BBC: DVD Region coding system on the verge of colapse! (1 Viewer)

[Jean-Michel]

I should jump in here to point out that this thread is redundant (by only six minutes at that). The original thread is here.

 

[Mark E J]

Won't the NTSC/PAL differences stop importing even if Region coding is dropped? I know some players will convert PAL to NTSC. But if you don't have those players isn't region 0 disks still unplayable in the US?

 

[Josh Lowe]

Post Edited by Administrator - Do Not Repost!

 

[Yee-Ming]

That article is from a European perspective. I think Region coding is still very strong in North America, where it's somewhat tricky to find a region-free player.

how ironic. the original idea of regional coding was to prevent non-North Americans from buying region 1 discs, since theatrical releases are generally fastest in North America.

now it seems almost everyone, apart from North Americans, has a player that is multi-region and happily buys R1 discs online (case in point, me!), whereas our North American friends are hamstrung by their R1-only players and can't play anything else.

just to add to Chris' comment, here in Singapore our theatrical releases generally match North America's for
"big" movies, and it's only "smaller" movies (or more "artsy" movies) that are expected to do less well at the box office that get delayed a few months. as for DVDs, pretty much all B&M stores sell R1 discs, and carry "official" R3 discs more as a sideline or "by the way".

 

[Jeff_HR]

whereas our North American friends are hamstrung by their R1-only players and can't play anything else

I'm not hamstrung now. My JVC XV-SA70 allows me to watch ANY DVD!!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Let's be very careful when discussing any type of pirating techniques beyond DVD players with the capability to play all regions.
Crawdaddy

 

[Colin Sims]

A very similar thing is happening here is Australia where the government body, the "Australian Competition and Consumer Commission" (ACCC)is investigating region coding and it's effect on competition.
The ACCC is really on side with the consumer and seems poised to ban the selling of region coded players in OZ. Recently they beat Sony in court, making mod-chipping of Playstations for de-region-coding legal.
Full full article:
ACCC media release - DVD Region coding

"The ACCC has for some time been investigating the regional playback control (RPC) technology present in DVD players and accompanying films. The ACCC is aware that DVD RPC effectively divides the world into six regions for the purposes of DVD distribution, preventing inter-region substitution of discs and hardware. The practical effect of RPC is that a consumer who has purchased a DVD player in Australia may be prevented from playing films obtained from overseas. The ACCC believes that overseas markets give Australian consumers access to a wider range of competitively priced film titles, with special features not otherwise available in Australia. In the ACCC’s view, this means Australian consumers are forced to pay higher prices for films with fewer features and a lesser range of film titles. "

 

[Colin Sims]

I forgot the article which announced the actual victory by ACCC.
Media Release

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I have merged the two threads on this topic.

-V

 

[TheoGB]

Robert: Almost all DVD players have such "cheat codes." DVD players are manufactured all at once and then the DVD player company uses these menus to set the region on a player before it's shipped off to that region. It saves money by only manufacturing one model for the whole world.

Not true. Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Pioneer and Sharp machines do not have hanset hacks and probably never will. We have to get these machines 'chipped' which costs.

Moreover, because R2 luckily includes an NTSC territory, we have builty in output for PAL and NTSC. I don't know whether this has to be put in on other region players...

 

[BrianB]

I don't know whether this has to be put in on other region players...

It's definitely trickier in the US - most TVs here do NOT support PAL in any form, so it's upto the DVD player to convert PAL DVD output into NTSC.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Multi-region TVs are available but very hard to find and more expensive. And you can use an outboard PAL to NTSC converter, but those also tend to be expensive. The multi-region DVD player is definately the best way to go here in R1 land.

 

[Ted Todorov]

My multi-region JVC is the best. After all there are no threads anywhere that I can find that speak to problems with JVCs. There ARE such threads about Malatas.

Jeff,

As a Malata (N996) owner, I will definitely agree that Malatas have problems (trouble playing certain disks, bad remote, etc.) However from what I know they are superior to the JVC in terms of features like their scaling capability, being able to scale non-anamorphic DVDs into anamorphic ones, etc.

Could you tell us more about the JVC -- is it region free out of the box, did you have to buy it from a specific store, approx. cost, etc.

Thanks,
Ted

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The Malata also does an reference job in converting PAL discs to NTSC or 480P SD output for "american" TVs. It can also do the reverse (though most TVs in Europe can handle NTSC input as well). It's conversion is so good that it supercedes what many production studios are doing when they convert signals on their "studio" equipment!

Region free is one thing. But being able to convert from PAL to NTSC and v.v. is where *real* world-wide compatibility begins.

Personally, I don't think region coding is coming to an end. I agree that it can easily be defeated for anyone who really wants to do so, but even catalog titles continue to be released with region coding on the DVD...so what evidence is there that it's coming to an end? Only the rare odd title is coded as region 0 and usually from small independent mastering houses.

-dave

 

[Jeff_HR]

Yes Ted, it was multi-region out of the box & it could do PAL to NTSC conversion. I purchased it from a company called JVB Digital. They have offices in The Netherlands & in Dearborn MI. I picked it up in person from their Dearborn office because I live only 45 minutes south of it. I paid $300, a slightly discounted price because I picked it up in person. They also sell modification kits for the do-it-youself types or will modify a regular one region player for you at a cost. My player is a single disc machine with progressive scan capability for NTSC. It plays widescreen PAL discs perfectly. JVC & Malata use the same chip for the playing back of PAL widescreen. I don't have a 16:9 television & most likely never will, so scaling is not an issue for me. I originally wanted a 7 disc changer, but those were discontinued just days before I was ready to buy.

 

[James Reader]

Personally, I don't think region coding is coming to an end. I agree that it can easily be defeated for anyone who really wants to do so, but even catalog titles continue to be released with region coding on the DVD...so what evidence is there that it's coming to an end? Only the rare odd title is coded as region 0 and usually from small independent mastering houses.

Exactly - why should region encoding be coming to an end? It costs nothing for a disc to be pressed with a region code on it, so what do the studio's have to loose?

They still would prefer to manufacture separate PAL discs for the European/Australian market, or add extra soundtracks and subtitles for non-english speaking territories. And on the whole they would prefer some sort of control over these discs and the American counterparts. If only to justify pressing the non R1 version by increasing sales. While regions may not stop the enthusiast importing titles, it does stop a sizable proportion of their customer base (hell, you'll be surprised how many DVD owners don't even know about Region Encoding).

All I see is some older, less popular cataloged titles being released as R0 to save manufacturing costs - much like Warner does with its R1/R2 titles at the moment.

Hell, if a disc isn't going to be released or aggressively marketed outside of R1, why not make it R0 and pick up any extra sales due to people importing from America?

Major titles, both new releases and catalog titles, plus films licensed to different studios worldwide will always be region encoded - because it doesn't cost anything extra.

 

[Simon Massey]

I say keep regional coding. Why give the studios an excuse to come up with something more stringent ?

 

[Lance Rumbolt]

In the UK most TV's produced in the last 7 years have been able to handle pure NTSC, so that is not an issue.

What studios did try and do Columbia is create regional coding enhanced (RCE) this stops certain multi region and all region 0 players from playing there discs, this worked for all of 2 minutes as the people that modify players were on it straight away.

I read that some people think that a region 0 player will play any disc thats not strictly true as some manufacturers in the early days got wise to this as well: for example r1 starship troopers wont play in a region free player it has to be set to r1.

I think region coding is hear to stay but anyone who wants anything outside of there region just get modified player and multi standard TV.

Lance UK

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Also worth mentioning is that most digital front projectors (LCD, DLP, LCOS etc) will accept both PAL and NTSC ananlog input, as well as Starndard Definition signals like 480P and HD like 720P/1080I.

-dave

 

[Geoff_D]

Has the abandonment of region coding begun already, at least for back catalogue stuff? I say this because Warner's recent R1 releases of Innerspace, Gremlins:SE and Gremlins 2 are all encoded for regions 1 thru 4, and have different copyright notices for each region's NTSC territory. Go on, my American friends, set your players to region 2 and give these titles a spin if you don't believe me.

Innerspace even has a Japanese soundtrack and various oriental subs, which is what prompted me to set my player to region 2 and play Innerspace. I grinned like the Cheshire Cat when it started up. Have Warner just said 'to hell with it' to save a few bob? I reckon so. New Warner stuff will be region 1 only and armed with RCE (hah!) of course, but every region 2-only HTFer must be feeling pretty good about now...