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Anime

Miyazaki Region 1 DVDs at Last? 217

Posted by CmdrTaco from the bring-it-on dept.
PinkStainlessTail writes " Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all) claiming that Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY, CASTLE IN THE SKY (aka LAPUTA), and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE will be released on 2 disc region 1 DVD sets from Disney in April of this year. The original story comes from comic artist Steve Bissette's message board. " Here's hopin'
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Miyazaki Region 1 DVDs at Last? More

Miyazaki Region 1 DVDs at Last?

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  • If the rumor is based on reality I'm definitely preordering the DVD's. =)

    Anyone who hasn't seen Castle in the Sky will be in for a treat--it has some of the most AMAZING hand-drawn backgrounds you've ever seen.

  • NAUSICAA!!!! (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    DAMMIT! WHERE IS NAUSICAA!?

    I have to defeat the lameness filter now, because slashdot sucks. # Please try to keep posts on topic.
    # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.
    # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.
    # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.
    # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)
    • Here. [discountanimedvd.com] It's not hard to find as an import, the thing you have to watch for is that some of these companies provide English subtitles by people who obviously don't speak the language and never met anybody who did. Nausicaa is difficult to find as a downloadable fansub but you can get it if you're persistent.
  • Why don't you just get a multi-zone DVD player and get a disc that works with any region?

    • Re:Region 1? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by dev_sda ( 533180 )
      Japanese televisions use a higher color temperature (~9000) than American televisions (~5400). Theaters use a lower color temperature as well (~5000-5700), and so to keep colors looking the same when released domestically in Japan, Miyazaki has his animations color shifted to compensate.

      When you take one of these DVDs and play it on an american TV, it looks pink. best to wait for our own domestic release.
      • the pink isn't that bad... but it is noticeable... once you start watching the film tho you won't realize it's pink....

        except when you blink... cuz you know... you've been glued to the tv for a while now....

        then you start seeing these pink dots everywhere too..

      • Re:Region 1? (Score:5, Informative)

        by W Parasyte ( 87678 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @11:11AM (#5081412)
        Actually Japanese TVs use a lower black level (0 IRE as opposed to North America's 7.5 IRE, which isn't nearly so much of a problem), and the only color shifted Japanese R2 dvd was Spirited Away, which has a noticeably red tint on every set in Japan. There's actually a lawsuit regarding that very issue brought about by a few Japanese people (see this article [animenewsnetwork.com] at animenewsnetwork).
      • Er... no. There was a pile of bitching in Japan because of the bad color balance on the Japanese-release DVD.
    • There's a region 2 DVD that's already available. [spirited-away.com] Its French, but I believe it has an English language option.

      I'm still waiting for the region 1 DVD though. I'm just afraid it will also have the infamous red tint [slashdot.org] that everyone got in Japan.

      • Re:You can (Score:3, Informative)

        by rde ( 17364 )
        This was probably mentioned in the original story, but I'll repeat it here...

        When I ordered Spirited Away, I got an email from cdjapan telling me that some people reported a red tint. However, they assured me that the transfer was approved by Studio Ghibli, and it looked as intended.

        I forgot about it until I watched the movie, and reread the mail. Then I checked the movie again, and saw no sign of any red tint. Maybe it was there, but to me the movie looked as I supposed was intended.

        • Re:You can (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Froobly ( 206960 )
          The red tint is subtle, but it's definitely there. It's not as severe as, say, disabling the blue gun on your monitor, but if you look at the whites, like on Sen's shirt, they're not quite white. More of a pink, really. You only notice it if you have a properly calibrated TV, or if you compare the preview side-by-side with the movie.

          Since many of my friends are AV freaks, they generally make sure that their equipment is calibrated correctly, so things like this definitely show.
      • Yes, but the English track is 2 channel stereo ("only"), while the French and Japanese tracks are 5.1.

        Also, the French DVD comes with English Dubtitles of the English language track, not literal translated subtitles of the Japanese language track.

        I, btw, own the French DVD and am very happy with it. The Dubtitles are fine with me.

  • DVD Regions (Score:5, Informative)

    by HealYourChurchWebSit ( 615198 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @10:54AM (#5081255) Homepage


    Man do I feel stupid. I had some idea about DVD Regions when I got my player a year or so ago, but didn't give it much thought. This article forced me to go look-up a few sites that offered information on exactly what the mention of DVD Regions in the /. article means to joe and jane average:
    Sometimes ... I feel so stupid ...

    • You are not alone. I work with ten other people in a non-tech job. We got into a discussion about DVDs the other night. None of them had even heard of region encoding. I think those of us that are technically literate sometimes take what we know for granted.
  • I picked up Kiki on the old VHS... I had sort of figured that Disney had decided against releasing these on DVD... about time. Now hopefully they won't require you to watch with English voices... please put in sub titles with the original voice acting! :P
    • Don't worry. With DVD versions you can take your pick between subtitles or english voice actors, which is one of the nicer things about them.

      • Re:Sweet (Score:4, Informative)

        by dead sun ( 104217 ) <aranach@gmail. c o m> on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @01:45PM (#5082318) Homepage Journal
        Actually, that's only if the publisher decides that they want to let you. This typically is a non-issue, as most Anime DVDs are bilingual, and a ton of DVDs have a second language track. However, I was perusing Best Buy the other day and found a My Neighbor Totoro DVD. The bad news was that it was English language only. I don't know why they couldn't have included the original Japanese, but it wasn't on there. Had it been, I probably would have replaced my region free import as the English subs aren't the greatest (not that they're that bad, but there's the occasional slip).

        In short, there may yet be cause to worry if Disney doesn't feel that we need Japanese audio on these DVDs...

  • My wife found it somewhere. Evidently it was just recently released. Although Totoro was Fox in the US, wasn't it? I also don't think there is an option to watch it in the original Japanese, which was a little disappointing. Thankfully, the voice-acting for Totoro was pretty good.

    As for Kiki, I prefer the Japanese. I'm not a big fan of movie or television stars performing the voices for animated characters. Unless the actor is able to actually enhance a character with their voice, I don't usually like it. Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob is an example of an actor enhancing an animated character.
  • I picked up my copy of Spirited Away while in Tokyo. Pretty expensive by american standards at 4,700yen.(with an exchange of about 118yen to 1$ US) It has english subtitles, but it is a region 2 dvd. Thank god for the British and thier remote hacks! Now if only i could figure out how to navigate the second disk...

  • I hope it is better that the Totoro release (Score:5, Interesting)

    by robosmurf ( 33876 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @10:58AM (#5081298)

    I certainly hope that the DVD release is better that the terrible Fox DVD release of My Neighbor Totoro, which was a pan-and-scan version with no Japanese language track or extras.

    If Disney are releasing it directly, then there is some chance they might do a good job, but I'm certainly not preordering anything until the details are clear...

    • that's because fox was losing the rights to it, so they put out a quick release just to make a few bucks off those who aren't patient enough for the disney releases now that they have the rights to it.
    • IIRC, part of Disney's deal with Miyazaki is that they won't alter a single frame of the films for distribution. Pan-and-scanning is obviously changing the film-- so at the very least I'm sure Disney has to offer both options.

      I read this around the time Princess Mononoke [imdb.com] came out, but I'm sure the same applies. It's why Disney (through Miramax) was willing to release a 2:20 animated film, instead of their usual 1:25-- it was that or nothing. (And that's why nothing could be done about Mononoke's glacial pacing, but that's opinion, I suppose.)

      As for the language tracks, there was some hubbub when it came to the Mononoke DVD-- Disney was originally going to release it with only the English language dub, but there was considerable fan outcry (spearheaded by the folks at AICN [aintitcool.com], I believe), and so the disc was delayed so they could get language clearances and have both versions.

      Personally, I enjoyed Spirited Away [imdb.com] much, much more than Mononoke, and would look forward to a comparably well-done release, with widescreen, both language options, etc. Hopefully Disney's learned their lesson-- that Miyazaki's fan base can be downright ornery in their devotion, and will demand quality.
      • Mononoke DVD-- Disney was originally going to release it with only the English language dub, but there was considerable fan outcry, and so the disc was delayed so they could get language clearances and have both versions.

        And boy am I glad they did. While the english version is quite good (except for the miscast Gillian Anderson), I still prefer original dialogue with subtitles.

        I desperately want to get a dual-language version of Totoro (and everything else by Miyazaki) -- dubbed for my 2 year old, subtitled for me & my wife. I wonder whether the lack of such a release is due to laziness/bureaucracy at Disney, or re-export worries at Ghibli?

    • A non-Disney company has done a good job with a Miyazaki film--that being Manga Video, and their subbed and dubbed DVD of Castle of Cagliostro. Sure they didn't do anything with the original mono sound, it wasn't anamorphic, and there were no extras to speak of...but the subtitles were good and the dub was decent.

      (And I've tried to help make up for the extras it didn't have by recording my own DVDTracks mp3 commentary [dvdtracks.com] for it. :)

      I really didn't expect much good out of the Totoro DVD. It was just a hasty pump-and-dump of the one Miyazaki movie they had onto DVD just as they had it in order to capitalize...just like all those generic animated fairy tale tapes that come out right at the same time as a Disney movie. Even Fox's laserdisc of it way back when was pan and scan...clearly, that's all they had to work with. On the bright side, at least the price is low...
    • I certainly hope that the DVD release is better that the terrible Fox DVD release of My Neighbor Totoro, which was a pan-and-scan version with no Japanese language track or extras.

      I'm curious if the hong kong (?pirated?) version in the box set of all Myazaki films is better than the Fox release.

      I don't know how good the subtitles are, but I do know that the audio is Japanese language only.

      Rocky J. Squirrel

  • well, lookie here... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nochops ( 522181 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @10:58AM (#5081300)
    Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all)

    Now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is.

  • Not American? (Score:5, Informative)

    by rde ( 17364 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @11:05AM (#5081363)
    If, like me, you live in Region 2 (Europe and Japan; handy, that), you don't care. But then, you haven't cared for a long time, cos they're all available at cdjapan.co.jp [cdjapan.co.jp]. Two-disk sets of Totoro, Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, Laputa, Spirited Away, Whispers and probably others are currently residing on the DVD case.

    Note: even though they're region 2, they're also NTSC, so you'll need compatible equipment. That's not a problem for Americans with multi-region players, though.

    The films are in Japanese with optional english sub and dub, and the second disk is all in Japanese.
    In case you're interested, I'm a big fan of cdjapan, especially now that the exchange rates are going my way. They're extremely efficient at getting the stuff out, and my first stop for those hard-to-find films that aren't generally available elsewhere.
    • The import price point at cdjapan has been just a wee bit high for me. Bissette claims that the Disney fax gives an SRP of US $29.99. Not at all bad (but still no Nausicaa, as someone else noted).

      (My first accepted story. Verily, w00t.)
    • There's no english dub on the R2 Spirited Away.

      • Re:Not American? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by BatFez ( 637489 )
        There's an english dub on the new french dvd of spirited away which is actually called Le Voyage De Chihiro. Be carefull though some of the old french dvds are still around. I ordered it on a sunday from alapage.com and I had it the following Saturday. The english dub is the same one I heard in the theatres and its in Dolby 5.1 and there are also a french and japanese audio tracks. A fench DTS track is also available.
  • Right now my daughter needs to watch her DVDs off my wife's iBook hooked up to the TV, all because we can't play Japanese DVDs on our North American player. And it's not like the movies are cheap, coming from Japan. But the amount of wiring that needs to be done isn't worth the effort.

    Someone bought her the Fox copy of Totoro a few months ago on DVD, thinking it would be a good replacement for the older VHS she got when she turned 1. She put the DVD in the player, turned it on, and within 5 minutes she came up to me and said, "Daddy, this movie is wrong." (the English voices were godawful)

    If this is true, and she can get these movies on DVD with Region 1, they had better have the original voice tracks on them.

  • Nausicaa.net (Score:5, Informative)

    by bludstone ( 103539 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @11:11AM (#5081410)
    Is it posted on nausicaa.net yet? No? Probably BS then.

    Miyazaki's stuff is pure genious. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest directors that ever lived. This is good for everyone, not just anime fans.

    Ive already imported all these movies, and I will probably wind up buying the r1s as well. I sure hope that they have all the extras that were on the japanese dvds. Tons of cool stuff on the dual disk sets.
    • Is it posted on nausicaa.net yet? No? Probably BS then.

      You're totally right! Given the total consideration that Disney has shown to Miyazaki during every step of this project and the timely manner in which they have conducted themselves, i would _never_ imagine Disney failing to keep everyone fully updated as to what their plans are.

  • These already exist (Score:5, Informative)

    by pointym5 ( 128908 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @11:11AM (#5081411)
    I'm holding in my hand a boxed set called "Archives of Studio Ghibli", published by Anime Cartoon International. It's got 6 DVD's, each with two films. It doesn not include the newest film, or Castle Cagliostro (which is separately available). The DVDs have Japanese menus, and offer English or Chinese subtitles with the Japanese soundtracks.
    • You're holding in your hand an illegal, unauthorized bootleg with substandard video quality.

      I'd be very surprised if the menus were indeed in Japanese, as Anime Cartoon only puts out Chinese bootlegs in Hong Kong. They usually include English and Chinese subtitles, and either the Japanese audio or the English audio.
    • I'm holding in my hand a boxed set called "Archives of Studio Ghibli", published by Anime Cartoon International.

      You'll be glad to know that neither Hayao Miyazaki nor anyone else at Studio Ghibli received a single yen from your purchase of that bootleg.

      RTFM [nausicaa.net]:
      The vast majority of Studio Ghibli products released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and other southeast Asian countries are not licensed. These locations are notorious for their lax (or non-existent) enforcement of copyright laws, so be very careful when purchasing any video product manufactured or sold in this area.

      There have also been numerous reports of various Studio Ghibli DVDs manufactured in Hong Kong or Taiwan being sold at stores, online shops, or on Internet auctions. As far as we have been able to determine, these are pirated copies. To our knowledge, only IVL in Hong Kong and Buena Vista Home Entertainment in Taiwan sell authorized or licensed Studio Ghibli videos/DVDs. Visit the Pirate Anime FAQ for more information on spotting bootlegged items.
      The DVD set from an outfit called "Anime Cartoon International" (now known as "Manga International", not to be confused with "Manga Entertainment") is a definite bootleg.
    • As already been mentioned, it's a bootleg... Mind you, considering I personally don't have access to most of these movies other than the bootleg available at a local rental store (called "The Miyazaki Collection", but sounds similar to yours) or downloading them off the internet, I don't care - if Disney can give me a better copy, with better video and audio (and hopefully translation, as Kiki's, if I remember correctly, seemed off sometimes), I'd be more than happy to spend the money. Here's hoping!

    • Re:These already exist (Score:5, Informative)

      by Chibi ( 232518 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @12:47PM (#5082056) Journal

      What you are holding in your hands are bootleg copies, sir.

      Here is a link to the pirate anime FAQ:

      http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html [anime.org.uk]

    • Just FYI, these are bootlegs made from the laserdisc editions and the existing Japanese DVD's. None of the money went back to the creators of the films, and in addition, the video is rife with edge enhancement, block crawl, and other artifacts.

      I'm impatient for a legit release, but until then, these bootleg copies of Laputa and Totoro will have to do.
    • Yes I'm willing to risk my precious karma to spit at the raging moralists waging their fingers at you for buying the pirated boxed set.

      How dare you enjoy these masterworks when:
      1. this is probably the only way you can get some of these films, at least the only way you'll find them in japanese with english subtitles
      2. you may not be able to afford to buy all of the official copies

      the /. community basically supports mp3s, divx, tivo and hates the riaa... but how dare you buy a hong kong version of say, shoulin soccer instead of waiting for Disney to censor, mutilate and redub it and use regions to force it down your throat!

      It's much easier to mod me down than to post an intelligent reply

      Rocky J Squirrel
  • That's the one I've really wanted to see released on DVD. It's hard enough to find it on video; however, if I'm going to collect it, I can only do so in the more compact medium.

    Been entranced by that title ever since I saw a still from it at the Cartoon Art Museum [cartoonart.org].
    • Totoro is out on DVD from Fox, but Fox only owns the pan and scan version. If you want it in widescreen, you'll can either wait until Fox's contract expires and Disney can release the film on DVD in North America, or get the region 2 set they've already released.
      • Really? thanks -- I've looked online and in local stores but have had no luck. Where would you suggest to look (though pan and scan does suck)? I'll check to see if I can play Region 2 DVDs.
        • It's a Fox release, so a lot of the big stores like Wal Mart and Target carry it, although they usually only have one or two copies, if any. You can always get it from Amazon right here [amazon.com], or just wait for a better version :) The lack of widescreen certainly isn't the only dealbreaker: There's no original language track (although the Fox dub is quite good), and there are no special features at all. But it's only $11.24, so if you need a version of the film to tide you over, it'll do.

          I would also reiterate that the lack of all these things isn't Fox's fault: it's just that they bought the rights to the dubbed, full-frame version of the movie through 2003, and nothing else. So it'll be at least a year before the Disney version, with all those extras, is available.

  • One day I decided to look around ebay to see if I could find Laputa (Castle in the Sky) on DVD. I ended up getting a shrink-wrapped copy for $7.50; region-less, both Japanese/English audio/subtitles. It doesn't look dodgy: Proper covert art, packaging, silkscreening and so on, though the quality of the transfer leaves something to be desired it was worth the price. I didn't think much of it until this /. post, so I googled around for the companies credited on the DVD (Japan Another DVD Inc., Manga Animated Cartoon DVD) - to no avail, save for the obvious Studio Ghibli. Did I end up getting some kind of dodgy copy, or has this movie already been released with regionless encoding?
  • I live in North America and buy all my movies here. So region codes are the least of my concern. What I am looking for is a DVD player that doesn't give a damn about what the disc wants or where it came from. It's my copy of the movie, my DVD player, my TV and home theater system. So, why can't I pull up the DVD menu any time I damn well feel like it? Does anyone know if there is such a device?
  • Don't most geeks and nerds gave DVD players that aren't bound by the limits of region codes?

  • THIS JUST IN: Possible Release Dates! (Score:5, Informative)

    by May Kasahara ( 606310 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @12:10PM (#5081818) Journal
    Here's the article [animenewsnetwork.com] from Anime News Network, just posted about half an hour ago, with more concrete news on the Kiki and Castle in the Sky DVDs. As you can see, there's nothing said about a Spirited Away DVD release, though :/
  • Region 1 DVD's at last??

    Ahh... I understand, in America, the land of the free, there are no region-free DVD-players available? You have the corporations dictating you instead of politicians.
  • I bought this bundle in the US last month - http://www.discountanimedvd.com/dvd_detail.asp?dvd no=1696

    They are listed as 'All code, Region Free' on the website. The only problem I've had is that the "Spirited Away" discs do not play on my PC's DVD drive (a pioneer drive). 'Spirited Away" does play in my Playstation 2. So take that for what it's worth.

    I've enjoyed every movie so far and I'm half way throught the set.
    • Actually the bundle is really a bootleg, but since its ripped from the existing laser discs and other dvds it stii gives a good quality. It's not official though.
    • Unfortunately I think that the bundle you have linked is a pirated copy of Studio Ghibli's movies. I think I see the Anime Cartoon Logo on the bottom left of the box. Here is some information on pirating from:
      http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/answers.htm l#pirated
      ------

      The vast majority of Studio Ghibli products released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and other southeast Asian countries are not licensed. These locations are notorious for their lax (or non-existent) enforcement of copyright laws, so be very careful when purchasing any video product manufactured or sold in this area.

      There have also been numerous reports of various Studio Ghibli DVDs manufactured in Hong Kong or Taiwan being sold at stores, online shops, or on Internet auctions. As far as we have been able to determine, these are pirated copies. To our knowledge, only IVL [intercontinental.com.hk] in Hong Kong and Buena Vista Home Entertainment [bvi.com.tw] in Taiwan sell authorized or licensed Studio Ghibli videos/DVDs. Visit the Pirate Anime FAQ [anime.org.uk] for more information on spotting bootlegged items.

      The DVD set from an outfit called "Anime Cartoon International" (now known as "Manga International", not to be confused with "Manga Entertainment") is a definite bootleg. The following is from Steven Alpert, the Managing Director at Studio Ghibli International Distribution:

      We have NOT licensed to anyone called Anime Cartoon in Hong Kong, and these sets must be pirated. We have a reputable licensee in Hong Kong who would certainly not be involved in this.

      I will be in touch with our attorneys to see what we can do to get the sales of these on eBay stopped, and I would imagine Disney will want to do the same.

      Thanks and best regards,
      Steve

      To report the sale/auction/distribution of pirated material, contact:

      Joe Woodall
      Corporate Legal Department
      The Walt Disney Company
      Burbank, CA 91521-0662
      joe.woodall@disney.com

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • No, the article's submitter made no mention of whether region locked DVD's are good, bad, or indifferent. The article states that something that was previously available only in Region 2 is rumored to soon be available in Region 1. How did you draw the conclusion that "article's submitter and the editor clearly appear to believe" region encoding is a good thing? Because they didn't include a rant about how it's bad?
    • Because the article's submitter and the editor clearly appear to believe it is.
      Nope (well, I can't speak for the editor...). But the codes aren't going away, because only a tiny subset of all DVD buyers care about them. There's bigger digital rights issues to fry at this point, since going around these restrictions is trivial for those who are interested in doing so. However in this case a region free player is also an imperfect solution because of import prices, imperfect subbing, and unsubbed/dubbed extras. A release aimed at the English speaking fan is the solution, but that carries region coding baggage.

  • Amazon.com has them on preorder (Score:3, Informative)

    by Stavr0 ( 35032 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @12:29PM (#5081935) Homepage Journal
    AnimeNewsNetwork: Neither DVD release is listed on the any of the major retailers websites yet (Amazon.com does have a page for the DVDs (and has for a long time), that lists them as "The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD."

    Actually...
    Spirited Away [amazon.com]
    Kiki's Delivery Service [amazon.com]
    Castle in the Sky [amazon.com]

    • Did you check the links you provided?

      In all three of them, after the title of the disc, there is a paragraph that starts with: "Availability: NOT YET RELEASED: The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD...".

      So, you just proved their point...
  • Since everyone seems to think the bootleg versions are official releases, here are the lists of (legal) available versions of Spirited Away [nausicaa.net], Castle in the Sky [nausicaa.net], and Kiki [nausicaa.net]. If you have anything else, you got scammed.
  • Being in Europe, I don't give a rat ass about what region DVDs are! Ha-hah!
    J.
  • I just don't believe it. Until the information comes from a more reliable source, it is probably just someone's wishful thinking. I find it very difficult to believe anything that they tout as 'news'. Didn't AIC report that there would be a sequel to Cowboy Bebop too?
  • Aren't geeks supposed to have region-free DVD players????

  • Region Code Bypass for Software DVD Players (Score:3, Informative)

    by Wolfier ( 94144 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @01:47PM (#5082326)
    Here:

    http://www.inmatrix.com/genie/
  • According to what I've heard on the Miyazaki mailing list, the "Spider Man: Return of the Green Goblin" animated VHS tape includes a trailer for Laputa that says it's coming soon, and the insert on the "Country Bears" R1 DVD claims Kiki's is coming soon, "for the first time on DVD."
  • I Don't understand why people are waiting for those DVDs, I purchased a long time ago a multi system, multi region DVD player, and I have had most of these DVDs a long time ago, and these aren't bootlegs they're official releases. If people are waiting for them so bad why not just pay the extra money for a universal DVD player. I have even had the Spirited Away DVD for a while now, which I ordered from france. The movie has a french DTS track, but it also has a Dolby Digital English and Japanese tracks. Just Import it, in this day and age I can order anything from around the world and have it in a week.

  • regions (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sckeener ( 137243 ) on Tuesday January 14, 2003 @03:24PM (#5082875)
    DVD regions just make me wish the MPAA was required to release Region 0 DVDs 2 years after the release of a movie anywhere.

    I hate their arguement that regions are needed to allow movies to be released in theaters before you can buy them. What I hate about the arguement is what about old movies?

    Why is Gone With The Wind: DVD Deluxe Collector Box Set (1939) a region 1 dvd? They've had 64 years to play it in every country.

    Of course their other arguement is regions protect prices. Region 1 dvds cost more. Well, if they are only going to release the DVD in one region anyway, why not put it in Region 0? If there's not enough of a market in other regions, then release it in region 0 and pool everyone together.

    sorry, I'm just annoyed by all the region stuff....

  • Remove region encoding (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Snover ( 469130 )
    It's a fairly simple thing to remove region encoding on modern DVD-ROM "RPC2" drives. This site [rpc1.com] has firmware for practically every DVD-ROM drive available, patched to RPC1, which does not check for region encoding on the DVD. Couple this with a software DVD player such as InterVideo WinDVD and it's a simple matter to go into the registry and delete the key that tells the player how many times you can change the region encoding. You can even use this tool [inmatrix.com] to do it automatically. I'm not positive about the legality of this, for IANAL, but I don't believe after recent rulings on DeCSS (which this does not bypass) that there is much of a risk of any kind of legal problem.

  • Hack your DVD (Score:2, Informative)

    by Lt Razak ( 631189 )
    What's the big deal? Just check out your DVD brand name & model number at vcdhelp.com and find out how to hack your DVD player to be region free.

    I use the word 'hack' very liberally. Many times, it's just a few buttons on the remote.

    While you're at it, desable Macrovision, and if you're in the market to buy a DVD player, use that site so that you buy a DVD player that plays SVCD's... thus allowing you to skip the whole buying DVD's-to-replace your VHS collection.

  • ...because 2 weeks ago, I finally gave up and made my purchased Kiki VHS into a DVD. Heavy tweaked filtering, it looks pretty good, 40 hour encode... Yeah, after that I'd expect the whole effort to be made moot.
  • And presumably Disney will use the profits to further Walt's totalitarian ambitions by vigourously pursuing commie mutant traitors who use DeCSS or p2p file trading.

    Having this story on the same page as the latest MPAA and RIAA efforts is illustrative. The outrage only lasts until the next fasionable release.

    Xix.
  • Over at animeondvd.com they have the following post up on the main news page -

    Right Stuf confirms Miyazaki DVDs (04:45 PM EST): While no features have yet been delivered to retailers (a standard practice for Disney; announce title, then a few weeks later provide details), Shawne Kleckner over at Right Stuf has confirmed that both VHS and DVD versions of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky are due out in region one on 04/17/2003.

  • Then the terror-, sorry, the MPAA - have already won.

    Not such a big issue here (languages and all) but something to bear in mind. I live in Region 2 (as decreed by the DVD powers), but I buy almost all of my disks as Region 1 (or when possible, region 0 or unregioned) and have them posted from Hong Kong, as soon as possible. The message: market segmentation isn't going to work any more. Stick to global release schedules, you chiselling bastards.

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