Explanation of DVD Region Codes

[HollyMI]

This has been discussed a few times here, about what equipment to use to play dvds from other regions.  There is a free download called VLC Media player that can play dvds of all regions on your computer.  I recently found it by a Google search and ordered a dvd from the UK (I am in the US) and I am watching it right now on my computer. BTW, it is Wallis & Edward, the Joely Richardson/Stephen Campbell Moore movie.


Holly/Annushka

[HollyMI]

Since I now have a dvd from another region to use, I also tried using an unlock code that I found on the web on my regular DVD player & it really worked. I was able to change it to region 0 and play a region 2 on my region 1 player if that makes sense.  Has anyone else had any luck trying this?  I have another dvd player that I am going to experiment with.

Holly

[Alixz]

For anti-piracy reasons, the major movie studios divided the earth into zones (“regions”) which correspond to their distribution system. Most DVD producers encode their discs to work only on players in certain regions. The region code of your DVD and DVD player must match, otherwise your DVD will not play.


Region 0: No region coding. Plays in all regions.
Regions 1-8 disc: Plays in all regions.
Region 1: U.S.A. and its territories, Canada.
Region 2: Europe (including including France, Greece), Middle East (including Turkey, Egypt, Arabia), Japan, South Africa.
Region 3: South-East Asia, East Asia (including Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and Indonesia).
Region 4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, Caribbean.
Region 5: Russia, Former USSR countries, India, Indian Subcontinent, Africa (also North Korea, Mongolia).
Region 6: Peoples Republic of China.
Region 7: Unused.
Region 8: Airlines/Cruise Ships


However, that being said, there are what is called "region free" DVD players that can be purchased on line.
These region free players will play any of the above numbered regional DVDs.

[katmaxoz]

The only other thing I might add to this discussion is to be aware of the fact that while your player might cope with a different region you also have to be aware of different TV formats PAL & NTSC -

The following  countries  use  the NTSC  system


Antigua    El Salvador    Philippines
Bahamas    Ecuador    Puerto Rico
Barbados    Guam    Saipan
Barbuda    Guatemala    Samoa
Belize    Haiti    South Korea
Bermuda    Honduras    Saint Kitts
Bolivia    Jamaica    Saint Lucia
Burma    Japan    Saint Vincent
Cambodia    Mexico    Surinam
Canada    Midway Islands    Taiwan
Cayman Islands    Netherland Antilles    Tobago
Chile    Nicaragua    Trinidad
Colombia    North Mariana Island    United States
Costa Rica    Panama    Venezuela
Cuba    Peru    Virgin Islands

The following countries use the PAL system

Afghanistan     Holland     Portugal
Albania    Hong Kong Qutar
Algeria    Iceland    Romania
Angola    India    Singapore
Argentina **    Indonesia    Somalia
Australia    Ireland    South Africa
Austria    Israel    S.W. Africa
Azores    Italy    Spain
Baharain    Jordan    Sri Lanka
Bangladesh    Kenya    Sudan
Belgium    Kuwait    Swaziland
Botswana    Laos    Sweden
Brazil *    Liberia    Switzerland
Brunei    Madeire    Tanzania
Cameroon    Malaysia    Thailand
Canary Islands    Malta    Turkey
Cyprus    Mozambique    Uganda
Denmark    Nepal    United Arab Emirates
Dubai    New Guinea    United Kingdom
England    New Zealand    Uruguay **
Ethiopia    Nigeria    West Germany
Faeroe Islands    North Korea    Yemen
Finland    Norway    Yugoslavia
Ghana    Oman    Zambia
Gibraltar    Pakistan    Zimbabwe
Guinea    Paraguay
Greenland    Poland

There is a technical difference between the systems on how the picture displays and unless your TV/DVD player is set up to cope with the differences (and many older ones aren't) you may not be able to play a DVD from another region even if you are "region free", so just check before you buy.


 

[Robert_Hall]

Annushka, I use VLC Media player on my laptop, it works just fine was was easy to install. It was free as well! You would have to  look it up on the web to find out more about it.  For the house TVs, I bought all-region players. They started out pretty costly, but now are quite reasonable. I do not know why they seem unavailable in the shops when they are so easy to acquire on the internet.