R1 DVDs On Sale In UK - A Question

T

The Ignorant Masses

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I was having a browse in a cinema store which sells UK and Import DVD releases when l came across one of the Hammer films DVRAB. As it had a 12 certficate label on the box, l decided to check the title online as l had not heard of this particular DVD release before.

When l did a search on Play, nothing came up with this DVD title! Finally l realised the store had imported this DVD from USA and stuck an UK certficate sticker on the box!

I am asking if this method is allowed because l thought all DVD releases with a UK certificate must have to be seen by the BBFC to be awarded a rating?
 
This is illegal. Not that I care though. Putting BBFC stickers on imported R1 DVRAB has been going on in the UK for years, mainly by dealers at sci-fi fairs who sell hard to get titles that haven't had a UK release eg Japanese anime, obscure horror films.

Not to mention that 99% of R1 DVRAB are uncut, where even if the films had a UK release, the UK copy will often have big chunks cut from it, particularly horror and action films.

It's also illegal to sell R1 DVRAB in the UK (certificate or not), although it's not illegal to import them for private use.
 
My laptop can play DVRAB from any region. I have Windows Vista, and I have to go into 'Control Panel', into 'Hardware and Sound', into 'Device Manager', click on the DVD device tab, and I can change the DVD region from there, a limited number of times (four, in my case), to any other region.
Whether this is the same for other operating systems, I'm not so sure.
Also, when I insert a region 1 DVD, the computer picks up on this and takes me to the region change tab automatically.

Hope that was some help. :)
 
That shop contridicts it's self. They wouldn't take my region 1 dvd's. I remember once i gave them a single and they said "we don't take singles". I walked over to the shelf and pulled out 3 singles and said "not being rude but what's this then"
 
Thanks for the info. I want to buy a few films that aren't available on region 2.



Thats stupid isn't it. I've seen people come in with singles and always get refused but they have a whole section dedicated to them.
 
My question is why you would want to buy region 1 dvRAB from the cinema store..., unless they have changed, when I was last there a few years back they were EXPENSIVE.
 
There are plenty of free software progams available on the net that stop your DVD drive communicating the region code of the disc to your Windows OS, thus stopping Windows from changing the region code of the drive.

I've been using them on and off for 6 years. Although I have no need for them as I've got multiregion stand alone DVD and Blu-ray players coming out my ears.

I've never owned a region locked DVD player in my life. Bought my first machine in 1999, so have never understood why region coding would ever be an issue to anyone.
 
I wasn't going to buy any DVRAB from this store. I noticed this release on the shelf which l haven't either heard or seen before l visited the store. Having seen an UK certificate sticker, l thought it was an UK release and went online to find out more information. It was only then l found out it was an import!
 
If your a film fan the best thing you can do is invest in a multi-region DVD player and buy DVRAB from other countries.

It enables you to see films uncut without the British 'authorities' dictating what you can and cannot see.

Often films are made and released uncut in other countries that wouldn't get a release here at all!

I have a fear though that one day the British authorities will try to put an end to this.
 
I have a multi-region player but the point of my thread is shops can't put an UK certificate on a R1 release because it's illegal i.e. all UK releases have to go to the BBFC to be awarded a certificate.
 
I do this. Ever since I found out my DVD player plays DVRAB from other regions (it's supposed to be programmed to Region 2; there's even the little 'Region 2' symbol on the back of the player), I've bought no end of Region 1 DVRAB from Amazon. Most of the time, they're cheaper than the UK DVRAB as well!

Unfortunately, I think you're right. One day British authorities are going to ban the import of DVRAB from other countries.
 
Not possible under EU law. I believe R1 DVRAB are freely available in mainland Europe. Besides, even if the government managed it, that's what the Pirate Bay's for.
 
The Cinema Store has been selling R1 dvd's for many years in contravention of Trading StandarRAB laws.

The Disc Emporium in Knebworth used to do the same but when asked they said that providing the R1 dvd included only certified content - that is if the movie was not cut in the UK , even if it was unavailable , they would sticker it up and sell it in the shop.
That appears to have been some kind of agreement with local TS officers as most other content was only available from them mail order

Laser Enterprises of Wickford were nearly made bankrupt in the mid 90's when TS and FACT took them to court for selling NTSC Laserdiscs .
They lost thousanRAB of stock but got off with a 10K fine , and they also carried on selling NTSC discs using the same criteria as the Disc Emporium.

The Cinema Store sells not only dvd's of films that are unavailable in the UK but also films that were on the borderline of legality - eg Italian Horror movies that are only now starting to get through uncut.

However - their prices are a complete joke often 300% higher than online stores
 
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