Badmovies.org Forum

I have a Playstation 2, I found this the other day:

http://www.buyritegames.com/shop/product_information.asp?number=PS2-ACTION&variation=&back=yes&dept=1056&last=1001

If all this region thing is fro DVDs is a code that can be removed, why have it in the first place?  I am thinking it has something to do with marketing or copyrights or something like that.  But what is is for?

Regions are encoded onto DVDs of recent releases because distribution rights are given out by country or area.

Take a recent example here... What the hey, we'll say "Glitter."  The movie tanked at the box office, so it hit video and DVD pretty quickly.  BUT the movie's also contracted for distribution abroad, and usually non-US distribution follows domestic distribution by a number of months.  The Powers That Be don't want the Mariah-loving citizens of France buying the DVD off Amazon.com before it's available in French theaters; that undercuts the European theatrical distributor.  So the region encoding keeps most Francs from skipping that whole cinematic experience.

You'll find region encoding most commonly on recent releases (where overlap with theatrical distribution would be an issue) or with other high-profile releases where there's a possibility for separated distribution rights in separate areas.  (I.e., if some American distributor bought the rights to a kick-ass Japanese zombie-Yakuza flick that they think might really take off over here, they might negotiate for the Japanese DVD release to be region-encoded to give the Americans time to get the dubbing/subtitles completed without all the fanboys already getting theirs from a Japanese source.)

The good news is that you won't find region encoding on older re-releases where that kind of promotional distribution blitz isn't going to be an issue (Midnite Movies, Euroshock Collection, etc.)

Nathan
(Not to shabby for a guy who still doesn't own a DVD player, eh?)

All I know is it sucks!!
You can get this or that movie cus its only available in region 2 or 3 so you gotta buy a region free one

or you can use your remote control on alot of dvd players to simply change the region

Get a region-free player, most are pretty cheap and you can have your favorite Asian films before they hit the US theaters.

I just got "The Ledgend Of Zu" (which Miramax is releasing this summer as "Zu Warriors") and I only paid $15 for a DTS, 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen version.

If you love Italian horror, you'll want a player that has PAL to NTSC conversion ability. I bought a Sampo brand DVD and I found it to be better than the $399 Sony player I bought 2 years ago!

I dunno about seperate DVD players. I use a DVD-ROM and watch DVD's on my computer - my computer monitor is bigger than my TV anyway...

BUT, I think you can only change the region setting a limited number of times - I know this is the case with my DVD-ROM, I would assume that hollywood would have forced most DVD player manufacturers to do the same.

If you search hard enough on the web you can find sites that discuss methods of circumventing the region attributes on some players.  This is of course highly illegal and Hollywood executives will show up at your front door and beat you with rubber hoses and make you watch "Glitter" over and over again until your brain melts.for even attempting it( or so I've heard).  Cheating also makes baby Jesus cry, so be warned.

I finally got a DVD player a few weeks ago. I picked up an APEX (can't remember the whole model number, but it's got "1500" in it).

It has a few drawbacks, but several good advantages. First, it's dirt cheap, about $69.95 for you Americans. Second, they've loaded it with lots of features for that price. These are the reasons I bought it.

More relevant to this discussion, it's apparently hackable. There are sites where you can download new firmware that will reprogram the player, turning off region encoding and Macrovision. Just burn it onto a CD and stick it in. I haven't attempted this, because I've not found a need for it. Since my TV lacks the audio/video inputs, I've already bought a box that cancels out the copy protection, just so I can connect it through my VCR. As for the region encoding, if I ever want to experiment with that, at least I don't have to worry about ruining an expensive player.

I was pretty happy with my setup until I watched movies on a friend's new home theatre a couple of weeks ago. A 53-inch screen, DVD player and surround sound. Speakers and chairs were placed perfectly. My 19-inch set and stereo speakers now seem woefully inadequate.

Thanks Nathan for the explanation.  That makes sense now.  (I thought it was something to do with marketing.)

Does anyone know if that device for turning a Playstation 2 into a multiregion DVD player works?

Here's one I've been keeping my eye on for the next time I have a free chunk of change:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1332451753

Nathan