Overseas titles on Blu-ray...

[T-Wrecks]

Seeing more and more News Headlines about this and that HD-DVD exclusive being released in Japan/Europe on Blu-ray.

Is it possible to get'em? Is region coding an ironic deterrent? Will execs take notice if we start looking overseas for titles and show the "Take the big deal first, worry about consumer choice second" studio heads that made sure to line their corporate pockets that they might want to push for state-side releases sooner vs. later?

It will be interesting to see if there is a tracking system put in place for international sales orders...assuming overseas BD work in North American systems.

Money staying state-side vs. going out-of-country. Who cares when you got your incentives and cash, right Uni/Para?

Thoughts anyone?

[seto]

It's not so much that region coding is a giant deterrent but rather the prohibitive cost. You can expect to pay x2 to x3 times more for an imported title. Its not worth the kind of utility you could buy with that money to import the title for most people.

I am not saying that region coding is not a deterrent as well. It seems like European discs use far less region locking in their Blu-ray disc releases than the US is. Therefore, if you have a US Blu-ray player and don't mind the cost, importing from Europe Blu-ray movies that are American HD DVD-exclusive titles would be practical. However, if you were outside of the US without a US player and were attracted to the lower costs of the discs you may be more SOL because, to me, it seems like US releases use far more region locking than other region releases.

Putting that all aside, their decision, in the end, was made purely in the interest of the corporation. Consumer preferences were purely put in second place. At the time of the decision, they probably felt that the market was not big enough for them to make the amount that Paramount received for their defection in 18 months time. That is just my point of view.