why are there region 1 and 2?

[on:]

what good could come out of it? is it the wacky european outlets ive been hearing about, or do DVD makers just like torturing us?   *    at DVD makers*

[Reply #1 on:]

It's a way for DVD producers to control the market, and increase revenue. They can control (or so they think) when and where stuff are released.

IN North America FOX hoped to make some syndication deals, and thus shafted the region 1 dwellers. In Europe FOX had already sold Futurama to most major countries, so the DVD's were released. This is just an example of how the system was intended to work, but thanks to region-free players that idea went down the crapper.

Latest craze is making it illegal to mport DVD's from other regions.

[Reply #2 on:]

We got the Futurama DVDs first!  I'm glad to be European!  Like Bertrand Gachot, and those other guys nobody heard about!

[Reply #3 on:]

 

Originally posted by Teral:

Latest craze is making it illegal to mport DVD's from other regions.

Boo!  This better not happen.  At least I'll get S4 of Futurama, but I'll be disappointed if everyone starts trying to make it illegal to import DVDs.  I think that could force people who would otherwise import legitimate copies into buying bootlegs.  Seems like they might lose more money that way.

[Reply #4 on:]

I think the EU have already finalised the proposal. So far Denmark is the only one to implement it though (wooo, go us!!). Several anime-fans have already protested, saying their only chance of buying non-DBZ-like anime is importing it from Asia.

[Reply #5 on:]

Regional DVDs were actually put in place to protect the movie studios.  Many of the bigger American films are released then go to DVD before they are released in other countries.  "Finding Nemo" is a good example of this.  We in the U.S. will own the super genius deluxe version DVD in about 6 weeks, while the movie is just opening or has yet to open in many parts of the world.  Why would someone in Region Whatever buy a 2 tickets to the cinema if for roughly the price they could take a copy home?  Via regions, movie companies can delay DVD releases in a part of the world until a movie ends it's local theatrical run.

Although less frequent, it happens the opposite way as well.  "Spirited Away", "Bend it Like Beckham" and "28 Days Later" (just off the top of my head) were DVDs in their respective countries long before the films were released in U.S. theaters.

The sad part of the equation is when a DVD is only released in a different region from you.  Not only can't you buy it locally, but it may not work on your system even if you import it.  (Yes, yes. Region free players, players that convert PAL/NTSC blah, blah, blah.  Not everyone is going to go to the time and expense for one or two titles.)  This happens when producers/distributors don't think there is a large enough audience in a particular region to warrant a DVD release. Anime, music programs, television shows and "little" films are all victims of this, which is why people in Hong Kong get rich selling bootleg DVDs around the world without region settings.

In Futurama's case, we in the U.S. had to wait until FOX, Groening and Cohen were able to take advantage of syndication and secondary channel deals (which is a big part of how TV companies and producers make back the millions they spend up front to produce a series).  We see delays now because they want some time between sets for all potential buyers to be able to afford each one when it's released.

Yes, it's all very easy to say "Screw those greedy bastards", but the alternative is for fewer people to be willing to invest in a movie or TV series in the first place.  No one will unless they see an opportunity to make both their money back and a little profit at some point in the future.  For every "Finding Nemo", there are a dozen "Gigli"s that those "Nemo" theater tickets and DVDs need to make up for.  (Yes - "Nemo" and "Gigli" are from different studios, but you get the point.)