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| Introduction |
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Region codes were created to please the movie studios that distribute DVD
movies. DVD movies
are released at different times all over the world (usually in the United
States first), and different
studios handle distribution. Without region codes, a person in, say, Belgium,
could buy a DVD movie
in the US before it is actually released in Belgium. That means the studio releasing the DVD movie in
Belgium loses out. Each player is given a code for the region in which it is sold. The player
will refuse to play discs
that are not allowed in that region. This means that discs bought in one country may not play on
players bought in another country. |
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The following is a list of region codes and their corresponding geography:
| Region |
Areas |
| 1 |
Canada, United States, US Territories |
| 2 |
Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East (including Egypt) |
| 3 |
Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong) |
| 4 |
Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America,
Caribbean |
| 5 |
Russian Federation, India, Pakistan, Africa (except Egypt), North Korea,
Mongolia |
| 6 |
China |
| 7 |
Reserved |
| 8 |
Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, and so on) |
Note: Some DVDs may have a region code of "0," which means that
DVD is region-free.
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| Buying a Multi-Region DVD Player |
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Getting a multi-region, stand alone DVD player for your television is a
bit more complicated. Most
UK retailers (large or small) sell region 2-enabled DVD players. If you
already have a DVD player,
chances are that it's a region 2 player (if you live in the US or Canada it will be sold as region
1-enabled).
You can usually find multi-region players at stores that specialize in
audio/video electronics via the
internet. Also, try to find video stores that specialize in foreign DVDs.
Often these stores sell
multi-region DVD players so you can watch the foreign DVDs they sell.
Keep in mind that television standards differ in foreign countries. The US, Canada, Mexico, and Japan
use an NTSC signal for television. Parts of Europe, Russia and Africa use
SECAM. The rest of the
world gravitates toward PAL which is the UK standard. You might need a
television that can handle
NTSC, SECAM, and PAL, or a DVD player that can output any signal to an
NTSC signal.
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| RCE |
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The Motion Picture Association of America recently created RCE, or regional code enhancing, for
DVD movies. RCE is supposed to stop people with multi-region DVD players
from watching DVD
discs bought in North America. RCE is now included in DVD movies, and may
not play on some
multi-region DVD players. If you plan to buy a multi-region DVD player, check to see if the player
can work around RCE. Some DVD players that let you do region switching
through the remote control
may be able to run RCE DVDs.
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| Macrovision |
Owning a multi-region DVD player is not illegal, but the MPAA frowns upon them, because many of
these players do not have the DVD copy protection called Macrovision. Most
commercial DVDs have
Macrovision, a copy-protection device used to prevent copying.
Some of the facts on Macrovision...
- These are scrambling systems designed to protect the interest content
owners.
- Macrovision is an analogue copy-protection system employed in both VHS
cassettes and DVD players to prevent the programme being copied onto videotape.
- Main functions include encryption, watermarking, protection of analog and
digital outputs.
- The Macrovision circuit is built into the DVD player and is turned on by an
instruction from the disc.
- Not all discs turn the Macrovision on, as this requires a royalty payment to
the Macrovision Corporation, which cut into the disc producer’s profit margins.
- Macrovision circuit can be found in most DVD players, it will render the
picture unwatchable - if you ever try to copy from a Macrovision protected
source (such as DVD) to VCR tape.
- By nature, it has a minor degrading effect on overall video quality.
- You would notice its presence, if your picture is getting into a
darker/flicker and normal loop periodically.
- Macrovision can have a rather adverse side effect on certain projectors by
causing a severe flickering of colours.
- Macrovision can also have some side effects on a small number of
televisions.
- Macrovision are hyping their copy-protection formats as real solutions for
an industry paranoid about copyright violation, whilst ignoring the fact that
these formats can bring many times more problems than they actually solve.
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