No Trigun DVD's in the UK!!!

[Maguamaru]

I couldn't believe this when I found this out... I'm really pissed off about this one! I don't care about how I have to do it, I'm going to get these DVD's!
I know they're region 1 DVD's, and I live in Region 2... however, if I have them imported, I'm pretty sure I can play them (I have a DVD video player on my computer, and some PC DVD software has the ability to play multi-regions.)
This is just outrageous. Surely Pioneer aren't going to abandon us, too?!?

[Ura]

Don't complain about UK anime. Check out what we get released here in R4. Madman are the only people releasing anything :( I got my Trigun DVDs R1 and yes if its PCDVD there should be no problems

[Maguamaru]

Yeah, I already heard about the anime supply that Australia gets. I'm aware that many countries get much less thank we do, but don't you think it's an outrage if a country gets any less anime than America does?

Ah well, thanks for the advice re PCDVD! I ordered Trigun vol 1 on DVD from Amazon.com about two hours ago. Funny how four eps of Trigun, on DVD, imported over the Atlantic ocean, only cost me £23, and four eps of EVA, on VHS, from a shop about ten miles away, cost me £28. :p I think I might start importing more, America's anime looks cheaper. Roll on DVD!

[Ura]

order multiple titles too. Its better worth it. I do a lot of ordering from express.com. PCDVD is no prob, its only set tops that can get stroppy.

[jackal]

AUSSIES!!We should all start flooding Madman with e-mails to bring in TRIGUN and the rest of Slayers that they so kindly only brought out the movie for! And for Wing Gundam too!

[Ura]

They can't I asked them a while back. Pioneer is anally retentive when it comes to DVD releases. So nothing outside R1 from them and no they won'tlet madman author dvds based on content they licensed. So no Trigun, no Tenchi, no Ranma, no Lain :( (I already own all these as R1's though :) )

[Maguamaru]

So, Ura, which program do you use for viewing R1 DVD's? I've been pointed in the direction of WinDVD2k, but I was wondering if there was another, better option. (a bit like WinAmp being better than Windows Media Player, but with DVD's instead of MP3's.)

Actually, I don't mind importing DVD's, since it's cheaper for me than buying anime in the shops here! (Even AFTER postage, packing, tax + shipping!)

[Edited by Maguamaru on 22-01-2001 at 07:08 PM]

[Ura]

I have a Hollywood+ So I have top use Zone Selector for my setup (it uses a program called DVD Station). I'm not too good with software decoders but I have heard that PowerDVD is the way to go. You can get a little proggie called DVDGenie that will alter the region settings on any drive. It works fine in my experience with it.

[Tamachan]

Both WinDVD and PowerDVD are pretty good programs, and DVD genie can change the region coding for either program so that shouldn't be a problem. PowerDVD probably has a slight edge over WinDVD in that it's got a few extra features, like taking screencaps.
And Ura's right about the Pioneer titles...Madman cannot get the rights to these, nor can they obtain the rights to any Bandai titles like GWing or Escaflowne, so there's not much point wasting your time emailing Madman about them.

[Maguamaru]

Well, I'm ok, then! My comp. came with PowerDVD... and it looks like I need this DVD Genie thingy to change the region on it... that shouldn't be too hard to find, right?
It's a shame it's gonna take so long for me to GET the DVD's... I ordered them on Sunday, and they reckon they could arrive ANYTIME in February. That's a big margin. :(

[EVA fiend]

Are you really all that surprised that Trigun (& loads of other titles) isn't going to be released in the UK? I've just about stopped buying UK released anime, because hardly any of it is on DVD, they don't release titles subbed anymore, and you have to wait ages for them to release the next installment. I get most of my anime from either the US or Japan. A word of advice about buying DVD's from the US..., don't buy too many at once, or the taxman will stitch you right up!!! I bought 5 anime DVD's from the US last year, and I had to pay £30 in customs charges before they would give them to me!!!! That really pissed me off! :(

[Drizzten]

How f*cken retarded. You spend the money on a DVD player/DVD drive and you can't play certain DVDs because you live someplace different from someone else. And they wonder why programs like DVD Genie and DeCSS are out there...

[Tamachan]

Forgot to mention, you hsould find out if your DVD drive itself is region locked, as they started doing that from last year. If it is, it's no big deal, you can d/l firmware hacks, it's just a hassle to install them.

[Maguamaru]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! :D Not long to wait now!

EVA fiend, what you say makes a lot of sense to me - anime from stores like Virgin and HMV just costs TOO much, and I hear that some anime in MVC is sold for £12.99... WITH ONE EPISODE PER TAPE! I don't know if this happens anywhere else, but it's awful!
Thanks for the stuff about the customs charges! I'll be sure to get them delivered in seperate boxes. :evil:

[Ura]

taxed for that many DVDs? Man Britains harsh. I get mine from express.com and my parcels have never been stopped or charged with GST. And I'll do around 4-6 discs an order

[Maguamaru]

Well, it's not just us! The whole world is polluted by that sort of crap, IMO.
And Drizzten's right, it IS totally retarded. What's even more annoying is that region coding only exists so that a HANDFUL of people can make a few extra pennies - the companies who produce the programmes, and the companies that make the players, actually make a loss from region encoding! It's just the fat-cats that make a profit. (This is why several DVD players such as a certain Warner Bros. player and the Japanese model of the PS2 have little 'backdoors' to get around region encoding.)