What's new

Good source of other region DVD sets (1 Viewer)

Dave Scarpa

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 8, 1999
Messages
5,765
Real Name
David Scarpa
I just bought a region free blu ray and DVD player and my first non region 1 dvd set with stagecoach West. I'm wondering where is the best source for TV on Disk material non region 1 and what are the options available. Any help from my HTF Brothers and sisters is appreciated.
 

BobO'Link

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
11,513
Location
Mid-South
Real Name
Howie
Network is a good source with reasonable shipping - up to a certain point/disc count. Once you go over that magic number the shipping costs spike tremendously but it's easy to avoid.


Amazon UK is also decent though you'll get better shipping prices with MP vendors there (*if* they'll ship to the US - many will not). Amazon's shipping is stupidly high for media ("Thank you" former POTUS... and it used to be quite reasonable before he threw a hissy fit over shipping rates to the US from other countries and forced a change).


Many R2 sets can be picked up via Amazon US for less than Amazon UK's price+shipping. There are several UK MP vendors who price the sets a bit less than on the UK site and offer the "standard" $3.99 Amazon US MP shipping fee.

Those are the ones I use most. Occasionally there'll be a deal at one of the other Amazon stores (Germany, Italy, and Spain) but not that often - at least not that I've found.
 

jayembee

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2020
Messages
6,777
Location
Hamster Shire
Real Name
Jerry
It's been a while since I bought a bunch of things from outside the US, so the following may have changed. The thing about Amazon is that if you order a bunch of things together, the shipping cost per item isn't too bad. Even if they ship the items separately, they charge you as if it was one shipment. One of the last shipments I got from Amazon DE (Germany) was three of the Lonesome Dove sequel series on Blu-ray, and the shipping cost for all three was the same as what they were quoting me for one of them.

Another place to consider is Rarewaves. Decent prices, decent shipping.
 

ScottRE

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
3,323
Location
New York, Planet Earth
Real Name
Scott
Zavvi is another reliable source of other region DVD and blu ray. They have a US site so the shipping is lower and faster.


I got a few Network complete blu ray series sets for really cheap.
 

StarDestroyer52

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
219
Location
Eastern Maryland
Real Name
John
I would second Rarewaves, but usually via their eBay storefront. I got all my seasons of The Avengers from them, the Series 2 and 3 DVDs and the Series 4, 5, and 6 BluRays from them.

As mentioned above, Network is a good option for a lot of the ITV shows. Zaavi has lost orders of mine in the past, and while their customer service made sure I got a replacement, I still tend to avoid them
 

Bartman

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
759
Real Name
Trevor Bartram
I second Network & Rarewaves. For content, reach back into your memory for your favorite foreign TV shows. Good luck.

I recently upgraded The Day Of The Triffids (1982) & Edge Of Darkness (1986) UK TV series from DVD to Blu-ray and could not have been more pleased with the results.
 

BobO'Link

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
11,513
Location
Mid-South
Real Name
Howie
If you're looking for content, here's the BBC Top 100 Comedy list from several years back when they did a viewer poll. There are *lots* of titles on this list that never received a R1 release. I wish they'd done similar for other genres.

1 Only Fools and Horses
2 Blackadder
3 Vicar of Dibley
4 Dad's Army
5 Fawlty Towers
6 Yes Minister
7 Porridge
8 Open All Hours
9 The Good Life
10 One Foot in the Grave
11 Father Ted
12 Keeping Up Appearances
13 'Allo 'Allo!
14 Last of the Summer Wine
15 Steptoe and Son
16 Men Behaving Badly
17 Absolutely Fabulous
18 Red Dwarf
19 The Royle Family
20 Are You Being Served?
21 To the Manor Born
22 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
23 The Likely Lads
24 My Family
25 The Office
26 Drop the Dead Donkey
27 Rising Damp
28 Dinnerladies
29 As Time Goes By
30 Hancock's Half Hour
31 The Young Ones
32 Till Death Us Do Part
33 Butterflies
34 The Thin Blue Line
35 Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
36 Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
37 Waiting for God
38 Birds of a Feather
39 Bread
40 Hi-De-Hi
41 The League of Gentlemen
42 I'm Alan Partridge
43 Just Good Friends
44 2.4 Children
45 Bottom
46 It Ain't Half Hot Mum
47 The Brittas Empire
48 Gimme Gimme Gimme
49 Rab C. Nesbitt
50 Goodnight Sweetheart
51 Up Pompeii
52 Ever Decreasing Circles
53 On the Buses
54 Coupling
55 George and Mildred
56 A Fine Romance
57 Citizen Smith
58 Black Books
59 The Liver Birds
60 Two Pints of Lager and...
61 The New Statesman
62 Sykes
63 Please, Sir!
64 Dear John
65 Barbara
66 Spaced
67 Bless this House
68 Love Thy Neighbour
69 Man About the House
70 Desmonds
71 Duty Free
72 All Gas and Gaiters
73 Happy Ever After/Terry & June
74 Only When I Laugh
75 Brass
76 The Rag Trade
77 Sorry
78 Kiss Me Kate
79 Doctor in the House
80 I Didn't Know You Cared
81 Shelley
82 Nearest and Dearest
83 Fresh Fields
84 The Army Game
85 Robin's Nest
86 The Dustbinmen
87 Whoops Apocalypse
88 My Wife Next Door
89 Never the Twain
90 Nightingales
91 Early Doors
92 Agony
93 The Lovers
94 Father Dear Father
95 Hot Metal
96 And Mother Makes...
97 Life With the Lyons
98 Marriage Lines
99 A Sharp Intake of Breath
100 No Problem
 

jayME61

Auditioning
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Messages
7
Real Name
james valenti
I just bought a region free blu ray and DVD player and my first non region 1 dvd set with stagecoach West. I'm wondering where is the best source for TV on Disk material non region 1 and what are the options available. Any help from my HTF Brothers and sisters is appreciated.
HI...what model did you buy ? I'm looking to buy a new Blu-Ray and Non Region machine...will the Blu-Ray non region player play DVD non region Discs as well ? Or anyone have any suggestions on a good model?
 

AndyMcKinney

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2004
Messages
3,188
Location
Kentucky, USA
It's been a while since I bought a bunch of things from outside the US, so the following may have changed. The thing about Amazon is that if you order a bunch of things together, the shipping cost per item isn't too bad. Even if they ship the items separately, they charge you as if it was one shipment. One of the last shipments I got from Amazon DE (Germany) was three of the Lonesome Dove sequel series on Blu-ray, and the shipping cost for all three was the same as what they were quoting me for one of them.

Another place to consider is Rarewaves. Decent prices, decent shipping.

Oh, that's changed, big time. Since about midway through the pandemic, postage prices from both Amazon UK and Amazon Germany have skyrocketed. Some people told me that the reason wasn't on the Euro side of things, but more to do with how things have changed in the USPS.

Another thing with Amazon UK is that there are STILL many items that "won't ship to your address" from Amazon themselves. Early in the pandemic, this was down to supply issues, etc. Now, I'm thinking it might be something else (maybe those postal regs?). The Marketplace sellers (like Rarewaves) are often the only alternative that will complete checkout. Bad thing there, though, is you still pay higher shipping rates than in the old days and also the VAT doesn't get deducted from Marketplace orders.

Network are good when they have a big sale on. You got to watch how many items, though, to make the most of postage costs.
 

StarDestroyer52

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
219
Location
Eastern Maryland
Real Name
John
HI...what model did you buy ? I'm looking to buy a new Blu-Ray and Non Region machine...will the Blu-Ray non region player play DVD non region Discs as well ? Or anyone have any suggestions on a good model?

In December to replace my region-free BDP S-1700 which bit the dust, I got the Region Free Sony BDP-S3700, which has worked well for me. All the region free BluRay players will be all region DVD out of the box, if you buy direct from retailers like 220-electronics you will have to pay usually $40 for region B+C BluRay playback, for some reason if you buy from the eBay storefronts you can save $40 as it will play all region BluRays without an extra charge.
 

BobO'Link

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
11,513
Location
Mid-South
Real Name
Howie
In December to replace my region-free BDP S-1700 which bit the dust, I got the Region Free Sony BDP-S3700, which has worked well for me. All the region free BluRay players will be all region DVD out of the box, if you buy direct from retailers like 220-electronics you will have to pay usually $40 for region B+C BluRay playback, for some reason if you buy from the eBay storefronts you can save $40 as it will play all region BluRays without an extra charge.
That could be due to the one you linked being a refurbished unit so it has a lower price. They don't sell refurbs on their main site. That particular model is only $25 less new from their main site with the region free BR add on and has a 1 year warranty. I couldn't find warranty info on their refurbs via ebay. Just a 30 day return window.

 

StarDestroyer52

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
219
Location
Eastern Maryland
Real Name
John
That could be due to the one you linked being a refurbished unit so it has a lower price. They don't sell refurbs on their main site. That particular model is only $25 less new from their main site with the region free BR add on and has a 1 year warranty. I couldn't find warranty info on their refurbs via ebay. Just a 30 day return window.


My player I bought from Multi-Systems' eBay storefront came with a one-year manufacture's warranty.
 

JoeDoakes

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
3,462
Real Name
Ray
I’ve used network and Amazon uk more before. Sometimes ebay is good as well. Unfortunately, there are fewer releases these days.
 

David Norman

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2001
Messages
9,624
Location
Charlotte, NC
My player I bought from Multi-Systems' eBay storefront came with a one-year manufacture's warranty.

If I remember, Multisystems is 220 Electronics Ebay Store. I don't think 220 has an Ebay store directly under their name.
If it;s not 220, then I think I'd consider suing for stealing their Website design
 

StarDestroyer52

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
219
Location
Eastern Maryland
Real Name
John
If I remember, Multisystems is 220 Electronics Ebay Store. I don't think 220 has an Ebay store directly under their name.
If it;s not 220, then I think I'd consider suing for stealing their Website design

Yeah, IDK. I know my old region-free BluRay player was from region*free*dvd, which says it is 220 Electronics storefront. Multisystems which looks like it only has a eBay storefront. They both are mailed from the same area, so I believe they're all the same company.
 

Desdinova

Agent
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
42
Real Name
Scott
Another big thumbs up for Zavi and Network. I had a boxset I ordered from Zavi get lost in transit and they happily offered me a replacement or a refund. Took the replacement and it showed up quickly and without issue. Ordered lots from both of them over the years and that was my only hiccup (which was quickly resolved).

I ordered a modified Sony x800m2 from eBay for only about 25% more than what everyone else is charging and it plays every disc I've thrown at it without issue. It updates regularly without issue and I never had to do any mods on my end or enter in any special menu codes; I just drop in a disc and hit play and it works flawlessly.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Sign up for our newsletter

and receive essential news, curated deals, and much more







You will only receive emails from us. We will never sell or distribute your email address to third party companies at any time.

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
357,070
Messages
5,130,035
Members
144,283
Latest member
Nielmb
Recent bookmarks
0
Top