Why rubbish R2 DVD sets compared to R3 ?

might be interesting to hear what you guys think, but I am sick of the constant poor quality sets available in this country. For example - I just received the R3 Phantom of the Opera which is in an impressive magnetic disk set (with brochure). It cost the equivalent of £13 from overseas, and I was in the supermarket today and saw the R2 equivalant. The usual bog standard cack. I mean, this isn't even an asian film it is American / British !!!
I could go on with other Western films - example (Dances with Wolves etc).
Is it the Asian market demands higher quality, and the studios/distributors think we dont ? Look at their Infernal Affairs set , their House of Flying Daggers and Oldboy sets. Why cant we get these for Western films ??
Personally I buy from abroad anyway now (probably like most on these forums) partly because I want a nice set and not the usual snapper case we get thrown at us here all the time, and also because they are cheaper and I dont want to pay any more VAT etc to this country than I have to.

[Marc]

the asian market is flooded with pirate dvds. these limited/special editions are impossible to pirate, hence you see them more and more often.

[Gorshin]

I find it laughable that people wait for the r2 instead of r1/3 etc. Dvds from other regions are typically better packaged, cheaper, better features, unrated, better audio/visual, available quicker etc etc etc etc. I never buy R2, except on vary rare occasions, ie, 'The Battle Of Britain' 2 Disc SE.

[Indiana Jones]

Same here, I very rarely buy R2 anymore unless the extras are the same or superior to the R1/R3 (ie Apollo 13) or cheaper.

[pjclark1]

Me too, UK R2 westerns are all cut to ribbons
R1 for cheapness, R2 german for uncensored

Unfortunately if region 2 started delivering the same type of packaging that you get from a limited and special editions from Asia the price would also go up dramatically.

Originally Posted by lurker75

Unfortunately if region 2 started delivering the same type of packaging that you get from a limited and special editions from Asia the price would also go up dramatically.

why ? I mean lets take Phantom. It cost me £13 delivered. In the High Street it is £16 or thereabouts. now, these sums dont work for me. Granted, when you are buying something like Oldboy 'copper case' you expect to pay more. seems to me we are all being taken for a long ride.
I bought the Zatouchi R2 tin LE and it cost me £23 here, thats outrageous, seeing I bought the House of Flying Daggers LE box set for the same price from Korea.

[ince]

edinburgh160 can you tell me where you buy these r3 sets. i have only bought r2 uk dvds up to now but i am very interested in getting the r3 you mention with the nice packaging.

Originally Posted by ince

edinburgh160 can you tell me where you buy these r3 sets. i have only bought r2 uk dvds up to now but i am very interested in getting the r3 you mention with the nice packaging.

no probs. I get the majority from a site called www.dvdfromkorea.com which are customs friendly (on check-out). they always have the limited editions and custom sets released. delivery (cheapest option I go for) takes on average 5-8 working days and they are always very well packaged. beware though that when you pre-order a movie then they deduct from your account straight away. Best to keep an eye on release dates and order maybe 7 days before. I would give them the highest possible recommendation. very good communications, and they bend over backwards to help you.
I have also used www.yesasia.com and www.cdwow.com who are also both very good, but dont tend to get the tasty releases and can be a bit more expensive.
I received the Seven Samurai LE set from korea on saturday and it was posted by them 5 days before.
Also, if you like Infernal Affairs I would highly recommend ther set. Its fabulous, also Kung Fu Hustle set is really impressive .
cheers

[lovemunkey187]

Originally Posted by ince

edinburgh160 can you tell me where you buy these r3 sets. i have only bought r2 uk dvds up to now but i am very interested in getting the r3 you mention with the nice packaging.

AVForums Recommended e-tailers. I've used Koreandvds and Yesasia and would recomend them both. Another worth looking at is Aznfilms I've not used them but the site is nicely put together and easy to use, also I've emailed them with a couple of questions in the past and they've been very quick to get back to me.

[Tejstar]

Don't forget cd-wow; they often have some very good prices!

Originally Posted by edinburgh160

why ? I mean lets take Phantom. It cost me £13 delivered. In the High Street it is £16 or thereabouts. now, these sums dont work for me. Granted, when you are buying something like Oldboy 'copper case' you expect to pay more. seems to me we are all being taken for a long ride.
I bought the Zatouchi R2 tin LE and it cost me £23 here, thats outrageous, seeing I bought the House of Flying Daggers LE box set for the same price from Korea.

Why? Because they can, because we live in rip-off Britain and because if they provided the same high quality products that you get out of Korea and other Asian countries at the same price then they would have to put down the price of regular two-disc editions. There is no way they're going to do that since people pay extortionate rates on the high street for regular additions. why would they go to the extra expense to give us the same high quality products when they don't need to? It's a sad fact but we're always going to get ripped off here in the UK and the only way your going to get the quality release you want is by continually importing from Asian countries.