Quoting goblinsdoitall:

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Quoting goblinsdoitall:

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I still don't really get how your rating systems work.
In Germany the whole DVD gets the rating of the content with the highest rating.
This may result in the strange: Main Feature FSK-0 (suitable for all audiences) and a Trailer with FSK-18 (not allowed for people under 18) -> the whole DVD having an FSK-18 (This is sometimes even used for merchandising purposes).
Since this is DVD-Profiler and not Movie-Profiler (as quite often stated), we would duly enter the FSK-18 for the DVD, all else would lead to endless discussions on sources.
So if for some incomprehensible reasons your rating organization seems to think that R is a higher rating than NR, so be it. We do not interpret data, we enter it.

So, it was me to vote "Other". Unless someone can explain to me how the US rating system works I can see no reason to choose another rating than the one imprinted on the cover, whichever this may be.

What do you want to know. Our rating system is quite arbitrary and silly. I have never been a supporter of any sort of nannyism, I pay no atention to MPAA ratings save for rexcord keeping.

Skip

That's a pity that by the sound of it there's either no law or it's the same age for both. If R was 17 and NR was 18 I think we could easily decide.

Alas in DVDPland it's never as simple as it first looks!

Quoting goblinsdoitall:

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Kind of.
I wanted to know what the rating organization considers to be more restrictive (R or NR), and, if it is NR, how it is possible that DVDs with unrated content don't automatically get an NR rating?
In Germany, if a DVD would have truly unrated content it would automatically get the highest rating, in addition it would not be allowed to be sold publicly, or in any kind advertised (not even presented in store-shelves) and is only to be sold on direct request of the customer.
Obviously this is handled somewhat different in the US, just wanted to know how.

NR is not an official rating.  It simply means that the film was not rated.  Because it isn't an official rating, there is no age restriction associated with it.

Currently, unrated is a marketing ploy.  It is used to get people to buy a specific version of the film.  In this special version, you can see what you couldn't see in the rated theatrical version...more gore, more intensity, more violence, more whatever.  Usually, on these releases, they include the theatrical version as a bonus.  Since they do, they also include the rating for that version.

Quoting goblinsdoitall:

Quote:
I wanted to know what the rating organization considers to be more restrictive (R or NR), and, if it is NR, how it is possible that DVDs with unrated content don't automatically get an NR rating?
In Germany, if a DVD would have truly unrated content it would automatically get the highest rating, in addition it would not be allowed to be sold publicly, or in any kind advertised (not even presented in store-shelves) and is only to be sold on direct request of the customer.
Obviously this is handled somewhat different in the US, just wanted to know how.

The MPAA has the following ratings, in order of least->most restrictive:
G -> PG -> PG-13 -> R -> NC-17

NR, Not Rated, means simply that.  The film is not rated.  This is not part of the ratings system at all.

In the US Not Rated can mean different things:
- the film was made before 1968, which is when the MPAA ratings system went into force
- the film was never submitted to the ratings board (as Skip said, a number of documentaries are like this, as are direct-to-video releases, esp. ones for kids)
- the film is released in an 'unrated' version on DVD

It is the last that is the issue here.  Basically it is a marketing gimmick - the theatrical version was rated but for DVD they release a different cut that has some more footage - sometimes only a few seconds - and is therefore not that cut that was rated.  The gimmick is that this unrated version will be more graphic than the theatrical version. 

As Skip pointed out, it is up to stores & theatres to enforce the MPAA ratings.  There is no governmental body that says a person under 17 can't buy an R-rated movie.  I can sell Saw to a 12 year old at my store if I want to and there is no legal repercussion.  It is up to stores to decide which DVDs to carry and sell at their discretion.  There are stores that will have unrated DVDs on the shelf and stores that will not.  Theatrically, it is almost impossible to get an unrated film booked in theatres.  They just won't carry it.

To the original question:

My opinion is that we should use the rating from the rated version.  For these reasons:

1.  NR tells you nothing.  The ratings actually impart information.
2.  There will be very little difference in the content of the film.  If the rated version received an R for graphic bloody violence and strong language, those elements will still be in the unrated version.
3.  Profiler considers NR to be the least restrictive rating as far as parental controls are considered.
4.  There is no way to distinguish in DVDP between a film that is Not Rated and a film that is Unrated - or, in other words, between these unrated cuts and films that never submitted to the rating board in the first place (direct-to-video kids features, films made before 1968, etc.)

Examples of NR films:
- Barbie as Rapunzel (kids movie, direct-to-video)
- The Magic of Flight (an IMAX documentary)
- Help! (1965 musical comedy starring the Beatles)
- Max Payne: Unrated (rated PG-13 theatrically for Violence Including Intense Shooting Sequences, Drug Content, Some Sexuality and Brief Strong Language)
- Mirrors: Unrated (rated R theatrically for Strong Violence, Disturbing Images, Language and Brief Nudity)
- Law Abiding Citizen: Unrated Director's Cut (rated R theatrically for Strong Bloody Brutal Violence and Torture, a Scene of Rape, and Pervasive Language)

Now I ask - does it make any sense to group the last three (all available with theatrical & unrated in the same package) with the first three when there is another option available? 

For the same reasons, in my LOCAL I change all DVDs of unrated cuts to the rating given theatrically, even when the rating is not present on the package, and then lock it.  Yes, as Skip pointed out the MPAA is arbitrary and silly as far as ratings are concerned, as some films get an R that don't deserve it, but there is information being imparted there and it does tell me something about the content of the film. 

Phew.  Sorry for being so wordy. 

Hence why I suggested a simple checkbox below the current rating for those discs that contain an unrated version on that disc (oh, and I believe for Law Abiding Citizen the unrated and theatrical versions are on 2 different discs, at least on the Blu-ray, so it wouldn't apply here as each disc could have its own profile, one as NR and the other with its original R rating).

But I don't know how much work this would entail so it may not be feasible...

Quoting goblinsdoitall:

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I'd enter the rating of the rated version, if the rated version is present on the DVD too, except in cases where both "ratings" are to be seen on the package, here I'd probably enter the felt higher rating (NR).

If I understand you right, generally that's how titles with both versions on the same disc are shown with the official rating and next to it (or on top/bottom) the Unrated text. There might be exceptions, though I haven't seen many (not to say they aren't out there).

Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:

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And some NR versions aren't more extreme, they just were never submitted to the MPAA for whatever reason. For instance, the alternate cut of I am Legend is slightly less violent, but has an ending that didn't test well.

Right.  The key point here is that the MPAA and other ratings organizations charge a hefty fee for issuing a rating (since they know many theatre chains won't show an unrated film).  But why go to that expense when you can use "Unrated" as a marketing tool with a DVD?