How rare are the japan imports as collectables i look up titles all the time & it seems some arent even listed as available here but are on the RB website.

Good day myrtle1beach,

I personally think that the Japanese LD or Blu-ray imports will always be very collectible due to their giving each format the extra effort, packaging sound ect.......

Over the years I have imported DVD's HD DVD's and Laserdisc's and the product look and feels better and more exclusive pride of ownership is great.

The prices maybe higher but I don't mind

Regards to you.

Let's hope they keep their "status" as a collector's items.
I guess it depends on the demand for "exotic" titles. Let's face it most Japanese Covers are beautiful but to be honest do we like Japanese subtitles...
I could have bought maybe 300 Japanese disc for a few bucks. I decided to pick out my true favorites and let the rest go.
If we all keep looking for that one rare title there will always be a certain value for a specific disc.
Are the last Betamax, Vhs 2000 collectables? I wouldn't know and wouldn't like to know
Come to think of it. Hddvd's are "rare" since nobody wants them anymore and can be found dead cheap.
People I know call me crazy spending all this money on an a "dead" format but isn't that the case for everything around.
Sure a Picasso on my wall would look great but to me it's just old paint


Let's hope ld's keep their status so we all can have our wishlist.
Wouldn't be much fun in being able to get any disc without "rarities"
I like hunting them down. it's part pride of ownership

Good Morning Kris,

Just looked at your post, of which made for enjoyable reading and I agree with what you wrote.

Regards to you

I started collecting in 1993. So yes, I was waiting on the shop's doorstep to see that box of import ld's finally getting delivered. If you collected movies it should be on ld was my thinking. Never complained about the price. I just bought it to own the ld version. It would last a lifetime they told me
we all know better today don't we
Sold about 800 of my discs around 1999. dvd came around, smaller, subtitles, 5.1 as a standard.... you know what I mean....
Not to mention the improved PQ with certain titles. Let's face it , there are many worthless transfers on ld. Different era I know....
certain movies never looked so good on ld like it did with dvd.
I didn't see the point in owning titles like Crocodile Dundee or backdraft on ld anymore. no chapters , stereo sound....It looked and sounded "old"
Later I realized the more "recent" ld releases are more collectable. always had a soft spot for dts ld's so I started hunting them down. Then the japanese "rarities" became of interest to me....
They have great sound and PQ for an outdated technology that is. Sure I like many covers but that's about it.
I own about 315 titles today with some rarities among them and I'm pretty comfortable when I look at my collection now. more happy with those "few" than I was with almost 1000 discs one time.
Today I can enjoy my collection as never before so I'm a collector now

I can see why Japanese pressing are more collectable. In terms of "rare". I'm sure somewhere in Japan someone is wondering why "we fools" in europe pay such prices
Sure if you collect ld's you're somewhat "weird"
Are there any collector's surprised by 1000 us discs? I don't think so. These days they're easy to buy for a few bucks "euros" that is
Japanese? mhhh . who doesn't like them.... they have a cool look ,PQ (and the sound)
I wouldn't mind owning a few hundreds just for the covers; but play them all?? I'm afraid NOT
enjoy the format

Japanese Laserdiscs are awesome indeed. When buying a Japanese Laserdisc, you get everything a collector could ask for. The artwork is great, the covers are harder, the obis are cool, etc. You get the point. If I come over a Japanese Laserdisc at a good price, chance is big that I'll buy it.
And I've never really felt that the picture quality is that bad on LD, so I always get a movie to watch.

However, when it comes to Dvd and Blu-Ray releases, the Japanese editions are probably the last ones I'd get. They're so incredibly expensive and usually not better in terms of A/V-quality in comparison to other editions. I did purchase From up on poppy hill from Amazon which was released in June this year and it must've been the most expensive single movie I've ever bought. The Blu-Ray itself costed about $70, the shipping costed about $40 and the customs was about $35 (Swedish tax is expensive)... It was at least a nice edition but not enough bang for the buck.