Can we get a thread rolling on imported discs and wheter or not they 'forced" subtitles or not?

I am interested in many but hesitant because this.

Also I am from USA can i order off amazon.uk and import a movie or where can I go? And some movies are listed as region 2 but isn't HD-DVD region free?

~Bobby

Can we get a thread rolling on imported discs and wheter or not they 'forced" subtitles or not? I am interested in many but hesitant because this.
To my knowledge only a couple of the Studio Canal French releases have been rumoured to have forced French subtitles with the English sound track. As neither of these have been available to buy yet, this remains just a rumour. The discs in question are "Three Days of the Condor" and "Serpico" and they'll both be released on the 21st of May.
I'm not aware of any of the German or Japanese releases having forced subtitles. I have the Toshiba release of Equilibrium and I can confirm that the Japanese subtitles on that are optional with the English soundtrack.
If anyone else has different information, I'd be interested to know.


also i am from USA can i order off amazon.uk and import a movie or where can I go?
For UK releases such as Harry Potter and The Pianist, a good online retailer is Sendit (www.sendit.com).

Easiest for importing foreign releases into the US is probably Xploited Cinema (http://xploitedcinema.com/). Lots of people happily use them.

I've used Amazon.uk to get Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with no problems and I live in the US.

I've imported
Harry potter GOF (UK)
Rambo 1-3 (france)
La haine (UK)
Equlibrium (japan)
Renaissance (german)

All allow you to remove subs..

I am planning to update my "International pre-order" thread with this information this evening. At least with as much information as I have. Naturally as additional information is discovered, I will adjust.

I will list the "best possible" subtitle/audio combination that each movie offers. By this I mean that for English audio movies, the ideal option would be English Audio / No Subtitles. For non-English audio movies, the ideal option would be non-English Audio / English Subtitles. If a movie has forced subtitles, it would be indicated by the appropriate info: English Audio / French Subitles would indicate forced French subititles.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=832063

I understand that these are region free, so they will play in the US. I am sure this has been covered, but, what about PAL or conversion issues?

I understand that these are region free, so they will play in the US. I am sure this has been covered, but, what about PAL or conversion issues?


as far as HDDVD gos they are all made the same. so thier is no PAL or NTSC issues. a few of the studio cannal HDDVDs suffer from a slightly pitched up audio some can tell other cant.
so order away

a few of the studio cannal HDDVDs suffer from a slightly pitched up audio some can tell other cant.
so order away

It's somewhat more than slightly to be. It's a little more than 4 %, which is about 1/2 step in music pitch. I ordered Rambo First Blood and Total Recall at the same time, but after hearing it, I decided not to buy any other Studio Canal Title unless the pitch problem was corrected.

It's a little more than 4 %, which is about 1/2 step in music pitch.

Someone posted some comparison sound track excerpts a while back on AVS of Total Recall; one of which was a comparison of a music segment between the R1 SD DVD and the SC HD DVD. The pitch-up does indeed equate to a semitone.
It must be said, however, that you'd only notice this if you either have perfect pitch or if you're intimately familiar with the movie and/or the actors' voices.
The rest of us would only become aware of the pitch-up by actually doing such a direct comparison with the R1 SD DVD.

Personally I would mind such a high pitched audio track is it was e.g. a recording of a Beethoven symphony. With a movie, not so much.

OK I beleive this is good information but forgive me if I am worng, the ONLY time you will see forced subs from Studio Canal is when it does NOT have the rights to the film in a English speaking country, ie Serpico it has the rights in France but NOT in the UK thus the forced subs.........

OK I beleive this is good information but forgive me if I am worng, the ONLY time you will see forced subs from Studio Canal is when it does NOT have the rights to the film in a English speaking country, ie Serpico it has the rights in France but NOT in the UK thus the forced subs.........

Can you explain/articulate why this would contractually/legally or otherwise lead to forced subs?
Would the film stock to which they have the dist rights already have the French subs burned in?

OK I beleive this is good information but forgive me if I am worng, the ONLY time you will see forced subs from Studio Canal is when it does NOT have the rights to the film in a English speaking country, ie Serpico it has the rights in France but NOT in the UK thus the forced subs.........This is my understanding of it as well. Studio Canal releases all use the same master throughout Europe. The only difference among Studio Canal releases from different countries are the disc and box art.

As to why there are forcing French subtitles when listening to the English soundtrack...yeah, that's lost on me, too. There doesn't seem to be much logic behind this... :confused: ...it's not like the French subtitles aren't included...they're just optional. Serpico and Three Days of the Condor are the only two movies with English soundtrack and forced subtitles so far. Hopefully, they're also the last... :)

And then there are the French, German, Spanish movies that don't have English subtitles... :( These titles make more sense to me from a business standpoint, though. Making French subititles optional isn't any extra effort whereas it would be quite an effort to create English subtitles. HD DVD being a worldwide format will hopefully change that. I'm glad La Haine has English subtitles. Similar to the explanation Ph8te provided, English subtitles are included on non-English Studio Canal titles when distributed to an English speaking country.

Can you explain/articulate why this would contractually/legally or otherwise lead to forced subs?
Would the film stock to which they have the dist rights already have the French subs burned in?The subs on the two forced titles (Serpico and Three Days of the Condor) also include the new capability of changing the size and location of the subtitles. If only they provided a position out of sight... ;)