Anybody know if DVD's are like VHS tapes, where many countries use a PAL system that's not compatible?
Of course, this system is so effin' stupid it hurts.
Besides the fact that everything is pirated anyway, it leads to situations where a movie buff like myself cannot get a German movie that was made 30 YEARS AGO on a US compatible DVD.
Why? Because that obscure movie might somehow make it to American theatres and become a runaway hit decades after its original release?
I refuse to order a DVD player from Europe.
Try it upside-down ;~D
Anybody know if DVD's are like VHS tapes, where many countries use a PAL system that's not compatible?
Yes they do... your DVD player may have settings that work.... if you no longer have the manual, browse through the menus.
The geographical regions are as follows:
REGION 1 -- USA, Canada
REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia
REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
REGION 6 -- China
REGION 7 -- Reserved for Unspecified Special Use
REGION 8 -- Resevered for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc...
REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are uncoded and can be played Worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.
The end result is that DVDs encoded for regions other than Region 1 cannot be played on a region 1 DVD player, also, players marketed for other regions cannot play region 1-stamped DVDs.
Yes. DVDs have region codes. USA is region 1 and I believe Australia is region 4. Unless you have a region free player.