I might actually make a thread on this since im a bit of a technophobe (ie geek). But there are a number of differences to having the region 2/4 disks instead of region 1 US.
The US are in 4:3 as they were originally intended wheras UK (region 2/4) are in Widescreen. The 4:3 dosnt miss anything important and Joss has said that he prefers 4:3 the way they were intended but owning the widescreen (16:9) and copies of the 4:3 i can tell you that the 16:9 are brilliant on a widescreen monitor and often have lots of extra scene information and views that make it a bit more 'involving'. But, thats personal preference. This only applies to season 4 onwards, 1-3 are all 4:3. If you have an HD monitor and upsale monitor (i watch on computer with a 24" 1080 monitor and fyi WinDVD has great upscaling features and is the only software to have it for PC) then having the 16:9 is downright awesome. Your essential watching buffy in 720p HD and it looks great.
One downside to any non US DVD set is it is converted from the original NTSC to PAL. This means the 24f of the original source is speeded up to fit the PAL standard of 25 frames per second. Meaning, all video and audio for each episode actually looses a couple mins. If you watch an episode, say the gift at 45 odd mins, the UK version will be around 42-43 (and thats including the 'Previously on buffy' segmant that the US doesnt have). This means youll be watching buffy quicker and the audio will be half a semitone higher, which is rarely noticable but if you have REALLY good hearing you MAY be able to tell.
So my point is either way, noone is getting the best deal. 16:9 is the best format and is without errors but the US version gets it at the right speed.... Now, my solution...
I watch all my stuff on my computer since i have a big enough screen and a decent audio system and it just makes the most sense. If you have the UK version but want to watch it in its original format, both WinDVD and VLCplayer allow you to crop the screen, no probs. Just press C in VLC and you can view it as Joss intended. For the speedup problem, WinDVD has an option called PALTruSpeed, this corrects the speed up problem in one click.
My way to watch... UK Region 2 disks, Corel Windvd, Upscale to HD, PalTruSpeed, and digital natural motion enabled. Without a doubt is the best way to watch but then... im a geek. Either way it makes VERY little difference and every version has its benefits.
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"charmingslayer agrees: Your so lucky to have it in 16:9 widescreen lol"
well i can tell you, if you want the 16:9 versions you are actually under US law entitled to them. This doesn't apply to other region 1 countries (Canada etc) other than US but if you own a version of the DVD, under US copyright law you are entitled to download them. This comes under recipricory (spelling??) rights of some kind and allows you to own the copy (as long as you are not distributing them).
Anyway, if you want a copy of the 16:9's let me know and I can provide links on how to get them. I'd say the biggest way to make buffy better is watching them on a decent screen though (4:3 can still be upscaled), 16:9 isnt THAT big of a deal... just a bit more frame