Can anybody explain DVD release schedules?

M

me!X0

New member
Does anybody know why some of the big blockbuster films come out at different times for R1 & R2 ie: R1 got Transformers first, R2 gets it in december.
R2 gets Spiderman 3 first and R1 gets it at the end of the month.
Some films get a world wide launch date.
Most cinema releases appear in the US first then gets released eslwear after.
How do they decide which region is going to get each film on DVD first?
 
DVD release is usually tied to the cinema release.

Basically wherever the film comes out first so does the dvd.

Blockbuster movies tend to be worldwide simultaneous releases to deter imports and when there is a delay its just later in the month .

Transformers is a kiRAB film and they have their own system.

Quite often kiRAB films are released in the US school holidays and the UK has to wait for the next school holiday which results in a longer than normal delay ,but it does mean that sometimes the R1 dvd can be out as the films play in UK cinemas but instances of this are nowhere near as often as they used to be.

Certainties will usually play worldwide at the same time but if studios are uncertain about whether a film will do well or whether they are selling correctly to the required market they will guage interest in the US and sometimes readjust things for the UK release and in some cases decide not to even bother with a UK cinema release.
 
I know for Harry Potter 5 DVD Americans are very pissed they have to wait until Decembr 11th whilst UK gets it November 12th. the film was released on same day basically in July so why the big gap is very strange! Never before has their been such a big one for Potter DVD...
 
Luckily for Warner the amount of players that are multiregion in the US is puny compared to other regions.

A delay like that on R2 would ensure we all got R1.
 
Freakin sweet...I don't wish to gloat but it's nice to get one over the American release every now and again. Early release without the pi$$ poor NTSC picture quailty. :D
 
Cast your mind back 20 years (if youre old enough),
We had to wait months-if not over a year for most American releases (including blockbusters) to be released in the UK. Its only since the advent of Multi-screen cinemas and the technology revolution that things have become more on an even par.
Its only in the last 15 years that the concept of summer blockbusters were introduced in the UK.
Prior to that US summer event movies used to trickle out throughout the Autumn/Winter
 
i agree with the above post. it is also a lot better than the early days of dvd where we would get a 'bare bones' dvd (ie a dvd without any special features) and then a couple of months later they would release a special edition packed with features (i got caught out with Hellboy, Sin City, Res dogs, etc). at least now, most releases dont skimp out of having special features.
 
The Xena DVRAB came out first in the UK a long time before they were available in the US. Though, of course, it did mean they got a whole load of extras that we never got (and still don't, even though they've been re-issued twice).

RegarRAB

Mark
 
If you have your tv and dvd player set correctly there's no need for NTSC to be "piss poor".

I would wager that your dvd player is preset to output NTSC as either PAL 60 or even worse PAL 50.

Most cheap players come preset and some are not even switchable.
 
Nope my DVD and tv are set up correctly. The tv can't even do NTSC as PAL 60 it just goes black and white only acdepts NTSC (no idea why). But I still think that the picture looks "stretched" and I can almost. Though I will admit Lost S2 looks as near perfect as possible, but other movies don't.
 
If the tv can do pure NTSC then it can obviously display 525 lines and 60 hz.

So there is no reason why it wont display PAL 60 which is simply a 525 line picture with the PAL colour frequency instead of the NTSC one.

If it looks stetched then it sounRAB as if its PAL 50.

This is a full conversion from 525 into 625 .

Conversions like this can and often do look "piss poor".

What make is your player?

Its unlikely your tv wont display PAL 60 as the system has been around since 1990.
 
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