Differences between Code1 and Code2 Blackadder Allo Allo
 

Hi

I've been eyeing the 2 BBC Boxset: Blackadder and Allo Allo for some time but not sure which one will be a better set. Price wise (based on Amazon UK and US), the Code2 ones are way cheaper than Code1 but Code2 ones are also shorter in total length than Code1.

Allo Allo (Code2)
'Allo 'Allo! - The Complete Series [DVD]
16 discs, 2034 minutes - 60 pounds

Allo Allo (Code1)
'Allo 'Allo! The Complete Collection (2008)
19 discs, 2400 minutes. - US$175

Code1 version is longer than Code2 by a hefty 300+ mins!

Blackadder (Code2)
Blackadder - The Complete Collection [DVD]
6 discs, no mention of total length - 18 pounds

Blackadder Remastered - The Ultimate Edition [DVD]
6 discs, 712 minutes - 31 pounds


Blackadder (Code1)
Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition
6 discs, 895 minutes - US$48

Black Adder - The Complete Collector's Set
5 discs, 860 minutes - US$81

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Re: Differences between Code1 and Code2 Blackadder Allo Allo
 

Different people will have different advice, but here's mine:


Advice #1: Use "R1" and "R2," etc. nomenclature.

Advice #2: In general, buy the UK releases of UK shows. Many of the R1 releases of UK shows are time-extended by 4%, due to the differences in the ways that shows are filmed for PAL broadcast in the UK compared to NTSC broadcast in the US (the 4% slowdown effect that occurs during a PAL-to-NTSC conversion is called "NTSC-slowdown." Simiilarly, US shows on R2 PAL DVDs suffer from PAL-speedup. Also, UK stuff filmed for TV there that is then released on Blu-ray can also have the NTSC-slowdown effect (even on the UK Blu-ray--for example, this happened to Planet Earth). Not all shows suffer from this. Horatio Hornblower was converted from PAL to NTSC, but they did it carefully, and the episodes play at their proper speed on both the R1 NTSC and R2 PAL DVDs. The slowdown effect rarely occurs with movies, but if the movie was filmed with modern handheld cameras, consider the fact that those cameras may be designed to record in PAL format for broadcast in the UK. One example of this is the movie "28 Days Later," which plays at proper speed on the PAL DVD, but it 4% too long on the NTSC DVD and all Blu-rays (including Region B in the UK).

Advice #3: Never trust the running times listed at Amazon. And especially never trust them when you are dealing with something like UK shows on Amazon US or US shows on Amazon UK. Sometimes they simply copy and paste the technical info from one site to the other. Sometimes the discs themselves are labeled incorrectly. Sometimes they just multiply the number of episodes by the air-time (hour-long show, 22 episodes, 22 hours) without taking into account commercials. And sometimes there's a number there that seems to be connected to nothing. IMDB is no good, either. If anything, trust DVDCompare, but then also search the web for reviews.