couple of questions...

[CommanderEVE]

I do that some times (read it but don’t post a comment) but I do it to make people feel happy.

[jeffbert]

But do you have more than one physical unit that can play DVDs? Because if you have just one, you'll have to switch region each time you watch the DVDs you listed above and Madman's Astroboy, and you can't do that more than 5 times... So after three sessions of those and two of Astroboy, you wouldn't be able to switch it anymore.

BTW, I've just realized you were from UK, so forget what I said about the PAL format. That is not a problem for you!

BTW, Manga Entertainment's Astroboy DVD set (who are very good despite the lack of the first two Japanese episode) is a lot cheaper than Madman's. The difference might be enough to allow you to buy a DVD player that you could connect to your TV. However, Manga's set is in NTSC format, so make sure your player can read them.

I used ANYDVD, a program that allows a full 20 day free evaluation. Although I have yet to pay the $$ to make it work beyond the evaluation period, I expect to reinstall windows on my laptop soon, so I will have another 20 days.

Besides that, I do have an external drive that connects via the USB port. Be advised that you cannot get full-motion video through usb 1, though. USB 2 is required for that.