DVD confusion - Help sort it out

[willgold22]

I am sort of hopelessly confused about the regional coding on DVD's, since it seems everyone disagrees about this. So can anyone tell me who KNOWS: Can I play DVD'S bougnt mail-order from Europe on players bought here? Believe me I've heard every possible permutation from "Don't even worry about it" to "Of course not, idiot." Oh, I'm talking ADULT DVD's, which I think are different than mainstream as far as coding. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks!

;

 

[Paul-1985]

ICan I play DVD'S bought mail-order from Europe on players bought here?

Er, you don't say where "here" is, so I don't know where you live! In any case, I think I can answer your query.

The world is divided into 6 regions when it comes to DVD's. This scheme was introduced at the behest of the Hollywood studios to control the worldwide release of their product. For example, here in Australia, we're Region 4 and they don't want me to import a DVD from, say, the USA (Region 1) and play it in my region 4 player. The reason is because movies are generally released in Australia later than in the USA .... often by some months. This regional coding, therefore, is designed to prevent me from purchasing an American DVD when the movie hasn't yet been shown been cinemas here.

Well, that's the theory! In practice, most machines can be "hacked" to make them play any and all DVD's. It's usually just a case of Googling the make and model of the machine and instructions appear on the screen. You simply enter a few numbers on the remote control! When I bought my last DVD player a year ago, the salesman kindly wrote the "hack" instructions on the box for me to save me the trouble. Also, many of the cheaper machines from China don't carry regional coding at all (or have been "hacked" before they leave the factory!)

Now, all of this is academic when it comes to Adult DVDs because they are, and always have been, "region free." The adult companies don't have to worry about theatrical exhibition of their product and the worldwide timing of their releases like Hollywood.

I only mention all of this in detail as you have said you are "hopelessly confused" about the situation and I hope this clears things up.

 

[Telstra]

i'm not sure about USA,

but u should get a dvd player that can play ALL regions and can play any type of dvd discs.
and the dvd players are very cheap !!!!

 

[willgold22]

Thanks mates! (I'm a Yank.) This has bugged me for a while, mainly because the adult companies themselves will mention no regional coding as if it's a sellfing point, and thus muddy the waters. So it's one load (hehe) off my mind.

 

[WYSIWYG]

Nonregional DVD players here in the USA are not cheap but very expensive! You can get good nonregional DVD players in the USA however, do a google search.

I have some European Adult DVD's and they are PAL and not NTSC which is required here in the USA.

I also buy Euro bands which have DVDs in PAL format. I purchased a Yamaha nonregional DVD player and it will play anything....

 

[Bi-Focal]

Of course a percentage though are PAL format which is separate from regional coding and won't work for you.

I have some European Adult DVD's and they are PAL and not NTSC which is required here in the USA.

I'm surprised to see the PAL/NTSC question raised in this thread. Although it might have been a problem once upon a time, I was under the impression that it's not an issue these days.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that unless you had a very old TV and/or a very early DVD player, NTSC discs will play on PAL gear, and PAL discs will play on NTSC ditto. Can't most modern equipment happily cope with either standard?

 

[willgold22]

Bi-Focal - I hope you're right. This is the first time I've heard it mentioned as an issue, and if there's one thing I do know, it's that my DVD player switches between the two formats (learned by pressing the wrong button). I assume that means it would handle tbose discs just fine. But do you see what I meant in my original post? People just do not agree about this!

 

[Telstra]

dvd players that can play EVERY THING is very cheap ,made in china, and the quality is very good.

 

[tbonez]

Depends on your DVD player. I have a Bang & Olufsen DVD player that plays all formats including PAL and NTSC as well as mpeg and other common movie formats. J's Sony blu-ray plays only North American 480 p DVD's and blu-rays ( I think) definitely not PAL.

Even if the DVD is PAL or some other format your player doesn't decode you can have it converted or just buy computer software to do it yourself and burn a disk in your preferred format.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

Bi-Focal - I hope you're right. This is the first time I've heard it mentioned as an issue, and if there's one thing I do know, it's that my DVD player switches between the two formats (learned by pressing the wrong button). I assume that means it would handle tbose discs just fine. But do you see what I meant in my original post? People just do not agree about this!

if you have a player that you already know switches between those two modes, then it certainly will play them both, otherwise why would it have both modes?