Region Free Freedom

[notman]

Originally Posted by chas speed

I recently bought Family Guy 1-16 DVD(about 260 episodes) and American Dad 1-12 DVD (about 216) episodes from amazon.co.uk for around 40 dollars each. Didn't Amazon.co.uk usually have a 10 Euro off sale every year around mid-January? I must have missed it this year.

They had 10 pounds off 50 at least two years in a row to celebrate winning a national customer satisfaction survey. Unfortunately they dropped to 5th place this year. I had been looking forward to that sale. I probably buy more blu-rays from the UK than I do from the US now, and I'm in the US.

[chas speed]

Originally Posted by notman

They had 10 pounds off 50 at least two years in a row to celebrate winning a national customer satisfaction survey. Unfortunately they dropped to 5th place this year. I had been looking forward to that sale. I probably buy more blu-rays from the UK than I do from the US now, and I'm in the US.

Thanks, for the info. I think after one month with a region free player I had already saved more money then the player cost.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by chas speed

Thanks, for the info. I think after one month with a region free player I had already saved more money then the player cost.

I don't understand people who think they save money by being region free, or suggest a region free player "pays for itself". I've spent thousands on Region A titles since going region free, that I wouldn't have spent at all were I B-locked.

Rebuying the entire ESPN 30 for 30 5th Anniversary set was the biggest pain in the ass.

[skippy3elf]

Anyone have any feedback on the LG region free players from 220-electronics (or anywhere else for that matter)? The price is attractive, but I've heard that LG players are very cheaply built.

[chas speed]

Originally Posted by koberulz

I don't understand people who think they save money by being region free, or suggest a region free player "pays for itself". I've spent thousands on Region A titles since going region free, that I wouldn't have spent at all were I B-locked.

Rebuying the entire ESPN 30 for 30 5th Anniversary set was the biggest pain in the ass.

OK, lets say you want to buy 16 seasons of Family Guy on DVD and you don't have a region free player. It would probably cost you over 300 dollars. If you had a region free player you could pick up 16 volumes for 40 dollars. Can you see how that would save you some money? I also bought The Arrow UK Dekalog set last year for 30 bucks. It had a free book that was about 150 pages and 10 hours of bonus stuff not included on the US version. If I had bought the Criterion set it would have cost twice as much. I also bought Batman The Animated Series Blu-ray set for under 60 dollars in the UK when it was released (saving at least 40 bucks) and bought the latest Monterey Pop Blu-ray set for 25 bucks (half the price of the US version).

[Brutalizer79]

It's been about 2 years for me since going region-free. It didn't help my bank account any but I love the freedom it provides.

[mja345]

Some of my favorite Region B releases:

Thieves Highway (Arrow)
Brute Force (Arrow)
The Naked City (Arrow)
Hands Over the City (Eureka)
Withnail and I/How to Get Ahead in Advertising (Arrow)
Ruggles of Red Gap (Eureka)
Blue Collar (Indicator)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (BFI)
Smoke (Studio Canal)

[javy]

Originally Posted by mja345

Some of my favorite Region B releases:

Thieves Highway (Arrow)
Brute Force (Arrow)
The Naked City (Arrow)
Hands Over the City (Eureka)
Withnail and I/How to Get Ahead in Advertising (Arrow)
Ruggles of Red Gap (Eureka)
Blue Collar (Indicator)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (BFI)
Smoke (Studio Canal)

Ya better believe those three Dassin titles were among some of my first pickups.

As for The Long Goodbye, I love Arrow's cover artwork and booklet for thier release.

[Monterey Jack]

Always amazes me how some people will drop $100+ on movies every single week, and yet will balk at laying down the same money on a region-free player. I have close to thirty region-B titles in my collection now, sometimes both those and the U.S. releases to have access to all the available extras/transfers of favorite movies.

[brainofj72]

I’ve been collecting for about 20 years and still haven’t gone region-free. It’s caused some mild annoyances, but nothing too severe. But there being no sign of a US release for Polanski’s Based on a True Story might just push me over the edge at last.

[moviegeek1992]

Originally Posted by brainofj72

I’ve been collecting for about 20 years and still haven’t gone region-free. It’s caused some mild annoyances, but nothing too severe. But there being no sign of a US release for Polanski’s Based on a True Story might just push me over the edge at last.

Tbh, due to the controversy surrounding the director, it's doubtful a US or even UK release will be coming anytime soon, if ever. Apparently the Spanish release is the English friendly one to get.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by brainofj72

I’ve been collecting for about 20 years and still haven’t gone region-free. It’s caused some mild annoyances, but nothing too severe.

Same here.

I’m region A limited for simplicity’s sake, and I’m certainly not destitute with regard to my collection.

There are some setbacks, of course. I want the 1922 Nosferatu in the proper frame rate. I want Brute Force, The Lost Weekend, and a few other region B goodies. Part of the joy Blu-ray collection is wanting things, though.

For the most part, I’ve got great picture quality editions of everything that I need.

I’m also glad that 4K UHD is dispensing with this foolishness for now.

[Sam Loover]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I’m also glad that 4K UHD is dispensing with this foolishness for now.

The only reason UHD is region free is because they know the market will be so niche it won't be cost effective unless they can use the same disc worldwide. I think only Sony has gone to the trouble of doing a country specific UHD for a couple of films in the UK.
Also why in the early days of Bluray some studios were still locking back catalogue but eventually stopped that too.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Sam Loover

I think only Sony has gone to the trouble of doing a country specific UHD for a couple of films in the UK.

This is false. No UHD disc is region locked.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

This is false. No UHD disc is region locked.

I think he's just saying Sony have released some stuff only in the UK, which is true. Well, The Girl in the Spider's Web is one anyway, I'm not sure there's another. Paramount have done this too with the G.I. Joe movies and Shutter Island, though I tend to think those are just taking longer in the U.S. rather than exclusive.

[bipbop13]

My first & so far only player is region free. I knew when I started collecting that it would be less of a headache to just get one & get it over with. Probably have 20-30 in my collection. Most/all of them are for releases that aren't in the U.S. (yet.).

[StingingVelvet]

Resellers can sell bootlegs on Amazon, but I've never known actual Amazon to sell them. That would be news to me.

[ltb2.0]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Resellers can sell bootlegs on Amazon, but I've never known actual Amazon to sell them. That would be news to me.

They will also FBA orders with bootlegs on rare occasions. I have a bootleg Tales of Terror that attests to that.

[Zarak]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Resellers can sell bootlegs on Amazon, but I've never known actual Amazon to sell them. That would be news to me.

Actual Amazon US sells a lot of bootleg CDs. Amazon Spain sells many Spanish bootleg DVDs and Blu-rays. I'm sure countless more examples exist.

[horroru]

I went Region Free about 5 years ago with a cheap Seiki - what drove me to it was seeing those amazing Arrow UK special editions for Mario Bava's "Black Sunday" and "Black Sabbath."

The Seiki is a good cheap unit, but about 2 years ago I upgraded to a Sony I got from 220 Electronics (which I had a great experience with btw and can recommend)

I looked at the Stats on my collection here and saw that I have 74 Region B blu rays, with 42 of them being region locked.
Titles such as:
Elvira Mistress of the Dark
Hammer House of Horror plus of course various Hammer Films
The Handmaiden Extended Cut (Park Chan-Wook)
Thirst (Park Chan-Wook)
Phenomena (Arrow Argento)
Phantasm Collection (Arrow)
Theatre of Blood
The Fury
The Loved Ones
A Very Long Engagement
The Wicker Man (original release , 3 cuts)

In my opinion it's worth the investment, especially for movies that may NEVER be released here in the US (I'm looking at you "A Very Long Engagement")