Regional View Point
Dear Gary: After reading the Mastering 5.1 Sound with New Line in Issue 35, I thought that you maybe would be interested in a view point from your poor relations within the second region. In a recent poll in the United Kingdom, 85 percent of respondents had machines capable of playing Region 1 discs, either modified or able to play the discs without any modification. As most mainstream blockbuster movies are in the cinema before even the Region 1 disc is released, this has little to do with people purchasing Region 1 discs. The main reasons for people within Europe for purchasing Region 1 discs are as follows: 1) Lack of full studio support. We have only recently been receiving Fox titles, with Paramount yet to confirm any plans to release titles in Europe. 2) Poor quality titles. New Line provides a high quality product at a reasonable price, yet Entertainment In Video, who releases the New Line titles in the United Kingdom, provides titles which are either flippers, non-anamorphic transfers, 4:3 only with most having only a Dolby ProLogic® soundtrack, while the Region 1 copy contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack—normally for a price of between $26-$40. 3) The BBFC (British Board of Film Censors) will usually make further cuts to a theatrical release once it reaches video or DVD. Most serious film collectors would rather have uncut movies, and this also causes problems with resyncing the soundtrack. 4) Price. Prices range from $25-$50 for titles. (Yes, $50 for a disc. This is what Fox attempted to charge until poor sales and boycotts from Web sites, retailers and magazines caused them to reduce this to $32-$40 a title.) When people can order titles from the Internet delivered to your home for $15-$25 dollars, the math alone would cause people to Buy Region 1 titles in preference. It is not illegal to buy or own Region 1 titles in the United Kingdom or Europe, but it is illegal in the United Kingdom to sell unclassified titles. In Europe, large multinational stores can and are selling Region 1 titles. Given the reaction to a request from film companies for help in trying to stop importation of movies from government ministers within the United Kingdom, regional encoding may be outlawed as anti-competitive due to price fixing by the film companies. The only way that importation of Region 1 discs will die is for the film companies to ensure that a quality product at a reasonable price is released for Region 2 sale. At present, the only film company providing a quality product at a reasonable price is Warner.
David Lenton
mailto:david@lenton.force9.co.uk
Editor Gary Reber Comments:
I agree with your assessment. In fact, a significant amount of Region 1 discs are being regularly transshipped to Europe, and of course, as you point out, DVD-Video players sold in Europe are largely modified for Region 1 playback capability. The studios need to realize that the Internet is an unstoppable force that is bringing the peoples of the world closer than ever before to engage in commerce that is barrier-free. They need to reassess the impact Regional Coding has on Regional Theatrical Releasing and support a worldwide release date and distribution of Region 0 DVDs.
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