Yeah, gotta watch the mods here, they can be real dicks sometimes. ;-)

Someone mentioned that the UK R2 release of Stardust has an exclusive commentary not on any other releases.

My major thing is custom DVDs. That's why you don't see any Klokwerk edits, only custom covers. Only other thing I do is custom DVDs. I buy from all over the place to get the best copies of the films I want to own.

In my opinion, a DVD should have the definitive version of the film in the best quality with the most informative extras. I've compiled many, many custom discs for myself over the years (R4 Australia got shafted a lot in the early days). I would love to keep this discussion going to find some titles and things I am as yet unaware of being available.

I'll give some info on some titles now, will do some more at a later date. Here's some titles worth looking at the R4 Australian release for and why. Note, I don't have all of these, but I work in the DVD department of an entertainment store and through that and my own research online I know a lot...

TMNT (2007)
The DVD-retailer exclusive 2-disc set has the same extras as the 2-disc set elsewhere in the world, however the R4 AU is the only one that doesn't force the commentary on you. You are able to listen to the original audio.

Timecop (1994)
Magna Pacific's R4 AU release is the only one I'm aware of that has DTS sound and the original 2.35:1 ratio, anamorphically enhanced of course.

Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th (2000)
A commentary track not found elsewhere and is anamorphic.

Prom Night III (1989)
Uncut version of the film. The UK/US releases are the "tv edit" version which removes I think 5 minutes of stuff.

Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
Original 2.35:1 ratio, anamorphic, 5.1 DD sound.

Heaven's Gate (1980)
Same extended cut as US DVD but it's anamorphic.

3000 Miles To Graceland (2001)
Has a bonus 11 minute featurette.

Transformers: Beast Wars - Seasons 1-3 (1996-1999)
Doesn't have 5.1 sound like the US releases, but we do get tons of exclusive extras: commentaries, animatics, galleries, etc. Madman pulled out all the stops on these sets. Love 'em.

Lilo & Stitch (2002)
We had the best release for the longest time. 2-disc Special Edition. Uncut, DTS, audio commentary and the 2-hr documentary with footnotes. I believe this has finally been released in R1 US though. The R1, original release at least, had a "Young Voices Of Hawaii" featurette not on any other release. Whereas the R2 UK includes a music video "Suspicious Minds" by Gareth Gates.

I'll get in now and add that I use several sites to compare picture quality, differing cuts, sets of extras and general R1 vs R2 vs R4 etc. The major one to reveal for those that don't already know it: Rewind's DVD Compare. Godsend for this stuff.

Sorry for the double-post! Just wanted to point out I recently started a blog to put some of my useless DVD knowledge on the web. While it's geared at Aussie DVD enthusiasts, which titles are worth importing, faulty product, etc... Well, there's nothing there yet, but it will be like that... anyway, I thought I'd link it. Hopefully this discussion encourages me to do more posts (very busy at the moment though unfortunately).

The blog can be found here: The DVD Fanatic. If anyone has any ideas about what I should post, let me know. Especially if any of our Australian OT'ers are reading this thread. If you're knowledgeable about blog templates and could help me with mine, please email me (see sig).

The Cure (1995)
German DVD9 contains 'Making Of' featurette and cast interviews not present on R1 DVD5.

Tom and Huck (1995)
German disc is anamorphic 'scope while R1 is pan/scan.

Deathwatch (2002)
Spanish R2 disc contains an additional Jamie Bell interview taped at Sitges film festival.

You're an Aussie, Uncanny Antman, yeah? .... or a Kiwi? Just, listing all those R4s made me think you are. Have we traded in the past?

Plus, I can't believe I didn't mention American Werewolf in Paris as that was one of the earlier ones I discovered was different/better here. Still need to get a copy of the R1 for my girlfriend. She owns the R4 I bought her and has the original cut on VHS alongside it.

Christ DarkGryphon2048, that was a bit uncalled for!

How are you checking for differnces between the regions DJ, the only way i know about is on http://www.imdb.com/ which is a ball ache to go through your collection on there, or word of mouth?

Well, there's the Criterion Collection director's cut of Armageddon which is non-anamorphic (and maybe Robocop?)
Not much else comes to mind.

Do you also mean DVDs like the Japanes versions of Kill Bill and the full theatrical version of Grindhouse?

THERE'S A WIDESCREEN JOE'S APARTMENT?!

I must own this...

In case this hasn't been already posted, here is a site where you can compare various region release DVDs.

http://www.dvdcompare.net/

RUMBLE IN THE BRONX: The R3 is longer and anamorphic with Cantonese and Korean as alternative language tracks (Cantonese is the original language it was filmed with the intent of using) while the local Nordic Region 2 version contains special features such as:

Interview With Jackie Chan
Trailers (New Line & Mirmax versions)
TV Spots (New Line & Mirmax versions)
Sneak Preview
Kung Fu - music video by Ash
"Deleted Stunts" - not actually true since it is just the end credit section where they show Jackie performing his stunts to various degrees of success (mostly with him becoming injured/hurt).

Maybe in search for perfect image Quality, take a look at http://www.caps-a-holic.com theire are some very informative comparisons between different DVD releases.
Sometimes you get informations about sound quality.
Unfortunatly the page is mainly in german. But if theire are any questions, I am from germany, so I may help you in some translations ;)

So far the "must have" foreign DVDs with more than the US Version are
Kill Bill (Vol.1) from Japan (R2 / NTSC) with full Color fight and so on
Grindhouse from Japan (R2 / NTSC) so far the only Grindhouse on DVD release :()

In France they have the only unrated DVD release of "Red Scorpion" but this DVD is just in french, with no subtitles :(

As far as I know France is the only country with a little bit longer "Killing Zoe" release.
Ans France has Longer Versions of "Black Mask" and "The Killer"

But French movies ofen lack of english audio and/or subtitling :(

In German theire is the only Russian Theatrical Cut release of "Night Watch - Nochnoi Dozor" (as far as I know.. and I don't know everything) outside Russia ans Russian related countries
A german comparison between the International Theatrical Version and the russian Theatrical Version can be found here: http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=2891
The russian Release is also availible on DVD in Russia and Estland with englisch subtitling.
(the german release also has only russian audio with subtitles in german, english for the deaf and hearing impaled)
The Movie is Called "Wächter der Nacht" in Germany (so you will find it ;) and look for the DVD containing the "RUSSISCHER DIRECTOR'S CUT"
(Amazon Link


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Edit:
Good Versions of "Ong Bak" and "Warrior King" can be found in UK (PAL R2) theire where the Thai Versions released, and not the International shorter Versions.

In Hong Kong (NTSC R3) the Director's Cut of "Fearless" (About 140 Minutes running Time) has been relased (in Europa theire is only the 100 Min international Cinematic version)

A good Release of "Bullet in the Head" comes from UK, with good Picture, but the Hong Kong Release does have some mor scenes included in some bad quality, but they are never released anywhere on DVD before...

Seems that the UK DVD release of Hellraiser II: Hell on earth is the unrated Version, while the US DVD is just the R-rated...

Hellraiser 3 from UK hat running time of 93 min. PAL while NTSC r-rated runs 93 min. ...