Info on import HD DVD titles

[matrixwilly]

Originally Posted by matrixwilly

I tried turning on and off the internet, it did not help.
Too bad, I was looking forward to this movie.

Thanks kannisto for your suggestions.

Just an update. It works after I changed the setup: I changed the disk menu language from english to french.

Great I cannot wait to watch the movie...

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by matrixwilly

Just an update. It works after I changed the setup: I changed the disk menu language from english to french.

Great I cannot wait to watch the movie...

That's strange, but I'm glad you got it working! My player's menu language has been usually set to English or Finnish (never tried French) but it didn't affect the playability of "La Mome” in my player. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it! I certainly liked it.

[kannisto]

Some updates:

- Linked the following DVD Therapy reviews to "Titles Available for Order":
Silent Hill (German)
Harry Potter And The Order of The Phoenix (UK)
Pan's Labyrinth (UK)
Mr & Mrs Smith (Poland)

Pan's Labyrinth (UK) will be removed from the title list soon though (when the U.S. release has become available).

If you notice reviews for non-U.S. titles (in English) that haven't been included in "Titles Available for Order" list yet, please mention them here and I'll include them. I don't often search for such reviews myself so I might miss them otherwise.

- Removed "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" from "Titles Available for Order" as it has been announced for the U.S. as well and with a slightly earlier date.

- Added the following:

Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains The Same (1976) (UK release)
Amazon UK $30.34 (£15.30)
Note: Requested music title. Release postponed in U.S (no release date currently).

Thanks DCSholtis for the notice!

...

Today is exactly 1 year since I bought my first and so far my only HD DVD player (HD-XF2). I got it on the first day it could be found in shops here (of course HD-XA1 had been available already for 8 months or so but I had decided to wait for 2nd generation player). I've bought 204 HD DVD discs in the first year - maybe need to slow down a bit on the 2nd! (I got my PS3 20 GB model on 26-Dec last year, only 4 days later than my HD-XF2.)

[ahsoka]

Originally Posted by kannisto

I actually tried searching it with the French title yesterday there but I only found the soundtrack CD. I may have mistyped something as I wrote it from memory and my French is not that good. I tried searching with the product code too but it seems HMV removes the hyphen from the product code and I didn't find it with the original code either.

Originally Posted by ahsoka

As for searching by product code, it only works with DVDs and CDs. For some reason it doesn't work with HD DVDs or BDs.

Just wanted to correct myself. Noticed that using "Movies and TV Search" in Advanced Search on HMV's site works when searching for HD discs by product code. Still couldn't find any HD discs searching by code on the main page though.

[MasterOB1]

Quick Question: if The Holiday is 17.95 on amazon.uk....how much is this going to actually cost me in the U.S? xploited has this for $40.95 shipped. When I got Harry Potter last year it was about $38-ish...

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by MasterOB1

Quick Question: if The Holiday is 17.95 on amazon.uk....how much is this going to actually cost me in the U.S? xploited has this for $40.95 shipped. When I got Harry Potter last year it was about $38-ish...

Amazon UK prices are in British Pounds. It seems to be £17.98 now:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holiday-HD-D...8370735&sr=1-1

You can calculate the VAT reduction for Amazon UK by dividing the original price by 1.175 as Amazon UK will remove the VAT when you order to U.S. VAT-free price becomes: £15.30.

For U.S. their shipping rates for HD DVDs (same as DVDs) is £0.99 for each item and £2.09 for delivery which makes it £3.08 for a single disc order.

Total: £18.38

Then you can use e.g. XE currency conversion site (http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi) to convert £18.38 to USD and it comes out as $36.45 (when rounded) right now. This should be very close to your actual cost if you ordered now, though the currency conversion rates are always fluctuating and the final cost depends on the exact conversion rate applied to your order on the day the credit card payment is fixed.

[ahsoka]

Originally Posted by kannisto

Those Virtual Trip HD DVDs are also mainly about beatiful images with nice music and they are not documentaries, to my knowledge. I haven't bought any of them though. I think there are tens of them already available and more announced, They show pretty views of different travel locations in and outside of Japan. They are Twin discs, i.e. HD DVD + DVD on the same side.

I got one of these Virtual Trip HD DVDs recently. You are right in that it's mainly about beautiful images. There are plenty of scenes of landscapes, gardens, temples and shrines in different seasons.

This disc is about "Koyasan" a Buddhist sanctuary so there are also several scenes from within the temples and of the monks ceremonies with explainatory English subtitles. Excellent PQ and music that can be turned off leaving only the original sound. It is quite special to hear the nature sound in 5.1. Enjoyed watching it and will to get more of these VT HD DVDs later.

[gunz4sale]

Are hard coded subs common? Ive never imported a disc and was wondering what i should expect.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by gunz4sale

Are hard coded subs common? Ive never imported a disc and was wondering what i should expect.

There are a handful of Studio Canal releases (e.g. Serpico, The Three Days of the Condor, Theatrical cut (disc 1) of T2) and one Spanish release (Underworld Evolution) that enforce subtitles when you watch them with original English audio track. Also the French release of "Pan's Labyrinth" has forced subtitles. These released don't have the subs hardcoded into the image but the menu system on those discs has been designed so that there's no option to get rid of the subs if you watch with the original audio track. Actually the subs can be turned off if you choose to watch them with a dubbed language track. It is a kind of form of "region control", apparently for contractual reasons. With Studio Canal discs that are in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the forced subs can actually be moved entirely under the video image so that they don't overlap with it and with Underworld Evolution there's a workaround "trick" that makes it possible to remove them.

Other movie releases listed in "Titles Available for Order" section on 1st page of this thread don't have forced subtitles to the best of my knowledge. I've mentioned forced subtitles as a warning note for each release that's known to have them. So overall it's very rare for import movie titles to have any kind of forced subtitles.

For English speakers the more common problem with import releases is that there are quite often no English subtitles, which makes it difficult to understand the movie if the original audio language is other than English. Almost every release includes an audio track in the original language of the movie so for English spoken movies there's no problem.

[kannisto]

Added to Titles Available for Order:

Saw (German release) (8-Feb)
Amazon Germany $41.12 (€28.56)
Note: Info at HD DVD Format Blog.

[kannisto]

Added to Titles Available for Order:

1408 (German release) (2-Jun)
Amazon Germany $41.12 (€28.56)
Note: Info at HD DVD Format Blog.

Release date is quite late if Amazon Germany's date is correct.

[kannisto]

Added to Titles Available for Order:

Premonition (German release) (20-Mar)
Amazon Germany $41.12 (€28.56)

[kannisto]

Added to "Titles Available for Order":

1408 (Dutch release) (22-Jan)
Bol.com $36.01 (€24.99)

[kannisto]

Just did my first purchase at Free Record Shop (Holland). Their prices are very good on Dutch Filmworks and some Studio Canal releases and their shipping cost (to Japan) is cheap too, much cheaper than e.g. in Amazon France or Germany. I hope the package arrives relatively quickly too - have to see how it goes. Thanks to Njål for pointing that shop out!

My purchase as an example:

Total price*
Elephant man (1980) HD-DVD 1 2-3 days € 19,99
Abba The Movie (hd) HD-DVD 1 3-5 days € 28,99
* All our prices are including VAT
subtotal: € 48,98
shipping costs: € 4,95
total: € 53,93

Many of the Dutch Filmworks titles are currently €14.99 there, pretty cheap. And many Studio Canal discs are €19.99. They don't seem to remove VAT though. I'm adding them as a source for various titles (specifically DFW and Studio Canal titles) in "Titles Available for Order" as well.

EDIT: Abba The Movie is much cheaper in Amazon UK though, should have ordered that one from there instead. Last I had checked it wasn't available there but now it is... Anyway, various other titles are well priced in Free Record Shop

EDIT 2: Free Record shop already shipped my "Elephant Man". It seems they also split the shipments and ship part of the order as soon as it's available without additional shipping cost. Nice!

[kannisto]

Removed these because Pan's Labyrinth is now released in the U.S. as well:

Pan's Labyrinth (UK release) (Reviews: DVD Therapy)
Amazon UK $32.17 (£15.95)
Note: Info at Optimum Online Shop.

Pan's Labyrinth (French release)
Amazon France $51.36 (€37.63)
Warning: No English audio/subtitles. Spanish & French only. 5 disc set with 1 HD DVD + 4 DVDs. Forced French subtitles with Spanish audio.