Posted by John Wilson on September 03, 2001 at 23:26:20 from 202.154.130.47:
In Reply to: Re: DVD's posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on September 03, 2001 at 20:46:40:
From Jim Taylor’s FAQ page on the site
www.dvda.org/
He says that the Movie studios wanted Regions so new movies could be released around the world at different times and the DVD release phased in also; but the Region seemed to be used on all releases from those studios, not just new movies. And D2 or D3 releases may have less censor’s cuts than D1.
The Region setting is optional though.
Some “active” disks have Region Code Checking (RCE or REA), to check that the player is one for the right region. RPC2 drives (RPC=Region Protect Control) have a maximum of 5 region changes, then have to be reset by manufacturer/vendor. And there is CSS or Content Scrambling Systems too!
But see also links on Jim Taylor’s site to other sites that may tell you how to get around these restrictions!
NB re Regions:
1 US, Canada
2 Japan, Europe; also South Africa, Middle East
3 SE&E Asia
4 Australia, New Zealand; also Central, South America
5 E Europe; also Indian subc., Africa, North Korea, Mongolia
6 China
PS: some DVDs have hidden features/scenes ie “Easter Eggs”.
PS: NASA used two Sony FX1 DVD players in space.
PS: NTSC is the original (US) colour TV system. Officially “National Television Standards Committee”, unofficially “Never Twice the Same Color” as it was prone to color distortion on microwave transmission links. Developed by RCA where they used a bowl of fruit to adjust the cameras. One day they couldn’t get the colors right, until they looked at the fruit and found a joker had painted the bananas - purple I think!