I have a friend who doesnt believe there are different regions for DVD's. (I know, I know) He just doesnt get it, so I brought over a Region 2 DVD to play in his machine. Of course it didn't play...

Now, his reasoning, which I didn't have an explanation for, is this: His fiance is from Spain. They have been there recently and took with them some Region 1 DVD's from America to show and share with the family, like Moulin Rouge and Finding Nemo.

They played just fine on her family's Spanish DVD system. No one in her family would know about Region Free or have a machine like that, it would be a basic Spanish DVD player. What gives?

I tried to explain PAL and Region 3 and he looked at me like I was an idiot. I cant explain how our DVD's played on a machine in Europe...can anyone help?

A few possibilities...

The R1 DVDs could be R0 although this doesn't seem likely for Moulin Rouge or Finding Nemo.

Multi-region players are more common in Europe and they might have one without realizing it.

Multi system TVs are more common in Europe than in North America or perhaps their DVD player converts NTSC to PAL.

Almost all TVs sold in Europe in at least the last 10 years can display NTSC and PAL.
Almost every DVD player sold here can play NTSC discs and multi-region players are common among the cheapest players.

European DVD machines play DVDs from any TV system automatically. Our VHS machines and TVs have played NTSC for 20+ years too.


Many shops sell DVD players that are multi-region. They tend not to advertise the fact so people don't know and that's why they are ignorant. In the UK, Germany and Spain there's retailers who only sell region free machines. These retailers sell food mainly but do DVD players as specials.

I'm surprised just how limited the choice is in the USA/Canada. I think it's because you were very slow to catch on to the DVD market outside your countries. I guess you have a lot to watch anyway.

Huh. Interesting. Thanks.

Yeah, you would think "America" would have every option available to its consumers and its the other way around.

I guess "they" feel like, since our discs play easily everywhere, they will make it hard for discs from other countries to play here. Makes sense.
Ahem.

No. There are agreements with distributors that limit what we see in this country. The John Carpenter commentary is exclusive to the R2 disk. Same thing with Starman. Why? It has to do with money...they will make us pay to import these disks because they are foreign exclusive. Besides, there are only three countries in R1. There are many more countries in R2.

Some other explainations - in R2, some countries have PAL as a standard while others have NTSC as a standard. Making tvs that display both just makes sense. Also - R3 is really close and in some areas (I would imagine), stores would sell both R2 and R3 dvds because of where they are. So multiregion dvd players should be common there as well.

Another thing to consider is that these films are an american product by an american studio, so it is seen as an export. The idea is to have americans buy american products and for other countries to want to import our american products. Other countries get better features sometimes in their domestic versions possibly because there is a need to give them an incentive to purchase them over bootlegs (which is a bigger problem in some other countries than here). Or, perhaps it's just that americans will buy whatever crap there is available, so domestic studios don't see a need to do elaborate packaging or add tons of extras while the foreign branches of these studios that release their DVDs just care more about providing quality items to their consumers... or, perhaps it's that they have to compete with nearby countries. Going to a neighboring country to buy something in Europe is like going from Arizona to California to buy something.

America is a very insular country. Without the internet, you'd hardly know there's a whole world out there that's different than us. We're the best - why should we bother with what other countries have to offer? Blah, blah, blah.

On the plus side, Canada has closer ties to Europe than us. It's sometimes easier to find certain things through our northern neighbor. And unlike many countries, we don't have customs fees to pay on imports (or at least none I've encountered yet).

I don't think that's an appropriate generalization of the entire US. That may be true for where you live, central Kentucky, but it's not true of where I live, Washington D.C. I think lack of awareness of what consumer products are available in other countries has less to do with notions of US superiority than they do with the fact that consumers throughout most of the industrialized world rely on their domestic advertisers to inform them of what products are available to them. Very few people are willing to devote the time and energy necessary to keep track of consumer products in other countries, and those few that do, do so usually only in only one or two very limited contexts such as DVDs, CDs, designer clothes, furniture, or Art for example.

Another vote in disagreement. Again, maybe in central Kentucky. Having lived my whole life in the NW I'm confronted every day knowing not only do I live on the west coast of the US, but the east coast of the Pacific Rim as well.

As far as consumer electronics go, that's got nothing to do with a feeling of superiority, it's got to do with the lack of choices available to the public. Electronics manufacturers also slice the world into regions (don't confuse this with region coding) and sell certain products at certain prices in each one. Notice on many websites that sell electronics that they will state they can't ship certain items to HI or AK. This has nothing to do with shipping costs, and has everything to do with them being put in a different region than the continental US, where certain products are not offered. Sony is a prime example of a manufacturer that does this.

America is a very insular country.

I agree. Or at least I'd say the majority of people in the USA are. As is this forum as it sees non-North American DVD as some sort of off-shoot which should sit in its own dark place called the International DVD Talk.

I find that ridiculous as DVD (like any entertainment) has no borders. Yeah, there is region coding but that's invisible to anyone wanting to ignore it.

Ignorant is bliss.

i think that some posters here have gotten away from the reason that region coding exists. it is intended to keep other countries from being able to watch dvds of films that may not have been released in their country yet (a desperate attempt to combat piracy), and also to make multiple releases available to countries that have different censorship laws than others.


yakuza bengoshi,

you live in the dc area as well? where abouts?

dyerjp, I work on Independence Ave, and I use to live on Capitol Hill but am now living in Alexandria. My wife and I are presently looking for a house in or around the Rockville, Silver Spring, Bethesda area. How 'bout you?

yakuza,

living in alexandria myself, not old town alex. but about 5 blocks from landmark mall. small world. i work in dc myself, but on the police officer side of the law and not on the "lawya" side. lol.

...erm... the USA (check one), Canada (check two), and...?...

. . . . . .

...erm... the USA (check one), Canada (check two), and...?...

Iraq?

I don't know, perhaps my mind was thinking Mexico?

Actually, all US territories are R1 as well, which makes it a lot more than just 2 countries. Or it makes it just 2 countries and a bunch of islands in the Pacific and Atlantic.

What about Antarctica? What region are they?

They are Region-Freeze.

Oh man - it's like I stepped into a Bazooka Joe comic.

Ba-da-bum!