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Why is it that the American's get a different standard of DVD to us?
Over in the US they on average, pay the same in $ as we do in £ but they end up with a better product.
Region 1 DVD's often come in special limited editions over there, and contain far superior extras than ours. Why is this?
The DVD's hold the same data in the different regions, but we are not given the same bonuses.
I wouldn't mind paying £20 for a DVD with a shedload of extra's, but that much for the same film with only a theatrical trailer and instant scene access? Come on, who do they think we are?
Over in the US they on average, pay the same in $ as we do in £ but they end up with a better product.
Region 1 DVD's often come in special limited editions over there, and contain far superior extras than ours. Why is this?
The DVD's hold the same data in the different regions, but we are not given the same bonuses.
I wouldn't mind paying £20 for a DVD with a shedload of extra's, but that much for the same film with only a theatrical trailer and instant scene access? Come on, who do they think we are?
Why is it that the American's get a different standard of DVD to us?
Over in the US they on average, pay the same in $ as we do in £ but they end up with a better product.
Region 1 DVD's often come in special limited editions over there, and contain far superior extras than ours. Why is this?
The DVD's hold the same data in the different regions, but we are not given the same bonuses.
I wouldn't mind paying £20 for a DVD with a shedload of extra's, but that much for the same film with only a theatrical trailer and instant scene access? Come on, who do they think we are?
Over in the US they on average, pay the same in $ as we do in £ but they end up with a better product.
Region 1 DVD's often come in special limited editions over there, and contain far superior extras than ours. Why is this?
The DVD's hold the same data in the different regions, but we are not given the same bonuses.
I wouldn't mind paying £20 for a DVD with a shedload of extra's, but that much for the same film with only a theatrical trailer and instant scene access? Come on, who do they think we are?
It's to do with how much money they are likely to make from each market. America is the main market as far as films are concerned (largely due to the population) so discs sold there will sell in greater numbers than in other countries.
Discs don't sell nearly as well in other regions for a couple of reasons:
There are fewer buyers (but lets look at this proportionately).
The quality is often less than region 1 (less so on newer releases)
Region 1 discs are almost always released first - sometimes months in advance. Pokemon 2000 for example, was available on import before it was out at cinemas here. Apparently around 40% of DVDs bought in Europe are R1!
They are more expensive (a point you made, although an imported R1 discs will probably cost you a couple of quid more than an Internet purchased R2 one).
(There are probably more but you get the idea)
Because of fewer sales, costs can be saved by putting fewer features on the disc - but surely this just drives the sales even lower?!
The problem is a bit of a double edged sword which only the film industry can solve. Discs don't sell as well because they have less going for them and they have less going for them because they don't sell as well. The only way to solve the problem is to have simultaneous worldwide releases for every disc (or at least within a short time of each other), but that would be a last resort for them.
Discs don't sell nearly as well in other regions for a couple of reasons:
There are fewer buyers (but lets look at this proportionately).
The quality is often less than region 1 (less so on newer releases)
Region 1 discs are almost always released first - sometimes months in advance. Pokemon 2000 for example, was available on import before it was out at cinemas here. Apparently around 40% of DVDs bought in Europe are R1!
They are more expensive (a point you made, although an imported R1 discs will probably cost you a couple of quid more than an Internet purchased R2 one).
(There are probably more but you get the idea)
Because of fewer sales, costs can be saved by putting fewer features on the disc - but surely this just drives the sales even lower?!
The problem is a bit of a double edged sword which only the film industry can solve. Discs don't sell as well because they have less going for them and they have less going for them because they don't sell as well. The only way to solve the problem is to have simultaneous worldwide releases for every disc (or at least within a short time of each other), but that would be a last resort for them.
DVD is a deliberately Crippled movie format, with region blockouts (so you cant watch another regions DVD without a multi-region DVD player), encryption so you need special software to watch DVD movies on your PC,....and all because some Big Rich companes want to get even richer....
Makes you sick doesnt it, well the movie industry will destroy itself at this rate, by next year unless the releases of DVDs in Britain are on par with the USA then Piracy will be rampant and theyll lose our share of the market. No more degredation in Quality with Digital Copies!!!
On the plus side films like Guy Ritcheys "Snatch" were out here months ago and are now only being released in the USA.
Makes you sick doesnt it, well the movie industry will destroy itself at this rate, by next year unless the releases of DVDs in Britain are on par with the USA then Piracy will be rampant and theyll lose our share of the market. No more degredation in Quality with Digital Copies!!!
On the plus side films like Guy Ritcheys "Snatch" were out here months ago and are now only being released in the USA.
"...encryption so you need special software to watch DVD movies on your PC..."
Not quite. Although encryption is present it's an MPEG 2 decoder (or decompressor, whichever name you prefer) board that you need to watch DVD films on a PC, which include necessary de-cryption software anyway.
Also, I don't think region coding is really an issue anymore. Film fans will spend the extra on a pre-chipped player and casual watchers will probably only get a cheap player - most of which are multiregion (via the remote) anyway. The only problem is on some newer discs with RCE encoding (and beyond) where some auto select or region free machines can have some trouble.
Not quite. Although encryption is present it's an MPEG 2 decoder (or decompressor, whichever name you prefer) board that you need to watch DVD films on a PC, which include necessary de-cryption software anyway.
Also, I don't think region coding is really an issue anymore. Film fans will spend the extra on a pre-chipped player and casual watchers will probably only get a cheap player - most of which are multiregion (via the remote) anyway. The only problem is on some newer discs with RCE encoding (and beyond) where some auto select or region free machines can have some trouble.