This is probably a frequently asked question, but I haven't been able to find an answer anywhere, so I've decided to bug this newsgroup.
Is there any word of Futurama DVD collections? I heard something about The Simpsons getting this treatment, which lit a spark of hope in my heart for my favourite TV series, which Swedish TV for some reason has stopped showing.
Mike Tilly wrote:
The Simpsons will be supposedly coming out 2nd or 3rd quarter this year. As for Futurama DVD's their was only vague mention by A FOX home video Exec that it might be a good product to put out following The Simpsons DVD's if they do well. But either way If your in Sweden your going to need a US or UK region DVD player because those will probably be the first markets that they will make it to if they even make them.
And Fox registered http://www.futuramadvd.com but right now it just shunts back to the FOX Home Entertainment site.
On Fri, 26 Jan 2001 03:18:13 GMT, Mike Zaite wrote:
If you use a computer based DVD drive and the right MPEG-2 Accelerator card, you can play back any region. I haven't tried this feature yet, but my DVD Motion (www.utobia.com) card says it can play back PAL format European region disks either on the computer monitor or to a TV. Likewise, it can play NTSC format on a PAL TV.
It also plays back VCD and downloaded MPG files onto a TV.
There are also some regular DVD players that allow you to change the region codes, but most don not, so you have to look for that feature.
--Larry
Larry F wrote:
My old Creative Dxr2 Will only let me change regions 4 times then I have to clean the regestry for the program so I can change it again. Lotsa hassle.
to clean
Josh Lipton-Duffin wrote:
Neat but it's Payware and considering I sit about 1/2 foot from my PC when I watch DVD's and I only have region 1 discs I don't really need it. But good link.
Mike Zaite wrote:
Try DVDGenie (http://www.inmatrix.com). It's freeware and it sets the region for a lot of different software players.
Ulrich
Ulrich Schweitzer wrote:
Thanks for the link, but The Dxr2 is a hardware player.
Mike Zaite wrote:
It's a mpeg decoder card, isn't it? A friend of mine has one of those and DVDGenie is able to set the region for it. I don't know if yours is supported but if you can change the registry manually, there is no reason why DVDGenie shouldn't.
Ulrich
Ulrich Schweitzer wrote:
Could be. I wouldn't know.
DVDs are not formatted for PAL or NTSC, but they have a "region code" usually put on the DVD. 1=USA/Canada 2=Europe .. there are 5 I think althogether. Most players will only play one region code. Some are fixed when you buy them (set to 1 in the US), some fix and play only the first region you ever play (they are not configured when you buy them, but they lock into whatever region the first DVD you play is). You can hack most DVD players for a computer to be region free or get utilities to make them region free or reset the region code. Some Players (for the TV/stereo) can also be hacked or repaired I think. It is NOT illegal to buy a DVD for another region and watch it, no matter where you live! This is some thing created by the movie industry to make life suck.
"Larry F" wrote in message news:[email]...
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"Luther Miller" wrote:
That's not correct. Additionally to the region code, there is still the encoding format which is either PAL or NTSC. Look on any DVD case and you will either see PAL or NTSC printed on the back of it. Most stand alone DVD players and all computer based ones will play both formats, though.
Ulrich
What do they change in those formats? Just the frame rate? I thought that DVDs had a higher resolution than NTSC or PAL -- is that true?
"Ulrich Schweitzer" wrote in message news:954sfo$rfm$[email]...
Luther Miller wrote:
That's exactly true. That's why it's hardware switchable. It breaks down the digital video and transmits in the analog format you need. So you are still limited to the set your watching it on. That's why I'm waiting for wide aspect screen HDTV's to drop to get a consumer electronic deck so that way I get the real whole picture in HDTV resolution like on my PC.
There are 6 by now, a 7th is planned.
But currently it is illegal in Germany to sell non-RC2-DVDs.
Really? I didn't know that. But you can (could? haven't checked in months) rent a few at Video World (on Adenauer Platz in Berlin anyway). Is it illegal to order them from amazon USA and ship them to Germany too?
"Martin Schmidt" wrote in message news:954pfs$flsjg$[email]...
I know that several stores still sell them. The issue is not cleared completely by now, but a few months ago police stormed 4 "WOM"-stores in Berlin and took all RC1-DVDs. I know someone who works in that business and he showed me the original letter all DVD-stores received. To buy RC1-DVDs you could also try "Videodrom Basement" (in Kreuzberg), but they are very expensive. (see also below)
Ah, Videodrom... they are the best! Anyway, I don't have the problem right now since I am living in California, but some friends of mine still order DVDs from the US. I will tell them about dvd box office. Thanks!
I wonder why they made it illegal to sell RC1 in germany. Of course, it was also hard to get vitamins in germany...
getting a bit off-topic now.. (but not as bad as the Denver Broncos thread)
"Martin Schmidt" wrote in message news:955veu$furd5$[email]...
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and
but
too?
Luther Miller wrote:
There are several reasons. For example, some movies are available on RC1-DVDs before they start in German/European theatres. I know that there are agreements in other countries, that stores will not start selling the US-DVD until the RC2-DVD is out.
Any idea on how many of the Simpsons episodes they will put putting on a DVD (I'm assuming they'll give any Futurama DVD the same treatment)? Seems a bit pointless if they bung on 2 episodes, but conversly if they put 12 episodes on a DVD will they want $100.00 per DVD?
Paul Matthews wrote:
The Simpsons will be released a season at a time, like The X-Files. (How long it will take for DVDs that can be played in "unmodified" European DVD players to be released is another question.) As the first season is 13 episodes, I would guess it would be on three DVDs (two with episodes and one with "extras"). It's hard to guess a price, but I would say something like US$40 (about �25, last time I looked). Later seasons with 22-24 episodes would mean at least four DVDs (three with episodes, one with extras), and expect to pay at least US$60 per season. (Seasons of "The X-Files", with 24 one-hour episodes, can be bought for about US$90.) (They can use double-sided DVDs, but these are usually marketing nightmares, as you can't put large labels on one of the sides. And the actual number of discs has very little if anything to do with what Fox - or any other studio, for that matter - would charge for them.)
As for Futurama...well, in the USA, I would be surprised if any video version would be available here before 2007; that's about how long it took The Simpsons to make it to video in the USA (besides the Christmas Special tape), as Fox didn't want video versions to cut into the profits they were making in syndication (for those of you wondering what "syndication" is: after a few years of Fox showing one episode a week, they sell the rights to show old reruns to local stations throughout the USA five days a week). However, it didn't take as long as it did with The Simpsons for Friends to be released on video in the USA, so maybe Futurama might get a quicker release. As for a European release, it's anybody's guess when, or how many episodes at a time; one problem they have to consider is how easy it would be for someone in Europe to copy the episodes to a hard drive (with help from DeCSS) so anybody can upload them for free.
On Fri, 26 Jan 2001, Mike Tilly stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -
AFAIK, I've not even heard anything about it even appearing on video yet, so that might be rather optimistic.