"Winter War" (Talvisota) DVD question

[Angel Eyes]

It appears that all the places selling Region 1 DVDs of The Winter War (aka Talvisota) are selling a poor-quality transfer from a videotape master.  Does anyone know where I can buy a decent quality Region 1 DVD of this movie?  Thanks.

-Jack

[Brad Johnson]

Is it a bootleg because the movie hasn't been officially released on DVD, or it is just a crappy transfer to begin with?

*edit to add*

Did some poking around and I see what you're talking about.  Looks like the only option you have is to keep and eye on evilbay or Amazon for an import, find someone in one of the Region 1 countries to buy you a copy, or go online and see if you can find a DVD retailer in Region 1 that will ship it to you (if they can legally, that is).

Brad

[Angel Eyes]

Okay, that's what I figured.

There is a Finnish website selling a region-free DVD of Talvisota with English subtitles. Now I have a dumb question: will region-free DVDs play on any ol' player?   

Regards,
-Jack

[Marnoot]

will region-free DVDs play on any ol' player?

Sort of. Region-free DVDs simply have no region restrictions on them, so there would be no problem with the region of the player itself. However, it is likely (depending on the source) that the video is in PAL format, which most North-American DVD players are incapable of playing, as the NTSC video standard is used here. If the disk is coming from one of the countries in green at this link, then you'd be fine. Otherwise, the video format is likely to be incompatible.

There are players that can play both formats, but you'd have to specifically search for one. Also, you can play either PAL or NTSC DVDs on a PC just fine.