Inspired by Raven's US Customs post...

I want to bring back some DVDs when I pop over to the 'Dam in April. I've been many times before but have never brought back XXX DVDs. Not that I'm going for anything bizarre, just a few straight or lesbian hardcore DVDs for my own use - probably pretty tame compared to stuff I can download from the web for free.

I know the "rules" about this sort of thing are a lttle grey, and more relaxed over the past few years... but do any of our UK posters have experience bringing DVDs back? What are the current regulations? Does anyone know the penalties? Is it a simple matter of "OK, we'll confiscate them (yeah, right) and off you go" or can it be more serious?

Having said that, the last time I returned from the 'Dam there wasn't a single customs officer on duty (visible, anyway) so do they even bother?

I'm sure many of you have brought DVDs back, so how did you get on?

I had no problem - brought a couple of hardcore movies in my rucsac straight through Heathrow and on to a connecting flight without a single glance

Not a problem unless you want animal or under age then you risk loosing them. There is a porno mag that posts direct to uk at a fraction of the shop price in Amsterdam. XPN Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal Amsterdam Netherlands. The address is not exactly correct but drop them a request for a mag. 40p from UK.
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Is the F+ck you get worth the F+cking you get.

I've never had any problems bringing DVD's back from the Dam and I've done it several times now.

One time though when I got back I discovered that one of the DVD boxes was empty so make sure that you buy them shrinkwrapped or check the contents of the boxes before you buy.

Cheers

Take a hint from an expert, provided you say they are for personal use and do not contain anything to do with kids etc then you will not be touched by customs, they cannot dictate what you watch, its all personal choice. Look at the films they are certifying for general release, full blown sex. Enjoy.

Alan

on return in feb i was pulled in by customs and i had 3 xxx dvds, nothing bizarre. basically she looked at the covers and checked the discs, she explained that if they looked to hardcore she would have to take them and view them. if they were then deemed ok, they would be forwarded to my home. a quick browse and they were returned, 2 were straight sex and 1 a lesbian show. dont think you would have a problem.

You won't have a problem. The airport store has a good selection of straight and girl/girl hardcore DVDs and last summer my bf and I spent so long browsing and making our choices that we missed our flight and had to get bumped on to the next available one. We explained what had happened to the officials, who had a good laugh over it. Of course, we were expecting they would radio on to our arrival airport in the UK so we thought we'd get stopped by customs, but we breezed through.

Thanks for the advice guys - I can't imagine my tame(ish) tastes in Adult DVD Entertainment will raise too many eyebrows, so it's good to know they don't bother too much. All I need to do now is make enough room for all those boxed set collectors editions... :)

I was going to ask "Anyone got any DVD favourites they can recommend?" but that discussion could go on forever...! And I've no doubt some of your selections wouldn't be my cup of herbal tea.

If you get the chance, go to the market at the Waterloo plein (spelling?) As I remember one of the market stalls was selling new DVD's AND VIDEOS at a fraction of the costs in the RLD. Infact that was all they sold, and every taste seemed to be covered.
Good luck.

Papa is right, the market at Waterlooplein has specific porn stalls. here were plenty of 10 hardcore DVD's for 29 Euro offers - cheap as chips as that twat from the telly would say. Quite a variety of material. The shops around the RLD are appalling rip-offs. Don't buy from them. However, the shops do have the Paris Hilton video in them which the stalls don't, but that's the only way they are superior....

Will all the DVDs be able to play in America or are they the wrong region?

As far as I know from my days in the consumer electronics biz, most players are actually multi-region anyway and simply pre-programmed at the factory to play certain regions. They are generally "unlockable" via the remote control.

Here's a few useful links:
http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/mult ... ckable.asp
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php
http://hometheater.about.com/cs/dvdlase ... codesa.htm

One thing to watch out for is that you get an American NTSC format disk, rather than European PAL / SECAM format - if you get the wrong one, at best you'll be watching in B&W with no sound!

Personally, I now mainly use my XBOX for DVD, and haven't found anything it won't play yet (but I still keep my comparatively large and old yet very servicable multi-region multi-format NTSC/PAL DVD player which cost me a fortune when it first came out) just in case...

Sideline: UK TV buffs prefer the quality of the standard 625 line broadcasts over the 425 line US broadcsts, saying that NTSC stands for "Never the same colour"... Roll on HDTV!

burgherboy:

ha ha! so which one was she gonna *have* to watch!? ;)

AnthonySullivan: just to add to what CalicoJack says regarding region encoding, if you have a multi-region player it should do automatic PAL>NTSC conversion and vice versa; they usually don't do SECAM, which is yet another standard, used primarily in France. a good multiregion player (cheap and readily available these days) should also operate on 110v-220v. if you're shopping for one, don't be put off by non-brand names -- most players contain the same 'guts', just the chassis is different.

fwiw, I have an NTSC/PAL telly w/ a multiregion PAL<>NTSC player (got it at Tesco Extra for £149 3.5 years ago, CalicoJack) so I can watch N. American (region 1) DVDs here in the UK and, if/when I do move back to the States, I'll be able to enjoy region 2 versions of films like 'Lola Rennt' ('Run Lola Run') and my Brass Eye, Banzai! and Ali G DVDs ;)

just remember that porno usually has no region coding anyway. aaaiii!

-paniked

Brass Eye! Chris Morris = Comedy God.

I wonder if any of the bridge dealers can get me some Clarky Cats or Yellow Bentines?

ah, but nothing can quite top Rolf Harris denouncing the new drug 'Cake', sometimes known as "Joss Ackland's Spunky Backpack"! :) maybe "this paedophile is disguised as a school" does though ;)

it's stuff like that that makes this American want to stay on your island, crazy TV license fee or not! :)

-paniked

Couple of points;

1. Most XXX DVDs are 'region free', and so should be playable in any country.

2. UK Customs can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground, and so how any films are treated will depend on who stops you. I have had one customs office tell me as she was searching the car, that it is illegal to bring pornography into the country. The Customs & Excise web site says that it isn't. Basically, if a film would get an R18 certification over here, then you can bring it back, (try looking at www.bbfc.co.uk for an idea of what gets passed and what get cut). I have an email from Customs which says that anything showing consensual sex between adults is OK,. but what they would stop is animals or kids, (naturally), anal or vaginal fisting, anything that implies a lack of consent, bondage involving the use of a gag, (so that consent cannot be withdrawn), violence, and scatophagy, (look it up if you need to, but you really don't want to know). Looking at what has been cut from films on the bbfc website can give you a good idea of what not to bring back, (throttling, gagging, flushing heads down the toilet during sex and other habits practiced by Rocco and Max Hardcore). Another thing to be careful of is the titles. Anything with Schoolgirl or Teenage can be seen as implying underaged sex, and you'll notice that Rocco's 'Animal Trainer' series get renamed to 'Sex Trainer' if they get R18 certificates.

I would agree with a previous poster that Waterlooplein markt is the cheapest place for DVDs, followed by placed like Fame and all the other 'mainstream' DVD shops in the centre of town. Don't use the sex shops in the RLD unless you absolutely have to as the prices are a complete rip off.

Good luck

not to sure paniked, i presume she was looking for evening viewing, lol, 1 of the dvds had no print on the disc so it could have been anything, anyhow as posted before i think she was more interested in finding drugs and i was more embarrassed about the porn!

Hi,just a quick message to let you know that i ordered about 14 xxx dvds from america and when they arrived they were checked by customs and i had to pay import duty on them but they were forwarded by post anyway so there shouldn't be a problem.
as for the waterlooplein market i got some there and they weren't up to much ( pretty soft by any standards )but there is a market behind the red light area and there are stalls selling decent hardcore stuff and cheap,not sure what day it is on so you may have to ask.

alternatively look online. There are many sites belonging to the DVD producers - such as www.evilangel.com. There are many more devoted to any specific tastes you have. Also try the usenet (newsgroups). If you cannot find what you are looking for try www.easynews.com and read direct withpout a reader. There is much free stuff in there - after you pay your £5 maonthly sub. Most sites these days offer streaming. Some offer downloads. Try a search in Copernic (download free) and get going. You may need a rar file reader, but many small and often free programs like zipgenius will extract them for you to mpg or avi format.

Jack

Its very rare for customs to search anyone travelling from another EU country. I have never been searched including the many times I've come back from Schipol (to Birmingham / Luton). As mentioned above, you should not have any problems and you can buy 'Private' brand hardcore stuff etc at Schipol.

A general shopping tip, avoid the sex shops in the Walletjes as the prices are a rip off. Try Miranda, Ceinturbaan or any branch of Erotic Discount Centre. Branches of Free Record Shop usually have a good selection of porn including uncut Ben Dover DVDs for as little as €10.

In the rare event of you being searched I think it's only if you had multiple copies of the same DVD that you might get them confiscated as customs would guess that you had bought them to sell on.

Buying porn on-line or in person overseas and bringing it back is easy nowadays as it should be as customs have stopped interfering. They have better things to do after all. Porn is harmless.

Peeps