Australian movie for an American chick

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-01-24 02:04am

Ok, as suggested by Dalton, I'm going to ask you guys for help about a predicament I've had for a while now.

There's an Australian movie called "Looking for Alibrandi" which I love. I want to get a copy of it, but here's my issue: Aussie video tapes don't work over here (although some of them work over there--my copy of 'The Faculty' was watched a few times over that 6-months period!), and DVDs are region-specific (the US is region 1 and Aus region 4, I believe).

I thought that a computer DVD-ROM wasn't restricted to regions (aka region 0), but apparently I was wrong. I know there are some DVD players that are universal, but those are the ones I can't afford. I love this movie, but not enough to spend $500 or something on a DVD player. That's almost half of the amount I'd need to fly back and just rent it there...

So, here's my question: how do I watch this movie in the states? Can I buy the VHS tape and have it converted? If I buy the DVD as-is from Australia, is there anywhere I will be able to view it here in los Estados Unidos?

Ando, Dalton said maybe you could rip the movie, burn it on an SVCD and send it to me.......? I'd pay you for the movie, shipping, etc. of course--would something like that be possible?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-24 02:07am

If you buy a new DVD ROM drive, you can set it to a specific region by only playing DVDs of a particular region. It takes about five times until the drive locks to that region permanently, IIRC.

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-01-24 02:10am

How expensive is that, Spank?

Zaia = Teacher = No $$$

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-01-24 02:12am

Hmm, about as much as DVD-Rom drives cost, which I don't know. But I'll take a stab and say ~$200-300.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-01-24 02:14am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:If you buy a new DVD ROM drive, you can set it to a specific region by only playing DVDs of a particular region. It takes about five times until the drive locks to that region permanently, IIRC.

Depends on the exact drive....

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-01-24 02:14am

Region codes?? LOL

EVERY Dvd player you can buy here in Sweden is Region free.

They play any region coded dvd and MP3/DVD/VCD-/CD-R/RW-discs

Onlyone getting hurt with that silly region code shit is the yanks.

Ewo · Post by **Ewo** » 2003-01-24 02:27am

Agh, I wish I had a DVD rom. Plus I read that book when I was there. Did I see that with you? That was a good movie, a little out of order like any good book made to movie, but still good.
I think you can have it converted somehow. Seems to me that we watched US movies in Australia, hmmmm. Are you sure we don't have it anywhere here in the US, did you check on e-bay??

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2003-01-24 02:38am

Could always...hmm...file share. Heh. Some may say it's amoral, but then again guess what, they ain't exactly sellin' it to us now are they?!? Hope someone has a solution for ya Zaia.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-01-24 02:48am

Any self-respecting service centre will be able to convert Aussie tapes to yankee ones, thats how my dad gets all his train ones.

However, get it done by a good company, as half the time, the sound doesn't go with the conversion.

You get the picture, but no talkie.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-01-24 06:05am

I got a new 16x DVD-ROM for my computer for $57. I had suggested buying a second DVD-ROM and setting it to Region 4, with the other at Region 1.

I really wish we didn't have those goddamn region restrictions...

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-24 10:50am

Have you looked and see if it's available in Region one? If it's been exported it should be out there.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-01-24 11:10am

I checked Amazon and HMV and it doesn't look like it's easily available in Region 1 format.

Amazon did have the soundtrack CD available as an import but no video/DVD.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-01-24 11:25am

If it was me, I'd simply get the DVD and rip it to my machine with a program that DeCSS's it, as well as removes the region code and Macrovision encoding. Then again, I watch movies and TV on my 19" monitor.

I don't know what kind of DVD player you have, but you can probably remove the IDE drive and shove it into you computer, then just change the region to 0 with some special software.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2003-01-24 11:39am

$500 for a region free player!? I saw one for less than a hundred quid at the electronic goods warehouse shop in middlesborough I'm sure.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-01-24 12:16pm

Okay, I don't know exactly what DVD-Rom you have, but some programs that should work are DVD Genie(http://www.inmatrix.com/) and DVD Region Free. You'll have to pay for DVD Region Free if you want it to work all the time. Supposedly DVD Genie works the best.

It also depends on your DVD Program. WinDVD and PowerDVD worked the best for me.

If all else fails, you can just do a firmware update on it. I don't necessarily recommend that, as you can screw up your computer.

So basically, try DVD Genie and see if your ROM is supported. If it is you can see if the player will work. If it doesn't, then you can just try to switch players or try a firmware update.