[P1] DVD region codes?

[Brian Pearce]

> 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).

Such devices are far more common there than they are in the US; there 
just isn't as much of a market here for multi-standard equipment. 
(Apart from DVD players, it's prohibitively expensive).

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

In this case, it's because the format allows them a technological 
solution that was built-in as the platform was developed.

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

I'm not sure this aspect of the DVD market in the UK, but here in the 
US, prices for both hardware and DVD discs have fallen *dramatically* 
as just about everyone (from the studios to retailers) use them to 
attract interest to the platform or as a loss leader. In many cases, 
product is at a lower price point than a comparable VHS release would 
have been before the introduction of the format. In the aggregate, it's 
a far better product for consumers at a much lower price.

BRIAN/bpearce at cloud9.net