Honey West (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Willis]

Chris, great post. Thanks for the info! I'm waiting for another R2 purchase before buying H.W. from Amazon UK. I agree; this release is a real surprise to me. I'd have guessed that we'd never get this one released anywhere. Very strange industry, the TV/DVD market.

 

[Mark Oates]

Michael, wash your mouth out. Delta is a completely legitimate outfit - one of the smaller independent DVD distributors. They regularly licence material (such as the Flash Gordon serials and the BBC Lovejoy series). They're a lot smaller than labels like Network or DDHE, but they're competent at putting out no-frills, region 0 releases.

The Honey West set is a single wide-spine Amaray-style box. Episode guide on the reverse of the box wrap. One disc at the front, one at the back and two on a hinged plate. The box comes in a slip case which replicates the box art.

Total running time is listed as 769 minutes. Disc One carries six episodes and the Burke's Law episode which was the series pilot. There are eight episodes on each of the remaining discs.

Qualitywise, the show is in about the same condition as most major-studio b/w 1960s shows - some dirt, slightly soft focus, but nothing unacceptable and definitely not 16mm PD originated.

 

[Bob Gu]

I want to get HONEY WEST and BURKE'S LAW but have to wait awhile because of my lack of sales resistence to all the DVD sales that have been going on this month.

I did receive some Region 2 series sets from Networkdvd.co.uk,this week, and the whole Region 0 conversion was painless. I think,the NTSC/PAL incompatibility issue, as far as what kind of TV you have, has to do with over the air reception. A direct AV connection between your NTSC TV and your set to Region 1 DVD player is a matter of instructing the DVD player to read all DVDs as Region 0, with the player's remote control hack code, found on the internet. The hack code accesses a hidden region preferences tab in your player's oncreen set up menu.(My main TV is a fifteen year old NTSC Sony and my DVD player is a $60.00 Philips DVP 3500, purchased last year.)

If you have a DVD player in your computer,all you have to do is place an R2 DVD in the computer's DVD player. After your playback program starts, you get a menu that has chosen West Europe playback. Click OK or apply and your computer's DVD player is now set to Region 2. Becareful with this, because,for some reason you can only switch the computer DVD player four or five times before it locks on your last choice.

Some of the Network sets are also marked on the Box as Region 0. That does not mean that they will play in a Region 1 player. You still have to set your R1 player to Region 0.

 

[Lutz Koch]

Just a hint: There's a little free utility program called DVD43 (available on the Internet). Install it and you can switch regions an unlimited number of times. I've been using it for quite some time without any problems.

 

[Tory]

I will be getting this in January as a blind buy. Even though I have a few region free DVD players, for my computer, I have downloaded the freeware DVD player program VLC Media Player. It does not have region blocking and does not alter any existing programs on your computer.

 

[Bob Gu]

Lutz and Tory,thanks for the tips.

 

[michael_ks]

I have a region 0, PAL formatted release for "Man in A Suitcase" and it plays just fine on my system, so it looks like I'll be making the plunge for "Honey West", even if it has crummy packaging--and yes, the set could have been graced with a more flattering cover. Remember that this can be purchased from Caiman USA in Florida, so shipping charges will be minimized.

 

[Bob Gu]

Awhile back, I bought the R1 French/Canadian Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew ,not for sale in the USA, from amazon.ca, and that shipped from Florida, also. International intrigue in the DVD business. Seems like a job for Simon Templar, Steve Mitchell, or Honey West.

 

[Doug^Ch]

I have gone to the Caiman USA site and done a couple of searches and can not find Honey West or Burke's Law. What am I doing wrong?

 

[michael_ks]

My guess is they don't expect anyone from the U.S. to purchase a dvd set intended for the R2 market. But if you go to amazon.co.uk it is listed as being available from them and that it "Ships from U.S.A., to anywhere in the United Kingdom". I sent them an email yesterday regarding the Region 0 thing--waiting to hear back from them.

Current sales rank at Amazon U.K.--#12,498. Yes, I'd say the average bloke hasn't a bleedin' clue about this series...

 

[Michael Alden]

It actually has a decent cult following in the US and it was one of the shows TV Land ran when it first premiered, before the channel gave up on anything out of the ordinary and started showing the usual common crap. Unfortunately I don't think that the audience that would buy this show has a clue about it being available and even if they did know they wouldn't know how to get it to play on US DVD players. And I am quite sure that the great Fox won't release it in this country. Interesting though that Fox in the UK was willing to license out this and Burke's Law. I wonder what other shows Fox will license out overseas. And really it is the only chance we'll have of seeing most of the Fox catalogue from the 50s and 60s because I doubt they would ever release these things.

 

[michael_ks]

Agreed. And if I have to purchase another player, use a hack code, so be it. Just put "Route 66" on dvd and I'll figure out the rest.

 

[Doug^Ch]

I just ordered both Honey West and Burke's Law. I have no doubt about being able to play it on my system, because I've bought a number of region 2 releases in the past and they have played well. All you need is a region free player with a Pal to NTSC converter built in. In the case of these shows all you need is the converter as the discs are already region free. There are a few TVs I think that may already have this ability built in, but the easiest way to ensure they will play is to just buy a region free player with built in converter. I recommend the Oppo; it does a beautiful job and is virtually region free out of the box and upconverts the picture quite nicely.

It does seem ludicrous to have to go to Europe to buy a uniquely American product, but it is likely that if we want to continue to collect many of these vintage TV shows in the future that is exactly what we will have to do.

 

[Doug^Ch]

I just received my copies of Honey West and Burke's Law from Amazon.Co.UK. I have not had a chance to play them yet but I think the packaging indicates it is a pretty nice release. Burke's Law is especially nice with 8 discs held in four double sided plastic thin paks all held in a cardboard slipcase. I noticed that the company that put these releases out (DeltaMusic.CO.UK) also offers Season 1 of Bonanza in the same format (Pal region 0). Has anyone had a look at the video quality of this set? If it is good, I may order this set as well.

 

[michael_ks]

My copy should be arriving soon. I also ordered off of Amazon UK using Caiman USA as the actual vendor on 11/27, same day as you did I believe. Did you also purchase through them?

 

[silverking]

I think you will be happy with Honey West.Here in the UK most players are either multi-standard or easily chipped to play Region 1.
A word of warning about the Bonanza set though, it is not S1 but the 31 public domain episodes released time & again worldwide.

Bonanza S1 , 2 3 & 4 have been released in Region 2 in Germany, uncut, remastered & with option of English soundtrack, no subtitles.I have them all & would recommend.

 

[Doug^Ch]

I used Amazon itself and not Caiman USA; primarily because I could not see a large savings to be had, and I have used Amazon.CO.UK successfully in the past.

 

[Doug^Ch]

Chris, Thanks for the information on Bonanza; That saved me from making a mistake. Where is the best place to buy the German releases. I want a place to shop online where I can negotiate the site in English.

 

[silverking]

Doug

I ordered mine as they came out from Amazon in Germany (Amazon De).

Site is in German but the procedure is the same as Amazon US or Amazon UK.If you have an account with Amazon in the US you do not need to set up one with Germany as your account covers any Amazon site worldwide. Just click on the buttons as you would do with Amazon.com.

It's really easy to order. Bear in mind though that they discs are Region 2 not Region 0 so you will ned to ensure your DVD player can handle them.

 

[Doug^Ch]

After the holiday I will try to order one German Bonanza set to see how I will like them. They definitely are not inexpensive. At roughly $55.00 US plus shipping, it is a little rich for my blood at the moment.