# Prisoner of Cell Block H : a rant about access **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844 "2012-03-26T14:18:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/1 "2012-03-26T14:18:27Z")
I grew up watching this show (I know, but it was on before the Lilias yoga show on PBS that I also watched, and I really did like it even though I didn’t understand a lot of it). Anyway there are a shit ton of episodes, Netflix has a handful of discs of episodes in no particular order so watching them sucks. I tried to buy the entire series but it’s only available in Europe. What the fuck? This is quality tv. Rant over. ---
**Author:** ![Bambro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@Bambro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/2 "2012-03-26T14:49:22Z")
You suck. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/3 "2012-03-26T14:51:51Z")
> [@Bambro](#): > > You suck. Well duh. But how do I get to watch more of this show? ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/4 "2012-03-26T15:00:01Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > Well duh. But how do I get to watch more of this show? Uhmm.. Order it from Europe? ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/5 "2012-03-26T15:02:34Z")
They will only deliver to Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/6 "2012-03-26T15:23:04Z")
Try eBay. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/7 "2012-03-26T15:28:37Z")
Have you tried [Bol.com](http://Bol.com) ? A Dutch site, which has volumes 1- 3. Might be some work deciphering how to order though. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/8 "2012-03-26T15:30:19Z")
You might want to try searching under the actual title: _Prisoner: Cell Block H_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/9 "2012-03-26T15:48:53Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > They will only deliver to Europe. Try [Amazon UK](http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_21/277-2516112-4204059?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=prisoner+cell+block+h&sprefix=prisoner+cell+block+h%2Caps%2C266). They deliver to the United States. Keep in mind their DVD’s have a different regional code. You’ll have to have an all-regions DVD player to watch them. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/10 "2012-03-26T16:10:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Try [Amazon UK](http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_21/277-2516112-4204059?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=prisoner+cell+block+h&sprefix=prisoner+cell+block+h%2Caps%2C266). They deliver to the United States. > > Keep in mind their DVD’s have a different regional code. You’ll have to have an all-regions DVD player to watch them. Yes! That is it–I looked to order, and they only deliver there and there was some special type of player! Ugh. So it looks like I am SOOL on this one. I don’t have that player. I wonder why this is set up like this–from what I could tell it was pretty popular in the US as well? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/11 "2012-03-26T16:12:48Z")
Maybe try moving out of hell. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/12 "2012-03-26T16:18:26Z")
[Here’s a couple of selections for the American fans from eBay.](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?Format=DVD&_sacat=11232&_from=R40&_nkw=Prisoner%3A+Cell+Block+H&rt=nc&_dmpt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&Region=DVD%253A%25201%2520%2528US%252C%2520CA%2529) ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/13 "2012-03-26T16:39:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Here’s a couple of selections for the American fans from eBay.](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?Format=DVD&_sacat=11232&_from=R40&_nkw=Prisoner%3A+Cell+Block+H&rt=nc&_dmpt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&Region=DVD%253A%25201%2520%2528US%252C%2520CA%2529) Holy crap did you see the price of that steel box set? I’d have to sell my firstborn to pay for it. I think those anniversary discs are the ones that Netflix has–totally useless to watch random episodes. Especially when there is ongoing storylines. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/14 "2012-03-26T17:21:35Z")
Wow, i grew up with _Prisoner_ (it never had the _Cell Block H_ subtitle in Australia) and i never realized that it had much of an overseas following. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/15 "2012-03-26T17:34:36Z")
It was actually pretty progressive for its time–maybe even today. If you look at the intensity of the characters and the storylines, I can’t recall anything quite in its league. It’s not sappy enough to be a soap opera, and too disturbing to have a happy Hollywood ending. That’s one of the reasons I want to see it in its entirety—the fact that it hit all those tough notes all those years ago is pretty amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/16 "2012-03-26T20:55:28Z")
[Moderating] Moved to Cafe Society from the Pit. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/17 "2012-03-26T21:17:52Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > Holy crap did you see the price of that steel box set? I’d have to sell my firstborn to pay for it. I think those anniversary discs are the ones that Netflix has–totally useless to watch random episodes. Especially when there is ongoing storylines. Why not just torrent the thing and be done with it? Don’t bother asking where unless you want this thread closed as well. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/18 "2012-03-26T21:27:42Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > Yes! That is it–I looked to order, and they only deliver there and there was some special type of player! Ugh. So it looks like I am SOOL on this one. I don’t have that player. I wonder why this is set up like this–from what I could tell it was pretty popular in the US as well? DVD Regions were set up by the movie production companies. They often released movies in theatres at different times to save money. For example, they can show a movie at theatres in North America for a couple of months and then send the reels to Europe to show there for a couple of months. And then send them to East Asia and then to South America and so on. The problem they ran into was this could hurt their DVD sales. Because their plan was to run the movie in theatres and then release it on DVD a few months later. But if they released it on DVD six months after it was shown in theatres in the United States, it might not have played in theatres yet in Brazil or South Africa or India. And if people in those countries could watch the DVD, they wouldn’t go to see it in the theatres. So they came up with regional DVD coding. They could release the DVD in North America but those DVDs wouldn’t play on DVD players in other parts of the world. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/19 "2012-03-26T22:48:03Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Why not just torrent the thing and be done with it? > > Don’t bother asking where unless you want this thread closed as well. Probably because some people have integrity. Anyway, I found this page here: [Prisoner Cell Block H](http://www.prisoner-cellblockh.co.uk/dvd/aus.html) that has links to order the whole series from [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk) in 8 disk sets. I’m not sure if they have the whole series or not (the few I clicked on were used copies only) and they run around £16 (~$25.50) each. Supposedly they are all region but I don’t know how accurate that is. It does not say anywhere that they won’t deliver to the US. You can also order the whole series straight from shock entertainment here: [http://www.shock.com.au/releases](http://www.shock.com.au/releases) (search prisoner in the box at the left), but it’s going to cost you about $40 for each 8 disk set (the full 692 episode set is $700 and out of stock) and I believe they are region 4. Considering a cheap all region DvD player is cheaper then a single box set (~$30), that shouldn’t be a huge problem if you were going to order them from there. Alternately, [lovefilm.com](http://lovefilm.com) (sort of like a UK version of netflix) has the first 12 box sets, but I have absolutely no idea if you can sign up for it from the US or not, and I don’t know if they have this specific series for streaming or not. That’s all I found. Apparently in the US they only released the two box sets **Czarcasm** linked earlier, which is why it’s hard to find anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844/20 "2012-03-26T22:57:36Z")
> [@badlyburnttoast](#): > > Probably because some people have integrity. I have “integrity”. I don’t buy bootlegs just to save a buck or two. If there’s a commercial release available, I buy that. But if I want to watch a movie and the people who own the rights choose to not release it, then I’ll go to alternate sources. _Prisoner: Cell Block H_ ran from 1979 to 1986. The rights holders have had twenty-five years to release the series in the United States. Their right to be morally outraged at bootlegging has worn pretty thin by now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoner-of-cell-block-h-a-rant-about-access/616844.md?page=2)