Amazon UK vs Amazon US

[drjdm319]

Please help!
There have been a lot of positive posts about Amazon UK site and, true enough, DVDs there are cheaper than the US versions.
However, almost all of the Amazon UK DVDs have run times shorter than the Amazon US versions.  Example is Gladiator 3-Disc Extended Version, the Amazon UK states run time at 164 minutes and the Amazon US has it pegged at 171 minutes.  What gives? Are these the same versions? Do Americans and British have different methods of calculating run time? I am interested to buy this from Amazon UK because they sell the set at 6.96 pounds while Amazon US has it at $30.00 (more than twice the UK price).
By the way, other examples of shorter run times in the Amazon UK site are Amelie and Cinema Paradiso.
PLease enlighten, thanks.

[baby]

That is because Uk R2 release DVD's are PAL while US R1 release are NTSC.  Do search pinoy dvd for topics regarding PAL and NTSC.  You can find all the answers here at pinoydvd.

[JohnMcClane]

i have been browsing amazon uk since last night. i am really tempted to order but i still am waiting for my credit card bill. are the prices there permanent or will the 60-70% off be removed?

[audiojunkie]

R1 Dvds being first generation from master copy and has better sound resolution, that's it's longer  than R2. 

[techdude]

As baby stated, it's the difference between PAL and NTSC.  PAL runs around 4% faster.   

Be sure your player's multi-region before buying... 

and note that all Amazon UK orders is routed through the Post Office.

[drjdm319]

thanks for all the information!

[Mr. Hankey]

are the prices there permanent or will the 60-70% off be removed?

From my experience (I order from Amazon UK on average twice a month for the past few years), although the prices revert back to just 20-30% off after a few weeks, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY PURCHASE THEM AT THAT HIGHER PRICE. The prices usually return to 60-70% off sale prices again a few weeks later.

When they have a CLEARANCE SALE, however, purchase DVDs IMMEDIATELY. Do not hesitate when you see prices over 80% off. Those are usually limited stocks, and sometimes, within 24 hours, the overstock has been sold and the price is back to 60% or even just 30% off. I got almost a dozen good DVDs for 2-3 pounds each one time, and saw their prices go back to 12-14 pounds just a few days later.

As explained in the PAL/NTSC threads referred to above, the shorter run times are due to the fps rate. They aren't due to cuts. It's just that the PAL versions of movies plays slightly faster than their NTSC counterparts. You may think that's bad, but I hardly ever even notice it.

I will state, however, that older Amazon UK DVDs did have cuts that removed some violent content from action/horror films. More recent releases, however, no longer have this problem.

[JohnMcClane]

thanks for the tip mr.hankey!