Can Anyone Explain Region 2 Anime DVD Pricing?

[dokool]

Now, I'm not asking for an explenation as to what regions are or what R2s usually consist of (progressive video that's a direct copy from the cels, AFAIK), but considering the massive differences between prices when you compare R1 and R2, I'm surprised that Japan doesn't import <i>our</i> DVDs.

I mean, for maybe $25 on Deep Discount DVD, I can get the first volume of RahXephon, which is 5 episodes, the box, AND a tee-shirt. That also includes the costs that went into the English dub and English subtitles.

For about $100, I'll get those same 5 episodes from CDJapan. No dub, no subtitles.

Is the video quality that they get just from going progressive worth that $75 difference? I'm sure there's some logic to it, but it sure isn't apparent to me...

-DOKool

[Zarxrax]

R2s aren't progressive. The video is basically exactly the same as what you see on the R1 discs. They charge so much in japan, because I guess... the fans will pay it

[koronoru]

The Japanese are crazy.

You are an anime fan, and you still need to be told that?

[BogoSort]

The reason why we have the region encoding mechanisms in place is to stop people from doing these so called "reverse imports." This way they can charge a lot more in certain markets for the same products.

[Harlock7876]

Now, I'm not asking for an explenation as to what regions are or what R2s usually consist of (progressive video that's a direct copy from the cels, AFAIK), but considering the massive differences between prices when you compare R1 and R2, I'm surprised that Japan doesn't import <i>our</i> DVDs.

I mean, for maybe $25 on Deep Discount DVD, I can get the first volume of RahXephon, which is 5 episodes, the box, AND a tee-shirt. That also includes the costs that went into the English dub and English subtitles.

For about $100, I'll get those same 5 episodes from CDJapan. No dub, no subtitles.

Is the video quality that they get just from going progressive worth that $75 difference? I'm sure there's some logic to it, but it sure isn't apparent to me...

-DOKool

Think about this. Look at the price of a CD of a band you like. Now look at the price of a japanese import from the same band. $35 for an import vs. $15 local. The Japanese would probably be paying a hefty price to buy an American DVD if they wanted to.
Also, do you have a High Definition television? It won't make any difference in video quality if you don't own an HDTV. Regular TVs are interlaced while HDTVs do progressive therefore making use of your DVD player's progressive scanning.

[Vlad86]

Also, don't the Japanese have a higher income? Thus, more cash to spend on stuff.
I'm pretty sure that's it. As with waht was said before, region encoding exists to allow companies to charge the maximum price that that market will tolerate.
But, I would think it interesting if Japanese people imported region 1s.

Case in point:
R2 release of Outlaw Star was on two 13 ep box sets (for the 26 ep series) at a cost of roughly $240 each, totaling about $480.
R1 release by BanDai cost about $80 for all 26eps.
Even if the individual had to buy a R1 player and pay shiping, it'd still be cheaper for the R1 release.
And about music cds. Most Japanese releases of U.S. bands tend to include a bonus song not on the American release, but I don't think one song is worth an extra $15, and audio cds have no regional coding whatsoever, so once again.....do the Japanese import?
Just an interesting thought.

Also, I wonder how most Japanese feel about bootlegs. Cheaper than R1s, region free, but highly illegal......

[Hitori]

And check out how many episodes are on each dvd in Japan!

Then they also have limited edition pressings(be the first one to get the dvd and pay more!), OVA DVDs(1 episode per dvd).. Stuff like that...

[Castor Troy]

I know the region 2 dvds of Yu Yu Hakusho are slightly better in quality than the region 1's but not by much. Plus the price is twice as much and it's burned on a DVD-9 with no extras.

The region 1's are burned on to DVD-5's with pretty good video quality and tons of extras.

The japanese probably fold money as paper airplanes.