Petition for Uncut DVD release!!!

[Fauna]

Yesterday, we found the re-release DVDs on sale, and bought volumes one and five. I'm so embarassed...

The point is, they're just effortless repackages of the box set's discs. The menus even say "disc one" or "disc five", not "volume five" or the like.

I was really hoping that we'd at least get it in widescreen, given that TV.com has an American-only section where you can watch the english episodes in widescreen, but Sony can't be bothered. I like to think back to what happened to One Piece...4kids beat the tar out of it in 2003 or so, and Funimation picked it up last year and re-furnished it.

The only thing that would have to happen would be A) Sony not renewing their licensing, and B) a clear, dependable marketing base. (This makes me sad because some people would be content with their Sony DVDs and not pay extra for another version of the show.)

[Astro Forever]

Could you please remove that link, they clearly ripped those two episodes off the extras disc of the Australian Deluxe DVD set of the 1980s series, which anyone can buy online!

Are you sure? It is out of stock at the moment, but maybe it will become available later. I certainly hope so.

I bought it and at the time, to me, it was worth it. However it cost me over 200$ CAN while Manga Entertainment's version was like 40$ at the most. Unfortunately, it was impossible to just buy the extra DVD, thus for many people in North America, it doesn't make any sense to spend so much for like 23 minutes.

[Kirben]

[QUOTE=Kirben;95318]Could you please remove that link, they clearly ripped those two episodes off the extras disc of the Australian Deluxe DVD set of the 1980s series, which anyone can buy online!

Are you sure? It is out of stock at the moment, but maybe it will become available later. I certainly hope so.[/quote]

Yes, certain items are currently been listed as 'Out of Stock' due to a limited sales been offered, it should be back to normal in a few weeks. If an item is no longer for sale, that item will no longer be listed in their catalogue (like the Astro Boy statue).

I bought it and at the time, to me, it was worth it. However it cost me over 200$ CAN while Manga Entertainment's version was like 40$ at the most. Unfortunately, it was impossible to just buy the extra DVD, thus for many people in North America, it doesn't make any sense to spend so much for like 23 minutes.

The current price is around $95-100 AUD, and I expect you could find it cheaper, if you waited for sale. While they price may seem high, it is available to buy. The first two episodes are 48 minutes, with the extras disc offering 90 minutes total.

The combination of DVD release from Manga Entertainment, and the extras disc from Madman Entertainment, offers the complete 1980s series in Japanese, with English subtitles. While they are still edits to episodes, it is as close as we can get to an uncut release of the 1980s series.

[Dragonrider1227]

[QUOTE=sgupta;94269]The 1980's uncut version is an AVI downloadable copy

Could you please remove that link, they clearly ripped those two episodes off the extras disc of the Australian Deluxe DVD set of the 1980s series, which anyone can buy online![/QUOTE]

Yes, but some of us don't live in Australia and there for are unable to buy these DVDs nor would they work in our DVD players due to region code issues. If it was actually avaliable in America, I'd buy it but since it isn't, this is all I've got

[Kirben]

[QUOTE=Kirben;95318][QUOTE=sgupta;94269]The 1980's uncut version is an AVI downloadable copy

Could you please remove that link, they clearly ripped those two episodes off the extras disc of the Australian Deluxe DVD set of the 1980s series, which anyone can buy online![/QUOTE]

Yes, but some of us don't live in Australia and there for are unable to buy these DVDs nor would they work in our DVD players due to region code issues[/QUOTE]

If you can access the internet, you can buy from the many Australian online shops that offer this item (ie EzyDVD or JB HiFi Australia).

Most DVD players can be unlocked to play DVDs from all regions, just a matter to finding the unlock codes.

Why limit yourself to local DVDs releases only? several animated series in particular, are only available on DVD, in certain regions of the world.

[Dragonrider1227]

Because I don't have the money to import DVDs from Australia. I BARELY have the money to buy local DVDs. Then there's the issue of finding someone who's willing to ship from Australia to America, and paying those imported prices for an entire boxset I only want 2 episodes from.

[Kirben]

Because I don't have the money to import DVDs from Australia. I BARELY have the money to buy local DVDs. Then there's the issue of finding someone who's willing to ship from Australia to America, and paying those imported prices for an entire boxset I only want 2 episodes from.

The two Australian online shops mentioned in my previous message, offer international shipping. Your money is actually worth more in Australia too, with the current US-AUD currency rates too.

I already mentioned waiting for sales, for even lower prices, and you could always save money for an item you are interested in.

So far I'm hearing too many excuses, about why not to buy an item. In a thread which is asking for a company, to re-release an anime series for sale.

[Astro Forever]

So far I'm hearing too many excuses, about why not to buy an item. In a thread which is asking for a company, to re-release an anime series for sale.

I totally agree that it doesn't make sense! I am really not against what you are saying. I'm not trying to say otherwise, although I do have a little bit of difficulty explaining what I really mean.

I'm not one to advocate illegal downloading: almost all of my .mp3s (say 95% *at least*) are actually bought and of those who aren't, it's often because the CDs aren't even available anymore and sometimes because for some reason most of an artist's CDs have been available in mp3/WMA for years, but not a particular song or album. That's my personal stand.

The current price is around $95-100 AUD, and I expect you could find it cheaper, if you waited for sale. While they price may seem high, it is available to buy. The first two episodes are 48 minutes, with the extras disc offering 90 minutes total.

The first two episodes are 48 minutes, but about half of these were, after all, included in the North American version, and I think there may even be a little more 1980s extras in Manga's set (though they do not have the first 1963 episode), not to mention the subtitles available only on Manga's. If one has to choose one over the other, it's a really difficult choice to make and where one lives will probably play a role in deciding which version to buy.

The combination of DVD release from Manga Entertainment, and the extras disc from Madman Entertainment, offers the complete 1980s series in Japanese, with English subtitles. While they are still edits to episodes, it is as close as we can get to an uncut release of the 1980s series.

Oh I agree, I own both sets myself and I do not regret buying either. But if Manga's set had been available at the time I ordered Madman's, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the latter even though I would have been really really sad over the two halves episodes missing.

As for DVD players, DVD zones aren't the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the PAL format that is still not compatible with most DVD players here. In fact my only PAL capable player just gave out and I didn't have too many choices in finding a replacement. If you are an anime fan, that item is a must, but if you are just an Astroboy fan, it adds to the cost, unless you are fine with being able to watch the series only through a computer. Quite frankly, if I had had only the Astroboy series as PAL DVDs, I may not have bought a replacement, or may have waited (now of course I've watched those two full Japanese episodes so it's not like I'm dying to see them even though I do enjoy them very much).

Anyway, I was just trying to convey that even though I'm personally for buying through legal channels and even though I do that most of the time, for an average fan of the 1980 series in North America, it's pretty hard to come to the conclusion that the 24 minutes missing footage is worth it so much. One has to be a VERY big Astroboy fan right now to buy Madman's set since it would really only be for those missing 24 minutes footage. If I had just fallen in love again with Astroboy right now, I'd have a bit of a though time trying to convince myself that I would enjoy that part so much that it would be worth so much money, even if there was no way to watch it through the Internet. My heart would have said it's worth it, but logically, unless one really has a lot of money available, it's hard to conclude that it makes sense. In practice, it's Manga's set that I watch - I love the subtitles and I can watch the series on any of my TV sets. I only keep the extras from Madman's close and stored the rest elsewhere. Many members here owe a lot to Madman - in some old threads, many members, myself included, were ecstatic when their boxset arrived and we're all so glad they included the missing footage of those episodes with subtitles! So while I can't say it's fair to Madman to download their work, at the same time, I totally see why few fans would want to buy the boxset. It's sad that their extra disc is the only one that was never available separately.

That being said, I am glad to know that Madman's set cost a lot less now than it did 5 years ago (sounds like it's about half of what it was). I'm also happy that it should still be available in the near future. This is good news! I really do not want to discourage anyone from buying it - this is a totally cool thing to own for a big 1980 Astroboy fan!

[sgupta]

So far I'm hearing too many excuses, about why not to buy an item. In a thread which is asking for a company, to re-release an anime series for sale.

While you're of course entitled to your opinion (and quite correct on some technical levels), I think a lot of us, me included, feel differently.

When I purchased the US 80's series box set, I didn't realize it didn't include this uncut pilot (or I might have considered the Madman set instead). Part of this was not quite understanding the two versions of the pilot yet, and part of it was some mistaken advertising (a few sites still mistakenly claim the US version includes this complete pilot, when in fact it doesn't). But the point is, I bought this otherwise excellent set legitimately and supported the series in the best release available in my particular country.

Now what's suggested is I essentially buy this entire set again in another region for what amounts to a single episode of the show (yes, it's two episodes, but if you take the aired episode bits out, it's more like one). This to me is a waste and just not acceptable.

IF they were to release this extra in the US as a single disc, I'd definitely buy it, and I probably would even buy it if they released it separately in another region, but to buy the whole set again seems unacceptable. So yes, you can call it justification or an excuse or whatever you like, but on a personal level I find it quite acceptible since this content is not legitimately available in the US market for US players.

As far as the DVD region issue, it depends a lot on DVD player. My current player can be flashed to a previous firmware with regions removed (there's no remote code or easier way to do this), but I choose not to do that as I like the firmware I'm on, so instead if I want to watch a region disc, I have to reencode and write to a new DVD with software. That's all well and good, but it also shouldn't be expected for someone to have to do this either. I also don't know how my DVD player handles PAL but I don't think it can, so I'd have to find a way around that as well...

I really do believe in supporting legitimate copies of things and purchasing things legally to support the artists. But I'm also somewhat pragmatic about it - if I support the series, then find out there's an extra or atlernate version of something not really available to me legitimately for a reasonable cost or ease of accessibility/use, I don't have a problem downloading it and sharing it. I also don't have a problem sharing something extremely rare and out of print as long as I don't profit from it, as in the 2003 series. *shrugs* I totally get it if some people disagree with me, and I respect that.

[Dragonrider1227]

[QUOTE=Dragonrider1227;95345]Because I don't have the money to import DVDs from Australia. I BARELY have the money to buy local DVDs. Then there's the issue of finding someone who's willing to ship from Australia to America, and paying those imported prices for an entire boxset I only want 2 episodes from.

The two Australian online shops mentioned in my previous message, offer international shipping. Your money is actually worth more in Australia too, with the current US-AUD currency rates too.

I already mentioned waiting for sales, for even lower prices, and you could always save money for an item you are interested in.

So far I'm hearing too many excuses, about why not to buy an item. In a thread which is asking for a company, to re-release an anime series for sale.[/QUOTE]

I'm more than willing to buy an anime series and support the producers. When they give me what I want or actually make it capable for me to buy and view it in my country. I'm not dropping 50 bucks for a boxset that doesn't contain what I want. (An uncut version. This is the 2003 version btw) Or import a DVD I can't watch. I've got no clue how to unlock region codes nor do I have the funds to a universal DVD player. Call it "excuses" if you want, I am currently unable to buy.
And can I see these websites, please? Are they selling these second hand? If so, then the Producers still don't get anything out of it ;p

for example, I am perfectly willing to (and am planning) to pick up the American 80s series boxset because I am capable of finding it easier, it can play in my players, and has the Japanese versions that I want (minus the 2 first episodes) do the producers really lose out if I download content from a DVD not intended to be sold in my area?