD since picture quality must be the main reason that people convert from video.
Another drawback, is the poor offerings in the extras department, if any at all and the discs are invariably unaccompanied by an inlay card. In other words, what you get is more like a VCD than a DVD.
Whilst you may get a rush from owning your favourite film on DVD before your friends, eventually you'll be left with a second rate disc whilst everyone else has a muchbetter version that you'll probably go out and buy again anyway.
At the end of the day, it really is worth the wait for the genuine article to arrive.
Whilst all this sounds too good to be true, the fact is, it is too good to be true. Anyone buying 'All Region' DVD's for the first time will immediately notice the difference between these and the genuine article. The picture quality is no better, if not worse, than video and the sound, just as bad. Surely this defeats the object of having DVD since picture quality must be the main reason that people convert from video.
Another drawback, is the poor offerings in the extras department, if any at all and the discs are invariably unaccompanied by an inlay card. In other words, what you get is more like a VCD than a DVD.
Whilst you may get a rush from owning your favourite film on DVD before your friends, eventually you'll be left with a second rate disc whilst everyone else has a muchbetter version that you'll probably go out and buy again anyway.
At the end of the day, it really is worth the wait for the genuine article to arrive.
You're tarring all region 0 DVDs with the same brush. I'm sure the ones you are talking about are pirate DVD, but there are many genuine Region 0 DVDs of very high quality.
Smaller distributors will often release Region 0 DVDs so that they don't have to press a multitude of different versions for different regions. Troma are an example of this - their releases are Region 0 and any problems with picture and sound is due to the ultra low budgets rather than the fact they are Region 0.
Just last week I bought a Region 0 disk called 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth' and the quality is fine -certainly far better than VHS.
Smaller distributors will often release Region 0 DVDs so that they don't have to press a multitude of different versions for different regions. Troma are an example of this - their releases are Region 0 and any problems with picture and sound is due to the ultra low budgets rather than the fact they are Region 0.
Just last week I bought a Region 0 disk called 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth' and the quality is fine -certainly far better than VHS.
Are these pirated, or just original films?? The NTSC video standard, despite its 60hz does not have as good a picture quality as PAL so that would be the first problem
Being a bit of an Internet Auction site addict, it has become apparent that 'Region 0 DVD's', imported from the Far East are becoming increasingly available and popular. These discs, arriving mainly from Malaysia are available at a fraction of the price of standard Region 2 DVD's released in Britain. Not only this, but many titles are available months before general release in the U.K and sometimes can even be bought before the film opens in our cinemas. Occasionally you can buy these foreign imports even before the film is made! ( Sorry, only joking about that one ).
Whilst all this sounds too good to be true, the fact is, it is too good to be true. Anyone buying 'All Region' DVD's for the first time will immediately notice the difference between these and the genuine article. The picture quality is no better, if not worse, than video and the sound, just as bad. Surely this defeats the object of having DVD since picture quality must be the main reason that people convert from video.
Another drawback, is the poor offerings in the extras department, if any at all and the discs are invariably unaccompanied by an inlay card. In other words, what you get is more like a VCD than a DVD.
Whilst you may get a rush from owning your favourite film on DVD before your friends, eventually you'll be left with a second rate disc whilst everyone else has a muchbetter version that you'll probably go out and buy again anyway.
At the end of the day, it really is worth the wait for the genuine article to arrive.
Whilst all this sounds too good to be true, the fact is, it is too good to be true. Anyone buying 'All Region' DVD's for the first time will immediately notice the difference between these and the genuine article. The picture quality is no better, if not worse, than video and the sound, just as bad. Surely this defeats the object of having DVD since picture quality must be the main reason that people convert from video.
Another drawback, is the poor offerings in the extras department, if any at all and the discs are invariably unaccompanied by an inlay card. In other words, what you get is more like a VCD than a DVD.
Whilst you may get a rush from owning your favourite film on DVD before your friends, eventually you'll be left with a second rate disc whilst everyone else has a muchbetter version that you'll probably go out and buy again anyway.
At the end of the day, it really is worth the wait for the genuine article to arrive.