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Well, you will probably want to invest in a good DVD player. The decoding between players can have a big difference on image quality. I am not a videophile, but in my experience it's not so much the quality during slow, colorful scenes, but during very rapid sequences where you might see issues with playback. The Home Theater Forum is always a great start (they have a very nice moderated DIY section), and I am looking into possibly getting an Oppo Digital DVD which has been extremely well rated. As a plus, places like HK Flix sell it with updated firmware (so you can switch regions easily on the fly), although I've seen it for $50 less on Froogle.

As far as receivers, I can give you my analysis and feedback as a regular consumer (I wouldn't even call myself a "prosumer") of home theatre electronics. You definitely would do well in investing in a good receiver with as many inputs as possible, and don't get them from Circuit City / Best Buy / Fry's as they are usually $100 more than what you can find online. In reality, you will probably not need more than 3 or 4 component inputs (DVD + HDTV + Console + Other). Depending on the # of inputs on your TV/projector, this should put you in the $300-$500 range for receivers. Look for wattage ratings and buy from a well-known company (say, Harman-Kardon, Denon, Onkyo, Sony, Yamaha).

Once everything is set up, get a calibration DVD like Digital Video Essentials or Avia to tweak your settings. It can make a noticeable difference.

You don't need Monster Cables. If you have a friend at a store who can get you the discount (retailer markup is at least 100%), then they're fine. But you don't need to spend $300 on cables. Spend that money on better equipment.

Just do your research. It's possible that over the next few months older models will be discontinued and be heavily discounted. That can always save you some cash.

But do they market them internationally? And how often are they responding to email requests in English?

Will I ever try this? Probably not. But it has occured to me. I'd think moving to a country that doesn't care would work as long as you speak fluent English. I used to buy cheap DVDs and CDRs from HK Flix. Never had a problem with them.

I like having all my movies and music and shows just a mouse click away. No fondling media, no DVD drives whooshing and movies stuttering halfway throgh because some tiny piece of schmutz got on the precious disc. In order to do this, I don't care at all what 500kbs or 1mbps files look like - The Twins effect alone occupies about 2GB on one of my drives, and I still haven't been able to produce a rip of Natural City that satisfies me even when the last one I tried was nearly 4GB (lots of film grain in that one and I don't care to lose it).

Yes... many of us care about quality. In fact, this is the very reason I rip DVDs - so the programs I enjoy play (more smoothly) from my hard drive.

If you are into scary movies forget the Ring. The Grudge (Ju-On) is a Japanese movie in the same genre as The Ring. Ju-On, much like the Ring, is being re-made for American audiences. If you have an all region DVD player buy this movie. You will not regret it. (It helps to have a good sound system since the sounds are really part of the horror) Ju-On

URGENT NOTE: According to Disney*, who claims exclusive North American distribution rights to this film, it is a violation of United States law for any North America-based company to sell this title. Any such competitors of ours selling this title are doing so in violation of U.S. law. We are as unhappy about this as you, and we thank you in advance for your continued support of HKFlix.com. If you'd like to express your opinions about this issue to Disney, we strongly encourage you to visit THIS WEB SITE and sign the online petition they've prepared. We also encourage you to call Disney at 1-800-72-DISNEY, and email them at disneyinfo@disneyhelp.com to politely voice your concerns. Let them know you'd like to see these important Asian films released in their original language, in their original widescreen format, with their original title, with their original soundtrack, and uncut. * We loosely use the term "Disney" to refer to the entire Buena Vista family of studios, including Miramax, Dimension, Disney, Touchstone, etc.

I think the important text is the North-American based part. Everyone else can sell this legally.

P.S I dont believe in online petitions so im not replicating the links here but they are on the original page.

URGENT NOTE: According to Disney*, who claims exclusive North American distribution rights to this film, it is a violation of United States law for any North America-based company to sell this title. Any such competitors of ours selling this title are doing so in violation of U.S. law. We are as unhappy about this as you, and we thank you in advance for your continued support of HKFlix.com. If you'd like to express your opinions about this issue to Disney, we strongly encourage you to visit THIS WEB SITE and sign the online petition they've prepared. We also encourage you to call Disney at 1-800-72-DISNEY, and email them at disneyinfo@disneyhelp.com to politely voice your concerns. Let them know you'd like to see these important Asian films released in their original language, in their original widescreen format, with their original title, with their original soundtrack, and uncut. * We loosely use the term "Disney" to refer to the entire Buena Vista family of studios, including Miramax, Dimension, Disney, Touchstone, etc.

I think the important text is the North-American based part. Everyone else can sell this legally.

P.S I dont believe in online petitions so im not replicating the links here but they are on the original page.

Yeah the magic switch is so basic it's silly..

All it does is disable the Auto video level function thats built into all VCR's made past the mid 80's.

Any pro level deck will allow you to control your video levels.

Macrovision works by adding a bar to the overscan (outside the "Safe area") of the video that pulses from black to bright white.

A consumer level VCR tries to use this bar as a refrence for it's video level. Thats why your VCR fades in and out when trying to record a signal with macrovision signal. DVD macrovision works the same way.. Some retailers sell boxes that allow you to watch DVD through your VCR by superimposing a solid unchanging white bar over the macrovision signal.

Find out more about Overscan

The guinness records site has the following:

Most Retakes For One Scene
A sequence in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (US 1931) took 342 takes to make. In the scene, a blind flower girl (played by Virginia Cherrill) sells a tramp a flower in the mistaken belief he is a wealthy tycoon.

WHO: City Lights (1931)
WHEN: 1931
WHERE: USA
WHAT: 342 takes

Jackie Chan's 1982 film is listed as 2900 on HK Flix and as 'hundreds' on TVGuide.com

This information was not available on this thread when I posted, so look at the bloody times before moderating -1 Redundant