[P1] DVD region codes?

[Joe Jones]

The different colour systems employed in TV broadcast were a godsend 
for Hollywood in the days when VHS was released (after they got over 
their initial outcry that it would massively slash their profits 
because people would tape movies rather than go to the cinema. when 
they realised it was a big source of revenue they embraced it).

Back then flipping between NTSC, PAL, SECAM etc was expensive, but 
nowadays most televisions here in the UK and the rest of Europe can 
handle pretty much all the TV standards. At the very least they support 
PAL and NTSC at both 50 and 60Hz (PAL 60 is common in the gaming world).

This is why my DVD player can play both NTSC and PAL dvds without any 
problems.

I don't see how DVDs are any different to VHS tapes. Movies on VHS are 
subject to the exact same licensing and distribution restrictions due 
to different countries and release windows but if you put and American 
one into your VHS player in the UK it will play without any problem 
(assuming either your VHS player can convert it to PAL or your TV 
accepts NTSC, which means about 80% of the TVs and VHS decks in the UK).

Is it just because the movie studios can get away with it now? Purchase 
legislation with "campaign contributions" maybe.

I can't see the need for the lockdown on DVDs apart from the need to 
price gouge.

Joe

On Monday, Jul 14, 2003, at 20:17 Europe/London, Brian Pearce wrote:

>> Do content-providers really, truly believe the audience will buy 
>> multiples
>> of CDs/DVDs depending on where they want to play it?
>
> Oh, please. That has *nothing* to do with the region coding scheme 
> employed in DVDs.
>
> You may disagree with them (and mostly this seems to be because they 
> inconvenience you), but there are quite reasonable explanations for 
> why the system was put into place. Apart from the different theatrical 
> "windows" in place worldwide (where a DVD release in one country may 
> come before the theatrical release in another), seperate distribution 
> agreements may govern material in different parts of the world. (Most 
> companies wouldn't want to put too much money into licensing material 
> if they knew it could be easily imported and sold to their audience.) 
> In fact, without region coding and encryption, I doubt the major 
> studios would have embraced the DVD format at all.
>
> They're easily circumvented without too much trouble, and it's an 
> inconvenience I'm willing to live with; especially if this is the 
> difference between having material released on DVD and *not* having 
> material released on DVD.
>
> Besides which, there's /already/ a system very much like region coding 
> in place that has traditionally restricted the material that can be 
> played in different regions without specialised equipment; 
> incompatable television standards. Your friend would likely need a 
> player capable of transcoding the signal from SECAM (if I'm not 
> mistaken) to NTSC to play his French DVD in the US. (Most of those end 
> up set to bypass region coding, anyway.)
>
> BRIAN/bpearce at cloud9.net
>
>
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