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Can we pre-order in the US

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stevec

Can we pre-order in the US

Is there a place here in the US, that we can pre-order.
I'm upgrading my system to a 1.4 Thunderbird [Athlon]
and I'm putting in a DVD Drive, just for UFO.
I can hardly wait.
Thanks all;
Steve Christensen

>From: "angelo_finamore" <[hidden email]>
>Reply-To: [hidden email]
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: [SHADO] UFO DVD
>Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 23:42:41 -0000
>
>Hi All,
>
>another website to order on-line the UFO DVD is
>
>http://dvdworld.co.uk/
>
>Here the UFO DVD are rated "TBU" other the "PG".
>I don't know the significate of "TBU"...anyone ?
>
>--
>Angelo Finamore
>--
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

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Marc Martin

RE: Can we pre-order in the US

Administrator

Steve writes:
>Is there a place here in the US, that we can pre-order.

Do you mean pre-order the Carlton UK DVDs? I've already
pre-ordered mine at Blackstar, and you could also do
it on Amazon.uk. I doubt that there's any US retailer
that's going to sell these, especially if the US versions
are coming 4 months later.

Marc

stevec

RE: Can we pre-order in the US

In reply to this post by stevec

Marc;
Thanks for the reply. I've been tied up tonight with my kids karate classes
and haven't had time to check back. The UK DVD's are not suppoesed to be
able to be played in the US- am I wrong on this?
As for the US release, even if they're a few more months out. I'd still like
to see about pre-ordering a set.

Marc Martin

RE: Can we pre-order in the US

Administrator

>The UK DVD's are not suppoesed to be
>able to be played in the US- am I wrong on this?

The UK DVD's are not *supposed* to be played in the US, yes that's correct.
However, you can get around those restrictions if you want -- I have
several UK DVD's that I'm not *supposed* to be able to play in the US,
but I do anyway... :-)

>As for the US release, even if they're a few more months out. I'd still like
>to see about pre-ordering a set.

The US releases are too far out in the future for anyone to be taking
pre-orders. You probably won't be able to pre-order them anywhere
for at least a couple of months.

Marc

Simon J. Wright

RE: Can we pre-order in the US

In reply to this post by stevec

Hi All,

Up to date most Carlton releases have been region 2 only.
However, it is worth remembering that Captain Scarlet was released
as region 0 , even though the packaging says region 2. This may be
because Carlton or A&E don't think there's much of a market in the
US for CS. With UFO, who knows?

Simon

=====
Simon J. Wright

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Paul Carroll

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

--- In SHADO@y..., "Simon J. Wright" <simonjwright@y...> wrote:
>
> However, it is worth remembering that Captain Scarlet was released
> as region 0 , even though the packaging says region 2.

May I ask a question, because of my inexperience in playing Region 2
or PAL discs? I presume the Captain Scarlet DVD was also packaged,
and presumably released, for running on a PAL system? I'm wondering
if anyone has tried playing those DVDs on US DVD players and US TVs,
in NTSC format. Was there a problem? Apparently most Region 0 PAL
DVDs can be played on computers, although some readers will have problems.

Part of my interest is because of a host of Laurel & Hardy DVDs that
have been released as Region 2 PAL DVDs and that are unavailable in
the US. This might be one solution for being able to watch these
shows that are otherwise unavailable.

Thanks for any info.

Marc Martin

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

Administrator

>I'm wondering if anyone has tried playing those DVDs on US DVD players
and
>US TVs, in NTSC format. Was there a problem?

This won't work. Either the player will refuse to play them
because they are in PAL format, or the player will output
a PAL signal and you'll get an unwatchable mess on the TV
(similar to watching a scrambled cable TV channel without
the descrambler)

You can however purchase DVD players in the USA which
will play Region 2 PAL DVDs on American TVs. I own
one of these, and have used it to watch the
UK Gerry Anderson DVDs on my American TV set. Currently
the Malata N996 is supposed to do the best PAL->NTSC
conversion, and you can get this at:

http://www.geocities.com/code_free_dvd_players/

Marc

Mark Patton

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

Marc,
I am looking into getting a DVD player that plays PAL DVD's.

What makes you say such GOOD things about the Malata N996 ??

Is this the player you have?

The reason i ask is the website you referenced has quite a few DVD
players at a lower cost than the Malata N996.

They even have some Sony and Toshiba that are cheaper.

Any reasons that you can give as to your recommendation of the
Malata N996 would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Thanks,
Mark

Marc Martin

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

Administrator

>What makes you say such GOOD things about the Malata N996 ??
>Is this the player you have?
>They even have some Sony and Toshiba that are cheaper.

I own an old APEX 600, which converts from PAL-to-NTSC
by throwing out 1 line out of every 4, which can make
the picture look a bit "strange" at times, as diagonal
lines have little "steps" in them. Also, the conversion
doesn't get the dimensions quite right, so people appear
a little shorter/fatter on standard TV series, while
they appear tall/skinny on widescreen movies.

I believe that the Sampo and other cheap players use
the same type of chip, so they have the same problems.

The Malata N996 has a different chip which is supposed
to have a much smoother PAL-to-NTSC conversion, and
also gets the dimensions correct on all types of programs.

On disadvantage of the Malata N996 is that the Macrovision
copy protection isn't disabled. So if you want the copy
protection turned off, then you should get one of the
cheaper players.

As for the Sony and Toshiba players, beware that these
are simply "code free". They don't convert PAL to NTSC,
so you won't be able to watch PAL DVDs on an American
TV. You'll need to have a multi-standard TV for these
players.

Marc

The Malata N996 is supposed to have a chip which does
a better job

goupinside

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

In reply to this post by Marc Martin

--- In SHADO@y..., Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:
> >I'm wondering if anyone has tried playing those DVDs on US DVD
players
> and
> >US TVs, in NTSC format. Was there a problem?
>
> This won't work. Either the player will refuse to play them
> because they are in PAL format... Currently
> the Malata N996 is supposed to do the best PAL->NTSC
> conversion.

Marc,

How is the quality of the picture of the a PAL DVD converted
to NTSC on the tube versus a NTSC DVD on the same tube?

I've heard the reds are usually too bright, but I'd like to
know your opinion.

Thanks,
Dan

Marc Martin

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

Administrator

>How is the quality of the picture of the a PAL DVD converted
>to NTSC on the tube versus a NTSC DVD on the same tube?
>
>I've heard the reds are usually too bright, but I'd like to
>know your opinion.

I can only comment on the quality of my APEX DVD player,
which is supposed to be about as bad as it can get. In my
opinion, the picture quality of PAL converted to NTSC is
"okay". The only problem is with how the 580 lines
of vertical resolution are converted to 480 lines. The
conversion is imperfect, so you get "jaggies" on diagonal
lines. The picture may be slightly squished in the vertical
direction, but I don't really notice it that much. For
widescreen movies though, everything is noticeably too
tall & skinny.

But to tell you the truth, my wife has watched some
of these DVDs, and I don't think she could tell the
difference. I don't even think she realized that one
video format was being converted to another. It just
looked like "TV" to her. And it certainly looked better
than our cable TV picture!!!

But again, I have a player that's probably equivalent
to the $100 players available today. If I were to
do it all over again, I'd probably buy a $300 all-region,
Macrovision disabled Sony DVD player plus a $350
PAL-to-NTSC conversion box, and enjoy a picture quality
that would be essentially "perfect" to the most
discriminating eye. But I really have no plans to
buy anything until at least the UFO DVD's are released,
and maybe not even until my Apex DVD player breaks.

Marc

goupinside

Re: Region 0/2 PAL DVDs

--- In SHADO@y..., Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:

> >How is the quality of the picture of the a PAL DVD converted
> >to NTSC on the tube versus a NTSC DVD on the same tube?
> >
> >I've heard the reds are usually too bright, but I'd like to
> >know your opinion.
>
> I can only comment on the quality of my APEX DVD player,
> which is supposed to be about as bad as it can get. In my
> opinion, the picture quality of PAL converted to NTSC is
> "okay". The only problem is with how the 580 lines
> of vertical resolution are converted to 480 lines. The
> conversion is imperfect, so you get "jaggies" on diagonal
> lines. The picture may be slightly squished in the vertical
> direction, but I don't really notice it that much. For
> widescreen movies though, everything is noticeably too
> tall & skinny.
>
> But to tell you the truth, my wife has watched some
> of these DVDs, and I don't think she could tell the
> difference. I don't even think she realized that one
> video format was being converted to another. It just
> looked like "TV" to her. And it certainly looked better
> than our cable TV picture!!!
>
> But again, I have a player that's probably equivalent
> to the $100 players available today. If I were to
> do it all over again, I'd probably buy a $300 all-region,
> Macrovision disabled Sony DVD player plus a $350
> PAL-to-NTSC conversion box, and enjoy a picture quality
> that would be essentially "perfect" to the most
> discriminating eye. But I really have no plans to
> buy anything until at least the UFO DVD's are released,
> and maybe not even until my Apex DVD player breaks.
>
> Marc

Ah, you got the Apex not the other one you recommended.

To me, it might depend upon whether A&E actually include
extras in the US release of UFO. If they don't, the cost
of the player/converter plus UK UFO disks would be worth it.
Especially when compared to the cost of the UFO laserdiscs
that don't have the extras but great picture!

Thanks for the response Marc,
Dan