Guest Mole Report post Posted May 23, 2003 When I was in Ireland, I noticed that there were a lot of DVDs out before they get released in the US. For example, Buffy has season 6 released already, when in the US it is only up to season 3. I was sooo tempted to buy a DVD player there so I could bring it back and order all of those DVDs. Why are the DVDs released earlier there? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Galactic Gigolo Report post Posted May 23, 2003 I have no idea, though I do suggest buying yourself a DVD Player with no regional coding. It was worth the $250 alone so I could watch Family Guy and Futurama Season One over a year before America got it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted May 23, 2003 I believe it has something to do with copyright laws. Europe either has no copyright laws or very weak copyright laws. And DVDs get released quicker because they don't have to go through all the copyright stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Mole Report post Posted May 23, 2003 I have no idea, though I do suggest buying yourself a DVD Player with no regional coding. It was worth the $250 alone so I could watch Family Guy and Futurama Season One over a year before America got it. You can get a DVD with no regional code? Damn, I might have to purchase one.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest evenflowDDT Report post Posted May 23, 2003 I have no idea, though I do suggest buying yourself a DVD Player with no regional coding. It was worth the $250 alone so I could watch Family Guy and Futurama Season One over a year before America got it. What brand of universal player do you have GG? And yea, Satanico got it right, the licensing's a bit different in Europe and Japan (Region 2), which is why they get a lot of TV shows earlier, and how companies like Hong Kong Legends can put out the definitive versions of titles that are owned in the U.S. by companies who don't care about the license. Also, the beauty of Europe is that there are so many countries contained in one region that if the UK version of a DVD requires cuts by the BBFC or is otherwise no good, a company in the Netherlands can license it for an uncut release. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Edwin MacPhisto Report post Posted May 23, 2003 The biggest deal with many shows--particularly Buffy--is that there are syndication contracts in America. The reason we haven't gotten all of those sets already is because FX owns the rights to just about every pre-season 7 ep in some capacity. They continue to air them even after DVD release, but you won't get the DVDs until they've run through a certain time period before. This all ties into the copyright stuff, but it's an even trickier pickle when something gets syndicated. That's part of why the 24 first season set came out so quickly: no syndication = less downtime. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Mole Report post Posted May 23, 2003 AWWWW, that makes sense. Damn copyright laws in the US. When my DVD player dies, I will buy a region free DVD player. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest DVD Spree Report post Posted May 24, 2003 I believe it has something to do with copyright laws. Europe either has no copyright laws or very weak copyright laws. And DVDs get released quicker because they don't have to go through all the copyright stuff. It's nothing to do with copyright laws at all - and in fact, it's a toal misnomer that we get DVDs quicker here than in the US. It's just the occasional series like Buffy & Angel, Futurama etc. that happen to have syndication issues in the US delaying their release. Copyright's a totally different issue, and trust me - the UK is one of the strictest places for enforcing it. On the whole, Region 2 gets completely screwed for DVDs. I often import discs from the US or Canada before the film has even played in a CINEMA here. On top of that, the majority of R2 discs are missing a great deal of supplemental features from R1 discs, usually DTS tracks and commentaries, but it can be anything. There are one or two good R2-only releases - RoboCop, Predator, the HKL series - but trust me, you Region 1 folk don't know how good you've got it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Mole Report post Posted May 24, 2003 But you have Buffy and Angel out, that is all I really care about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
