DVD in USA

[on:]

Can you buy Season 1 in the states ?

I'm just curious.


 

[Reply #1 on:]

 

Originally posted by knightslayer:
Can you buy Season 1 in the states ?

No.

Welcome to PEEL, knightslayer. Enjoy it here. 

The DVD is region 2 only.

[Reply #2 on:]

why so ?

[Reply #3 on:]

Sorry,  Thanks, I feel welcome!
Why would they not sell it in the States ?

Are we just lucky in the UK ?

[Reply #4 on:]

FOX wont sell DVD sets while there still is a chance for them to syndicate the show. With the DVD out in region 1, the value of a syndication will drop considerably, and after all FOX focus solely on profit. Sadly.

[Reply #5 on:]

what do you mean by the term 'syndicate' ? 

[Reply #6 on:]

Okay, I'm not American, but this is what I've picked up:

When a station syndicate, they sell the rights to air a show to other stations, for either a fixed sum, or a percent of the income. For a show to be "syndicatable" they need popularity and a good high number of episodes. Some say around 100. Whether that number is a firm rule, is apparantly not clear. But what is clear, is that by syndicating the show, there is a bundle of $ to be made for FOX, and with season 1 out on DVD in the States that amount would drop. Who would buy a show, that many people already have on DVD? At least that's the way FOX thinks. I still think people would tune in, even if they do have the DVD's.

Again, I'm not American, so maybe some American PEEL'ers might wanna correct this.   

[Reply #7 on:]

I understand now.

I wonder then, we are very behind in the UK with episodes, would season 2 on DVD (region 2) be on the cards yet ?

Thanks Teral,

Adam

[Reply #8 on:]

Yes it would. Check out this thread: Futurama Season Two on DVD/Video soon

[Reply #9 on:]

Thnks Teral.

You know, I thought I was alone with my fascination with Futurama.  I've even call my cat Bender !!!  Now I know, I have people who I can talk too, and not my dumb mog!

[Reply #10 on:]

You're welcome, knightslayer.

I too was pretty amazed by the big community on the Web when I first got here. But then again, that shouldn't come as a surprise (the big fanbase), iy is a show of high quality and great animation. Not to mention, it is funny as hell. 

[Reply #11 on:]

 

Originally posted by knightslayer:
Sorry,  Thanks, I feel welcome!
Why would they not sell it in the States ?
Are we just lucky in the UK ?

Mo offence to Teral but he is wrong, the reason why Season One has not been released in the USA is because there is a law which states that a TV program may only be sold to the public a minumum of 5 years after it's original air date.

The UK doesn't have these rules which why it's been released on region 2 first

[Reply #12 on:]

But that law wouldn't stop it being released on region one outside the US. I suspect the main reason is just the reduction in income when they sell it to other stations, otherwise they would just release it in Canada or another region one country, knowing that US residents could buy it over the net.

[Reply #13 on:]

I'm not 100% but I think that the 5 year law applies to all region one areas.

[Reply #14 on:]

The law probably applies everywhere, I'm up in Canada, but would you know the difference if you were to switch on the TV - NO! Except if it were CBC or an individual channel. The only difference is in Primetime when a Canadian channel shows the same epsiode of a show at the same time, the Canadian channel takes over. example instead of watching Futurama on FOX (which my TV is turned onto) global will take over 1 second before the show starts and I get the Canadian channels logo and Candaian commercials. (And I don't get previews for the next episode 'cuz of Golbal!)

We only really get what the Americans get because most shows are American shows (Most Canadian shows are pretty dumb - and even though they're dumb they still get movies, but with horrible titles like "Duct Tape Forever&quot . I think the same 5 year rule applies up here north of the 49th parallel.

[Reply #15 on:]

No region 1 dvd television show may be released until all episodes have aired 5 years prior to the release of the dvd.  This means that, since the dvd contains season 2 episodes (season 1 production), it would be 5 years later, or around october 2005.  I believe movies it is something like 90 days after it is done in a theater (might be from start, I don't know)

Any television show may become syndicated; there is no law stating that a show must have X number of episodes to become syndicated.  A general rule of thumb is, to syndicate a show and have it air EVERY day, you should have over 100 episodes.  This avoids problems with only have a certain number of episodes that loop over and over and over until people go insane.

To keep a show syndicated if you show it once a week, I think the general number is = number the weeks in a year.

[Reply #16 on:]

 

Originally posted by Otis P Jivefunk:
 Mo offence to Teral but he is wrong, the reason why Season One has not been released in the USA is because there is a law which states that a TV program may only be sold to the public a minumum of 5 years after it's original air date.

The UK doesn't have these rules which why it's been released on region 2 first 

Hey, I know I'm not an expert on this, but that was always my perception of things. Mo offence taken, Otis. 

Now this 5 year rule, what's the story of that? Is it made solely for the reason of annoying fans? I'm sure there is a perfectly logic reason for it, but right now my sleep-deprived brain can't think of any.

[Reply #17 on:]

How long has Sopranos been on the air? They've already got two seasons on DVD and I think they're only in their fourth season. Is it different for HBO/other cable channels?

[Reply #18 on:]

So this law doesn't apply to the east of the Atlantic? Well, according to what Chinaski says, I think using the law depends on the networks that put the shows on the air.

[Reply #19 on:]

hbo is considered movies I believe.

[Reply #20 on:]

welcome to PEEL knightslayer! 

[Reply #21 on:]

cheers mr. Freak!

I Telephoned HMV and asked about the second season on DVD.  They said to ring back in a few weeks as they may know when they will be stocking it.  Not a definite answer in know, but its not a 'what are you talking about' !!

[Reply #22 on:]

why not import it. most dvds are multi region these days any how. if you disagree, ha, ha, hahaha, because i live in a desert, and its hard to buy a dvd thats NOT multi region.

[Reply #23 on:]

 

Originally posted by knightslayer:
cheers mr. Freak!

FF, you really need a custom avatar of yourself.  That'll stop the confusion in its tracks.

[Reply #24 on:]

or just draw breasts on that fry avatar

[Reply #25 on:]

The Sopranos is unsyndicatable, the foul language and violence and all.

However, what I'm going to do is make my DVD-ROM drive region-free, use DVD Genie to completely ignore PowerDVD's region settings, and order the Futurama DVDs from the UK.

In fact, I'm going to go do all that now.

[Reply #26 on:]

Welcome to PEEL SQFreak! I thought that DVD drives are region free and it is only the software that limits region swapping?

[Reply #27 on:]

dvd drives are not region free.  They have to be made that way.  The software also has its own region code detection, and windows also has its own.  The drive has a chip on it that tells it how many times it has been changed; you can change it 5 times.  If you take that information and modify it using a patcher program, you can make it region 0 (region free).

[Reply #28 on:]

Thanks aslate. I could have sworn I had signed up before, but apparently I hadn't.

Yep. I just flashed mine. It's region-free. After hellish annoying troubles with jumpers (I had to disconnect my CD-RW first.) Of course, it took two hours because of thirty Windows reboots and, well, to be honest, I was watching the Duke vs. Notre Dame game most of the time.

DVD Genie reports:
SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616 Toff 1-Free All Unlimited

Yay!

I've already placed my order with Amazon.co.uk to get my Futurama DVD.

Firmware page: http://www.firmware.fr.st
They had RPC-1 firmware for me!

[Reply #29 on:]

 

Originally posted by knightslayer:
cheers mr. Freak!

thats miss. Freak to you 

[Reply #30 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
 FF, you really need a custom avatar of yourself.  That'll stop the confusion in its tracks.

nah, creating confusion is what i do best 

[Reply #31 on:]

btw, welcome to PEEL SQFreak! we're always anxious to welcome a freak to the board, cuz lets face it, we're all freaks 

[Reply #32 on:]

 

No region 1 dvd television show may be released until all episodes have aired 5 years prior to the release of the dvd.

I keep hearing this, but it has to be pure bull.  The Clerks cartoon was cancelled within two weeks and they still put all six episodes (including the two that were aired) on DVD in less than a year since it was last on TV. 

Unless this only applies because the show is cancelled, in which case it won't matter because Futurama is cancelled now anyway, so we'll get them here soon enough.

[Reply #33 on:]

 

Originally posted by B.Frankendorfer:
Unless this only applies because the show is cancelled, in which case it won't matter because Futurama is cancelled now anyway, so we'll get them here soon enough.

Yeah but it's not cancelled, it's on hiatus.

[Reply #34 on:]

Yeah, and I'm not impotent, I'm just having a bad penis day.

"I'm sorry--it's my problem. I'll deal with it."
--Mr. Burns after a violent outburst

[Reply #35 on:]

Well, I can finally buy the DVDs! Yahoo! Just in case someone else is having problems similar to the ones I was having, here's the rundown.

I'm no techie, but I have a DVD drive on my PC and a PlayStation2. So what could possibly go wrong? Just switch one to Region 2, keep the other one as-is, right?

Unfortunately, the DVD player softwares on the PC--ATI DVD and WinDVD--were being interfered with. The WinDVD wouldn't play anything protected by Macrovision, and the ATI DVD just locked the system up. Normal solutions and work-arounds were fruitless. Support was hard to get from both companies and the PC manufacturer, and what advice they provided proved ineffective. Maybe it's the damned WinME I'm running. (Go ahead, ask me why I consider Bill Gates execution in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut "whacking material." ME so sorry!) Non-protected DVDs played fine, but...

If you're having problems like this, get a QI player from DVD Digital Digest. It's the first one that worked, and it worked like a charm. You MIGHT need to take some other actions, but this page has a list of necessary steps based on your graphics card or OS or whatever.

This is orgasm country. Soon I can watch the undubbed Gojira-Mosura-King Gidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki, the British version of Master of the Flying Guillotine, and hardly least of all, the Futurama DVDs in all their Region-2 glory! Yeeeee!

[Reply #36 on:]

whered you go to download the Qi Player? I can't seem to find it..

[Reply #37 on:]

In the "Soft-Cinemaster 98 + ATI DLL trick" paragraph at the top of the page I've linked to, there is another link for their "download center." It is often busy, I had to wait a day or two to get it. But make sure to get the right version; first consult the chart on the page I linked to see what player and steps you need according to your graphics card.

Additional warning: I played the "Shrek" DVD last night. Great movie, but the DVD forced its OWN player-program onto my system, and I just got finished reinstalling everything it f***ed up. (Played it on my PS2 without a hassle.)

[Reply #38 on:]

I got the QI player... but it didn't work...

I got WindowsXP and WinDVD and All I know about the Rom is its a 'CTO 16xDVD' 

...

[Reply #39 on:]

Well, IF WinDVD works for you, then everything's cool. (My version worked, but only for VCDs and non-protected DVDs.)

I'm afraid I know nothing--and hope never to know anything--about XP. (ME is pain enough, I should've stuck with 98SE.) So if you're having trouble with your WinDVD, I can't help you...keep bugging InterVideo (makers of WinDVD), maybe they'll find a way. Good luck!