Afro Samurai (Japan - Pony Canyon) impressions

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by kannisto

I tried to find Afro Samurai from HMV JP yesterday too but I couldn't find a HD DVD version there at all. Usually two searches with the title written in Japanese and in English should bring up all the versions, but I couldn't get any HD DVD version to show up. Sometimes the English title doesn't exist there at all but then the Japanese title should at least work then.

I notice that I did originally include a link to HMV for this movie in the HD DVD import title listings, so there must have been an entry for it earlier. The link seems to be this but it doesn't work now:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/2661714

I got the link to work though first it didn't load for some reason.

The disc is now classified as a deleted item in HMV JP and can't be ordered from there any more.

I forgot to look in your import thread, it was there all the time. Funny that I would forget, given how much I've used it.

It would seem that stock is running low then on this, since I doubt that HMV is deleting it because it's not selling, but rather because they can't get it. I wonder if CD Japan can fulfill their '3-5 day' orders?

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by bruceames

I forgot to look in your import thread, it was there all the time. Funny that I would forget, given how much I've used it.

It would seem that stock is running low then on this, since I doubt that HMV is deleting it because it's not selling, but rather because they can't get it. I wonder if CD Japan can fulfill their '3-5 day' orders?

Yeah, it seems based on HMV that the disc is no longer available from the distributor so other sources will probably dry out as well.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by drgonzo369

...
btw, Kannisto, every time I look at that list of hd dvd-rs, my mouth waters. Too bad my buddy in Shizuoka refuses to pay for cable anymore, or else I'd send him the money to buy a hd dvd recorder and blanks and have him make me movies. lol.

Yeah, I like my recorded collection, a lot of less mainstream films are shown on Japanese HDTV movie channels and many big name movies too that haven't made it to Blu-ray or HD DVD. Quality is pretty fine as well, though all non-Japanese movies have hardcoded Japanese subs. You'd need a 2nd generation Toshiba (maybe first generation in Europe) player with firmware 3.0 or newer to be able to play them on other hw besides the recorder itself though and dual layer discs don't even work very successfully with those. They always work on the recorder itself though.

The availability of HD DVD blanks is getting worse though, I was able to buy single layer blanks for 398 yen until now from Akihabara since about 6 months ago, but the 2 shops that had them at that price seem to have run out and are getting no more. I have about 60 blanks stored in my closet though since I bought up the remaining ones when they seemed to start running out from those stores.

Toshiba's online store will still be a source and I believe they'll continue to supply quite long but their prices are not as cheap.

Unfortunately dual layer blanks have been stuck as high prices, close to 2000 yen a piece which is expensive.

[drgonzo369]

Originally Posted by kannisto

Yeah, I like my recorded collection, a lot of less mainstream films are shown on Japanese HDTV movie channels and many big name movies too that haven't made it to Blu-ray or HD DVD. Quality is pretty fine as well, though all non-Japanese movies have hardcoded Japanese subs. You'd need a 2nd generation Toshiba (maybe first generation in Europe) player with firmware 3.0 or newer to be able to play them on other hw besides the recorder itself though and dual layer discs don't even work very successfully with those. They always work on the recorder itself though.

The availability of HD DVD blanks is getting worse though, I was able to buy single layer blanks for 398 yen until now from Akihabara since about 6 months ago, but the 2 shops that had them at that price seem to have run out and are getting no more. I have about 60 blanks stored in my closet though since I bought up the remaining ones when they seemed to start running out from those stores.

Toshiba's online store will still be a source and I believe they'll continue to supply quite long but their prices are not as cheap.

Unfortunately dual layer blanks have been stuck as high prices, close to 2000 yen a piece which is expensive.

Would the 360 drive work with playback, I wonder. I have another friend who has cable who likes is Shibuya, so I'll have to see what he can get from where (used shops seem like a godsend there).

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by drgonzo369

Would the 360 drive work with playback, I wonder. I have another friend who has cable who likes is Shibuya, so I'll have to see what he can get from where (used shops seem like a godsend there).

I think 360 drive will not be able to play those discs as the format is Toshiba's own HDVR format and even Toshiba's own standalone HD DVD players could not play those discs until a firmware update in a fairly late stage added that support (1st generation players HD-XA1 and HD-A1 never got that support).