Page 1 of Region Coding of DVDs

When will the movie studios come to their senses? They are putting out DVDs with region codes and we have DVD players capable of playing DVDs of any region code. It is such a waste of energy, time and money.
Obviously, these movie studios are not achieving their objective of staggering the release of DVDs to various parts of the world. C`mon stop this nonsense and give everyone a break.

Your thinking like a human being, try thinking like a "suit". If you say to a one of them:

"Here, we can put this protection mechanism on but its easily defeatable and won`t make much difference but its the only thing we can do."

They hear:

"Here, we can put this protection mechanism on, its the best there is"

This item was edited on Thursday, 7th December 2000, 11:57

It makes you wonder what proportion of DVDs owned in this country are in fact imported. I suspect that it is still a fairly small percentage. Of course you could argue that anybody who wants to import discs is likely to have a hacked player anyway so the region coding doesn`t stop them. The majority who simply buy off the shelf in HMV probably are not even aware that region coding exists let alone differences between the content! Even if there was no region coding it would be illegal to supply imported discs over the counter in this country as they would not be rated by the BBFC.


Karl.

I suppose they had to do something - there is no real way they could stop it for good - people would just import players from the staes if it came to it - probably cheaper than buying one over here !!

Same old same old, the bottom line is money. Before I bought a DVD player I came across this site and boy it`s been an eye opener otherwise I would have been one of those guys buying DVD`s from HMV !

That`d all be true if the american`s even noticed

We`re a third world country remember! There are those who know, but to Mr. Exec who makes that RCE decision we`re still calling each other sir and madam and using a class system.

And I`ll stand up for HMV :) 10.99 for Austin Powers 2 can`t be sniffed at

I`ll agree that £10.99 for Austin Powers is pretty good but you`ll have to agree that in general HMV is pretty expensive. They have to offer a few cheap discs to get the punters in. And bear in mind that the R1 version of Austin Powers 2 is superior.


Karl.

Don`t get me wrong, but I`m gonna support the Yanks part of the way.

Think geography...

Right ? Woken up?

`Kay, US is just a tad bigger than our luvly isle. So, to release a new film nationwide in the States is not going to be an across the board gag. In our place we can release, say, Sixth Sense in Glasgow, Cardiff, London and Belfast in one fell swoop on one day. In the States they can`t possibly do that `cos the place is so massive.

That`s one reason, here`s another:

Our old mate money, `fraid.

Right, you`ve spent £23 bn on a special FX-laden piccy, with luvly babes and cool hunks suitably ensconced in the lead roles. That`ll be an American release then, yes? (Can`t really see Film 4, Sky Pictures or Pinewood spending that kinda wonga somehow)

So, it does the rounds cinema wise and makes reasonable amounts of money. Time comes to release to video, and the money boyz are saying, `Let`s try it out on the American home cinema fan first before we spend loads of cash worldwide...y`know, make sure it sells and stuff`

And if it flops, Stateside ? That`ll be your `Apex` for £9.99 on DVD. If it succeeds? That`ll be rip-roaring UK-side releases like `MIB Ltd Edition`.

Okay, it boils down to money. Yup, totally agree that it`s annoying seeing Stateside getting releases first. But that`s only half the story. For every `Fight Club` there is an `Apex` - and that`s the reason for staggered releases.

I for one can see the point of the delay, for what it`s worth.

(ABUSE : feel free - just my point of view...)

This item was edited on Friday, 8th December 2000, 22:23

My brain has frazzled, can`t abuse, eek! ak!
malfunction...

OK let`s throw this one wide open........

Why do we have region coded DVD players ? why don`t manufacturers just make them R0 for worldwide sales, didn`t Ford do that with the Mondeo (sorry don`t own one) and made it a `world car` i.e. can sell in the US and Europe, why bother with selling machines that you have to hack or chip ? surely they would make more sales that way !

You only need to look at the amount of web sites offering R1 DVD`s for people to import to make you wonder why bother with R2 !

Surely it is logical that if you manufacture a player that can sell world wide = increased sales or am I missing the boat !?!?!?

Money grabbing executives make my blood boil, I know they have to rake the money in to please share holders but come on give poor old joe bloggs a break................