Region Machine: Grim's guide to DVD freedom

[Reply #40 on:]

Is it true that all dvd players made in China can be set to region 0 easily?


BTW, TOTPD

[Reply #41 on:]

China is where a lot of bootleg DVDs come from.  It wouldn't surprise me if their DVD players are easily set to region 0.  I don't know if this is a fact though.

[Reply #42 on:]

The bootleg DVDs normally have their Region Information removed completely so they play on any dvd player.

[Reply #43 on:]

what the hell is region 7? is there going to be a new region sometime soon? i assume thats what reserved means. and region 8 sounds pointless to me. so you can only play the r8 dvds on airplanes, etc. can someone clear up the last two regions? please?

[Reply #44 on:]

I think the deal with region 8 is like cruise ships and stuff.  They buy region 8 dvds for their passengers to watch while on the trip i guess.  It's probably hardly available and only some movies are made in it.  Thats my understanding of region 8 though.

[Reply #45 on:]

Region List:

1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories
2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)
3: Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
6: China
7: Reserved
8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)

Region 7 is reserved for future assignment, if needed. It's just to give some flexibility to the system - to allow a new region (such as the moon  <IMG SRC="http://peel.gotfuturama.com/ubb/smile.gif">, for example) to be created.

Region 8 isn't pointless - movies are often available as inflight entertainment well before they are released on DVD to buy.

[Reply #46 on:]

I know that countless pieces of software have been mentioned on this thread, but still, DVD Decrypter can rip any region onto your PC and turn it into region one.

[Reply #47 on:]

can you buy an external NATS (or whatever) to PAL converter for a dvd player?  If so, are they rediculously expensive and where could I find them?

[Reply #48 on:]

here is one such device
 http://www.kanection.co.uk/product.php/288/0/

[Reply #49 on:]

Ok, I got a Koss dvd player and easily hacked it to region free.  Now here's my problem, when I put in a Futurama season four disc, it plays, but in black and white.  It's very wierd and frustrating, does anybody know what I could do to fix this.

[Reply #50 on:]

That would be a NTSC / PAL incompatibility, some TVs can accept PAL and NTSC inputs, best bet get an adapter

[Reply #51 on:]

 

Originally posted by sheep555:
Region List:

Region 8 isn't pointless - movies are often available as inflight entertainment well before they are released on DVD to buy.

oh... now region 8 makes sense. thanks a lot!

 

[Reply #52 on:]

So the difference between PAL and NTSC is color?  Or is this some type of partial conversion, because on another tv of mine jumbled lines play for the same dvd and player

[Reply #53 on:]

To me that sounds like your DVD player is outputting the PAL signal just fine, but the TV having trouble with it

[Reply #54 on:]

   

Originally posted by Grim:
That would be a NTSC / PAL incompatibility, some TVs can accept PAL and NTSC inputs, best bet get an adapter

You can buy a box which converts the signal for you? 
Where can I get one and whats the cost roughly?

Also, another site which I found the hack for my player on : "videohelp".
It has some interesting pages etc and it also had the hack to enable VCD playback on my player (I haven't tried SVCDs yet though.

[Reply #55 on:]

 

Originally posted by DanMan4040:
So the difference between PAL and NTSC is color?  Or is this some type of partial conversion, because on another tv of mine jumbled lines play for the same dvd and player

There are a number of key differences - colour, framerate, and resolution:

NTSC

• 525 Lines Resolution
• Color Subcarrier Frequency 3.579545 MHz
• Video Bandwidth 4.2 MHz
• Sound Carrier 4.5 MHz
• 30 frames per second (effectively 29.97fps)

PAL

• 625 Lines Resolution
• Video Bandwidth 5.0 MHz
• Sound Carrier 5.5 MHz
• 25 frames per second

PAL can display colours as they appear to the eye, NTSC can't. The frame rate difference also means US TV shows shown in the UK are in fact slightly longer (similarly, films on DVD in the UK are slightly shorter - film having 24fps). PAL is also a higher resolution, meaning slightly more detailed pictures.

Edit: And god help you if you live in France, because they have their own standard called "SECAM"  :)

[Reply #56 on:]

I think the NTSC/PAL issue is more of a problem in North America, I don't know about anywhere else but here in the UK most new TV's are dual PAL/NTSC compatible. My Region 1 NTSC DVD's play just fine on my TV.