ABOUT & FAQ
THE SWANAGE emerged from the video website "Rare Movies Worldwide," where we'd offer "8-packs" of DVDs for a discounted price. After many years, we decided to close up Rare Movies Worldwide, as more and more fans were going digital, and even the best DVD-R discs can have inevitable playback problems, especially over time. So we put an end to those sales. We did, however, sell some of the drives offered here at THE SWANAGE.
(You can return to the home page here.)
THE SWANAGE is run by myself (Steve, who runs the website) and my biz partner Michael. We started Rare Movies Worldwide years ago as movie fans simply looking to give a decent deal to fellow fans. With the external hard drives, we think you'll agree that the value is pretty incredible, as the drives can hold thousands of high-quality movies. (And yes, we chose "THE SWANAGE" simply because we are huge fans of "Phantom of the Paradise," which of course is on the '70s movie drive.) And as stated on the home page, we are indeed on ebay as 'THE SWANAGE" and you can see (on the home page as well) we have over 1700 positive feedbacks (100% rating) and are trusted sellers. (I pretty much run the ebay account.)
Below is a FAQ that hopefully answers any questions you may have, You can also always get in touch via email at theswanage@yahoo.com.
What kind of movie files are on the drives?
The movie files on the external hard drives we offer are all common files, such as MKV, AVI and MP4. They play on all common computer media players, but we find the VLC player to be the overall best one (it's also the most popular). It's free online and worth a download.
Will they play on both PC and Mac?
Yes. However, the external drive will be formatted for PC, so while you can definitely play the movies on a Mac, you couldn't make changes to the contents of the drive.
Are any films repeated on different drives?
Very few. For example, a few movies are on both the "cult" and "70's movie" drives (like "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" for example) but the overall number is so small it's not even a whole percentage point.
What exactly will arrive?
You'll receive your ordered brand-new external hard drive (only used to add the movies) full of the movie collection you wanted. The drive will be a portable external, which powers up when it is connected to your computer via the included USB cord.
What are the sources and how's the quality?
The sources for the films can be from anywhere and everywhere, online, webrips, DVD or blu-ray rips, etc., all collected for you. We do all the work in gethering the films! The quality is usually very nice, high-res files, and sometimes of course if a film is especially rare or scarce, the quality may be less but even that can be good, giving a true grindhouse feel. We feel it's better to include a scarce film with lesser quality than not include it at all. We find the best quality we can with every movie.
Can I "switch" any movies from one drive to another before buying?
Absolutely! This gives you the freedom to customize. For example, let's say you purchase the Erotica drive. However, you see 100 movies on it that you couldn't care less about. So, you can instruct us not to include those 100 movies, and to put on 100 movies from either another drive/drives instead. It can be five movies, 50 movies, 100 movies, or 500 movies. Any amount up to 500. (We cannot replace any movies with TV series.)
What payments do you accept?
Online payments are done by pay-pal. You can use credit cards or your own pay-pal account for payment. No snail mail at the moment.
How about trades?
We don't trade drives for individual movies, but we will trade for comic books! Mainly Marvels, Archies, and other companies. Nothing past 1979 though. And it's gotta be good stuff!
Telephone?
See the contact page for info on the upcoming hotline.
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More info - every drive has an ID mark on it so we know it's for you, or from you if there's a problem. We do not offer refunds, but we will replace bad drives. In all these many years, we only had one bad drive slip out, which we replaced (upon receiving the original back). Contact us with any problems - we have a great rep and will work with you.
The cost of every drive includes priority postage and insurance, and is shipped very safely.
USA orders only for now, apologies for any inconvenience.
To get the very most of your drive, please remember that it is primarily a storage device. While you can run movies right off of it after you connect to your computer, we highly recommend you copy the movie/movies you want to watch to your computer (or USB stick) first. This way, you use the drive itself as little as possible. That's good health for the drive! And again, you can also copy to a USB stick, and watch the movies off that through a USB port on your TV or DVD/Blu player. Keep in mind though, if you plan to watch on a TV, the bigger the TV, the more any flaws and imperfections in the film quality will show. What may look great on a 40 or 50 inch screen, may not look as great on an 85 inch screen. This is why we stress the drives are mainly for computer viewing.