Why is it that certain American films that many consider 'classics' (such as "Predator") get spectacular DVD treatments in foreign countries, yet we American fans get the shaft?
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MP1116
ANSWERS: 2
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Interestingly, my friends and I all ask the opposite question - why can't we get the fabulous releases, that come out in America, in region 4 ? There are a few possibilities, but these seem the most likely: * Distributors vary between DVD regions, and the distributor for your region might not want to pay to licence the extras that you desire. Also, the foreign company might have had them developed for PAL encoded systems (as against the US's NTSC). * Conspiracy theory: Perhaps a cheaper version is coming out as an early release to pick up a larger market share, and then the 'collector's edition' release will come later - causing the serious fans to buy twice as many copies. It seems to happen a bit over here, although recently there is also the strange 'stripped down' cheaper versions that have come out *after* the collector's editions. (Luckily for us in Australia, the DVD region thing was ruled unlawful and anti-competition, and so we can all legally buy region-free DVD players and order proper DVDs if our local ones are too lame. The PAL vs NTSC TV encoding is still a cross to bear, however.)
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In agreement with Kath's answer, many people in Europe say exactly the opposite. There are many examples of Region 1 discs (North America) having superior extras and content to the Region 2 (Europe, Japan, South Africa, Mid East) version of the same disc. So, it's "swings and roundabouts", as we say over here. You may gain content on some discs but lose out on others. Either get yourself a region-free DVD player or learn to live with it! Edit: Ah, the perils of dry British humour! I didn't mean the last sentence to sound harsh, I was going for a much lighter tone. Besides, the question is kind of bitchy, so I didn't feel too worried about being misunderstood. Also, my answer is from a European, rather than an Australian, perspective, even though (as I state in the first sentence) it is similar to the other answer.
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