Series DVDs you had to import from another country (1 Viewer)

[Richard_Gregory]

Oh no, I quite agree - the FX reflected the extremely limited resources available of the time.

I think Blake's Seven tended to over-ambitious, whereas Doctor Who recognised the limitations and tended to stay within them!

BTW, Blake;s Seven is one of my favourite SF shows ever...and don't worry you haven't offended me in the slightest!

I too regarded the FS as entirely secondary to the show and mostly forgot about them.

I think they were roughly average for the period and the type of show it was - ie one made within the budget constraints of family TV drama made by the BBC or one of the ITV regions.

Mind you, the introduction of the Liberator is still awsome - the sight of that lovely ship with the fanfare is still a great moment. As is the first view of the flight deck.

 

[Jeff Willis]

I own both RMPM sets (thank goodnes for Region-Free DVD Players ). We're still waiting for an R1 release for either series.

I have a question about the RMPM Bk 2 set. I'm currently viewing the set but have noticed a defect in one of the "chapters" in the set. I believe it's Chapter 9. When viewing that chapter, I noticed a "blurring" motion during any movement in the entire chapter. I also noticed that the total time for this chapter as compared to all other chapters was different (49 minutes vs the usual 47 minutes for most PAL transfers for an original broadcast 1-hour TV show). Has anyone else noticed this same defect?

Defect aside, Book 2 is a great view having not seen this show since its original airing in the states back in '77. It's nearly a blind-buy for me since I don't recall most of the storylines but I do remember the ending. No mention here....no "spoilers" allowed I remember back in '77 the night before the last episode aired in the states. Peter Strauss was a guest on the "Johnny Carson" late-night show and Johnny tried to get the big secret ending of the show from Peter.

 

[Ockeghem]

I live in the U.S. and have bought the entire DS9 series from the U.K. (and one box from France). I am in the process of purchasing the entire set of VOY from the U.K. as well.

 

[RickER]

I see all the usual suspects are here. I dont own any series from another region, BUT...a friend of mine just got a region free player, and season 1 and 2 of The Six Million Dollar Man! He is kind enough to drag it all over tomorrow si i can get some bionic goodness, and ass kicking! Yea, he wants me to go to the dark side and go region free.

I do own 2 Blu-ray discs from other regions, but they are R0 discs.

 

[Ockeghem]

The region-free DVD player we own (it's also a combo VHS player) is one of the best presents I've ever received. We use it a lot, and love the features it has.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Rick,

Sounds like there will be some Bionic sounds being heard tomorrow up north of the Red River You'll see, though, that the 6M$M S1 transfers aren't as good as the S2 set but they're watchable. I never heard the reason for the S1 xfr quality not being as good as the S2's...perhaps Universal Playbacks available source prints were the issue or they couldn't obtain the U.S. masters? Just guessing. Who knows....maybe the NTSC masters aren't any better either. I was fortunate that the Bionic Woman S1 & 2 R2 sets have very good xfrs.

Regarding R-Free players...for me, it's easily the best home ent buy I've made. Right now I'm enjoying Rich Man Poor Man Bk 2 and The Saint Complete B/W set that's only available in the U.K.

If you get a chance, let me know how the PAL "speedup" thing affects your hearing tomorow. It's something that's never bothered me or any friends that have viewed my PAL sets at a friend's house with another R-Free player.

I recently played an MP3 file of the Bionic Woman opening theme and asked a friend to compare it with my R2 PAL BW DVD. That's the only way he heard the speed-up on the DVD. For me, it's a matter of comparing an NTSC to PAL audio of a show that one has recently listened. For example, using my RMPM R2 sets, I can't tell the difference with the R2 DVD's since I hadn't seen RMPM Book 2 since its original airing in '77.

"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny" All I know is, with friends overseas, they collect both R1 & R2 sets without issue. I know that for some here at home, the speed-up is enough of an issue to pass on any PAL sets. I'm fortunate that it doesn't distract me when watching PAL R2/4's.

"We have the technology"

 

[Jeff Willis]

Scott, "Ditto" You got the best deal though, getting it free I went the "hardware mod" route since I knew I'd own the player a long time and to avoid, albiet a small chance, of any "RCE-Coded" movie DVD issues. Some 'net chatter had reported issues with some RCE discs not playing on a few of the "hacked" players (using a numbered code via the remote control unit enabling the R-Free capacity of players) unless one keyed in a "workaround" sequence to view RCE R1 DVD's. I've not heard of any TV/DVD sets that were RCE-encoded, mainly movie DVD's.

The other reason I sent the hardware-mod route is that some brand of players apparently are "hack-proof" and can't be enabled to R-Free units via any keyed sequences, according to some of the tech reviews online. The Phillips brands are among the more easily hacked players from what I read online.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

Bionic Woman and Prisoner: Cell Block H Vols. 1-10. The Prisoners are '0' region and will play on my computer's player without me having to reconfigure it, but I also have a region-free dvd player that plays PAL discs.

 

[RickER]

I will do that Jeff. I am very curious if i will be able to tell. I am sure we know the music very well, and not just the theme, but the background music. My friend said he couldnt tell ANY difference, and he has a much better ear for music than me.

I dont know the model number of the DVD player my friend got, but he said it was a Pioneer. Spent about $125, and $50 for each season of T6MDM.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Has Peyton Place been released on DVD outside the US?

 

[Jeff Willis]

Charles, as far as I can tell from a couple of searches at the stores I usually check for R2/4 releases, it's not available overseas. I checked at Amazon UK, Play.com & Sendit.com (UK's), & at ezdvd.com (Australia R4). The only search returns were for a '57 movie of the same name.

 

[whisperintherain]

I live in France. I am fluent in English so I generally do not hesitate to pick up a show from a foreign country if English is one of the languages included, even if there are no subtitle tracks (R2 Players do not read close captions, so those are as good as nothing for those of us outside of R1). Some French releases of foreign shows only have the French-dubbed soundtrack (shows like MAGNUM P.I, MURDER SHE WROTE or DUE SOUTH, none of which I have any interest in, but still), which I find appalling and this is a definite deal-breaker for me, especially when I know that foreign releases do have the original English track. I really don't care about music replacement though, unless music was a big part of the show (it's a deal-breaker regarding HAPPY DAYS for instance) but generally speaking, I'd rather have a show with music replacements than nothing at all. Enough rambling, for now, let's get down to business. Here are the sets I have imported so far (if I haven't completed a particular show yet, I'm planning on it - I'm a completist at heart):

24
Season 3 (R2 from Belgium, cheaper than in my country)
Seasons 4-6 (R2 from the UK, got them at excellent prices - especially Season 6, which is not out in France yet)

BABYLON 5
The Gathering (R2 from Belgium)
Seasons 1-3 (R2 from the UK)
In the Beginning (R2 from Belgium)
The Movie Collection (R2 from the UK, unlike the R1, this is a 3-disc set consisting of the movies Thirdspace, River of Souls and A Call To Arms)
The Lost Tales (R2 from the UK)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003)
The Mini-Series (R2 from the UK)
Season 1 (R2 from the UK)
Season 2 (R2 from the UK, unlike R1 this is a complete season set)

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Seasons 1-2 (R1 from the US)

BIG LOVE
Seasons 1-2 (R2 from Belgium, cheaper and released earlier there than in my country)

BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Season 1 (R1 from the US, cheaper and released earlier there than in R2)

EVERWOOD
Season 1 (R1 from the US)

GILMORE GIRLS
Seasons 1-6 (R2 from Belgium, cheaper and released earlier there than in my country)

I LOVE LUCY
Seasons 1-6 (R1 from the US)

KNOTS LANDING
Season 1 (R1 from the US, my favorite show ever, couldn't wait for it to make its way to R2)

MELROSE PLACE
Seasons 1-4 (R1 from the US, cheaper, released much faster and none of the bonus material was on any of the R2 releases)

PARTY OF FIVE
Seasons 1-3 (R1 from the US)

PICKET FENCES
Season 1 (R1 from the US, one of my most cherished TV shows ever)

THE PRACTICE
Volume 1 (R1 from the US)

SEX AND THE CITY
Seasons 1-6 (R2 from the UK, got into the show while I was living there)

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Season 5 (R2 from the UK, found it at a bargain price while I was living there)

TWIN PEAKS
Season 1 (R2 from the UK, unlike R1 the Pilot is included in this set)

WEEDS
Seasons 1-2 (R1 from the US, cheaper and released earlier there than in R2)

WILL & GRACE
Seasons 1-8 (R2 from the UK)

 

[Jeff Willis]

Romain,

I noticed that you mentioned "Happy Days" and I'm interested in possibly buying the UK R2 sets if the original music content is intact. I have heard that this is true for the S1 & S2 Happy Days sets. Can you confirm if this is true?

 

[whisperintherain]

I'm afraid I can't be of any help on that subject, Jeff. As I was explaining, I refrained from buying HAPPY DAYS thinking the contents would be the same as on the R1 releases. Could you maybe find out from online reviews? I do believe that the disclaimer "Music has been changed for this home entertainment version" is on the rear cover art, though.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Romain,

Thanks for the post. I've been doing some 'net searching lately to see what the story is with the R2 Happy Days S1 & 2 (also S3) sets. I think that the generic disclaimer that you refer to is due to the opening theme being changed (with the R2 sets) from the original versions that aired in the 70's in the states. From what I have heard, this is the only music content change in the R2 S2 set but I haven't been able to verify that with any HTF members that may own the R2 sets as of yet. I haven't heard anythng about the R1 S1 set as far as music content but am hoping someone that owns both of the UK sets will post some information here soon.

 

[Ockeghem]

Jeff,

Nice response. I should mention, that we did have one problem with our player. It occurred about two months ago, and involved region 2 discs not being able to be played. We sent it back, and they (in their words) said it was a damaged chip of some sort. It was fixed, and it's been working fine ever since.

Someone in another thread (several months ago) said something about picking up a couple of region-free players just to have in case something like this happens. I think this is a good idea--heck, it may have been me that said it, now that I think of it.

Incidentally, we stayed away from both Phillips and Pioneer when we were researching which region-free players to purchase. We weren't reading the best reviews on either of these models at the time.

 

[Regulus]

This quite isn't exactly a TV Series (It was based on one however) but last year I had a copy of the Movie The Man Called Flintstone sent to me from "The Great White North". Interestingly, although the packaging is clearly Canadian. (It has a Seal that reads "Canadian Home Video - G" on it) when I boot it I get the "FBI Anti-Piracy" Message before the Movie comes on. I was expecting to see the RCMP Version of that Warning!

 

[RickER]

Hey Scott, i seem to remember reading the Oppo was the way to go for region free players. Good upconversion to boot! But that was about 3 or 4 years ago i was reading this stuff.
Pioneer makes some good stuff. My Pioneer LD player is 15 years old, and still a champ!

 

[Mark Talmadge]

I've purchased the Space Rangers set from the U.K., but that's about it.

 

[Ockeghem]

Rick,

That's great to hear about your success with the Pioneer. One of my turntables (from years ago) was a Pioneer, and it worked very well for many years.

I must say, I love our region-free player. When we put a disc in, about 9 language codes show up. It's a hoot listening to some shows in other languages.