Info and forum posts by 'iom_Chris'

RE: When was the last time you recieved something from DVDSoon.com?

Received 2 emails today regarding orders that they have now cancelled. I have been given Monopoly money - sorry, `store credit` - of the worth of the cancelled goods. However, I cannot re-order these goods without buying more items as they will only let me spend 25% of my store credit at a time.

I`m giving Visa a call tomorrow to get my money back :(

From the end of my email:
Quote:
Thank you for choosing DVDSoon.com!
We are proud to inform you that DVDSoon.com has been selected as the "best Canadian web DVD retailer" by the Canadian Home Entertainment industry, during the 2th annual Canadian Entertainment Network Awards (CENA), which was held in Toronto, on April 26, 2005.

RE: When was the last time you recieved something from DVDSoon.com?

From the DVD Soon FAQ:

Quote:
22. When will my order ship?
More to come...

23. I got a store credit for a voided item / order, but I want my money back.
More to come...

...and from the Terms of Use:

Quote:
Refunds

No refunds will be issued by DVDSoon.com.

What a load of @R$£.

So if I want my money back from my orders, should I cancel them throught my account, or get in touch with my credit card company and try and claim it back that way?

What seemed to be a minor glitch is turning into a farce >:(

RE: When was the last time you recieved something from DVDSoon.com?

The DVD Soon website is back up, with the following message:

Quote:
August 12, 2005.

We are happy to announce the implementation of our new payment system. Due to popular demand, your orders will now be charged at the time of shipment instead of at the time of the order.

However, due to compatibility and accounting reasons all pending orders had to be canceled. Unfortunately it was impossible to overlap the two different payment systems. Credits have been issued to your DVDSoon account so that you may replace your orders once again. In order to help you locate the items that have been canceled you will now have access to a list of canceled orders and their contents in your account.

Free Shipping
Our free shipping has returned! Anyone who orders three or more items will now be offered to have their items shipped for Free through out Standard shipping method. Please note that one or more of the items on your order must be eligible for free shipping in order to participate. Also, in order to ensure that you will be able to benefit from this offer, all items must ship together.

Fidelity iPoints
Also, all of our clients will now start accumulating Fidelity iPoints. For each dollar you spend you will be rewarded 1 fidelity iPoint. These points can be redeemed towards various promotional items or DVDs. Please visit the following web page for further information: Fidelity Rewards.

Fidelity iCard
We regret to inform our clients that we have had to withdraw the fidelity iCard from all of our clients. For those who are iCard holders, a credit will be issued according to the remaining amount of months as well as the use of your membership as form of compensation for the loss of your card.

In closing, we welcome all of our clients to visit our Terms of Use and *FAQ* for in depth explanations of the new changes that have taken place on our site.

The Administration
DVDSoon.com

In the FAQ, they mention that an option to refund any canelled orders back to the card, rather than store credit is `coming soon`.

I have 2 pending orders which DVD Soon haven`t cancelled yet - I`d much rather have a refund put onto my credit card rather than `store credit`.

I used to have no probs at all ordering from this company - it`ll be a long time (If ever) before I do so again. Here`s a summary of my DVD Import account:

Item ordered: 7/8/05
Item shipped: 9/8/05
Item arrived: 13/8/05

That`s how it should be.

Chris.

This item was edited on Saturday, 13th August 2005, 11:22

RE: Shipping to Isle of Man?

Hi Mike,

A quick search on Google brings up this one on Tesco`s website.

They say free delivery, might be worth a shot.

Where did you try and order from previously (believe me, trying to find cheap postage to the island is a nightmare)?

Hope this helps,

Chris.

This item was edited on Monday, 25th July 2005, 19:59

RE: Win a full scale working replica of K.I.T.T. - Yep, the Knight Rider car

Quote:
Multiple entries will invalidate all other entries of that individual.

Pants - stupid small print. :p

RE: Win a full scale working replica of K.I.T.T. - Yep, the Knight Rider car

Entered it 3 times - wonder what the insurance would be on this baby?

Chris.

Torrentspy Down?

I`m having bother trying to connect to Torrentspy - anyone else having similar difficulties? I`ve tried on 2 different computers, and no signs of life :(

Think The Powers That Be may be involved... :(

Chris.

EDIT: Back up now, must have had some server downtime or something. Phew ;)

This item was edited on Sunday, 26th June 2005, 11:52

RE: DVDSOON voucher

D`oh!

That`s a bit daft though, let`s check my order - with DVD Soon`s postage turnaround, I might be able to cancel it and start again :D

Cheers for the heads up Ben.

EDIT: Changed my order, now 2 seperate ones, but 2 of the DVDs had gone up by £2.50!

Better paying DVD Soon than Royal Mail/Customs tho...

This item was edited on Saturday, 25th June 2005, 14:55

RE: DVDSOON voucher

It does work out at around 15% - I`ve scraped as close as I can to the £18 limit!

Cheers to the OP for the code.

Chris

RE: LOTR: The Two Towers (4 disc) £9.99 at CD-WOW

Sweet, got it for £7.99 :D

It`s going to look nice next to my £4.50-ish ROTK Box...

Love when CD-Wow do bargains like this.

Chris

EDIT: Forgot about CD-Wow`s new policy about using an affiliate link and discount code - still, £8.99 isn`t bad...

This item was edited on Wednesday, 22nd June 2005, 18:45

RE: What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 19th June)

Just downloads this week, barring some South Park which has been on Sky when I`ve been going to bed :D

Family Guy - I'm running out of superlatives… This week, Peter and Brian found Loretta and Quagmire having an affair. Laugh-out loud moments aplenty - my personal highlight of the week.

American Dad! - Still not as fond of this as I ought to be, given it's from the guys who do 'Family Guy'. Stan tries to be 'normal' and not be suspicious of the neighbours, but this flies out the window when he finds there's an Iranian couple living in the neighbourhood.

The Comeback - A better episode than last week, this one sees the cast go to New York to present the new show to the press. Veronica is again the outsider of the group of young, attractive actors and tries to muscle in and be 'cool' on every occasion for her reality show. Some funny moments in this, I'll keep with it for now.

The 4400 2x01 - One of the stand-out shows from last summer returns for a second series. A useful recap brings us a year since the 4400 returned. Diana's adopted Maia (who has pre-cognitive ability) and gets teamed up again with Tom; the baby is still protecting Richard and Lily, hunted by the smooth Justin Collier, among others. A feature-length episode, and a strong start to the new season. Recommended.

The 4400 2x02 - This week focused on a baseball player who was about to make it big before the abduction. Now returned and able to hear people's thoughts, the government use him to get closer to Collier and try and discover what his plan is for the 4400. Meanwhile, Richard and Lily remain on the run. Another good episode - they should make this a full season order as it's a lot better than more publicised shows.

The Dead Zone 4x01 - The long-awaited return of the underrated sci-fi drama, starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, a guy who can see into the future through contact with other people. A strong episode to kick this season off, with Johnny's girlfriend involved in a plot to kill the evil Greg Stillson, the man Johnny is convinced will cause Armageddon.

The Shield - Strong finale to this gritty police drama - the cops get what they want, but at a price. Ties up some stuff and leads into the next season with the Feds trying to bust the Strike Team.

Beauty and the Geek - This week, the girls had to teach the geeks about women's fashion, culminating in them purchasing different outfits for their partners, which would then be paraded on a catwalk and judged. The guys had to teach the girls about rocket science, making a miniature rocket out of a plastic bottle and various other bits and bobs - all very Blue Peter! A guilty pleasure, but not that bad.

Prison Break - A preview of the first episode of the much-hyped drama series, where a man goes to prison deliberately to break out his older brother, who is sentenced to execution. It looks good, with a good story and enough to draw in the viewer. I'm going to keep an eye on this when it airs properly in September.

The Inside 1x01-1x02 - Graphic crime drama about the FBI Violent Crimes Unit. A young Special agent with a murky past joins the team and assists in some cases, the first one involving a stalker who removes their victims' faces (nice!!) and the second one where people are killed during some S+M. Could very easily have been just a show that aims to shock and nothing else, but with people who used to work on 'Buffy' and 'Angel' involved, this is not the case. Maybe not to everyone's tastes, but I think it's really good. Recommended.

Airwolf: The Movie - Oh Dear. Time has not been good to this one, with a cheesy script, bad acting and all the big explosions in the world can't save it. I Halfway through I was like 'Why? Why am I watching this?' Ho-hum, got to take the rough with the smooth.

To compensate I've been watching various random (very random) episodes of Invader Zim, which made me laugh lots and forget the woes of Airwolf.

Chris.

RE: Who`s the hottest Actress/Model/Singer? (A picture thread)

Just been watching a downloaded US show called `The Inside`, starring Rachel Nichols:



Previous credits include Dumb and Dumberer - maybe it`s worth a look after all... :D


While I`m posting, can`t resist a (decent) pic of Elisha:



Lovely.

RE: US version of `The Office` on BBC3 tonight - was it worth watching ?

The first episode of the US version is eesentially a retread of the UK version.

When they start doing their own scripts in later eps, there are quite a few laughs in there.

I`d stick with it - it`s only 6 episodes.

Chris.

RE: Oh no.... TV Tome has gone all CNet on us...

Change for the worse IMO >:(

I liked the old site, very fast and easy to find stuff.

I couldn`t find episode guides for 24 either.

The RSS feed is gone as well - that was really useful to (ahem) look for what shows were airing in the US at night...

RE: What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 12th June)

Downloads:

Family Guy - Utterly superb. The SW refs are great, and when Quagmire
SPOILER:
Hammered the nail into Joe's leg without him noticing
I laughed out loud. Excellent stuff.

American Dad! - Still the poor relation to the Griffin family. Some funny moments, but the characters don't do it for me at present.

Miami Vice (Pilot) - Never seen it before, an interesting combination of bright colours and gritty storytelling. Don Johnson was great as Crockett, and the alligator was just funny . Not sure if it was enough for me to locate the rest of the series, but it might have whetted my appetite for the movie.

Tszyu vs Hatton - Saw the American version of the fight and it was a belter. Don't usually watch much boxing cos it's usually on PPV, but this fight was at times more a street fight than a traditional bout of fisticuffs. Tremendous stuff and hopefully we'll see more of him on terrestrial now.

The Comeback - Lisa Kudrow's first gig post-Friends. She plays a fading actress who appears on a reality show in order to get herself a gig on a new sitcom. As it's from HBO, I guess it tries to be like Curb Your Enthusiasm in that it's a sitcom based around reality. It tried to be too clever for its own good at some stage, and it's not a 'priority download', but I may stick with it.

Beauty and the Geek - This week, the guys were educating the girls on how to check the oil and change a tyre on their car, the girls were showing the guys how to massage. I'm not sure this one worked as well as last week's cos not all the guys knew how to pop the hood themselves! Still some good moments though.


TV:

Magnum PI (Pilot) - Was on C5 on Weds afternoon, thought I'd give it a shot. It's not bad for the 80s and from the guys who gave us such gems as Quantum Leap and Knight Rider. Wasn't sure about the voice-over, and the 'Nam Flashbacks, but there were nice cars and pretty women, so that counts in its favour.

House - watched it when it first aired in the US and supported it when it aired on Five this week cos it deserves to be a hit. Hugh Laurie is great as the doctor who dislikes people, and the supporting cast (including Billy from Neighbours!) are all good. I gets better throughout the season, believe me.

Dr Who - Great episode, the whole reality TV idea gave it a contemporary twist (maybe they should incorporate the elimination ideas into future series of Big Brother?). Slightly disturbed with the Daleks at the end as well! Roll on next week!


DVD:

The Woodsman - Really good film, excellent performance from Kevin Bacon on difficult subject matter, but he deals with it well. Good performance from Mos Def too as the cop who's keeping an eye on him. Recommended.

AI: Artificial Intelligence - I really like this film, although it would be better if you cut out the last 20 minutes. I'm a sucker for the whole artificial intelligence thing (as a kid, I cried when Johnny 5 was beaten up in Short Circuit 2 :P ). Hayley Joel Osment gives a great performance and the SFX are stunning (especially Teddy).

Carrie - Never seen this before, bought it cheap from DVD Soon the other week. What a bargain it was! Sissy Spacek is great as the shy girl with telekinesis who isn't socially acceptable and pulls off the scared teenager with powers heightened by her emotions to great effect. Combined with a chilling score and a tight story, this film is really good.

Mars Attacks! - I love Tim Burton films, and although not his bet work, this parody of 50's B-movies has its moments. A truly amazing cast (Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening, Michael J. Fox, Glenn Close etc) ham it up well, but I feel it lacks at certain edge to make it a classic film. Turn your brain off and enjoy.

Chris.

RE: Fitness

I do Judo 2-3 times a week, and depending on how I`m feeling will try and swim once a week and got to the gym once a week as well. Lost about a stone since Christmas, so I must be doing something right!

RE: House

Quote:
very strange that a UK band won`t have their track as the theme music here.. but will in the USA?

I was thinking that, the opening sequence is only the shot of the skull, which then changes into House, there`s no fly-by round the hospital or anything, so I couldn`t make out what the music was (if it was a well-known track at all) in the 10 seconds it was on for.

RE: House

I`ve seen the whole series, told the rest of the family about it - Mum didn`t like the CGI going into the body though... :P

Any reason why the title sequence has changed from the US version? They had `Teardrop` by Massive Attack over the credits.

Chris.

Six Feet Under Season 5

Hi,

Has anyone who`s downloading this show (5x01) found a working copy? I`ve downloaded near to 1 gig of data and only got 35% of the file :o

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris.

RE: Lost is to be found on Channel 4 in August

Los is a great show, will recommend it to all my friends who I haven`t already given copies to :P

Also, the Hugh Laurie medical drama House starts tonight on Five - recommended.

Chris.

RE: What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 5th June)

TV:

Dr Who - Pretty good, but do you think it`s any coincidence that Rose chooses the older guy over the one her own age (although Mickey is a bit of a gormless fool :) )


DVD:

Mortal Kombat - Made before Paul Anderson needed to put `W.S` (Wide Screen?) in his name, it`s been a while since I`ve seen this and the first time on DVD (£3, DVD Soon). Not as good as I initially thought it was, although Christopher `Highlander` Lambert is quite funny. Maybe it`s time to review my computer-game movie adaptations (It`ll still be better than Street Fighter though :P );
Apollo 13 - It`s good, and the anti-gravity scenes are great, but it`s lacking a truly dramatic edge given the enormity of the event at the time;
Batman: The Movie (1966) - Hmmm, I don`t know whether it falls into the `so bad, it`s good` category or `so bad i should stick the DVD in the microwave`. Some truly appaling dialogue (worse than the Star Wars love scenes :p ), but maybe it wasn`t helped by me being sober at the time...


Downloads:

Beauty and the Geek - Promising US reality show where some good-looking female airheads are paired with some socially deficient male geniuses, in order to win $250,000. This week, the guys had to educate the girls to do a spelling bee and general knowledge test aimed at 12-year olds, while the girls had to educate the guys with a dancing competition. It wouldn`t be reality TV without some late-night action however, and there was a bit of romance between some of the contestants (much to the disappointment of their partners). It`s funny and the summer`s a bit slow for TV, so I`ll stick with it I think. Better than Big Brother anyway.
Father of the Pride - Sky One `exclusive` (just cos they can be arsed airing the other 2 completed episodes), and, like I`ve said previously, it`s funny in places, but not consistently enough.
The Shield - Excellent episode:
SPOILER:

The Strike Team are back together, and ready to kick some serious butt. Also had it`s comedy moments, like when Vic found out Dutch was seeing his ex :)
Listened to Hatton vs Tszyu on the radio (just happened to be awake at 2am, downloading it now anyway), they said it was a corker of a fight.

Think that`s it, currently downloading Family Guy, American Dad and the 4400 to watch over the next week.

Chris.

This item was edited on Monday, 6th June 2005, 19:32

RE: First DVD you ever purchased?

R2: Sleepy Hollow - My sister got a DVD player for her birthday, and I thought I`d get a few to play myself. Wasn`t till 6 months later I got my own DVD player (Xmas pressie!). I bought it from Play, thinking `wow, I get to save £4 off the RRP!` :D

R1:Fight Club, or maybe ET: 3 Disc Edition.

R3: Return of the King EE (Thanks CD-WOW!)

R4: Goldeneye, from EzyDVD

Chris.

RE: What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 29th May)

Not much this week (no Simpsons/Family Guy), but i saw downloaded eps of:

24 - Thought this season was really good, fast-paced action with no time to think about any plotholes is how 24 works best. Roll on Season 5 in January :D

Desperate Housewives - Great ending, cleared up some of the mysteries of this season and set up a good cliffhanger for next season :D

Lost - Wow. Truly stunning ending to the best new show on TV. Only bad thing about it is I`ll have to wait till September to find out what`s going to happen! :D

Father of the Pride - An unaired episode of the cancelled US aminated comedy - it`s funny in places but doesn`t hit the mark as often as something this expensive to produce should be.

The Shield - Things are tying in nicely for the Strike Team, but will they get away with it? Great stuff :D

House - Enjoyed this series - it`ll be interesting to see what happens now they throw his ex into the equation.

RE: 24 Season 4

I thought the 2 eps were good, but there was no `shock` factor like in previous seasons. Enjoyed the no-repeat run though - I remember there being a 5-week gap between episodes last season :o

From the FOX website:

Quote:
Season 5 returns in January.

...and the DVDs are released 8/8/05, according to Play.com.

Can`t wait :D

Chris.

RE: Is it possible to convert a DVD to a quicktime file?

Chewie,

I presume you`re working on a Mac if you`re using Quicktime - in that case i recommend Handbrake, available here.

You can put in a DVD, and convert it to MPEG-4. It outputs an MP4 file, and the Avid website says the Pro version can handle them. If you`re using a lesser version, then iMovie or Quciktime Pro can export it to a MOV.

Hope this helps, I`ve been figuring out how to get movie clips off a DVD for work.

Chris.

RE: What have you bought/preordered (May)

From DVD Soon: (Free Shipping! Woo-hoo!)

Blue Velvet
Carrie
Duel
Hackers
Mortal Kombat
Dark City
12 Monkeys



From CD-WOW:

LOTR - Return of the King Ex Ed (r3)


Here`s a question re my purchasing habits for next month - Should I buy the Family Guy Compendium Box set, or the Invader Zim DVDs together with the house?

Cheers,

Chris.

RE: What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 22nd May)

This week I watched:

On DVD:
Star Wars: Episode 1 (only redeeming feature is the lightsabre three-way)
Star Wars: Episode 2 (better, but the love scenes are bad);

At the cinema:
Star Wars: Episode 3 (Good but not perfect, the best of the new ones however and truly epic in scale);

On download/Divx:
Family Guy (laugh out loud funny :D )
Malcolm in the Middle (not bad, but like the previous season, not been at it`s best)
The Simpsons (good, always better when they`re taking the p*** out of something)
Kojak (Not brilliant, but I thought I`d give the series a shot. The USA Network airs much better stuff usually, like the 4400 and the Dead Zone, which return in June :D )
American Dad (Getting better after a wobbly start. Still not in the same league as Family Guy though)
24 (Wow. Loving this season, can`t wait for the 2-hour finale this coming week)
House (Interesting episode concerning his backstory and how he got the limp)
The Shield (Good, liking Glenn Close as the take-no-crap boss)
Lost (When`s this going to air on C4? I keep telling other people how good it is :D )
Desperate Housewives (Liked this one, nice mix of comedy and tension)
The Apprentice 3 (It was pretty clear who the winner was going to be, wonder how the Yanks would take to Sir Alan Sugar?)
Star Wars: Clone Wars (A little hit and miss, but a good way of covering events between Eps 2 + 3. Notable segments include Anakin vs the Sith and General Grievous)
Dr Who (OK, but not as good as some of the others. I like this series as a whole, let`s see how the finale pans out next week).

Glad the US networks are winding down now, might actually have to think of something else to do other than watch stuff on my computer :p

Liking the new format of this thread (was going to post last week, but couldn`t remember everything I`d watched). Hopefully it`ll inspire other people to check out some of the shows that fellow users are watching.

Cheers,

Chris.

This item was edited on Monday, 23rd May 2005, 00:44

RE: Any Video Sender Recommendations?

Cheers Choagy, but my local Lidl is in Kendal (I live on the Isle of Man :o )

After a bit of searching at the weekend, I plumped for the Philips Wireless Video Sender, available for £60 from Argos. It`s a bit expensive, but it does the job fine.

Thanks for your help,

Chris.

Any Video Sender Recommendations?

Hi,

I`ve just got Sky in the living room, and I was after a video sender so I could watch it in my room.

I got one from Index for £40, but as soon as I plugged it into the sky box, the picture in the living room went dead (but it was on in my bedroom) - I thought it would enable me to have it on in both rooms?

I think I need one with 2 scart sockets to pass-through, but if anyone has any recommendations as to what would be the best thing, then that would be great.

Cheers,

Chris.

RE: 800MB CD Problems...

Cheers, got it sorted by overburning and enabling Disc-At-Once on Nero.