Dexter DVDs, official and bootlegs
Posted by: JamieL_v2 on 04 February 2010
My partner just bought season 4 of Dexter on DVD, about £18 on the web (I am not sure which site, but it is on a lot).
Just to warn anyone that it has not been officially released yet, and the copies for sale are illegal bootlegs taken from the US TV broadcast. I have seen two episodes so far, one has a Showtime HD logo in the bottom right corner.
It is very well done, and to be honest I do not have any complaints about the quality. No extras, and the end credits are cut, but the episodes play fine with only a couple of digital glitches noticed so far.
I am not condoning the selling of illegal copies, but the way this series has been released by Showtime (its makers) has been dreadful, especially for those living in the UK. Like many US series the initial US broadcast is the important thing to the makers/broadcasters, it gets the viewing figures needed to justify the making, and generating of subscription or advertising revenue. With many series, once the complete series has been broadcast in the US, it is then sold to foreign TV companies, and often at this point released on DVD (BluRay. etc) internationally.
For Dexter UK viewers have to wait for FX to broadcast it on subscription satellite, and then once the series is completed, then ITV broadcast it. As far as I know what these companies pay for their right to broadcast a show will drop if the DVD has been released, which is understandable. However because of this, and the current nature of international sales on the web, it is getting to the point that when ITV have broadcast the series it is often over a year after the US broadcast, and months after the DVD has been released in various parts of the world.
The effect of this is that an official UK DVD release of this series has been delayed until it is not worthwhile selling it on DVD as copies have either been bought on the web, or recording have been downloaded illegally through bit torrent/rapidshare, etc. In effect by not having a sensible strategy to marketing the product they are encouraging illegal activities, but creating a demand and not fulfilling it.
I would also add that I bought the second series on US, Region1, NTSC DVD, and frankly that quality of that is no better then a bootleg. Every time you take a break of a couple of hours between watching episodes on the DVD, it makes you watch all that copyright threats again. The extras for the series are not in the Dexter set, but on some other series boxset, and instead there are several episodes of series I do not want to watch on the last disc. I do not think this would be allowed in the UK, or would get such protest that they would not try it again.
So to conclude, I have the following Dexter series on DVD:
Series 1 - legal UK, Region 2, PAL release, with some extras but not much - excellent.
Series 2 - legal US, Region 1, NTSC release, no extras, a pain to play, avoid this.
Series 3 - Legal Australian, Region 2, PAL release, a few extras, and the wonderfully gross blood bag packaging.
Series 4 - Illegal NTSC copy, still better then the legal US copy to play, but the only one available. Frankly, buy this if you want to watch the series, and get a legal copy if you want the extras and credits, if they can ever be bothered to release it. Also get a non US copy if they do.
The bottom line is, do Showtime get more money from the various international broadcasters than they lose with illegal copies and downloads? Also do they care if the programme's international viewers get substandard viewing options?
Despite all that, I must congratulate Showtime for commissioning such a wonderful, and unpredictable series. Also one of the finest casts around on TV.
Just to warn anyone that it has not been officially released yet, and the copies for sale are illegal bootlegs taken from the US TV broadcast. I have seen two episodes so far, one has a Showtime HD logo in the bottom right corner.
It is very well done, and to be honest I do not have any complaints about the quality. No extras, and the end credits are cut, but the episodes play fine with only a couple of digital glitches noticed so far.
I am not condoning the selling of illegal copies, but the way this series has been released by Showtime (its makers) has been dreadful, especially for those living in the UK. Like many US series the initial US broadcast is the important thing to the makers/broadcasters, it gets the viewing figures needed to justify the making, and generating of subscription or advertising revenue. With many series, once the complete series has been broadcast in the US, it is then sold to foreign TV companies, and often at this point released on DVD (BluRay. etc) internationally.
For Dexter UK viewers have to wait for FX to broadcast it on subscription satellite, and then once the series is completed, then ITV broadcast it. As far as I know what these companies pay for their right to broadcast a show will drop if the DVD has been released, which is understandable. However because of this, and the current nature of international sales on the web, it is getting to the point that when ITV have broadcast the series it is often over a year after the US broadcast, and months after the DVD has been released in various parts of the world.
The effect of this is that an official UK DVD release of this series has been delayed until it is not worthwhile selling it on DVD as copies have either been bought on the web, or recording have been downloaded illegally through bit torrent/rapidshare, etc. In effect by not having a sensible strategy to marketing the product they are encouraging illegal activities, but creating a demand and not fulfilling it.
I would also add that I bought the second series on US, Region1, NTSC DVD, and frankly that quality of that is no better then a bootleg. Every time you take a break of a couple of hours between watching episodes on the DVD, it makes you watch all that copyright threats again. The extras for the series are not in the Dexter set, but on some other series boxset, and instead there are several episodes of series I do not want to watch on the last disc. I do not think this would be allowed in the UK, or would get such protest that they would not try it again.
So to conclude, I have the following Dexter series on DVD:
Series 1 - legal UK, Region 2, PAL release, with some extras but not much - excellent.
Series 2 - legal US, Region 1, NTSC release, no extras, a pain to play, avoid this.
Series 3 - Legal Australian, Region 2, PAL release, a few extras, and the wonderfully gross blood bag packaging.
Series 4 - Illegal NTSC copy, still better then the legal US copy to play, but the only one available. Frankly, buy this if you want to watch the series, and get a legal copy if you want the extras and credits, if they can ever be bothered to release it. Also get a non US copy if they do.
The bottom line is, do Showtime get more money from the various international broadcasters than they lose with illegal copies and downloads? Also do they care if the programme's international viewers get substandard viewing options?
Despite all that, I must congratulate Showtime for commissioning such a wonderful, and unpredictable series. Also one of the finest casts around on TV.