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Hitchhiker's Guide DVD to be released on January 28
hitchhacker writes "It looks like The BBC series version of 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' is being released on DVD January 28, 2002. 'disc set contains all six episodes from the classic BBC sci-fi comedy as well 10 minutes of additional footage which was cut to acheive the 30 minute run time. Also included are a few additional features - making of, deleted scenes, interviews and more.'" CD: Word has it that this is a region 2 dvd.
affect the average /. reader? All of our dvd players ignore region codes ;P
The Hitchhiker's DVD may only be region 2 for now, but on the other side of the coin, the March release of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 box set will be region 1 (U.S.) only.
:-)
How about a trade? We get the BBC to release the six episodes of HHG in region 1 over here, and we'll give them 26 episodes of ST:TNG for region 2 in return. I think we'd come out better on the deal, but hopefully the Brits will be too busy watching the ST:TNG episodes to notice.
I have owned the BBC series on VHS for years and the tapes slowly gather dust.
The production is cheap and outdated, moves far too slowly, has very few entertaining spots, and the acting is not that great either.
The original radio sketches were far better.
Oh yes, and Trillian is blonde.
You're meant to wait until the region 1 DVD is released.
The purpose of region encoding is to ensure that a movie leaving US markets can be "staged" into foriegn markets
You're forgetting that other countries produce film material, too. The region coding in this case is to ensure EU marget gets served first before anyone else can get it.
Region encoding [...] serves no purpose other than to simultaneously reduce sales and annoy customers.
I couldn't agree more with this statement.
Now imagine that this would be the case for you almost every time a movie comes out on DVD. Annoying, eh?
Why would the BBC want to stop sales of this DVD to the US? The math is simple...more sales means more money ...
Your point is also valid viewed in the other perspective. Why would the US firms possibly want EU and other zones to wait sometimes 6 months or 1 year, to get the material on DVD ? See all the points above.. Makes no sense to me.
Most modern European TV's can handle both PAL-50Hz, PAL-60Hz and NTSC pretty easily. I get quite a bit of Region 1 anime imported from the US and they all play great on my chipped Pioneer DV444K.
As far as I'm aware, if your dvd player can output in plain RGB and your TV can support 60Hz RGB input, then you should be able to watch any format video on it.
I realise thats a bit of a problem in the US where most TV's have only [video + L audio + R audio] inputs. If only you all had the all encompassing SCART connector on all your TV's!!!
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Granted, the original post was somewhat American-centric. However, I think his point still holds. This is not a film being released first to theatres and then to DVD/VHS, it is an old series finally making it to DVD. The "staging" he mentioned was referring to selling all the theatre tickets you can first, THEN selling all the rentals/DVDs/etc. The regions allow them to do this in all the various markets (even though the film isn't released to the theatres at the same time in various markets).
Now imagine that this would be the case for you almost every time a movie comes out on DVD. Annoying, eh?
Well, I agree that it's annoying, but as much as I hate to admit it I can sort of see the logic for Region encoding for films . I still don't like it, but I see the logic. Again, we weren't talking about movies here though -- just an old TV series. You had a point mentioning that the same holds true in when other countries are forced to wait when a US region DVD comes out -- but in most cases those are for films. The logic of region-encoding an old TV series simply escapes me -- no matter what region it's from.
Ah well, I still say ... 42.
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The whole "why region TV shows" issue is something that confuses me too. Recently I bought 2 BBC DVD box sets, Fawlty Towers, and The Blue Planet (a documentary series about the sea)
Now Blue Planet is region 0 (i.e. will play on any player), but Fawlty Towers is region 2.
The only possible answer I could think of was that Blue Planet was a joint BBC / Discovery Channel production, and the Discovery Channel wanted to sell it outside Europe
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What movie?
You mean the BBC Series of 6 30 minute programs which was cut horribly into a US TV "Made for TV Movie"? Damnit, it was a series, not a movie!
The sum total of Ed Bye's "direction" seems to have been to just stick the camera in the middle of the set and make the actors run through long scenes in one (often awkward and badly timed) take. It's like watching a stageplay that hasn't been rehearsed, only a stageplay wouldn't have been lit with 40,000 flourescent tubes. Even worse is that they changed Trillian from a no-nonsense scientist type into a squeaking brainless gangster-moll. I'm not sure who was behind that decision but her performence alone is bad enough to make you want to shove a fork in your eye. There's a few points that are kinda ok, like the sequence on the Vogon ship, but overall it's a mess.
I grew up with and love the radio series and the books. I really want to see this as a show/movie done right, and I only hope that DA's death won't derail the plans for the movie.
The disc, like most BBC DVDs, will probably be dual region 2 and 4; so the Australians will be able to see it.
Different companies have different rights areas; the BBC will want to release a R1 version for NTSCers out there, but it's not such a high priority for a company which is resoundingly Region 2. Also, BBC discs are released by Fox in the States, who won't want their area treaded upon. Complain to them.
Maybe also the rights to HHGTTG are owned by someone else; "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "The Avengers" are owned by A&E, for example.
Now you get all the problems we have every time something cool is released in the States that we can't get; e.g. "Almost Famous" bootleg cut, Monty Python series box sets, Criterion "Life of Brian" and so on. That's why a lot of British people (including me, and most of uk.media.dvd) have their players modded. You should too, even if it's just a DVD-ROM drive and DVD player software (or a H+ hardware card.) Enjoy a whole new world!
Given that we also have MP, Blackadder, and Faulty Towers now out on R1 DVD sets, I very much doubt BBC is *stupid* enough to not put out a HHGTTG R1 DVD.
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The computers I've seen that have a video-out(Composite or S-Video) usually allow for the output to TV to be set to either NTSC or PAL.
Yes, but they also allow apps (such as DVD player) to override such a setting. Otherwise, the drivers probably won't get Microsoft's signature. I haven't read anything important about this exact issue, but if MS Secure Audio Path is any indication of the direction Microsoft is heading for the operating system that will come with your next PC...
Besides, the telecine method is different. With a 50Hz video technology like PAL, they just speed the 24Hz film up 4% and draw each film frame into two video fields. In 60Hz formats such as NTSC or PAL-M, they draw each frame for three fields, then two, then three, then two... I doubt that most DVD players can convert NTSC telecine to PAL telecine or vice versa, so they just output the format that most closely matches the encoded frame-rate.
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whats the point? doesn't everyone realise that the TV series was absoloutely dreadful next to the radio4 dramatisation and of course the books, and all the hardware you need for that is a cassete player and imagination.
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The purpose of region encoding, from start to finish was to support differential pricing. The story about movie releases is a smokescreen. If the industry execs. stated that the purpose of zone encoding was to allow them to maintain DVD prices in Europe that were double those in the US they would end up in jail.
In fact they may still end up with a huge fine. The EU commission is investigating the DVD zone encoding scam and unlike the US regulators they are not easily bought off with Enron sized campaign contributions.
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Again I ask this: why are they region protecting DVDs of things that haven't been in any international theaters for a loooong time anyway? The MPAA is demonstrating quite clearly here that their argument for region protection (skew releases so a particular region can't have it on DVD when it is still showing in the theaters) is a lie, and that their real reason for having region coding is different.
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