I finally saw Song of the South

[mjaclyn]

My parents are going to Paris in a couple of weeks and I'd love for them to get me a copy of Song of the South while they're there. Does anyone know if the movie is still for sale in Europe and where I can tell them to go to get one? I realize it will be in PAL but I'll just have it converted to DVD. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[NotaGeek]

It was available for a while in Paris on DVD ... you should be able to find some info if you Google it. Hopefully your parents can help you out on your search!

Good luck! :thumbsup:

[wdw_bound]

Converting it is technically a violation of copyright law - even if you are converting it for your own use. Most professional shops that do conversions won't touch anything with a copyright without written permission from the owner of the copyright. And conversion can be expensive in general. So before you ask your parents to bring it back, set a limit of what you are willing to pay for the dvd and the conversion, and still be ok with owning something you couldn't watch if you can't get it converted.

[NotaGeek]

Converting it is technically a violation of copyright law - even if you are converting it for your own use. Most professional shops that do conversions won't touch anything with a copyright without written permission from the owner of the copyright. And conversion can be expensive in general. So before you ask your parents to bring it back, set a limit of what you are willing to pay for the dvd and the conversion, and still be ok with owning something you couldn't watch if you can't get it converted.
That isn't actually true. You can convert your owned media for personal use. I have done it several times and never had a problem.

There are several DVD players available now that use both formats ... converting VHS to DVD is expensive, I paid $20 to convert VHS to VHS last time I did it ... which is funny considering you can buy a VHS player now for $20.

The best bet is call the local shop you are hoping to use and ask them for details.

[wdw_bound]

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but copyright law does come into play here. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed in 1998 and covers this situation.

Policy from a video conversion shop in WA (video occasions) (google copyright law NTSC conversion). Interestingly, this company actually uses SotS as their example:

" * What we can't convert: Copyright and Copy Protected Materials

o The good news is: you've found the commercial DVD or tape you've been looking for -- Disney's Song of the South, for example.

o The bad news is twofold:

+ It's copyright protected, which makes it against the law for us to make a copy;

To safeguard their copyright protected property, artists embed an electronic signal in the DVD or tape that prevents a copy from being made. Conversions are treated as "copying" by copy protected DVDs and tapes. Typically the picture will "roll over" every few seconds, colors will change rapidly and, in extreme cases, both the video and audio will become completely unstable and unusable.

So we can't make a conversion of commercially produced DVDs and tapes for you even if we were willing to break the law, which we aren't! " (quoted from website of Video Occasions NW website)

[NotaGeek]

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but copyright law does come into play here. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed in 1998 and covers this situation.

Policy from a video conversion shop in WA (video occasions) (google copyright law NTSC conversion). Interestingly, this company actually uses SotS as their example:

* What we can't convert: Copyright and Copy Protected Materials

o The good news is: you've found the commercial DVD or tape you've been looking for -- Disney's Song of the South, for example.

o The bad news is twofold:

+ It's copyright protected, which makes it against the law for us to make a copy;

To safeguard their copyright protected property, artists embed an electronic signal in the DVD or tape that prevents a copy from being made. Conversions are treated as "copying" by copy protected DVDs and tapes. Typically the picture will "roll over" every few seconds, colors will change rapidly and, in extreme cases, both the video and audio will become completely unstable and unusable.

So we can't make a conversion of commercially produced DVDs and tapes for you even if we were willing to break the law, which we aren't!

Some DVD players will play both NTSC and PAL/SECAM discs. Try yours and see. Otherwise, you'll have to look for an NTSC formated copy of the commercial material.
Like I said, I have done it several times. The law is the law ... check with your local company and see if what they are willing to do.

[JPL]

Technically you are allowed to make backup copies of any copyrighted media you own for personal use. As long as you do not sell the copies and keep the original with your backup. For example you are allowed to back up a CD that you purchased to your computer or transfer it to your iPod but if you sell the original CD you have now violated copyright laws. Most place will transfer PAL VHS to NTSC VHS this has been going on for years & now most likely to DVD since you have the original tape. DVD to DVD is less likely since most DVD players now can handle any region code.

[DizneyRox]

There are just so many IFs in this question however.

The DMCA is the biggest problem here in the US. While "fair use" is often cited as allowing you to make backup copies of your items, the DMCA DOES NOT make any exceptions. Because of the DMCA you are not allowed to bypass or disable any copy protection that's put on a disc, media or whatever.

If you attempt to take this on, on your own, you are going to run into region coding on the DVD and then the whole PAL to NTSC conversion. Region coding is the easy one, many DVD players (usually the cheaper ones) allow you to play any region DVDs. Some will actually read and output the PAL format, which is 720x576 at 25 frames per second. Many TVs today will also display this fine, and it's probably your safest and easiest way to get this movie to play here in the USA.

If you attempt to convert it, you're going to run into issues with the run time. NTSC is either 30 frames per second or 24. You can either "stretch" the video to 30 frames per second or shrink it to 24 fps. While that's fairly easy, you now have to deal with the audio. Do you stretch it, or shrink it? The movie will either run longer or shorter than the PAL version and you will probably have some sort of pitch shift in the audio as well.

They are "all in one" conversion programs that will do this for you, but in my experience they are troublesome. But it's your only choice if you can't get it done professionally. The pros have the same trouble with these conversion as well, so the run time of the movie WILL be off. Maybe not by much, and maybe you won't notice it, maybe you will...

The best way is to get equipment that can handle all regions and PAL AND NTSC disks. Like I said, they are often the free after rebate DVD players.

Be careful with a different region disk in your computer. May computers allow you to change the region on your DVD drive something like 5 times. There are also programs that defeat that check as well, which I highly recommend.

There are also a few websites that sell SotS on DVD already and the transfer is great. Much easier than going through the trouble of searching Paris for something that might not even exist anymore.

[Chic-a-pin]

Yep! It was really cool to to finally see it! Hearing those songs really brought me to Splash Mountain!!! So cool!

[NotaGeek]

It's nice you got to see the movie.

This topic ALWAYS ends up going down a bad road, but in case anyone has questions we are going to let discussion go ahead.

MODERATOR ALERT

Song of the South is one of the more controversial topics in Movies ... please keep discussion related to the movie only. Discussion about the ins/outs of Disney releasing this movie and the alleged reasons behind it will not be allowed. If you would like to see the last discussion about that topic please go HERE (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=94596&highlight=song+of+the+south).

Remember, be considerate and keep this discussion INTERCOT friendly.

[Chic-a-pin]

I figured as much, I wasn't trying to stir anything up, thats why I kept it short and sweet :mickey:

[thrillme]

I think there are DVD players out there that aren't region specific anymore.

If they are fortnate to run into it...I wouldn't be surprised if they find it in the correct format as well.

I saw it when I was a little kid...it's a really cute movie.

[NotaGeek]

I think there are DVD players out there that aren't region specific anymore.

If they are fortnate to run into it...I wouldn't be surprised if they find it in the correct format as well.

I saw it when I was a little kid...it's a really cute movie.
You are correct, there are lots of DVD players that are can play multiple regions.

[Mousemates]

We had an inlaw who bought us a copy in Japan a few years back...brought back a whole lot of fond memories form my youth...because if I'm not mistaken song of the south might have been the first movie I saw in a theatre (way back in the day when Disney would re-release a movie for showing about every seven or so years). I saw it one of those grand old theatres with the big ornately decorated auditorium...the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, TN.

[mjaclyn]

So my parents couldn't find it in Paris... :-( I guess I'll have to try to find a copy on eBay or something.