What is region coding?
This is a concept which is associated only with DVDs. It was brought about by studios wishing to confine the viewing of their films to the regions where they were originally purchased. They especially wanted to prevent a DVD purchased in the USA (Region 1) from being viewed on a player purchased in Europe (Region 2)! Region 0 – All countries (region free) Region 1 – U.S., U.S. Territories and Canada Region 2 – Japan, Europe, South Africa and Middle East (including Egypt) Region 3 – Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong) Region 4 – Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean Region 5 – Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian Subcontinent, Africa, North Korea and Mongolia Region 6 – China Region 7 – Reserved Region 8 – Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc) However, this system is fast becoming redundant as it is often a simple matter to convert most modern DVD players, making them region free!
Are Blu-ray region codes the same as DVD region codes? Simply put, region coding is a way of ensuring that certain Blu-ray discs purchased in one part of the world will only work with players sold in that region. The reasons for this are numerous, and vary from film studio to film studio, but mostly boil down to issues with distribution rights, economics, and—to an ever lessening degree—timing. Not to delve too much into Hollywood politics, but one part of the reason region coding was originally created, back in the DVD era, was that often a film would be distributed by one company in the U.S., and an entirely different company overseas. Limiting the playback of a certain disc to a specific region made sure the sales revenue of the film went to the proper distributor for that region. Furthermore, due to local economics, the price of home video releases varies substantially from country to country. Region coding limitations help to keep prices fair. But Perhaps the main reason for the g
Both DVD discs and DVD players use what is called a ‘ Region Code ‘ to dictate which country they are designed for use within. If the ‘code’ contained within the DVD disc does not match that contained within the DVD player, then the player will refuse to play the disc. The standard Region Code for Europe (including the UK) and Japan is Region 2. In America the standard is Region 1. HOWEVER – DO NOT PANIC! The majority of DVD’s that we sell are Region 0, which means that they will work on any DVD player anywhere in the world. All the DVD’s that you see on this website should be considered to be Region 0 unless otherwise stated. So you should experience no problems in playing any of these DVD’s regardless of where in the World you live. Please click on the DVD Region Coding link within the About Us box in the left hand column for full information about Region Coding.
Region coding (also called “regional coding†, the “regional playback system†, or “RPC†) is a system by which digital products marketed and sold in certain geographic regions is technologically designed to be compatible only with playback devices designed for use in those regions. Regional coding is widely used on DVDs containing movie content (and DVD players) and Sony PlayStation games (and PlayStation consoles). While much of the following discussion focuses on regional coding as used by the film industry, PlayStation regional coding is considered in the context of recent legal activity. The major film studios introduced the regional playback system for DVDs in 1996. The system works through a combination of software and hardware: movie DVDs typically contain a regional code used to encrypt their data, and DVD players contain a regional code in the hardware designed to decrypt the DVD for playback. Technologically, region coding is part of the content scrambling system (â
