"I have many Japanese films in my collection (mostly Criterions). And of course I love sushi. However, I feel that it's really weird having American movies in Japanese editions. I don't know, maybe it's just me... "
So according to your Criterion collection, you have Japanese movies in American editions...doesn't feel that weird does it?
check on ebay for the jurassic park superbits, just saw like 4 sets going for around $30-$40. why can another region get jurassic park superbits and not region 1. it's just not fair!(in a 2nd grade girls voice,LOL)
I don't agree with the subject of this thread at all.
Having been purchasing DVDs from all over the world for nearly three years now, I can say that I think many people who automatically assume that international DVDs "often have better transfers" than their R1 counterparts would be for a gigantic surprise.
Yes, there are the ocassional DVDs that show up with DTS and better 16:9 transfers -- but when it's all said and done, I think these are in the minority compared to the large majority of titles that are either similar to, or actually inferior than, their U.S. counterparts. (If I had a nickel for every lousy UK transfer in R2 I've seen, I'd have enough to buy all the MGM Special Editions available outside the US!).
The Special Edition 2-disc of PREDATOR is one of the first things I point to: sure it has all kinds of extras, but the transfer (and this is on the Japanese R2 I have) is nowhere as good as the US 16:9 DTS release, in either color, contrast, or matting (the SE seems to be over-matted).
Again, that doesn't mean some great international DVDs preferrable to US releases aren't worth getting -- just that titling a thread "Region 1 the lowest quality?" is, IMHO, absurd when the great majority of the "top DVDs" I've seen are indeed in R1.