UKTV on DVD in the USA (and elsewhere)
UKTV on DVD in the USA (and elsewhere)
By now, you've probably heard of the digital versatile disc - the DVD. It's that little shiny thing that looks just like a CD but plays movies. It's the next big thing in home entertainment and the best part is it's already here and becoming more affordable everyday. DVD's outclass old-fashioned VHS videotapes in a number of areas, ranging from vastly improved picture and sound quality to the ability, at the studios discretion, to include a plethora of neat extras, including multiple audio tracks containing the soundtrack in other languages or commentaries from a film's cast and crew, seamless branching that allows you to view different versions, say a rated and unrated version, of a film on the same disc, plus loads of other goodies. Unfortunately though, there are already thousands of titles released on DVD, British telly is one of the slowest growing categories, both in North America (a.k.a. Region 1 per DVD encoding) and the UK (which falls into Region 2).
\ Regional encoding in a nutshell: DVD players sold in North America will only play DVDs encoded for Region One, UK-sold players can only play discs encoded for Region 2. The studios use this feature to avoid having a film be available on DVD in a country before it's theatrical release there since many films premier months apart on each side of the Atlantic.\
Why isn't there a broader selection of classic telly on DVD? I don't know, probably for the same mysterious reason it took so long for there to be a decent selection on VHS, whatever that reason might have been. However, there are enough terrific DVDs out there already to make it well worth your while to seriously consider jumping on the DVD bandwagon.
Here are some of the best in Region 1:
Monty Python's Flying Circus: A&E home video has done an incredible job of preserving and packaging this all time classic comedy series. Each two disc set contains not only the original uncut episodes, looking the best they have ever looked, but copious extras including galleries of Terry Gilliam's mad animations, trivia quizzes and tons of extra sketches and excerpts from the lads work. Box set #6 has just been released and so far there are nearly 40 episodes available on disc.
Wallace and Grommit: Nic Park's wildly popular short films featuring Wallace, the inventor, and his pooch, Grommit, are available in this marvelous disc which also contains a number of Park's test shots. Perfect for the entire family.
The Avengers: John Steed, Cathy Gale and Emma Peel are
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