DVD Region Code?

[Andy1845c]

Is there such a thing? My girlfriend wants to buy a movie off ebay - **broken link removed**

Scroll toward the bottom, it says to make sure you can play this DVD before bidding. Does this mean that if its coded 2 for Europe, it won't play in a DVD player made to be used in america? I've never heard of it before What would be the point in doing this?

 

[Andy1845c]

****posted twice****

 

[Marks256]

yes there is a such thing...

 

[Andy1845c]

Can it be over-ridden (sp?)

 

[Marks256]

Firmware mods(hacks) will bypass it, but it voids your player's warrenty... which i am sure you will be fine with that since you are part of this forum...

 

[hjames]

Some dvd players either are completely region free, or have oddball tricks to set them into a region free mode.

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

Alternatively if this is on a computer, you can always re-encode the DVD into another format if you have the time/disk space. Of course doing anything of the sort means that you are a very bad person, and aren't paying enough money to the entertainment industry...

 

[Marks256]

Aaah! Hjames is right. There are "easter eggs" on some DVD players that allow the user to change the region to play in... :wink:

 

[justDIY]

keep in mind circumventing or bypassing content protection is a federal felony under the new and improved DMCA in these great united states of hollywood special interests

 

[Andy1845c]

which i am sure you will be fine with that since you are part of this forum...

lol

Thanks guys, I'll see what I can figure out tomarrow.

 

[Sceadwian]

Just a note, this could be played on a personal computer. Almost all DVD ROM drives allow you to change your region code in hardware settings about 4 times before it locks out the changing ability.

 

[kchriste]

DVD Region Code?
Is there such a thing?

Yes.... It's a pretty stupid thing too. It allows the movie studios to release DVD movies at different times for different areas of the world. You can buy region free DVD players here in Canada for $50, but you have to unlock them with a cheat code first because it is illegal to sell one unlocked. Go figure!

 

[i_build_stuff]

keep in mind circumventing or bypassing content protection is a federal felony under the new and improved DMCA in these great united states of hollywood special interests

I think that's only if you release software that's primarily intended as a crack--not if you just apply the crack. Apparently, these companies were sick of seeing their DRM broken the first week, so they bought the DMCA to help delay the inevitable by a few days.

Personally, I'd reward their investment with a quick trip to thepiratebay...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

keep in mind circumventing or bypassing content protection is a federal felony under the new and improved DMCA in these great united states of hollywood special interests

Only because the Americans created region coding so they can rip the rest of the world off some more!.

 

[Andy1845c]

Geez, how did this get posted twice Any chance you could merge the 2 Nigel? Sorry

 

[Andy1845c]

I guess I still don't see the logic in it.... I'm not looking to do anything illegal, just looking to buy somthing and it happens to be in another country. I'd never heard of it until lastnight. But I guess all the DVDs I have were bought at american stores. It would be interesting to live out of the US for a while. Somtimes it feels like living in a controlled bubble

 

[justDIY]

in my view, DRM is counterproductive, and results in lost sales.

Instead of just selling one version of the DVD, world wide, Hollywood goes and gets greedy. The result, the rest of the world is offended by the action and pirates the DVD instead of buying it.

Hollywoods view on region coding is to comply with American censorship standards. Our movie content is tightly censored and regulated, compared to Europe's debauchery. So the censors wanted a way to control what you watch, so you can't go buy that eastern european pr0n flick and watch it on your 108" plasma tv, at least, not without committing a few felonies along the way.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hollywoods view on region coding is to comply with American censorship standards.

Load of rubbish - it's to prevent us buying cheap DVD's from the USA, they would rather rip us off with higher prices and later releases!.

 

[justDIY]

Load of rubbish - it's to prevent us buying cheap DVD's from the USA, they would rather rip us off with higher prices and later releases!.

that's just the cover story

 

[Andy1845c]

Load of rubbish - it's to prevent us buying cheap DVD's from the USA, they would rather rip us off with higher prices and later releases!.

How much is an american DVD in England? I know it sounds ignorant, but are American movies popular in England and other english speaking countrys? I imagine there are alot of movies made in and for England that we never hear about in the US, as I would suspect alot of American movies are never heard about much in England. Or Does America make far more movies then other countrys? How about Canada, Australia and New Zealand? I know we have members from these countrys, Are America movie titles what you see on store shelves and at rental places? Or do you get more diversity?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The VAST majority of DVD's on the shelves in the UK are American - probably 90%+?. Prices vary a lot, but you're probably looking at £12.99 for an average price on a single disc?.

India has a HUGE film industry, so perhaps there's a massive Indian DVD market? - but I've never seen any, and wouldn't be looking!.