Region Free DVD players are starting to become more mainstream electronic devices.

[Videogamer555]

One is even being sold by Sears (not some "hole in the wall" bootleging shop).
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...=SPM1514445501
It is manufactured as a multi-region DVD player (not a hacked version of a player which normally is region coded)! It even has built in NTSC/PAL conversion, and accepts power from 120V/60Hz or 240V/50Hz outlets!

Now you can LEGALLY with NO HACKING or buying an "underground" prehacked player, watch Region 2 animes straight from Japan!

[Ranshiin]

... I've had one of those for like three years, before they were even mainstream. I've never used it ... I got it for free.

/hipster

/like a boss

[wolfgirl90]

One is even being sold by Sears (not some "hole in the wall" bootleging shop).
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...=SPM1514445501
It is manufactured as a multi-region DVD player (not a hacked version of a player which normally is region coded)! It even has built in NTSC/PAL conversion, and accepts power from 120V/60Hz or 240V/50Hz outlets!

Now you can LEGALLY with NO HACKING or buying an "underground" prehacked player, watch Region 2 animes straight from Japan!

Well, you are a bit late to the party, but welcome friend! We have jackets! Oh wait, sorry, you are so freaking late that we have run out of club jackets and the only thing we have left is a stale pixie stick. Enjoy.

But yeah, region-free DVD players have been around for years, so this isn't even news. Hell, anime fans (and any other fans of foreign media) have been aware of this since its invention (we are living in a technological age, silly) so you are really late.

A $99 DVD is a little silly, even with the region free capabilities since one can either 1) hack their DVD player for free, usually with instructions provided either by the Internet or the MANUFACTURER ITSELF (especially on slightly older DVD players where the region code is entered manually) or 2) simply change the regions on their DVD player (really easy on a computer).

Of course, with $99, you can buy a pretty good Blu-Ray player and avoid the region coding issue ENTIRELY (for anime anyway), since the United States and Japan share the same region.

[Videogamer555]

Not all animes have Bluray releases. I dare you to try to find Mahou Tsuakai Sally on Bluray. It's so rare in fact, that CD Japan (the ONLY place selling it) has the DVD box set for over $900 US Dollars.

[wolfgirl90]

Not all animes have Bluray releases. I dare you to try to find Mahou Tsuakai Sally on Bluray. It's so rare in fact, that CD Japan (the ONLY place selling it) has the DVD box set for over $900 US Dollars.

Anyone who spends that much on a box set (especially a box set of an ancient anime) is a fool.

Not all anime have Blu-ray releases, but hey, not all anime gets released on DVD either. Plus, anime gets the Blu-ray treatment much more frequently in Japan and, like I said before, American Blu-ray players can play Blu-ray discs from Japan.

[Haoie]

All DVD players in NZ are region free.

Don't know why the states goes nuts over it.

[Videogamer555]

Anyone who spends that much on a box set (especially a box set of an ancient anime) is a fool.

Not all anime have Blu-ray releases, but hey, not all anime gets released on DVD either. Plus, anime gets the Blu-ray treatment much more frequently in Japan and, like I said before, American Blu-ray players can play Blu-ray discs from Japan.

Not only is it old, it is extremely rare (so rare in fact that it's difficult to find episodes for download online). Things that are rare have a high monetary value due to their rarity. Gold costa 1000USD per ounce because it is very rare (even in times of the "gold rush" many people came back empty handed, because it is so rare). The law of supply and demand says that if there is very little of something, it demands a higher price. And increased demand also demands a higher price. Because dedicated anime fans would likely be desperate to get their hands on this and would likely pay a large sum of money to get it, a company has good reason to charge high prices for it. Remember that in a given market, what people are willing to pay for a product is what the company will sell it for. If nobody buys it, then they will be forced to lower the price until customers are willing to pay. That's what's called a "free market" also known as "capitalism". It's just the way it works. If you don't like the price being so high, tell all your friends to tell their friends to tell their friends to not buy at that price, no matter how much they want to get it. If people stop paying that much, then the company will have to lower their price in order to get more customers, or else the company will end up losing money on that product.

[DOOM!]

Region-limited DVD's? What were those? I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the greatness of fairuse in Europe.

[wolfgirl90]

All DVD players in NZ are region free.

Don't know why the states goes nuts over it.

That depends on what you mean by "nuts". The United States is far from the only country that is concerned about region codes. Virtually any country that plays a big part in global entertainment uses region coding to some extent. However, it is up to individual DVD player manufacturers, video game makers (especially the consoles) and movie studios (among others) to decide if they want to use the codes or not. They use them to control the release of their product.

But like I was telling VG555, manufacturers have made it pretty easy to change the region codes on DVD players, so its not much of an issue. Nobody is going "nuts" about it. That's why it would be silly to out of the way and pay out the butt in order to buy a region free DVD player. Its much cheaper to simply get a regular DVD player and change the codes (or change the code of the one you already have).

Not only is it old, it is extremely rare (so rare in fact that it's difficult to find episodes for download online). Things that are rare have a high monetary value due to their rarity. Gold costa 1000USD per ounce because it is very rare (even in times of the "gold rush" many people came back empty handed, because it is so rare). The law of supply and demand says that if there is very little of something, it demands a higher price. And increased demand also demands a higher price. Because dedicated anime fans would likely be desperate to get their hands on this and would likely pay a large sum of money to get it, a company has good reason to charge high prices for it.

Learn basic economics before spouting it to me. Supply and demand (in its most basic form) says that BOTH the supply AND the demand for something will dictate the price of an item or service. Rarity in and of itself doesn't necessarily call for a higher price in something; there has to be a demand for it (and even then, other factors remain). Gold is valuable because it is not only rare but because there are a lot of people who want it. However, I have a piece of special foil that is used in NASA satellites that I would be lucky to sell it for anything, despite the "rarity"; nobody wants that (it certainly won't help if I tried to sell it for hundreds of dollars, but more on that later). If something is rare, but nobody wants it, the price isn't going to be all that high (at least compared to rare items that are in demand).

In the same way, an anime from the 1960s (especially one that was barely released outside of Japan) isn't going to garner a lot of attention (from what I can see, even Toei barely pays attention to it; hell I doubt they even released DVDs of the show). The price of the box set is probably jacked up in order to fool people or to scam those who desperately want the anime (it is an old and rare anime, yes, but not worth $900). Hell, the "box set" is probably fake anyway, made by some bored as hell guy who just happened to have some rather useless tapes lying around and converted them to low-quality DVDs so that he could sell them to chumps.

In this case, the price is high because the guy can afford to do so. Even with the lack of demand, if there is no competition, he can charge whatever the hell he wants. Of course, this is rarely smart; supply and demand also dictates that the high cost of an item will cause demand to go down if nothing else about the product or service changes (people are only so desperate for something; there is a limit).

[Videogamer555]

That depends on what you mean by "nuts". The United States is far from the only country that is concerned about region codes. Virtually any country that plays a big part in global entertainment uses region coding to some extent. However, it is up to individual DVD player manufacturers, video game makers (especially the consoles) and movie studios (among others) to decide if they want to use the codes or not. They use them to control the release of their product.

But like I was telling VG555, manufacturers have made it pretty easy to change the region codes on DVD players, so its not much of an issue. Nobody is going "nuts" about it. That's why it would be silly to out of the way and pay out the butt in order to buy a region free DVD player. Its much cheaper to simply get a regular DVD player and change the codes (or change the code of the one you already have).



Learn basic economics before spouting it to me. Supply and demand (in its most basic form) says that BOTH the supply AND the demand for something will dictate the price of an item or service. Rarity in and of itself doesn't necessarily call for a higher price in something; there has to be a demand for it (and even then, other factors remain). Gold is valuable because it is not only rare but because there are a lot of people who want it. However, I have a piece of special foil that is used in NASA satellites that I would be lucky to sell it for anything, despite the "rarity"; nobody wants that (it certainly won't help if I tried to sell it for hundreds of dollars, but more on that later). If something is rare, but nobody wants it, the price isn't going to be all that high (at least compared to rare items that are in demand).

In the same way, an anime from the 1960s (especially one that was barely released outside of Japan) isn't going to garner a lot of attention (from what I can see, even Toei barely pays attention to it; hell I doubt they even released DVDs of the show). The price of the box set is probably jacked up in order to fool people or to scam those who desperately want the anime (it is an old and rare anime, yes, but not worth $900). Hell, the "box set" is probably fake anyway, made by some bored as hell guy who just happened to have some rather useless tapes lying around and converted them to low-quality DVDs so that he could sell them to chumps.

In this case, the price is high because the guy can afford to do so. Even with the lack of demand, if there is no competition, he can charge whatever the hell he wants. Of course, this is rarely smart; supply and demand also dictates that the high cost of an item will cause demand to go down if nothing else about the product or service changes (people are only so desperate for something; there is a limit).

I'm pretty sure this is the official box set. I have multiple reasons to believe this:

There was another box set that cost about 50USD more (and is sold out now), that came with an extra (a plastic figurine of Sally herself).

I also read somewhere that like in the year 2000 Toei released official DVDs of all the episodes.

On another site I read where some torrenters have bought a copy of the box set and are using it as SOURCE material to make their torrent of the anime. A pirate might make a bootleg DVD and a torrent, both from a VHS tape or DVD, but I doubt they'd take a bootleg DVD or a DVD of unknown origin and use it as source material for their torrent. That would be making a bootleg of a bootleg, and that wouldn't make any sense.



Also I believe CD Japan is a reputable site that imports and sells in the US rare Japanese anime DVDs and VHS tapes. I think all their products are legit.
It is $900+ because they have seen other anime fans (even if only a few) buy extremely rare DVDs for tons-o-money, so they know that a market DOES exist for rare animes and that customers who are into rare animes are willing to shell out bundles of cash to pay for it. The only way they'll drop their price is if multiple retailers were selling it at cheaper prices, or if anime fans outright stopped paying lots of $$$$ for rare animes.

[Ranshiin]

If you're after this anime that badly, VG, why don't you just buy it and stop whining at us about the price or this supposed 'marvel' of region-free video playback?

Or better yet, just move to Japan and get out of our lives?

¬_¬

[Videogamer555]

If you're after this anime that badly, VG, why don't you just buy it and stop whining at us about the price or this supposed 'marvel' of region-free video playback?

Or better yet, just move to Japan and get out of our lives?

¬_¬

It would be cheaper to buy the DVD (or better yet wait for the pirates to rip all the episodes and just download them), than it would be to move to Japan. Also I would remain an active member of these forums even if I lived in Japan.

Oh, and I'm not whining about the price. I'm trying to explain why I believe it is a fair price for this anime.