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Miyazaki Region 1 DVDs at Last?
PinkStainlessTail writes " Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all) claiming that Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY, CASTLE IN THE SKY (aka LAPUTA), and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE will be released on 2 disc region 1 DVD sets from Disney in April of this year. The original story comes from comic artist Steve Bissette's message board. " Here's hopin'
Japanese televisions use a higher color temperature (~9000) than American televisions (~5400). Theaters use a lower color temperature as well (~5000-5700), and so to keep colors looking the same when released domestically in Japan, Miyazaki has his animations color shifted to compensate.
When you take one of these DVDs and play it on an american TV, it looks pink. best to wait for our own domestic release.
I certainly hope that the DVD release is better that the terrible Fox DVD release of My Neighbor Totoro, which was a pan-and-scan version with no Japanese language track or extras.
If Disney are releasing it directly, then there is some chance they might do a good job, but I'm certainly not preordering anything until the details are clear...
I live in North America and buy all my movies here. So region codes are the least of my concern. What I am looking for is a DVD player that doesn't give a damn about what the disc wants or where it came from. It's my copy of the movie, my DVD player, my TV and home theater system. So, why can't I pull up the DVD menu any time I damn well feel like it? Does anyone know if there is such a device?
I bought this bundle in the US last month - http://www.discountanimedvd.com/dvd_detail.asp?dvd no=1696
They are listed as 'All code, Region Free' on the website. The only problem I've had is that the "Spirited Away" discs do not play on my PC's DVD drive (a pioneer drive). 'Spirited Away" does play in my Playstation 2. So take that for what it's worth.
I've enjoyed every movie so far and I'm half way throught the set.
There's an english dub on the new french dvd of spirited away which is actually called Le Voyage De Chihiro. Be carefull though some of the old french dvds are still around. I ordered it on a sunday from alapage.com and I had it the following Saturday. The english dub is the same one I heard in the theatres and its in Dolby 5.1 and there are also a french and japanese audio tracks. A fench DTS track is also available.
It's a fairly simple thing to remove region encoding on modern DVD-ROM "RPC2" drives. This site has firmware for practically every DVD-ROM drive available, patched to RPC1, which does not check for region encoding on the DVD. Couple this with a software DVD player such as InterVideo WinDVD and it's a simple matter to go into the registry and delete the key that tells the player how many times you can change the region encoding. You can even use this tool to do it automatically. I'm not positive about the legality of this, for IANAL, but I don't believe after recent rulings on DeCSS (which this does not bypass) that there is much of a risk of any kind of legal problem.
[insert witty comment here]
The red tint is subtle, but it's definitely there. It's not as severe as, say, disabling the blue gun on your monitor, but if you look at the whites, like on Sen's shirt, they're not quite white. More of a pink, really. You only notice it if you have a properly calibrated TV, or if you compare the preview side-by-side with the movie.
Since many of my friends are AV freaks, they generally make sure that their equipment is calibrated correctly, so things like this definitely show.
I'm glad to see that we are not in such a large disagreement, but only on fine points. Two, in fact, for which I can explain my position quite rapidly. ;)
One, I strongly object to the use of the word "stealing" to refer to illegal copying. It's a loaded word, and its use helps to spread propaganda from the studios. Stealing is taking something and depriving the rightful owner of its use. In fact, I am legally right; if you get arrested for selling illegal copies of movies, you are not charged with robbery, you are charged with copyright infringment.
On the second point, yes, I have access to P2P... on a 56K modem. Ever tried to download a movie that way? Fun it is not. Plus, I don't pay quite a lot of money; 10 bucks will get you a Miyazaki VCD. I kinda agree that "pirates" are leeches, but not a lot more than movie studios execs. Plus, remember, I can give 10 bucks to a so-called "pirate", of which nothing will go to Miyazaki, or I can give 40 to Disney, of which 1-2 will go to Miyazaki (my guess, I can't really tell) and 38-39 to Disney execs. Guess which one I consider the lesser of two evils.
Still, I intend to buy the original as soon as it becomes available. But I absolutely refuse to subject my kid to the whims of a corporation regarding when he can see Totoro. For a movie that has been around for over 10 years not to be available in DVD (particularly such a masterpiece) is a crime.
Again, thanks for your articulate response, and rest assured I meant no ad hominen arguments; I was trying to equate my behavior to others that I consider similar and acceptable. Admitedly, in a somewhat inflamatory manner (this is Slashdot, right?)