AAhhh, Jacked by the September Magazine Issue of Top Gear

holeydonut

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Today I go into Borders Bookstore... I usually take a passing glance at Top Gear / Car / Evo Mags that they have. I usually buy one of these every 3 months to read in detail, but at $10 a pop there's no way I'm buying them monthly.

But this time I discover the Top Gear issue is wrapped in plastic. Wrapped within the plastic shroud is a DVD labeled "Top Gear Best of The Challenges." Being a Dumb American I thought they were packaging The Challenges (or at least some of the challenges) for free with the magazine. The Box doesn't say "promo" or "advertising disc" on it. It just says in the corner "You'll enjoy watching this DVD a lot more than I did making it."

Well, it turns out this is a promo disc for The Challenges. It's Region 0 and just a truncated summation of 4 challenges.

What I don't understand is there is no bloody way I can get The Challenges without special ordering it and it'll be the wrong DVD Region. Yes, I am a nerd and I can likely find some hack to watch the movie. My point is this DVD is bundled in the US magazine at the normal bookstore. What's the point of teasing Americans with this disc full knowing there's no pragmatic way they'll ever watch the full-length Challenges? Aaahhhh.

The magazine is pretty interesting this month though - they discuss the North Pole Trip. And interestingly they don't completely hate the Jeep Patriot. An American car with a rating of 12/20? No way.
 
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Top Gear magazine isn't exactly made for US. They are sold outside of GB, but they don't exactly tailor the magazine for the US, otherwise, all car ads of cars not available in the US would be taken out, prices for cars will all be in US $, etc etc.
 
Our version of the mag does come without all the GB ads though (and it contains a lot of local content like reviews etc. too.)
 
The DVDs work on the computer.
 
Are you sure The Challenges isn't going to be available in the US? It is coming out here in Australia (region 4) on October 3rd. If they'd do a region 4 version, why wouldn't they do one for the US?

Are the other TopGear DVDs available in America?
 
What's the point of teasing Americans with this disc full knowing there's no pragmatic way they'll ever watch the full-length Challenges? Aaahhhh.

Because as far as I know, there is no American version of Top Gear magazine. Stores here just export/import the magazine and sell it here.

As for the region, that's a joke. Just rip it and burn it with like VirtualDub. Problem solved.
 
Lies - there should be only one region... region USA :p

Actually this magazine was labeled as a Borders News-stand Exclusive... it makes me think they actually went out of their way to put this disc in there.

Also, I actually wish there were a better way to watch these episodes without torrents. I can get some bastardized version of the BBC as a cable network channel and watch episodes of Coupling and The Office (both of which became crap when converted to US versions) but there is now way to sneak in Top Gear without downloading some torrent/bootleg off the internet.
 
I don't see why you guys are PMSing about these dvds all the time? I am pretty sure you have already downloaded it anyways, if not you know where to find it...:rolleyes:



Is there a torrent or ftp-upload of The Challenges? These are the best part of the show and having them together in one place would be interesting.
 
you should be lucky you're getting the freebie, most imported magazines are just the magazine itself.
 
Also, I actually wish there were a better way to watch these episodes without torrents. I can get some bastardized version of the BBC as a cable network channel and watch episodes of Coupling and The Office (both of which became crap when converted to US versions) but there is now way to sneak in Top Gear without downloading some torrent/bootleg off the internet.
BBC America plays Top Gear.
 
What I don't understand is there is no bloody way I can get The Challenges without special ordering it and it'll be the wrong DVD Region. Yes, I am a nerd and I can likely find some hack to watch the movie. My point is this DVD is bundled in the US magazine at the normal bookstore. What's the point of teasing Americans with this disc full knowing there's no pragmatic way they'll ever watch the full-length Challenges? Aaahhhh.

Unless you have a DVD player thats capable of playing PAL format discs, then good luck trying to get the picture to look right on your tv.

why is the disc in PAL? because its a UK DVD and thats the video format they use there.

Lies - there should be only one region... region USA :p

god, i love pointless, ignorant statements like this :rolleyes:
 
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Unless you have a DVD player thats capable of playing PAL format discs, then good luck trying to get the picture to look right on your tv.

why is the disc in PAL? because its a UK DVD and thats the video format they use there.



god, i love pointless, ignorant statements like this :rolleyes:



I'm glad the USA-sarcasm wasn't lost on you.

Well, this demo disc is NTSC as well.. again... very odd. Oh well... so is the challenges out for download? :)
 
Did you take my advice and actually play the DVD through the computer? Cause I got the same issue and it worked fine on the computer
 
Hey Threadstarter,

I bought the mag too, 90% based on the DVD challenges. I thought it would be a good idea to support the show legally given that we do not have topgear over here.

Sadly, the contents are not very well filled, blowing up my idea of sharing the good fun with my friends and family
 
Did you take my advice and actually play the DVD through the computer? Cause I got the same issue and it worked fine on the computer



The DVD played fine on my regular DVD player... it's region 0 and NTSC. But it's such a short teaser... I was hoping to actually get the full-length Challenges.
 
Hey Threadstarter,

I bought the mag too, 90% based on the DVD challenges. I thought it would be a good idea to support the show legally given that we do not have topgear over here.

Sadly, the contents are not very well filled, blowing up my idea of sharing the good fun with my friends and family



Yeah, I leave Top Gears on my desk at work and my friends and coworkers just don't understand the premise of why the show is entertaining. By and large people hate clamoring around a small laptop screen to watch 3 people drive cars around a track. I was hoping to watch the show as a normal person would and hopefully have it edited to where the slow bits (basically the reasably-priced-car-stuff) gets edited out.

When I did get BBC America I don't remember them airing new Top Gears - and I only saw a stale rerun on there one time... maybe they've changed lately?
 
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