Info on import Blu-ray titles

[kannisto]

These can be added to the Japanese Imports list. The CineMusica release is probably Region Free/No subs based on their earlier discs.

Twentieth Century Boys (Japan - VAP Video) (30-Jan-2009)
Amazon JP HMV JP
Audio: Japanese
Subtitles: Japanese
Region: A | Free ?
Notes: Studio Link

Corazon de Melon (Japan - Epic Records) (01-Jan-2009)
Amazon JP HMV JP
Audio: Japanese
Subtitles: ?
Region: A | Free ?
Notes: Studio Link

Thanks Ahsoka! I just started working on my Excel again to update all lists, currently I started with the French list but will update all of them and will include these for the Japanese list.

[kennerado]

More info on Terminator 2 and Total Recall Australian versions, both have the Studio Canal logo on the cases. Now I'm certain they are the same as the UK Optimum releases.

Total Recall has A+B logos on it while T2 only has a B logo. I have just bought Total Recall and will put up pics of the cover later. The interesting thing is that both these are distributed by Universal here.

Also, American Gangster has no region logos.

[ahsoka]

The Italian BD release of Hero from Eagle Pictures is Region B locked. Original and Italian audio and optional Italian subtitles (Eagle's on-line store incorrectly says English audio).
Unfortunatly there doesn't seem to be any improvement in PQ compared to the other BD editions.

http://www.eagledvdshop.it/films/blu...ro.html?id=934

[ahsoka]

It seems that the French BDs of Fighter in the Wind and Cinderella will not be released, at least Amazon France have cancelled my orders.

[kannisto]

It seems that the French BDs of Fighter in the Wind and Cinderella will not be released, at least Amazon France have cancelled my orders.

Cinderella seems to still have some kind of "postponed but no new release date known" status in DVDFR while Fighter in the Wind could never be found from there at all. I'm removing both + about 10 other titles that seem to have not made or it or have become unexclusive in my French title list maintenance update which should be up sometime later today. Also adding a bunch of titles.

[Arkadin]

"An American in Paris" and "Gigi" have been released in Germany and confirmed region free!!
"Fear and Loathing" also region free:German release.

[kannisto]

"An American in Paris" and "Gigi" have been released in Germany and confirmed region free!!
"Fear and Loathing" also region free:German release.

I'll update the region status based on your info, thanks!

I also saw An American in Paris and Gigi in a shop here in Tokyo 2 weeks ago but didn't buy either one as they are not so much in my interest zone.

[Arkadin]

yeah it really burns me up that Warner released these two titles in these other countries before the US.
Musicals aren't my favorite genre by any means, but I do like many of the really classic ones, and these two certainly qualify.

[kannisto]

I reviewed the French list and I'm now posting the update. I removed more than 10 titles that didn't seem to make it out or became unexclusive and added the following:

Chemical Wedding
Prête-moi ta main
Pride & Prejudice
Bridget Jones's Diary
Love Actually
Personne aux deux personnes, La (Me Two)
Nomad
Premier jour du reste de ta vie, Le (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life)
Manon des sources
Jean de florette
Bodyguard 2, The
Chronicles of Riddick, The
Cleaner
Pitch Black
Rey de la montaña, El (King of the Hill)
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Tabarly

I also updated release dates based on latest information, and updated the title naming convention and added missing links & corrected Fox shop links as the old ones didn't seem to work properly anymore. Also updated region code information based on best available information.

Thanks to everyone for their contributions to the list

There are some more pre-order titles in Amazon France which I didn't include yet, I'm waiting for DVDFR to list those first as there might be some more mistakes when trusting Amazon listings only.

EDIT: Now finished uploading the updated French list (took some extra time as I found a bug in my list generation SW and had to fix it first).

Direct link:
Info on import Blu-ray titles

[LFletcher]

More info on Terminator 2 and Total Recall Australian versions, both have the Studio Canal logo on the cases. Now I'm certain they are the same as the UK Optimum releases.

Have you got any info on the recent release of Training Day in Australia? I believe its a Roadshow release, but I can't find any audio info for it on the more popular retailers (DVD Crave, Ezy DVD, etc).

Thanks

[kennerado]

Training Day I actually got today, its marked B but plays on my A PS3. Sadly it seems its the same as the US one with an MPEG2 encode and no lossless audio.

[Jester217300]

I got a chance to watch Patlabor 1 & 2 last night (the single disc reissue versions). They're pretty awesome Each disc has 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD & Uncompressed PCM, along with a 5.1 DD+ English dub track. Patlabor 1 has one English sub track, Patlabor 2 has two English sub tracks (spoken & text subs, text only subs). Each disc has two trailers for the feature as extras, all have optional English subs. Main menu is in English, before the feature there is a menu asking if you want to watch in Japanese or English (TrueHD track is the default for Japanese). They both also have a booklet in the case, looks to be more about the characters than the people who made the films (but they're all in Japanese so I really don't know).

PQ is grade A, easy 4.5/5. Source grain is in tact and the color and detail are amazing. There was one problem with jaggies in Patlabor 1 for about 5 seconds when a Labor is erected from a horizontal to vertical position.

There was also something weird I noticed on both of them. At random points during each movie one frame would randomly jump a little higher or lower than the rest. It made the picture "jump" but you'd miss it if you blinked. These seemed to be repeatable on my setup, but it could be my player and not the disc, I don't know.

Both are amazing movies, of course Definately a good buy, even without many extras. I'll try to watch Patlabor 3 tonight, which I've never seen before.

[DCSholtis]

I'll update the region status based on your info, thanks!

I also saw An American in Paris and Gigi in a shop here in Tokyo 2 weeks ago but didn't buy either one as they are not so much in my interest zone.

Turns out I "saved" coughs...$40 US by ordering T2 Premium Edition and the Batman Anthology from HMV Japan instead of Amazon Japan. Still can't believe I'm quadruple dipping on T2...lol

[kannisto]

Turns out I "saved" coughs...$40 US by ordering T2 Premium Edition and the Batman Anthology from HMV Japan instead of Amazon Japan. Still can't believe I'm quadruple dipping on T2...lol

At that rate of savings you'll be rich soon

I'm recently managing to mostly avoid even HD - double dipping though sometimes I buy Blu-rays of movies I have already recorded from HDTV (like Pulp Fiction this week). I'm trying to avoid that too.

Last night Amazon Germany re-shipped my package of 4 discs (Leon etc.) that seemed to have gone missing as it didn't arrive though it's almost a month since original shipping. At least they reacted very quickly to my 2nd notice. I hope to receive the resent package soon so I can put some more orders in at Amazon Germany. Also planning to put some more orders in dvdland.it if they deliver my first order from there safely (seems like it will ship today).

[kannisto]

I updated the Nordic title list. I removed Eichmann (a Noble Entertainment title) that has no clear release date for now. Also removed Revolver because it's also released in the U.S. now.

I let Trois couleurs stay because some sites indicate it might still come out in year 2008 (I hope so). Still keeping Eden Lake as well because at least Amazon.com doesn't yet take pre-orders for the expected U.S. release.

I added the following titles, a couple of children's movies that are classics in Nordic countries are included:

Arn - Riket vid vägens slut (Arn: The Kingdom at Road's End)
Emil I Lönneberga
Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven
Pulp Fiction
Tjorven, Båtsman och Moses
Tropa de Elite (The Elite Squad)

Also update region code info for some titles.

I'm planning to buy at least Arn - Riket vid... and Tropa de Elite but neither one of them is expected to be English friendly. Pulp Fiction already ordered as well.

Direct link:
Info on import Blu-ray titles