Savatage - Still the Orchestra Plays 2CD + DVD

[heavyharmonies]

Just got this from NEH Records ($25.99 shipped though the 15th).

 

Forget the U.S. version. It's as useless as tits on a bull. The U.S. version omits the DVD, which is the real reason to buy this set. The DVD is Live in Japan 1994, 16 tracks, previously only released on VHS. This is the first time it's available on DVD. Ignore the Amazon listing specs, which states that it is PAL region 2. It is PAL, but it is NOT region encoded (the disc says "Region 0" right on it). I popped it into my computer's DVD drive and it played immediately.

 

The 2 CDs of hits are a good cross section of their best, but with at least one HUGE glaring omission. Mozart and Madness, quite possibly one of the greatest instrumentals EVER, deserves to be on this compilation. (Dead Winter Dead is horrendously underrated as a musical work)

 

 

[heaven&hell]

I can't believe "Strange Wings" was left off of this and I thought that the DVD came with both versions. I guess I'm glad I haven't bought this yet or might of bought the wrong one.

[Dave]

I have a DVD-R copy taken from the video of this and it is a great show

Absolutely love "Stare Into The Sun"

[Dark Star]

Not the best greatest hits track listing but I will still pick this up, if nothing else for the live DVD!!!

[Fat Freddy]

I will still pick this up, if nothing else for the live DVD!!!

 

The DVD is only available with the European version of the package.

 

At one time all the songs from the "Live in Japan" video were up on YouTube... some good stuff... but since the U.S. version has no DVD, this collection is basically a lot of old bread in a new wrapper. Love me some Savatage but I think I'll pass...

[heaven&hell]

I will still pick this up, if nothing else for the live DVD!!!

 

The DVD is only available with the Europen version of the package, which means it won't play on most U.S. DVD players...so unless you've got a region-free DVD player it's kinda pointless.

 

At one time all the songs from the "Live in Japan" video were up on YouTube... some good stuff... but since the U.S. version has no DVD, this collection is basically a lot of old bread in a new wrapper. Love me some Savatage but I think I'll pass...

 

Dan says above that it played fine in his player.

[bangerdave]

I'll pick this up just for the dvd as i don't need the greatest hits but it has to be at a good price.

[Fat Freddy]

I will still pick this up, if nothing else for the live DVD!!!

 

The DVD is only available with the Europen version of the package, which means it won't play on most U.S. DVD players...so unless you've got a region-free DVD player it's kinda pointless.

 

At one time all the songs from the "Live in Japan" video were up on YouTube... some good stuff... but since the U.S. version has no DVD, this collection is basically a lot of old bread in a new wrapper. Love me some Savatage but I think I'll pass...

 

Dan says above that it played fine in his player.

 

 

Yea, I edited my previous post when I re-read Dan's comments about the region coding.

 

Either way, even if the DVD will work in a U.S. DVD player, $25.99 is still a hella lot to pay for a DVD (at least for me).

[heavyharmonies]

I'll pick this up just for the dvd as i don't need the greatest hits but it has to be at a good price.

 

Not likely anytime soon. $25+ seems to be the going rate. Your best bet is to wait for used copies to appear on eBay, or the inevitable Russian/Asian unlicensed out-of-market copies to pop up.

[Captain Howdy]

Well if you order it direct from the UK Amazon site, it only works out at about $14

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Still-Orchestra-Plays-Greatest-Vol-1/dp/B0030Y10QQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271163675&sr=1-1

 

I wouldnt have thought the postage would be more than £4 or so.

[zacharyamelie]

I prefer my personal best of, this one is missing some of my fav tracks like 'Believe' and 'Alone You Breath', but a good compilation none the less. Is the DVD with Criss Oliva before he died or Alex Skolnick? I see some of the titles were from Handful Of Rain and he had died before its release.

[heavyharmonies]

Well if you order it direct from the UK Amazon site, it only works out at about $14

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Still-Orchestra-Plays-Greatest-Vol-1/dp/B0030Y10QQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271163675&sr=1-1

 

I wouldnt have thought the postage would be more than £4 or so.

 

Excellent find. Works out to about $17.00 shipped to the U.S. according to the one I put in my cart. Best price by far thus far.

 

-Dan

[chocularok]

But the dvd won't play on a US dvd/blu-ray player, correct? That sucks...& I don't like watching stuff on the computer.

[DaHun72]

Used to be my favourite band but this is a lame cash in with only the 3 acoustic tracks making me interested. How are they by the way? How do they compare to those extra acoustic tracks form the Edel re-releases from the late 90s?

I got the VHS version of the gig and paid through the ass for it back int he day LOL

 

Their CDs are worth nothing on Ebay. What's become of this band??? Are they even relevant? The only thing I've liked form them recently is the last TSO album (too many fillers) and the excellent debut Circle II Circle album. I can't stand the JOP albums and for the record I'm a fan of both the old metal Sava and the dramatic Sava of later years.

 

I'm still waiting for The Romanaov's from TSO. What ever happened to that?

[Captain Howdy]

But the dvd won't play on a US dvd/blu-ray player, correct? That sucks...& I don't like watching stuff on the computer.

If its region 0 it will play on any DVD player as long as your tv/dvd player supports PAL.

[Captain Howdy]

Well if you order it direct from the UK Amazon site, it only works out at about $14

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Still-Orchestra-Plays-Greatest-Vol-1/dp/B0030Y10QQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271163675&sr=1-1

 

I wouldnt have thought the postage would be more than £4 or so.

 

Excellent find. Works out to about $17.00 shipped to the U.S. according to the one I put in my cart. Best price by far thus far.

 

-Dan

It can often work out a lot cheaper ordering from the UK Amazon if you want Euro imports as you miss out on all the annoying import fees that US based sites will charge you.

I know a lot of people on here were ordering the Steel Panther CD that way before it was released anywhere else.

Also, our postage prices are a lot more reasonable than the US services.

 

Whenever I want US imports, I always use Amazon Marketplace rather than order direct from Amazon as not only do they work out cheaper, I also get better postage costs than ordering the same item from the US site.

[chocularok]

But the dvd won't play on a US dvd/blu-ray player, correct? That sucks...& I don't like watching stuff on the computer.

If its region 0 it will play on any DVD player as long as your tv/dvd player supports PAL.

 

US players only support NTSC as far as I know...

[Captain Howdy]

Nah. I know a lot of people in the US who have multi region players, and they all play PAL discs.

To my understanding DVD player models are made exactly the same, and are then code locked to one region, so essentially most DVD players should be both PAL & NTSC compatible.

[heavyharmonies]

US players only support NTSC as far as I know...

 

Nope. There are select U.S. makes and models that will convert PAL to NTSC on the fly.

 

I bought this one about 2 months ago just for PAL and non-region-1 DVDs:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WKTG76/ref=oss_product&tag=heavyharmonies

 

Works like a charm.

 

-Dan

[heavyharmonies]

Nah. I know a lot of people in the US who have multi region players, and they all play PAL discs.

To my understanding DVD player models are made exactly the same, and are then code locked to one region, so essentially most DVD players should be both PAL & NTSC compatible.

 

No, no, no, no, no, no, no..... no.

 

No.

 

The VAST majority of U.S. models are neither multiregion nor PAL-capable.

 

Region encoding and format are two distinctly different functions/features/limitations.

 

You can have a PAL->NTSC player that won't read region 2 DVDs (Japan). You can have an NTSC multiregion player that won't read PAL DVDs.

 

Two distinctly different aspects, and ideally you want to find a player that solves both problems.

 

Region-free DVD players are very common outside of the U.S. In fact, the UK home theatre mags openly advertise region-unlocked DVD players, whereas you cannot do so in the U.S. publications.

 

Due to the influence of the MPAA, manufacturers of models for U.S. markets cannot openly publish region-bypassing mechanisms. Most players that are region-free are not shipped that way in the U.S. and can only be made so via firmware hacks or secret remote codes (like my Yamaha).

 

For years the only way you could get region-free players in the U.S. was to buy cheap-ass Chinese off-brand players like Daewoo, Cyberhome, and Apex. Even today, the vast majority of region-defeatable players available here in the U.S. are off-brand Asian manufacturers. Most of the major makers disable that functionality for the U.S. market entirely.

 

 

It's a very locked down market here.

[DaHun72]

Yep, when it comes to DVDs being an Aussie is a great thing. Remember that our market, including the UK which is also PAL is way smaller than the USA, JAPAN etc that have NTSC. As a result nearly everything released in Aus was an NTSC unit re-jigged for PAL.

We can find DVD players, TVs etc. that are NTSC compatible and also region free.... this simply isn't the case in the US so make sure you are checking the version of this DVD before buying (and where you buy it from).

[Captain Howdy]

That sucks that the US is so restricted in so many things like this.

I know that for years the US was also way behind most of us on mobile phone tech as well, which just seems so weird for a huge country like that.

 

I was even able to play NTSC disc on my old PS2 once I got the region hack disc for it and a new Scart lead, and even our VHS players were able to play US videos both changing their speed automatically and selecting NTSC.

 

As I say, I have known people in the US with region free players, and they never mentioned the problems, so I just assumed they were as easy to come by as over here, plus I have been to a few websites in my time while looking for DVD unlock codes for friends and family, and they all seem to list a bucket load of DVD players in the US that have unlock codes.