DVD regions question at DVinfo.net

Chris Davis · July 5th, 2010, 09:40 AM

Our exchange student is leaving next week, and one of the gifts we wanted to give him is a DVD. I just remembered that his DVD region (2 - France) is not the same as the USA. It's too late to order a region 2 DVD, so how common is it that he would have a DVD player capable of playing region 1 DVDs?

Taky Cheung · July 5th, 2010, 04:43 PM

Just make it a region free DVD. It's more the TV broadcast standard (NTSC vs PAL) that you have to worry about.

Adam Stanislav · July 6th, 2010, 06:43 AM

I think you should give him a DVD player to go with that DVD. Just make sure it can handle PAL and 220 V / 50 Hz.

And I am not joking. It is not common to have players that can play discs from a different region at all. Plus, if you give him a DVD player, it will allow him more than just play that one DVD. Since many movies are released on DVD in the US long before they are released in Europe, he will be able to buy them from amazon.com or similar and watch them. That will allow him to stay in touch with the country he spent some time in as an exchange student.

Taky Cheung · July 6th, 2010, 09:32 AM

It will be very difficult to buy a PAL DVD player in the US. There're DVD players that can be hacked easily to get rid of the region code restriction. They can be found at

DVD Player and Blu-ray Player region codes - VideoHelp.com

Another route is to view the DVD with computer. A DVD drive can change region code 5 times before it is locked to the last region code forever.

However, if you are making your own DVD, you can just specific region 0 which is region free.

Adam Stanislav · July 7th, 2010, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taky Cheung

It will be very difficult to buy a PAL DVD player in the US.

I bought a $20 DVD player at Wal*Mart many years ago. I no longer use it, but its menu allowed to switch between PAL and NTSC output. Surely they did not stop making those, have they?

Taky Cheung · July 7th, 2010, 09:21 AM

I think you are right. My cheap DVD players from Target also allow me to switch NTSC and PAL too. =)

Chris Davis · July 7th, 2010, 05:01 PM

I don't know why this topic was moved here, it's not about DVD authoring, but about playing back store-bought DVDs.

Good suggestion about the DVD player, but his luggage weight is limited and he's going to be pushing it with all the souveniers he's purchased.

July 5th, 2010, 09:40 AM	#1
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	DVD regions question Our exchange student is leaving next week, and one of the gifts we wanted to give him is a DVD. I just remembered that his DVD region (2 - France) is not the same as the USA. It's too late to order a region 2 DVD, so how common is it that he would have a DVD player capable of playing region 1 DVDs?

July 5th, 2010, 04:43 PM	#2
Taky Cheung Inner Circle Join Date: May 2007 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 2,114	Just make it a region free DVD. It's more the TV broadcast standard (NTSC vs PAL) that you have to worry about. __________________ LA Color Pros Blog RODE Authorized Reseller . Comer LED Camera Lights . TakyBox HTML5 Menu Generator

July 6th, 2010, 09:32 AM	#4
Taky Cheung Inner Circle Join Date: May 2007 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 2,114	It will be very difficult to buy a PAL DVD player in the US. There're DVD players that can be hacked easily to get rid of the region code restriction. They can be found at DVD Player and Blu-ray Player region codes - VideoHelp.com Another route is to view the DVD with computer. A DVD drive can change region code 5 times before it is locked to the last region code forever. However, if you are making your own DVD, you can just specific region 0 which is region free. __________________ LA Color Pros Blog RODE Authorized Reseller . Comer LED Camera Lights . TakyBox HTML5 Menu Generator

July 7th, 2010, 09:21 AM	#6
Taky Cheung Inner Circle Join Date: May 2007 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 2,114	I think you are right. My cheap DVD players from Target also allow me to switch NTSC and PAL too. =) __________________ LA Color Pros Blog RODE Authorized Reseller . Comer LED Camera Lights . TakyBox HTML5 Menu Generator

July 6th, 2010, 06:43 AM	#3
Adam Stanislav Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Rhinelander, WI Posts: 1,258	I think you should give him a DVD player to go with that DVD. Just make sure it can handle PAL and 220 V / 50 Hz. And I am not joking. It is not common to have players that can play discs from a different region at all. Plus, if you give him a DVD player, it will allow him more than just play that one DVD. Since many movies are released on DVD in the US long before they are released in Europe, he will be able to buy them from amazon.com or similar and watch them. That will allow him to stay in touch with the country he spent some time in as an exchange student.

July 7th, 2010, 05:01 PM	#7
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	I don't know why this topic was moved here, it's not about DVD authoring, but about playing back store-bought DVDs. Good suggestion about the DVD player, but his luggage weight is limited and he's going to be pushing it with all the souveniers he's purchased.