It seems to me that region-locking is pretty much a joke now. I'm not even sure if it ever wasn't; there have always existed hacks that let you play DVDs from other regions on your computer, and I suspect that by now more DVD players can be region-hacked than not. (Not to mention can play PAL, and can even play DIVX files.)

I remember way back when Apex's players first came out, and it was discovered they could circumvent region-coding. Everyone was frantic to get ahold of them, and the DVD Consortium came down on Apex like a ton of bricks.

Yet now they more or less seem to have acquiesced.

Furthermore, they don't seem to be kicking up a fuss over DVD players that can play DivX. Some of them even have USB ports so you don't even have to waste burning a disc. And while some DivXes are legitimate, the vast majority of them are not—so the player makers are implicitly abetting "piracy," and the DVD Forum (nee Consortium) isn't doing anything about it.

I'm not complaining, but I am curious—why do you suppose that is?

The DVD Forum didn't come down on Apex because of the region-free aspect MPEG LA came down on them because of licensing fees, which Apex wasn't paying. The MPAA looked into the situation, but I don't think ever did anything formal:

http://www.wired.com/science/discove.../2000/03/35028

As for why the DVD Forum hasn't done anything about the region-free "hacks" is because the manufacturers claim that the remote codes are supposedly for internal development and testing purposes only and aren't shared publicly by them. That gives them plausible deniability when the remote hacks are later "discovered" by users.

As for the firmware upgrades, those are done by end users, not the manufacturers themselves. I'm not sure if the DVD Forum has any legal recourse to go after the hackers either, since region coding isn't copy protection.

I think most studios have given up on region coding as a useful form of restricting importing. HD DVD dropped it altogether without much protest from its studios, while BD pared it back to just 3 regions, with a lot of discs being multi-region anyway.

As for the DivX and other file playback, The DVD Forum has no authority over that. All they can determine is whether a machine is properly configured for DVDs, any other format is outside their jurisdiction. The DVD Forum couldn't tell a manufacturer to include/remove DivX functionality anymore than they could tell them to include/remove CD player functionality.

^

Excellent summation Jay, pretty much reflecting my entire take on the issue. The paragraph below in particular is something I wholeheartedly agree with.

Pro-B

Thanks Pro-B. I think when DVDs first came out, studios were very fearful of how importing would play out. I'm not certain what specific doomsday scenario they envisioned that they thought they had to curtail, but the DVD import market has turned out to be much like the import CD market: a small niche pursued by a number of enthusiasts that doesn't impact the domestic market that much.

Thankfully region-coding was so easily circumvented, or the studios may have lived under the delusion that it was the region coding was responsible, and not simple market forces and geography.

Indeed. I believe that there is more fear in terms of unlocking content and using it for piracy than disruption of market balance by way of parallel import. With HD content however everything becomes that much more complicated. There are other issues that come into play.

Pro-B

I guess I still don't understand why Blu-Ray still felt (feels?) the need to use region coding albeit in a scaled back form?

I believe the main reason was for staggered theatrical releases, where due to the shortening video window, some movies may still be playing in foreign theaters when it's released on video domestically. This is why it's mainly new releases that are coded for only one specific region.

I read once that after a year of release, any region-coded BDs are re-pressed as all-region. However, I don't know if this is a mandate of the format, a general business practice, or just an idea that was proposed but not regularly acted upon.

Thanks for your reply, Jay.

I understand the logic (?) from a business standpoint of region-coding, what I don't understand is why Blu-Ray decided to adopt that as a strategy when HD-DVD didn't. It doesn't seem like a viable way to differentiate product for the consumers so much as a way to placate the studios.

It does sound from your post (and others) that the trend is more towards defacto "all region" releases, but the precedent for region coding is still there...which worries me.

I dunno - maybe it's just me.

I think you just answered your own question there. Which disc format won the war again?