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

[Jeff Willis]

Scott, thanks for your post.

I have the PIONEER DV-578A R-Free model. It's been working fine for about 2 years. I originally had a JVC R-Free unit that had an intermittent problem (from the hardware mod) with the power shutting off occasionally. I had to exchange the JVC a couple of times to get one that worked without that particular intermittent power-down problem. I gave my JVC player to a family member so we can watch R2/4 DVD's at their house as well as my home. The lifetime guarantee (covering the R-Free mod) comes in handy.

After talking with a rep from an online store, he told me that the JVC's have more issues involving the internal mod's than some of the other players. He also mentioned that the Pioneer units are good middle-tier units for the money with a reputation for reliability and a low defect/return rate.

Rick, I've also heard from a couple of overseas contacts that the Oppo's are great players. I might look into one of those unts when I (finally) get an upconvert player. Right now, with what I watch on DVD's and the TV set that I own, I've not yet entered the WS/LCD/Plama/HDMI scene. I'm weighing the decision on whether just to get a Blu-Ray player, which upconverts Std DVD's anyway, vs getting another Std player for upconversion when I buy the WS TV. I don't own, and don't see it coming soon, any Blu-Ray DVD's mainly due to the format being relatively young and because of that, the catalog of available titles that I'd be interesed in is small.

Scott, that "2nd-player" idea is a good one. When I get the upconvert (or Blu-Ray) player, that'll get me the backup player.

I can hear "Col Austin" running all the way back down here in Dallas, Rick

 

[Ivan G]

Being a big Britcom fan, I've made a good many Region 2 Purchases:

‘Allo ‘Allo! (s1-4), 2point4children (s1-3), All Gas and Gaiters, The Army Game (vols. 1-2), As Time Goes By (s1-4), Believe Nothing, Billy Liar, Birds of a Feather (s1), Black Books, Bless Me Father, Bless This House, Bread (s1-4), The Brittas Empire, Brush Strokes (s1-2), Chef!, Citizen Smith, The Classic ITV Christmas Comedy Collection, Coupling, Dad’s Army, Dinnerladies, Doctor in the House, Doctor at Large, Doctor in Charge (s1), Don’t Wait Up (s1-2), The Dustbinmen, Early Doors, Ever Decreasing Circles, The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, Father, Dear Father (s1-3), Filthy, Rich and Catflap, Game On, George & Mildred, George and the Dragon, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Girls on Top, Going Straight, The Goodies (2 collections, LWT series), Goodnight, Sweetheart, Hi-De-Hi! (s1-6), Home to Roost, How Do You Want Me?, I Didn’t Know You Cared, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (s1-5), Just Good Friends (s1-2), Last of the Summer Wine (s1-6), The League of Gentlemen (s2-3), Let Them Eat Cake, The Likely Lads, The Liver Birds, The Lovers, Man About the House, May to December (s1-2), Men Behaving Badly (s1-6), Mind Your Language, Morecambe & Wise (s1-3), My Family, Nearest and Dearest, The New Statesman, Nightingales, Nighty Night, No Place Like Home (s1-2), Not on Your Nellie (s1), Oh Brother!, Oh Father!, On the Buses, On the Up, One Foot in the Grave, Open All Hours, Please, Sir! (s1-3), Porridge, The Prisoner, The Rag Trade (s1-2), Rising Damp, Robin’s Nest (s1-2), The Saint (black-and-white & colour), Second Thoughts (s1), Shelley (s1-2), The Smoking Room, Some Mothers Do’Ave ‘Em, Sorry! (s1-2), Spaced, Steptoe & Son, Surgical Spirit (s1), Sykes: Complete 1972 Series, Terry & June (s1-7), The Thin Blue Line, Three of a Kind, Three Up, Two Down (s1-2), Till Death Us Do Part (1972 and 1974 series), Two in Clover, The Two Ronnies (s1-2), Watching (s1), Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Wild West, The Worst Week of My Life.

Among the American series I've purchased on Region 2: Burke's Law (s1), Caroline in the City, Honey West, The Invaders (s1) and Peter Gunn (s1-2).

 

[Ockeghem]

Yeah, the one we have was $125 (marked down from $250); we bought it right around the holidays, and the sale price looked great.

 

[nikkif99uk]

I live in the UK, but been in Vancouver for the last 9 months, going home in 21 days woo. Anyway have bought quite a few sets here in vancouver and get many from the US.

Canada
Family Guy Vol 1&2
Babylon 5 - Season 1
Babylon 5 - Season 2
Simpsons - Season 2
Lois & Clark - Season 1
Doc - Season 1
Ellen - Season 1
Little Mosque On the Prairie - Season 1
Robson Arms - Season 1
Cold Squad - Season 1
This Is Wonderland - Season 1
Arrested Development - Season 1
Arrested Development - Season 2
Stargate SG-1 - Season 2
Stargate SG-1 - Season 3
Alien Nation - The Complete Series
Danger Mouse - Season 3&4

will add the rest later

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Lots and lots.

Bionic Woman seasons 1 & 2
Six Million Dollar Man season 1 & 2
Ally McBeal complete series
Robin Hood complete series
The Buccaneers
William Tell
Dempsey and Makepeace complete series
Gideon's Way
The Baron
Man in a Suitcase
The Persuaders
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo season 1
Sir Francis Drake
Cybill seasons 1 & 2
Rich Man Poor Man books 1 & 2
The Champions
The Saint
Baywatch season 1 (original music)

Maybe others if I thought about it.

 

[RickER]

Hey Jeff. 7 hours of Bionic goodness. It was fun. No problem for me with the PAL speedup. I was aware of it on occasion, but hardly at all. If i didnt know about it, i never would of heard it...if you know what i mean. Picture went from great to almost bad. A few of those prints almost have lost their color. Great time tonight!

 

[StevePA]

Livin' in da USA-
New Captain Scarlet (R2)-UK-as I see no hope whatsoever of it ever being released in the US-shame, too, as they're quite good!

Also thinking about "The Prisoner" release from UK-it's pricey, but it's on my list...

 

[KurtEP]

Is this the rumored BD version? I have the US DVD, so I'm not in the market for anything but BD at this point. (And dammit, I checked Xploited Cinema to see if there was a Prisoner BD yet and there wasn't, but they had Ronin. Where's the US release that was promised so long ago )

 

[PattyFraser]

Ivan G--I see you bought Hi-de Hi. Have you seen You Rang, M'Lord? It is available on amazon.co.uk, and it stars a lot of the same cast as HDH.

Also I was given Two Fat Ladies complete show, Nanny and The Brittas Empire is on its way.

I could not exist without a region 2 player now.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Yep, I know what you mean Glad you all had a Bionic time up there.

Yeah, the 6M$M transfers weren't as good as the Bionic Woman sets. If you all get a chance, you might want to check them out. Great video quality and it's cool to watch these episodes with the scenes intact after seeing the edited ones years ago on the SciFi Channel. I hadn't seen the BW S1 & S2 episodes intact since their original airings in the 70's.

 

[Firebee]

``My Favorite Martian'' S3...am still weighing whether I want to spring for their redone (and much more complete, albeit much more expensive) version of ``My Favorite Martian'' S1 from Umbrella Entertainment in Oz.

 

[Jeff Willis]

For anyone that may be interested in the R2 Happy Days S1 set regarding the music content, I bought both the S1 & S2 R2 sets and compared an episode from the R2 S1 set "Guess Who's Coming to Visit" (ep #4) with the R1 S1 set. The R2 episode contains the original music so the S1 (R2) set appears to be the same thing as the R2 S2 set regarding the original music. The R1 episode had some music background (in the same comparable scenes) that was unknown to me. It sounded like they tried to find some other music that closely resembled the original 50's music.

 

[Sammy-G]

Quantum Leap Seasons 2 & 3 (from the UK - music issues on the R1 discs)
Power Rangers Seasons 1-4 (from Germany - no R1 release yet)
Ally McBeal Seasons 1-4 (from the UK - no R1 release yet)

 

[Bonedwarf]

Spaced - Bought the 3 disker from R2 that came out shortly after "Shaun of the Dead"
Only Fools and Horses - Again, R2. I think there have been some R1 DVD's but they're MASSIVELY overpriced.
Brass Eye - Chris Morris' spoof documentary show. A classic. Never released in R1.
Between The Lines - The best UK police show ever made IMO.
Jam - Another Chris Morris show.
The High Life - Alan Cumming in an early role before he went on to be a bit of a movie star. Wouldn't see the light of day here in R1. VERY funny show about air stewards who work for Air Scotia. Completely silly show and extremely funny. I still say "Oh deary me..." to this day.

Curiously the last two were actually released region free. Coincidentally they were the two DVD's that had NOTHING to do with the network that broadcast them.

 

[Ray_R]

I'm going to be importing the R2 UK Seasons 2 and 3 of Quantum Leap due to music rights issues here in R1 land. I know Season 4 has music changed in both R1/R2 releases but I might get the UK one since it isn't on DVD-18's. Thankfully Season Five is alright.

 

[BobSchneider]

Well my other region collection so far been all R4 . "Farewell My Lovely" 70's adaption with Robert Michum and S3 of Ironside r4 from madman.com due to punk arse Shout! abandoning the show here in the US. Ive got Ironside S4 r4 on pre release order right now from madman. Right now Ive got two dvd players that work region free and Phillips sd dvd (bought because it was regionless) and by happy accident I discover with Ironside s3 my pansonic upscaler dvd plays r4 dvd's with very nice results. Honestly Im look for more tv series and movie titles on other regions, because some time you can get good deals of find titles never released in r1 like farewell my lovely

 

[Ockeghem]

All seven seasons of DS9 and VOY (Region 2). I had no problems, as the items arrived in perfect shape. I was surprised that there wasn't at least one that would need to be returned. Thankfully, there weren't any problems with any of them.

 

[nikkif99uk]

Basically any show not released in UK I will import from US, also imported a few shows from Australia too.

A Couple of examples

Birds Of Prey - Complete (US)
Dharma & Greg - Season 2 (AU)
Dogwomen - Complete (AU)
VIP - Season 1 (US)
Welcome Back Kotter - Season 1 (US)
Wonderfalls - Complete (US)

 

[supes78]

Incredible Hulk 80s cartoon (UK)
Spiderfriends (UK)
Teen Wolf cartoon (AU)
Conan the Adventurer cartoon (UK)
Tick complete cartoon series(UK)

I actually bought a region free player not too long ago for the sole purpose of taking advantage of these international releases. Now, I feel like the world has opened up for me.

 

[JasonJason]

I live in the U.S., and I've bought a TON of Region 2 British comedy, due to the fact that they were never available here in the States. Many of them, however have since become available here, but I didn't know if they ever would. Some of the ones I imported are:

League of Gentlemen (all 3 series, christmas special, movie & live shows)
Look Around You
Spaced
The Mighty Boosh
I'm Alan Partridge
Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
The Day Today
Brass Eye
People Like Us
Human Remains
Marion and Geoff
I Am Not An Animal
Father Ted
Black Books
Big Train
Shaun of the Dead (at the time, I didn't even know if it would be released in the States THEATRICALLY)
Hot Fuzz
Bo Selecta
The Smoking Room
Nick Frost's Danger 50,000 Volts
Little Britain
Severance
Peep Show
The Armando Ianucci Show
Fun at the Funeral Parlor
Green Wing
Stand up specials from Ricky Gervais & Dylan Moran

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them at the moment...