Top Gear - Help Needed !!!

Mario,

I am only aware of two "best of" Top Gear DVDs (rather than a complete set of the episodes). However, these are Region 2 encoded. That means they will not play on a standard US DVD player. The US uses Region 1 encoding. The Region encoding was something I understand the Hollywood studios insisted on when the DVD formula was agreed so they could release things in different parts of the world at different times (if you believe them) or so they could sell at a higher price in markets that would bear it (if you believe everyone else). If you search the Web you may find that your DVD player has a little "hack" available that enables it to bypass the region-encoding, but obviously I couldn't possibly condone anything like that I might say that I find it mildly amusing that someone in the US should hit this issue as it is us Europeans who have been stuffed by this and obliged to pay more for our DVDs!

Jonathan

 

you could do what i do download then burn
http://www.mininova.org/search/?search=top+gear

 

I can help you but you do need to make sure that your player is multi region - lot of them are while other can be converted. As long as everything is nice and legal

PM me if you want, I have Paypal and would not mind ordering them and sending over.


It is indeed funny that you encounter these issues as they are generaly issues the European are more familiar with. I order stuff from the states every now and then and it is rather frustrating to hit the purchase button just to be told they cannot ship outside the US.

 

I'm sure www.play.com will ship UK disks to the US (as the company is based outside the EU)

Be careful with BBC DVDs, I've always found that you actually need a multi-region player rather than just a region 0 DVD player

 

By the way, I believe that the UK broadcast shows are not the same as the US ones, I recently saw a BBC World version while in the US and the show was definitely altered, the usual translation of boots versus trunks, and bonnets are hoods etc. but also Clarkson was much more toned down. If you have'nt seen in him in full flow in the US you are in for a treat. He often makes cutting remarks about American cars (which he didn't on the altered show I saw) which is strange considering he owns a Ford GT. He also knocks all other countries too, but it is all tounge in cheek anyway. I bought a very cheap video player on my US trip and easily found a hack on the Internet to play European formats. Enjoy the CDs.

 

Yeah the US version is only 30mins as well compared to the full 60mins the BBC shows and the content is atleast a season behind.

Tho if they were able to win an emmy with the cut down version...

 

There is actually going to be a TOP GEAR USA Edition, it wont have Clarkson,Hammond or May, nor will it have the same kind of format, its going to be a drag racers, a average bloke and a reality TV star. And its filmed in a pit garage, without any audience. And no stig either, but they will have a track and early in the year stig blow them out of the water when he posted track times in a mustang, charger, and CLS55. They will have star in a reasonably priced car. But I am doubting they will have any of the "epic" journies or challenges that they have on the UK version, BTW did anyone see last nights, they bought three exotic cars for under 10,000, none of them made it to the finish. And next week, Clarkson is racing the Bugatti Veyron agaisnt the other two in a plane. Looks Exciting!

 

I saw it last night. How many more times can these programmes do the 'Supercar for the price of a second hand Mondeo'
If I had a 308GT4, I would be getting the complete arse with this. Realistically you are not going to get much (except a lot of trouble) for this money.
Top Gear Magazine did this with a 308GT4 years ago. Classic & Sportscar Magazine do a similar type article practically every year. Saw on old 'Wheeler Dealers' programme on Discovery at the weekend, they had a 308GT4 and a 400i.
You would need to be a very shrewd and educated buyer to come out on top at this price level (IMO)

 

EVO did a good review of a Mondial, 400 and a gt4 in issue 64

 

Yes, of course the Mondial gets lumped into this selection as well.

The other laughable suggestion that these magazines come up with is the idea that you can get a 246gt for GBP 30k/35k. I've seen cars go for this money at auction, they look great from about 3 yards or so. Closer inspection reveals rust on most panels - and those are cheap to replace - not... Am I right in thinking a new front end for a dino is about 12k?
Of course the car they feature in the article will be part of Nick Cartwrights stock, just been restored and is up for grabs at 65k!

 

after they stop slagging US cars, there is only 30 mins left!!!!!!!! (per season)

 

You need to find a multi region piece of DVD software (for a PC) or a DVD player (Logix for example) that have published hacks for unlocking the region protection. US DVD's are region one and UK DVD's are region 2. I won't get into the legality of the region locking to maintain absurdly high prices in the UK as I will be here all day A good A/V shop should be able to tell you how to disable the locks on your machine (if possible) or should be able to sell you an unlockable machine

Best Wishes


Tom

 

The problem is that very few people in the US want to watch videos bought outside the US.

Apart from the regional coding issue, Europe and the US use different standard definition TV systems (EU: PAL, US: NTSC). Most EU equipment (all DVD players and most TVs) now work with both systems, but most US equipment doesn't (it could be different if you have a US HDTV set). So if you're in Europe, all you have to do is find a way round the regional coding and you can play US DVDs.

But in the US, you will find that your DVD player and TV will not be able to cope with a European DVD under any circumstances. European DVDs are encoded at 50 fields per second and 576 lines, whereas US standard definition Region 1 DVDs are encoded at 60 fps and 480 lines.

So your best bet is to use a computer to play the disks. Unfortunately most undoctored computers allow you to change region, but after a certain number of changes back and forth, it won't let you change the region any more. The best way round this is some freeware called Regionkiller (I think that's the name). You could do a search for this on Google or do a search on here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26
You need something that will work without having to make your DVD drive multi-region, because that can fry your drive if it goes wrong.

 

Hi,
I have MCE at home and record all epiosodes of Top Gear onto my media server (what a geek!)

I am not comfortable releasing my IP for access as I did that once before and then got a few problems with it.. however..if anyone is interested regardless of what country you are in then please drop me a line and I can send the episodes that I have, it takes about 2 episodes per DVD at the moment.

V.

 

Google Video is your friend I do very little work since finding this:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=top+gear

 

I bought mine after reading such an article in Classic & Sportscar. I think it can be done if you do your research properly and are confident in assessing the mechanical condition of a car.

I think Top Gear coverage was unusually biased against the GT4 as it actually had only 1 electrical problem, whereas the other 2 had major faults.

 

Dan - you are not wrong. You were obviously an educated buyer and got a good car.
The magazine articles often fail to point out the problems with buying a car of this sort at the bottom end of the price range. I am not 100pct sure why this winds me up - it must be the inevitable 'Ferrari for Mondeo money' banner that invariably accompanies these articles.

As I recall the electrical fault that occurred on the GT4 appeared to have been engineered for comedy value. That section on Top Gear would have been dropped had all 3 cars functioned perfectly.

Thats enough cynicism about the media for one day!

 

Well Andy, if me and the missus manage to get tickets for the next series, I will take the matter up with Mr Clarkson!

 

I have been trying for tickets for nearly three years. If you do get there tell him good

 

3 years - No sh*t!

Has anyone here actually been in the audience? Are you just herded around and treated as a 'prop' or do you actually get to do or see a little more.
If it sounds good I might line myself up for some tickets for the 2012 series.

 

I have seen it somewhere that the waiting list stretches into about 2008 or something ridiculous. All I get from Applause.com is email inviting me to Terry Wogan's new show or Fanny Craddock's cooking show

However I live in hope. I have been in other TV show audiences back in the 90's and it is a pretty good experience. It's a whole day at Top Gear I think so it should be quite good.

 

So when are you seeing Fanny Craddock?

 

Hopefully many many good years before I meet her!

 

Really?! I've only just signed up to be on the Reserve List. And I had to sign up for X-Factor as well to keep the missus onside...D'oh!