Canadian or US version?

[Equisilus]

This has been a question I've been meaning to ask for a while. How does one tell if they've purchased a Canadian or US release of a BD (I'm in Canada)? I can tell, usually, if a movie has been released in one country and not the other, but when they are released simultaneously, and are listed on this site in both US and Canadian versions, do I assume that I have the Canadian one or is it possible that I have a US version?

It's not that it matters, but since a distinction is being made on the site, I'd like to make the same distinction in my movie list. Recently I added the Fantastic Four movies to my list only to discover that the Canadian versions hadn't even been released yet (so I obviously had the US versions, although they appear to be exactly the same). I left the ones in my list as Canadian all the same rather than switch them to what I must have had. I just picked up the Hellboy movies, though, and am wondering if I made the right choice in adding the Canadian versions. Could I go with whether they have a Canadian rating on them?

Of course, I suspect it's a question that has been answered, but my search-fu on this site doesn't seem to be working well; feel free to direct me to the answer if one is available.

[Sussudio]

one way to tell is if the blu is released by Alliance Pictures, a Canadian distributor. there are other studios as well of course, but if you see their logo on the front cover (usually bottom right corner) that means it is definitely the Canadian release.

[Equisilus]

Yep, that's definitely another way. I guess the bottom line would be that there is no one way to tell. Is it all a matter of looking for "Canadian" info somewhere on the packaging (distributed by, rating scheme, etc) and establishing it's the Canadian version through that?

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Equisilus

Yep, that's definitely another way. I guess the bottom line would be that there is no one way to tell. Is it all a matter of looking for "Canadian" info somewhere on the packaging (distributed by, rating scheme, etc) and establishing it's the Canadian version through that?

sometimes...but sometimes not. a good many of my US releases blurays say "canadian home video" (sixth sense is one example)...

a lot of canadian blus have french writing on them too.

[Equisilus]

Ah, I guess the end result is that we may be able to determine which version we have, but not always. Unless there's a sure/easy way, I'll just go with what is most appropriate based on what I know. It's only for listing them here, and I'm probably the only one who will ever look at the info anyway. Thanks for the tips.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Equisilus

Ah, I guess the end result is that we may be able to determine which version we have, but not always. Unless there's a sure/easy way, I'll just go with what is most appropriate based on what I know. It's only for listing them here, and I'm probably the only one who will ever look at the info anyway. Thanks for the tips.

are there any specific ones you had questions about from certain retailers? if it is online i can try and help you out, if you are in an actual store i assume you could always ask an employee to check for you (forgive me for being completely naive - do they sell US releases in canadian retail stores?)

[Equisilus]

No specific questions at this moment. I gave an example (the F4 movies) where I thought I had bought Canadian releases, but noticed that the release date on this site had them at April 21, 2009. Obviously they weren't those ones. However, I just now looked at the case for them and see that they have the Canadian home video rating label on the back. That's rather confusing. A US release wouldn't have a Canadian home video rating on it, but the Canadian ones aren't even released yet. So what do I have?

Hmm. It's a mystery (or, at least, confusing).

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Equisilus

No specific questions at this moment. I gave an example (the F4 movies) where I thought I had bought Canadian releases, but noticed that the release date on this site had them at April 21, 2009. Obviously they weren't those ones. However, I just now looked at the case for them and see that they have the Canadian home video rating label on the back. That's rather confusing. A US release wouldn't have a Canadian home video rating on it, but the Canadian ones aren't even released yet. So what do I have?

Hmm. It's a mystery (or, at least, confusing).

nah, just like i said above i have a lot of Blus that are US releases but they still display "canadian home video" on them.

check out this link for the sixth sense's back cover:
http://www.dvdtown.com/moviedatabase...se-the/24197/1

at the very bottom toward the left side there is a Canadian Home Video logo with a 14 on it..is that what you are talking about?

[Equisilus]

Yep, that's it. Well, who'd've thunk it? I guess that means those releases are really North American and not US or Canada. Makes it more difficult to tell, unless the SKUs are different.

I guess it's only really going to matter with releases that are very different. For instance, the recent releases by Alliance in Canada of some bare-bones BDs will likely be very different from the eventual US/NA release later on. Then the distinction will matter.

[Sussudio]

as far as i know the studio releasing the movie is the best way to tell where it is released

hope this helps! and when in doubt just ask...plenty of helpful people on this site to come to your aid

[Anthony P]

This has been a question I've been meaning to ask for a while. How does one tell if they've purchased a Canadian or US release of a BD (I'm in Canada)? I can tell, usually, if a movie has been released in one country and not the other, but when they are released simultaneously, and are listed on this site in both US and Canadian versions, do I assume that I have the Canadian one or is it possible that I have a US version?

it does not tend to matter. The sight differentiates because it does not have a library but uses a plug-in that connects to the different Amazon sites and pulls the data from there, so depending on where the data is from it tags it that way. So the distinction is there for which site, Amazon.ca or Amazon.com, it got the info from. In the f4 discussion Amazon.ca might have gotten it later (was .ca carrying blu from the start), or someone made a mistake when entering it there or it got repressed with a new SUC....

[Equisilus]

Well, thanks for all the tips. Unless there's a difference between the versions, I won't concern myself with getting the country right. I didn't realize that the site only differentiated because of a plugin; I assumed that it meant there were different releases of the same product. Gah. The sad thing is, if I use the Canadian choice, it adds another click or two to get to the review, since the review is almost always attached to the US version.

[Anthony P]

I won't concern myself with getting the country right. I didn't realize that the site only differentiated because of a plugin; I assumed that it meant there were different releases of the same product.

it is not just because of a plug in, if you only buy in the US, why would you care about titles that are only in Canada or only the UK or only Japan.... and the same for any other country, that is why you can pick the coutries you want from the get go. But for the most part the same studio rerleasing in the US will also release the exact same version here in Canada but with possibly different couvers. And there are always other minor differences, for example Aliance releases some movies here (like NL movies) and sometimes they will just repackage/add a sticker to the US version but other times we get movies that are not even released in the US. But in the end, for the vast majority (and let's assume you have it only for your knowledge) does it matter. Many times I have went to the store but due to shortages on Canadian packaging you have the exact same movie one with the US packaging (English only) and one with the Canadian (bilingual) on the shelf.