Info and forum posts by 'LUX'

RE: How do I flash my DVDrom drive

problem sorted I flashed it and it still works. I can also switch between R2 and R4 the whole time without difficulty. Now I`ll get my first R1 and hopefully RCE and check if it works.

How do I flash my DVDrom drive

hi
I have a toshiba SD-M1502 dvdrom drive and I want to make it multiregion
now I downloaded the firmware but I dunno what to do next.
The downloaded zipfile contains a .exe , .bat and .hex file.
what do I do now. Do I have to run that exe in Dos or wndows??

RE: Whats the last DVD everyone bought?

how the hell should I know. Bought 7 DVDs today, quite difficult to say which one is the last. Behind Enemy Lines (R2) is on the way though so that`d be the last

RE: Lord of the Rings: 4 Disc Extended Cut - Running Time.

I think I know why the EC is so much longer. If it isn`t a mistake on the BBFC website. Before LOTR came out in the cinema I read reports about New Line giving the fans of the book the possibility to have their names in the credits as Tolkien/LOTR fans. They had to pay a few quid(actually a lot) and if those names are in the credits for the EC then that will make the film-credits longer.
HTH

RE: The Headbutt

First of all No other country in Europe has cut AOTC. not even the Germans whose FSK is worse than the BBFC.
As much as I hate the BBFC cutting films(ie forcing distributors to submit precut versions):
What the f*** has a headbutt to do in a kids film in the first place??? The violence in a lot of kids films is more fantasy-like so not likely to be copied. Overall I think that films should be uncut, always. If a film is cut by the BBFC I just buy a R2 copy from Germany or France.
the problem is often with films like The Mummy Returns: other EUcopies lack the english DTS and have german or french DTS instead, very annoying indeed.

RE: Blade II. Which region?

EIV are a great company lately their DVDs are the exact copy of the R1 counterparts(without the DVDrom extras) or they are even better(ALI!!!!!)
It seems that for LOTR they learned that covers can be nice. So lets hope that they don`t forget it until the next release. I have the R2 on preorder from play for 13.99. That`s good enough for me

RE: The Headbutt

The headbutt being cut from the cinema feature doesn`t necessarily mean it`s cut from the DVD. The Mummy was cut in the cinema yet the DVD was uncut. Still it looks like the UK DVD will be cut: Jango Head Butt Cut From UK DVD
Mon, Aug 05, 02 04:11:57 PM EDT


British fans (with Region 2 DVD players) hoping to see an uncut version of AOTC on DVD will be disappointed. The head butting scene will not be present on the UK DVD when it`s released on November 11th. Here`s what Ros Bates, the Senior Examiner at the BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification) had to say to Ed on why head butting in LOTR is OK, but not in Clones:
With respect, the head butt in "The Lord of the Rings" is different from the one in "Star Wars..Clones." The former work does not invite imitation by young children -they don`t play hobbits in the playground. On the other hand, they do play Star Wars games in the playground, and that`s why we took the precaution of removing the head butt at the distributor`s request - the distributor was free to allow the head butt to remain for a 12, but chose not to. "Clones" featured recognisable humans in the head butt scene - "LR" deals in mythical creatures in Middle Earth.
The head butt will not be present in the DVD as we do not allow cut material to reappear in the DVD package, on the grounds that this would constitute "forbidden fruit" for children. We always consider the context of any head butt - which explains why these two examples were treated differently each work is treated on its merits.

from: http://www.theforce.net/episode2/index.html#17720
I`ll be going for the uncut french or german R2

RE: Simpsons S2 Cuts?

OK 2 things first the BBFC cuts on Simpsons and deliha(sp?).
1)I mailed the BBFC to get more details and they assured me that only the commentary was cut. The episode is intact. only 15 sec of commentary were removed and substituted by normal soudtrack.
2)I read on some german forums about people complaining that the second fall of Homer in Bart the daredevil was cut.
If this is true then all versions(at least R2+R4 if not even R1) are cut/altered. But there was one guy who compared the DVD episode to the ones he recorded uncut from TV and he claimed that the episode was altered.
Now of course this is nothing official but: as the original episode of bart the d. was passed uncut certif.PG in 2001 why would they(FOX) precut it for the DVDrelease as it would only get a higher cert. because of the commentary and not the video itself as that one was not altered??

RE: SUBTITLES

I don`t have a hearing problem(yet) but it really sucks having no subs on DVDs. I don`t understand why EIV didn`t put any on ALI or Traffic. IS it actually legal not putting them on as it is a sort of discrimination???
My parents and sister are not that good in english( we are from Luxembourg) and they see DVDs as a way of learning it. So they like to watch the films in english with english subs and when they don`t understand something they can read it.
That is of course not possible with ALI and Traffic.
I would also like to see subs on director`s commentaries. Sometimes you have loads of people talking and it`s difficult to find out whos saying what. I think it`s also nice to watch the movie with the original track but reading the director` commentary.
Subs on all extras: I don`t personnaly need them but others do and as DVD has the possibilty to have`em its just plain stupid and discriminating to not put them on discs. You should send a letter/email of complaint to EIV or phone them. Or maybe watchdog or other consumer orientated programmes are interested in it.
HTH
EDIT: just changing regions is not a solution studios force(at least try to)us to buy R2 and then they should also provide the propper discs. This is not aout some extras but allowing a lot of people to enjoy films, why shouldn`t they??
Some studios like Pathé even put those audio descriptive tracks on DVDs that`s how its supposed to be. And they can`t tell us that a Subtitle or a stream of 192Kbs or less take up too much space.

This item was edited on Thursday, 25th July 2002, 22:43

RE: Do you prefer....

I can only play R2 so that problem`s solved. as for the covers the original artwork is best. But I started doing my own covers as some are crap and I also like to put my Warner discs in Amarays.
As for the certificate, well sometimes it is annyoing but sometimes it`s just part of the packaging. To be honest I don`t like the US covers as they always have the huge barcode on the top, the one for R2 discs are nicely at the bottom(right I think).
Then again get yourself a good image editing programme and make your own. that`s the best I think.

RE: What was the first Dvd you ever bought?

After arriving in England for my Uni studies I just couldn`t resist the DVD temptation anymore. So I bough Fight Club, then 2 days later Gladiator and 2 weeks later my first player(Tosh 100) which I still have and it still plays fine.

RE: Amelie Dubbed Why?

Always the original language whatever that is (english, french, spanish, chinese...) As I couldn`t, until the wonderful time of DVDs, watch movies in the original language I am totally disgusted by anything dubbed.
In Luxembourg u don`t get many movies on TV in the original language most of`em are dubbed to german or french.
Dubbed soundtracks totally f***up the film. Ever heard bruce willis in german or french?? I did and I can tell u that you don`t wanna hear a dubbed version of amelie!!!

RE: Terminator DVD rot problem and address where to return disc

Has any1 tried it yet?? There are reports on other sites that the post office doesn`t accept them.
Does anyone know if the system of returns works outside the UK even though the discs are UK discs? I bought mine at Uni in england so I may have to wait until the nest year starts to get returns.
Cheers

RE: Pearl Harbor - Director`s Cut

here are 2 more:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews2/pearlharborvistaseries.html
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_5/pearlharbor_vs.html
HTH

RE: What DVD distributors guarantee quality in picture and sound?

I think Columbia Tristar are good too, maybe the best.
FOX
MGM (exceptThelma and Louise and lets forget the T1 and SOTL rotting)
EIV(not the packaging but most high profile releases like ALI)
Universal too can make nice transfers (maybe because Columbia helped them out until now)

Awful are the discs from: TARTAN lots of grain s*** sound (the terrorist) and everything else in stereo only.
I will update my list later on can`t think of anything else.

RE: HELP PLEASE!! Can some kind soul `in-the-know` tell me how to split audio tracks from a DVD

AFAIK that`s not possible. The audio and video on a DVD are different streams( that`s why u can listen to the audio commentary while wtching the same film). As for music, I take it u are talking about CDs. The lyric and music are on the same stream, so no possible separation. I guess it kinda works if u have a hi-fi or other player that has a Karaoke function and u could record the music withut the lyric. But to be honest none of my players has that function so I dunno if it works.
HTH

RE: HELP PLEASE!! Can some kind soul `in-the-know` tell me how to split audio tracks from a DVD

I use DVDX where you can just encode the audio with no video and get an AVI file out.
As for compatibility with MAC, can`t help you there as I never have to worry about it. Sorry mate.
You might wanna check some sites where you can download those progs and see what they say.
HTH

RE: Lord Of The Rings DVD--Extended Version

To be honest I prefer to get my arse up in the middle of the film (as I have to do with Lawrence of Arabia) than to sit through a film where you can constantly see compression faults and pixelations because the distributor chose to cram 3 1/2hours plus DD5.1EX and DTS6.1 on one disc(oh and don`t forget the 4 commentaries which take up even more space). And a lot of people (including myself) are not prepared to sacrifice DTS and extras for the comfort of not having to get up after2 hours.

RE: We Were Soldiers R1 or 2

The 6 min difference are due to PAL speedup. PAL runs @ 4% faster than NTSC. 138min (R1) - 4% = 132min(R2)
I have to take R2 as my player doesn`t do R1 but I might wait for the dutch disc which is rumoured to have DTS and should be out in november(if u can wait that long)
HTH

RE: .... has caused an error in kernel32.dll Internet explorer will now close.....

The only thing that comes to my mind is: go to the windows update site(a shortcut should be in your startmenu) download every product update available. And try installing Internet explorer 6. And after you installed Internet explorer 6 try again if there are any updates available.After that there shouldn`t be any problem left.
What you can also try is: when Internet explorer gives you the warning, don`t close it leave it open , go to start menu and run. then type "drwatson" and press enter. then a small icon should appear on the taskbar on the bottom right of your screen. double click on it and drwatson(which is a diagnostic programm inside windows) tells you what is wrong,..well at least it should.
The reason you might have the problem is due to the fact that *.DLL files are used by a lot of prgrammes at the same time and there can be incompatibility. That all I know about it.
HTH
Ps one last thing: defrag doesn`t fix programme problems. As far as I know it only moves files and parts of prgrammes around on the disc so that windowes an the programmes can run faster and don`t need to look for files over the whole disc. You might be better off running scan disc in "thorough" mode.

This item was edited on Friday, 31st May 2002, 09:05

New Cinema Club Titles: how can they sell them so cheap

Hi there,
I just read the announcement that the Cinema Club will release a number of titles at a reduced price of £9.99. One of the is The Limey. Now what surprises me is that the Cinema Club release is identical to the VCI/FilmFour release that you can buy for £19.99. How can Cinema Club sell theirs so cheap without p***ing FilmFour off, as you won`t pay 19.99 if you can get the same for 9.99, which means FilmFour will lose quite a bit of money.
Anyone know anything about how this agreement works???
Cheers

RE: How can i download movie trailers that i have streamed?!

philbw, are u sure that your way to save Quicktime files works??
I tried it but there seems to be no files in the Temporary Internet Files that corresponds to the trailer.I used to be able to save the trailers the way u describe it but that was before QT started with streaming trailers on their site. On the other hand I downloaded the file to play it so even though it`s streaming it has to be somewhere on my HD.
But I found anotherway to watch Quicktime trailers: Go to this site: http://express.dvdspecial.ru/trailer/
Don`t worry even though it is a russian site they also have english names of the films so it`s no problem finding them. It`s regularly updated and you can just rightclick the trailers u want and save them.
HTH

RE: The Rock..........uncut?

It is UNCUT as you can see on the BBFC website:
"THE ROCK VideoFeature
Classified 08 May, 2002 . Run Time 130m 49s
All previous cuts waived. Widescreen"
here`s the link: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/ClassifiedWorks/AB46CC78AA9C40FD80256BB5002ABC83?OpenDocument

RE: Is FOTR cut on DVD/Video ?

It is not cut as the BBFC site states. The difference in running time is due to the fact that PAL (our system) runs 4% faster than the film in the cinema or NTSC(R1 format). I have to admit though that the difference should be more like 8 min not 10 but the BBFC hasn`t cut it. Maybe Peter jackson created a new version with changed credits. I don`t believe he changed the film.
HTH

RE: ALI - Is it RCE?

check these site for reliable RCE info:
1)http://www.dvdtalk.com/rce.html
2)http://www.pnc.com.au/~jmcmanus/rce.htm
although their lists don`t show Ali as being RCE.
Why don`t you just wait for the R2 with DTS??
HTH

RE: Armageddon - which version..

you should have posted this in the Software forum where you might get more answers. Basically there are 2 different versions the DC and the normal cut. Germany and France have the normal cut therefore no director`s commentary =avoid. The UK disc is the DC. I got it and I`m totally satisfied with it and you can probably pick it up for only a few quid. There is also the Japanese R2 which has DTS as well, but AFAIK the japanese discs are expensive and I`m not sure if that`s the DC or normal cut.
Basically to cut a long story short(hell why did I even write the first bit) R1,R2 and probably R4 are all the DC R1 has a few more extras than R2 and R4 (which might be the same discs). oh just found this:(http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video/armageddoncriterion.htm) CAUTION!!!!!!!!! the R1 is NON-ANAMORPHIC!!!!!!!!!!!
So go for either R2(UK) or R4
cheers for eading the whole post. you might as well ignore everything except the last line.
HTH

RE: Legal question?

mathew2001, I dunno anything about law and stuff so I cannot help you a lot. I just wanted to make a comment about Ebay. They don`t seem to be as strict as they want to be seen.While reading on a german forum I found a threat about a bloke(everyone was complaining about him) who sold pirate DVDs and VDCs (actually they were VCDs but he advertised them as DVDs) and he`s been doing it for quite some time without ebay giving a sh*t about it. Mind you this is valid for the german branch of ebay, maybe the UK branch is more competent/strict, which wouldn`t be the best cas scenario for you if you try to sell your VDs and ripped games.
Oh, did you actually pay for the games or just ripp`em from am mate, If you didn`t pay then you might throw them away that certainly won`t get you in any trouble.
HTH(probably not, nevermind)

RE: MTV Censorship....

MTV (especially MTVUK) are known for cutting/censoring music videos. I thought that Marylin Manson`s The Fight Song was really funny after MTV got their scissors out as you can see him singing/ie moving his mouth and you get ready to scream SH*T and then.... you have well nothing except for background music.
What you can do though is buy the CD/download the song from the internet and play it while watching the clip, or to make it easier just switch to a good music channel

RE: Royal Tenenbaums : How many versions?

I really liked the movie it`s funny and and the performances of the actors are first class. I haven`t seen any of Anderson`s other movies, so I cannot compare them. But I believe that you can buy it unseen, especially for
£12.99.
HTH

RE: Harry Potter Disc 2 Problems??

It seems that the same problem has happened in Germany, probably because disc2 is made for the whole of europe. Warner Germany have installed a helpline where people can get their discs exchanged and also get details about how to get to the eastereggs. What does that have to do with the UK? Well if the german branch of Warner reacted the UK branch won`t take long to come up with a solution. Just keep phiooning them up or something.
HTH