Imports: HD-DVD Import Releases and Guide - Page 22

Shouldn't have any issues. All the amazons will import new to the US. I've used amazon.co.uk and amazon.fr a dozen times without any issue what so ever.

Id stick to known sites on the main page as some may only ship with in that given area.

Can i use my same user id and passcode as with amazon US or do i need to get a new one for each site? france, germany, uk, etc etc

same as the US

This is my first post on here.
I'm highly interested in purchasing Brotherhood of the Wolf. Where'd be the best place price-wise for obtaining it? Glad it only has the original French audio and not some ridiculous English dub. I import releases just about all the time but this would be a first importing from Europe since I usually import from across the Pacific.
I own the Canadian three-disc set but I'd love to watch this highly visual film in stunning HD. Thanks for the help and welcoming.

Exploited Cinema is the best for hd-dvd imports. A little pricey at first glance but with shipping, etc, you probably won't find the titles any cheaper and they ship FAST!!!

Yes Xploited cinema is good. I have also had luck with HD Addicts. Both places are run by good guys and they ship quickly.

www.xploitedcinema.com

www.hdaddicts.com

Guys, i'm going to be in Tokyo next week, and was wondering if anyone who owns the following japanese imports could give me a quick impression:

Resident Evil
Jersey Girl
Equilibrium
Patlabor Movie 1 and 2

I plan on picking these all up if they are worth it.

thanks for any help.

I can vouch for Equilibrium...it's good I feel it will be a long time before either format has that in HD in the States, so it was worth the $ I paid for it.

Those of you buying imports, could you please post of the PQ/AQ of these movies? I don't have trust in the "HD DVD User's PQ & AQ Reference Thread", too many I just don't agree with.

I would specifically like to hear about Silent Hill, Crank, Lord of War, Running Scared, The Island... (Couple of these I've read absolutely nothing about in this thread, other than they are available.)

Thank you

I have The Island and thought the PQ was a 4.5/5. I can't comment on the AQ though. The movie itself however is a solid 5/5, great movie.

I totally agree, btw just put an order in with hdaddicts the other day :-)


Equilibrium was worth the money imo, great release

I tried looking for some more information about these, but did not find any, maybe I'm being blind, heh.
Any info on when they are planned to be released? Particularly 3:10 to Yuma

Another question, is there any place to order the BoB import set from japan, or is everyplace practically sold out? :/

thanks

I have not been able to find the BoB set, only singles.

Those FS-Film movies (including 3:10 to Yuma) don't have announced release dates yet. It seems they may not come out yet in 1Q. FS-Film hasn't released any HD DVDs before so I guess they have to overcome some hurdles to get everything ready. I'm hoping for 2Q.

BoB discs are still available from various online shops in Japan but typically they have some of the discs in stock and some not, so it may be necessary to order a few discs from one place and a few from another or wait for one shop to be able to acquire all the discs in your order. It's not sold as a set in any Japanese shop because it was released as 5 individual discs that are sold separately. Xploited Cinema made a set out of the 5 discs by themselves (as well as selling them individually).

I think both HMV Japan and Amazon Japan have some of them in stock. HMV Japan has had the cheapest price among those shops that ship internationally (20% discount and they also remove 5% VAT when you order internationally). Rakuten Books has had 26% discount on them but they only ship inside Japan and I think they don't have all of the discs in stock either.

Equilibrium is great, I'd give it 4.5 for PQ. Resident Evil is solid, 4 for PQ. Those two I've watched from start to finish. Jersey Girl is maybe around 3.5, not bad. I haven't actually watched it in full yet though I have it too.

With regards to Patlabor, I only have the Blu-ray version of 1 (bought it 2nd hand and only BD was available). I haven't even taken a look at it yet.

I made an impressions thread on Resident Evil JP release earlier here:
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=31529

P.S. Jersey Girl HD DVD can usually be picked up for 2180 yen (2nd hand flawless) in the big Tsutaya store next to Shibuya station (B2 floor, at the end of non-Japanese DVD section). They don't usually sell new HD DVDs in that store, only some 2nd hand.

Looking forward to 3:10 to Yuma HD DVD.

I just got La Môme HD-DVD off the AVSmarket should have it in a few days. I can wait. I rented the pay per View on directv but the PQ was terible and it was fullscreen. The movie it self was very good. I may buy a book if I can find one

Thanks, I am staying in Shinjuku so I will definitely check that store out. I was hoping to find some used HDDVDs there, as I know the spoils of used laserdiscs from japan well

I was told by a friend that Bic Camera has a pretty big selection of new HDDVDs, even though the format isn't very popular over there at all.

The prices for the Bandai HDDVDs are completely outrageous, but I'm loving their releases of Freedom, and Wings of Honneamise was a solid release, however I expect all these titles to be impossible to find soon, because of the price and Bandai seems to prefer bluray... so I want to snap them up.

I don't care if they drop the format as long as they finish Freedom's run, canceling it would really piss me off.

I can vouch for Equillibrium (as well) and Resident Evil. Eqill. while only having a DD+ track is still a great title to own and is a great Gen 1 title release. Res. Evil I got in the mail from amazon.jp on x-mas Eve and watched it immediately. It was a great transfer and well worth the money spent. and also has an excellent dts-HDHR track if you can handle that. Jersey Girl I need to get so I don't know how it is on HD DVD.

thanks Kannisto for the reply

There isn't much availability of used HD DVDs in Tokyo B&M stores, I know only Tsutaya in Shibuya and some "Liberty" shops in Akihabara that have small selection of them. I don't know used disc stores in Shinjuku but there might be some there as well, I don't usually spend so much time looking around there. Shibuya's Tsutaya has some unbeatable prices on some used Toshiba Ent. releases, e.g. Finding Neverland has been 980 yen there. Last time I also saw Resident Evil (Biohazard) there but it was 3600 yen (about the same I paid for it new from Amazon Japan).

Bic Camera in Halc building in Shinjuku has a reasonable HD DVD selection at 10% off MRSP (+ 10 % in store points if you have their bonus card). Yodobashi Camera shops in Shinjuku also have fairly good selection of them but at MRSP prices (+10 % points if you have their bonus card).

Try also Bic Camera in Yurakucho if you have time and in Akihabara there are a few shops: Sofmap in "main shopping street" (10% off), Ishimaru Media shops (MRSP), the biggest Yodobashi Camera shop (MRSP). Bandai HD DVDs are not available in many shops and most often at MRSP.

I've got Freedom vol.1-3 as well, hopefully can get the rest as well

Be careful when you step into stores like Liberty with your GF or wife as they have a huge section for J-PORN. I recently saw SM3 Blu-ray for $2180. HDM in Japan is still far behind U.S and E.U. Need to check what's so special in this Tsutaya store near Shibuya.

Tsutaya's best point has been the pricing of some used titles, as it's been unbeatable, 980, 1480, 1780, 1980 yen for a handful of titles while most 2nd hand shops charge around 3600 for all used titles) but the number of used titles available there has been going down there and is quite small nowadays.

Liberty stores may also be difficult to recognize in Akihabara if one doesn't read katakana as the name is usually written only in katakana in their sign. They don't have much 2nd hand HD DVD supply anyway.

Actually there are quite many SM3 BR discs in some 2nd hand stores as it was a free disc with e.g. the latest PS3 40GB models. Some used stores seem to accept those sample discs though they have a big mark in the back cover that says "sample", or something. I saw a whole row of those in one 2nd hand store there.

Resident Evil japanese version available at Xploited now.

Do you know which version is better, the German or the Japanese version? Hmmm, which one to get...

Josh Z compared the German version to Blu-ray and to the original Japanese version (that came out bundled with HD-XA1 players) in this post:
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/show...8&postcount=27

The new Japanese version may possibly be the same transfer as that bundled Japanese disc, I assume it's either the same transfer or somehow improved.

I got the impression from his comment that the Japanese (original) version was a little better though the difference wasn't big. The German version is in MPEG-2 and has ICT flag enabled so if you don't use HDMI the Japanese version would most likely be better for you. The Japanese version is in AVC.

I have ordered the german one, but i didn't check what's the difference.
Now i see on AreaHD that the old japanese version had DD+, but the new version seem to have DTS-HD as the german version. Anyone can confirm this??
I think i would have ordered the new japanese version today because of Mpeg-2 vs AVC encoding.

Another question regarding Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Does it retain the film grain which was very excellent in theatres or is it a noise reduced mess?

i wouldn't call it a mess, but i think it's definitely noise reduced, not really looking like nice fine grain from the theater.

Les Gendarmes - L'intégrale HD-DVD.
This has been delyed a few time. But so far shows Jan 15 2008. I'm hoping it still comes out as its a WB film. I'm guessing it will as WB said they will be Red until MAY. So as long as this comes out I'm good. Although if the Blu-ray was region free id be OK with that as well.

http://warnerdvdshop.com/index.php?p...oduit&id=38591