Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dvd

Region Free At Last, Thank the Beeb I'm Free At Last!

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:04:49 -0800

Now that we have a region free DVD player, what British shows should we look in to ordering? My wife and I are huge fans of British comedies like Black Books, The IT Crowd, and Peep Show. We've been frustrated that many series are not available in the US (anything beyond the first series of Peep Show or That Mitchell and Webb Look, for example) and so broke down and bought a DVD player (a Philips DVP3980) that I unlocked to be region free.

So after we gorge ourselves on Mitchell and Webb, what else should we look for that's not available in the states?

We're not limited to comedies, either. My wife likes shows like Skins and I'm a huge murder mystery nut (Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, etc).

While we're mainly interested in stuff we can't get over here, we'd like to take advantage of the seemingly cheaper DVD prices. For example, a 10 episode set of Midsomer Murders comes to something like 60 dollars, shipped, from amazon.uk while a 4 episode set costs 40 bucks here in the states. The less said about the amount I paid for my complete Morse vs the amount being charged on amazon.uk, the better. So any suggestions as to where we can get more for our money are welcome too.

Help! I need some Beatles!

etc. — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:41:44 -0800

Making a Beatles DVD from YouTube videos. Looking for suggestions for clips. For our family's second annual MAKE our Christmas presents party, I drew my sister-in-law. She's a huge Beatles fan. She owns a fair amount of albums and reads every book about the Beatles she can get her hands on, so I was thinking of grabbing a bunch of YouTube videos and making a DVD compilation. (I'm also going to make a few other things, just in case you think this is too weak from a maker standpoint.) I realize they won't be HD quality (to say the least), but she won't care. She's not web savvy, so she'll never find this stuff on her own and would just be happy to have it.

The question is, if I want to make a 30-45 minute DVD, what YouTube videos should I grab? I searched YT for rare Beatles stuff, but I quickly realized--being only a casual fan myself--I don't really know what would turn a die-hard fan on.

I thought this would be a fun beginning, and I think this Lennon song would be great too, but after that I'd love to hear your suggestions. Rare stuff in general would be great, but fantastic clips of their more familiar stuff would be fine too. I'm thinking I'd like this to be more music video than a behind-the-scenes documentary, but I'm happy to hear all vid suggestions.

She's the kind of person who would put such DVD on in the background and play it over and over. If you were her, what clips would you want on such a DVD?

Much obliged for your help.

Looking for concert films from dance/electronic acts...

kuperman — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:06:41 -0800

Help me find good electronic-type concert/live performance DVDs that don't have interruptions or interviews... It's for my kid. The long story is:

We discovered that our young son doesn't particularly care for Baby Einstein. No worries - neither did mommy or daddy. By coincidence, we found that he did react particularly well to ... Kraftwerk's "Minimum Maximum" DVD. It captured his attention, he clapped along with the music, and he now instantly calms down any time he hears "The Man Machine". It's a godsend in traffic since we have the DVD player in the back of the van. Of course, it doesn't hurt that mommy and daddy love Kraftwerk.

So we've gone through what we have in terms of like-ish DVDs to save us in particularly hellish Baton Rouge traffic. Underworld's "Everything, Everything" does rather well but U2's "Rattle & Hum" does not. New Order's "A Collection" does well at points, but we've gotten mixed results with the Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze Director's Series DVDs.

So, for now, I guess I'm looking for concert or live-performance DVDs from electronic/dance acts that are just ... performance. No smattering of interviews or strange interruptions in the music (shame, the Soulwax concert film is out). Any ideas?

(BTW concerned parents - please don't worry about him not being well-rounded, we got that covered. He's exposed to all sorts of music, contemporary and classical. This is just a narrowly tailored request).

HBO Rock & Roll Hall of Fame DVD?

jckll — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:44:52 -0800

HBO Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert -- help me give it as a gift! I have some musically-inclined friends and family members for whom I think a copy of the HBO special that recently aired would be a fantastic holiday gift. I can't, however, find it anywhere!

Can someone help me make this into a great gift? Is it available on DVD/Blu Ray? I am also open to "gray market" ideas if no DVD is available.

Happy holidays!

Help me digitize my Will Ferrell cinema collection.

santojulieta — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:11:23 -0800

I have a LOT of DVDs, and I want the movies, but not the physical DVDs. What do you suggest? We have about 500+ physical DVDs. At some point, I want to exchanged replace many of them with Blu-rays, but not in, say, the next month. While I'd like to sell off the physical discs, there are many movies I'd like to have in digital format until I upgrade them (which I know is questionably legal, but I'm not bittorrenting them or anything.)

1. What's the best way to pull the content off my DVDs? (In the simplest, non-techie instructions possible.)

2. What's the best way to store and then view the content from these DVDs at home? (Again, dumb this down to the simplest amount of steps possible.)

Music for a good mourning

b33j — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:18:53 -0800

Copyright issues with memorial DVDs? I recently produced a DVD of photographs and music for a friend of a friend's funeral. None of the photographs were professional, but the music was from my personal collection of mp3s. As I was not paid for this, I didn't give it a second thought. Now, however, the funeral director has contacted me asking whether I can provide this service to his clients. What issues are there with scanning professional photos (there's bound to be a couple in every set) and buying music to use as a soundtrack? Where do I start to look for this information? If the client provides me with the mp3s to embed, is that okay?

I'm in Australia and I have read the 31 music + copyright questions

Help me find a region free blu ray player.

digividal — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:13:01 -0800

Help me find a (US market) Blu-Ray player that can be converted to play dvds from any region. I have a large collection of dvds from around the world. Some of them are region encoded for other regions than the US.
I have had various dvd players that can be modified in one way or another to play dvds from any region.

(I am not worried about the PAL/NTSC difference)

I recently got a blu ray player, and I love what the upscaling it does on most of my dvds. However it refuses to play non region 1 dvds.

(Note I am here talking about regular dvds, I am as of now not worried about the blu ray region encoding).

In an effort to keep my life simple, I would prefer to have one unit that could play my blu rays, my dvds and my foreign dvds.

I did some searching on the internet and went out and bought a LG 370 blu ray player, since I had seen a file to hack it on the internet. It turns out after much sweat that the us model I got with the latest firmware is not modifiable.

So, what I am looking for, is a blu ray player, available on the US market, preferably some large chain store, that either out of the box, or with an available mod, will play dvds from any region.

There are several parameters to that,
1) Its currently available
2) The current hardware and firmware versions are still modifiable.
3) The mod or hacks is easy to find and works.

If someone has been able to mod a LG 370 US model successfully I would have to hear about that too.

Why is 'Reuben, Reuben' not on DVD?

Blackwatch — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:28:56 -0800

Why isn't this superb film on DVD? 'Reuben, Reuben' is a wonderful, warm, touching and superbly written and acted movie.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0084591/

Yet - despite the fact that lead actor Tom Conti was Oscar nominated for his performance - it has never been released on DVD.

Given the vast amount of dross and obscurity which does make it onto the shelves, can anyone tell me why this shining cinematic light is being hidden under a corporate bushel?

Thanks.

Can I make a bootable DVD from a bootable partition?

DarkForest — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:57:24 -0800

I have a 7 Gb bootable recovery partition on my PC. Can I make a bootable DVD (DL) from it, either in XP or Ubuntu? Thanks!

Stellar Concert Performances on DVD

netbros — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:46:11 -0800

What are the live performance concert DVDs that stun you with their excellence and excitement? I recently purchased The Way Up concert DVD by the Pat Metheny Group and found it mesmerizing. The combined talent, the cohesiveness and preparation of PMG on this particular tour is astounding. Surely there is other contemporary live concert footage on DVD that is equally inspiring.

While I am a big fan of jazz, I'm an even bigger fan of music in general. Just about anything that is stellar from a tight, talented individual or group is what I'm looking for.

Please suggest your favorite live concert performances.

TV on DVD worth buying?

cosmic osmo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:17:57 -0800

What are some great DVD releases of television shows? I love television, and I watch a whole lot of it. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I generally have every episode of every show I'd want to watch already on my computer. Thus, when I buy DVDs, it's not for the replay value of individual episodes but rather for the bonus material. I'm mostly looking for insightful (or hilarious) commentaries, making-of features, and interviews (as opposed to deleted scenes or gag reels).

So what television DVD box sets are really worth buying? Assume I'm open to basically any kind of show.

(Alternately, is there a site that does good reviews of DVD releases? Amazon.com reviews tend to be about the show itself rather than the actual DVDs. Wikipedia is okay for looking up specific shows I already have in mind to see what the extras are, but it'd be nice to be able to read reviews of shows I wouldn't necessarily think of myself.)

How to scale up DVD playback on Mac?

kidbritish — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:04:58 -0800

In Apple's DVD Player app for Mac (or in VLC), how can I scale the footage beyond the screen resolution? (Or specifically, scale the footage to the full width of the screen.) I'm playing a DVD on a widescreen Mac, and even when I'm in "full screen" mode, it displays black bars on all four sides of the video. (Presumably because the DVD is not anamorphically encoded).

No problem, I thought, I'll just scale it up even further. (I don't care if the black bars on top & bottom are cropped off). But I can't find a way to scale it up any further. How can I utilize the full width of my screen?

(20" iMac early 2009, OS X 10.6.2)

lost Berserk?

BadMiker — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:54:23 -0800

Where can I get 'Berserk in the Antarctic' on DVD? Although I've never seen it, it has been highly recommended.

None of the usual suspects (Amazon, play, google shopping) have it. I believe that it was a TV film documentary produced by TV2 in Norway in 2000 which was available, at some point, on DVD. The book is readily available but I'm looking for the DVD.

I'd prefer a source from the UK, but any suggestions welcomed!

All I want to do is upload some band videos

chocolatepeanutbuttercup — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:31:51 -0800

Recommendations for converting a 35-minute DVD to discrete segments so I can post it on youtube? I have a 35 minute DVD of a music performance that I want to chop up into individual songs (six, I think) and upload to youtube. Please give me your recommendations on software that will do this. It's a local band and not copy protected. I've been trying to work with Auto Gordian Knot but I'm finding it a little more complicated than that name would seem to imply. Thanks for your help

Help me design a new home entertainment system.

ColdChef — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:08:04 -0800

My old tube television has died a terrible sputtering death. Help me get over my sense of loss by assisting me in replacing it with a new HD television and entertainment system. Here are my needs: I'm working with a budget of around $2000. I want a HD LCD television set that's between 46-52 inches. I currently have an old-style Tivo box, a decent DVD collection, a Playstation 2, a Nintendo Wii, a DVD/VCR combo, an iMac, and a Netflix account.

I'm not interested in converting all of my DVDs to BlueRay, so I want a player that has a good conversion system for old DVDs. I'm fighting the urge to get a Playstation 3, because I have a tendency to spend too much time playing games--but I could probably justify it with my wife if it's the best option.

Here's what I'd like to be able to do: have 2 or three game systems hooked up simultaneously, stream Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu from my iMac.

Should I upgrade my Tivo to the Tivo HD/XL? Would that keep me from having to get the PS3?

Also: my home is very Mac friendly, but I've never really looked at the AppleTV. Should I?

So here's what I'm looking at:
HD LCD Television
BlueRay Player
New Tivo?
Whatever will allow me to stream Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu

Thanks in advance.

Is Die Zauberflöte opera suitable for five year old?

lynnie-the-pooh — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:46:48 -0800

Is Mozart's - Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) opera with Diana Damrau suitable for a five year old? My five year old daughter loves opera music and opera singing so much. She saw Diana Damrau on youtube and is mesmerized by both her acting and her singing. Even though it is in German.......she does not care. She will sit and watch over and over again that song of...............the Queen of the night aria. Anyway, I thought I might give her the DVD for Christmas, but I am unfamiliar with the opera itself as well as the DVD. I don't know if there is sexual content or violence that my five year old should not see. She did see the knife Diana had during the aria but nothing was done with it in that scene.

Can anyone help me?

And yes, my daughter loves to sing, night and day.............so I'm thinking that singing is something that is just "in" her. I certainly don't push it on her. The only way she even knew about opera was because she happened upon it on the public radio station.

Thanks!

Bigger without Blurrier

rahnefan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:52:27 -0800

How can I get a DVD movie to fill (at least one axis of) my screen without compromising the picture quality? Two years ago we were given a Samsung HDTV, something like 32 inches wide. In the settings, we generally have "Size" set to Just Scan. For normal TV or the HD channels, this works fine. For movies however, there's a problem.

Mrs. RahneFan and I are two different kinds of grumps. I won't watch anything visually intense if the picture quality is sabotaged by intentional distortion of the picture. A circle must be a true circle and the human body must have correct proportions. Details meant to impress me are things I don't want to miss. And nothing should be cropped. Conversely, detail, proportion, and seeing something as it was intended to be seen do not matter much to her, but she hates the so-called black bars probably more than your grandmother does.

Movies on cable channels only display undistorted if we change the resolution to 4:3 instead of Just Scan. So we flip back and forth for that, not a problem usually. But...

DVDs, when the TV is set to Just Scan, display in lovely, crisp detail, but do not fill our screen; the black borders she despises appear above, below, and on both sides. I see the movie, not the black, but like her, I would rather it filled our screen on at least one axis or the other. We have GOBS of space on all four sides, so why can't it be bigger?

The player is a Pioneer, don't even remember how old it is.

The only other options that appear available are 16:9 (unacceptable stretching), Zoom 1, and Zoom 2. Zoom 1 and Zoom 2 are both blurry and crop the movie on all four sides. For example, parts of DVD menus don't even appear onscreen at those settings.

Is there some way to maintain the clarity and detail of a DVD and have it large enough to fill our screen on at least one axis, without stretching or cropping the picture? Some way to make it automatically enlarge whatever is playing, regardless of aspect ratio, until it touches either the vertical or horizontal edge of the screen?

I am aware that movies can be shot in a wide variety of aspect ratios, and that DVDs can be edited with hard matting etc. Will it require knowing exactly what every movie's aspect ratio is and whether or not it has been matted and how, and relearning all this crap every time, and making some odd specific combination of settings to get it right? Shouldn't the technology be smart enough to do this on its own by now?

Dual layer DVD movie quality?

zardoz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:32:03 -0800

Question about burning movies onto dual-layer DVDs...is the quality better? I have ripped both Blu-ray as well as standard DVD quality movies on my hard drive and wonder if I should get dual-layer DVDs for watching them on my (normal, analog, non-hi-def) TV. I've burned many a CD and DVD but don't really know anything about dual-layer. Is the quality better than a normal DVD burn? Which frankly can be pretty sketchy in quality.

I'm using an Intel iMac, btw

DVD Fake-Out!

newfers — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:13:34 -0800

How can I make a phony DVD, that starts off promisingly, but eventually turns into something totally unexpected...with the intention of pranking a DVD thief? A friend of mine at work made a copy of a concert DVD for a friend... please attempt to disregard issues of legality and whatnot... Please?
Anyway, he left the DVD out for the friend, but it was eventually taken by an unknown person. And this is not the first time it has happened, sooooo.... we have a DVD nabber in our midst!

I had the idea of making a fake DVD, with the title of a tasty new release written on it, but at some point within the film, I'd insert either fake footage, something disturbing, or maybe even a personalized message to the DVD nabber...

I alternate between evil thoughts and simpler ideas, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to pull this off, in order to legitimitely waste the viewer's time... I have visions of the guy (gotta be a guy, right?) bringing home the DVD to watch with his girlfriend, and then, 30 minutes into it....SOMETHING FOUL HAPPENS!

Any suggestions or ideas?

Creating a Subtitled DVD

Silky Slim — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:09:43 -0800

I need some help with creating a DVD with subtitles. My computer is a Mac, but also runs Parallels and XP. I'm adept at using Subtitle Workshop (under Windows) to create .srt files. I have also used .srt files with Submerge on the Mac to create Quicktime movies with hardcoded subs.
Right now, I'd like to create subs in Subtitle Workshop and use them to create a subtitled DVD that can be played anywhere (hopefully not hardcoded subs).
It dawned on me that I have no idea how to do this.
I noticed SW can export subs in .sub format. That's a good thing, right?
I only have iDVD right now. Do I need to get DVD Studio Pro for this? Maybe this could be achieved using Toast?
Thanks a lot in advance for any assistance. I'd like to do this on the Mac if possible, but Windows solutions are also OK.

DVD recorder with digital tuner recommendations?

Dolley — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:50:23 -0800

I don't have cable or satellite, don't want cabe or satellite, but I want to be able to do timer recordings of TV shows to DVD. I believe this requires a DVD recorder with a digital tuner. Where do I find a good one for $150 or less? And setup tips and/or traps to avoid greatly appreciated as well.

straight from the source.

the NATURAL — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:13:57 -0800

Just curious: What DVD commentaries absolutely enhance the movie they're attached to? Thanks for your concern, but I've already seen these two previouslys.

As an aspiring screenwriter (maybe, one day, filmmaker? -- but then, who isn't?), I'm particularly interested in the craft of storytelling and the art of filming (how shots are composed, chosen, etc.). So, while I can't lie that it's funny that X and Y tell hilarious jokes in Z's commentary, I'm more curious from a technical standpoint.

Since this was last done in 2004, maybe skewing this towards DVDs released since then would make this a more timely question, as well.

Thanks, MeFi <4

Looking for cheap DVD shops in Paris (Left Bank)

lahersedor — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:37:49 -0800

While I'm in Paris (for a short stop) I plan to buy DVDs (movies) by french new wave directors like truffaut. I have heard that there are cheap DVD shops in Paris. Do you know of any good ones in the Left Bank ? I will be staying in Montparnasse.

How can I quickly name and tag TV episodes ripped from DVD?

sun-el — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:59:22 -0800

Is there an ripping/converting application that will automate naming and labeling of TV episodes copied from DVD? I own a lot of TV on DVD, and with my newly rebuilt Windows Home Server, I'd like to rip it to hard disk so that I can view it anywhere in the house at any time. I normally use Handbrake to rip and convert, but in this case the problem is that I don't want to spend endless hours naming, labeling, and tagging episodes individually. Is there a program or service that will automate the naming and/or tagging of the video files by episode that result from each disk being ripped? Ideally, I'd insert the disk, rip the episodes from it, and they would save with the name of the series, the season and episode number, and the episode title. My main system with the fastest drive is running Windows 7 Professional, but I'd settle for OS X, Vista, XP -- I'd even drag out my Ubuntu box and update it if need be.

Best Software (Free or Cost) to Catalog Divx Movies on a Mac

snap_dragon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:42:44 -0800

I am looking to catalog my DVD library (mostly of DivX movies). I own an IMac. Is Delicious Monster the way to go? I want to be able to simply enter the title of the movie and have it come up with the real box art and keep it in A-Z or numerical order. No more no less. I emailed customer service and they never responded so I am consulting the Metafilter Oracle on this one. If there is anything cheaper or free, I am open to that, as well. Until then....a loonnnnnnng Excel spreadsheet. Thanks for your time and have a good Halloween weekend, folks.