DVDs
Author
Discussion

jeffsy

Original Poster:

5,603 posts

257 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Aplogies of this has been done before but can anyone advise if DVDs bought in the UK will play in machines in the USA?

Cheers

cotty

42,244 posts

314 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Depends if the US machine will read DVD's from other regious. USA is Region 1, UK is Region 2

esselte

14,626 posts

297 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
jeffsy said:
Aplogies of this has been done before but can anyone advise if DVDs bought in the UK will play in machines in the USA?

Cheers


If the machines are multi region then maybe.The problem may be that the tv's over there will not manage PAL,as their standard is NTSC I believe (although I could be very, very wrong)

cotty

42,244 posts

314 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Also a Region 0 will play on any machine

scorp

8,783 posts

259 months

Friday 30th September 2005
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The USA has stronger laws governing multi-region players so it is likely it is less common to find multi-region players there.

esselte

14,626 posts

297 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
scorp said:
The USA has stronger laws governing multi-region players so it is likely it is less common to find multi-region players there.


Ah yes,protecting Hollywood?

Wildfire

9,948 posts

282 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Check the region encoding on the back.

Region 0 - Play anywhere
Region 1 - USA
Region 2 - UK Japan

Then check that your TV is both NTSC and PAL compatible, most modern big TVs are.

esselte

14,626 posts

297 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Wildfire said:
Check the region encoding on the back.

Region 0 - Play anywhere
Region 1 - USA
Region 2 - UK Japan

Then check that your TV is both NTSC and PAL compatible, most modern big TVs are.


Region 3 S.E. ASia

Region 4 Australia.

telecat

8,528 posts

271 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Some Region 2 discs are NTSC due to the fact Japan is Region 2

406

3,636 posts

283 months

Friday 30th September 2005
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theboyfold

11,470 posts

256 months

Friday 30th September 2005
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you can get region 2 players in the states, my mate has one in LA, i can try and contact him and find out what it is.
I'm guessing your tv will need to be able to take a PAL signal, but that shouldn't be too much of a stumbling block

mikef

6,158 posts

281 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
jeffsy said:
Aplogies of this has been done before but can anyone advise if DVDs bought in the UK will play in machines in the USA?


Most recent UK TVs and DVD players will handle NTSC. The reverse is not true. Unless TVs or DVD players in the US are sold as multi-region (from a few specialist stores), neither the TV nor DVD player will recognize PAL*. Then there's the multi-region thing. In short, over 99% of TV/DVD player combinations in the US won't be able to play DVDs bought in the UK

* an exception for TVs is top-dollar plasmas where the manufacturers tend to make one model for sale worldwide

Vipers

33,506 posts

258 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
esselte said:



jeffsy said:
Aplogies of this has been done before but can anyone advise if DVDs bought in the UK will play in machines in the USA?

Cheers





If the machines are multi region then maybe.The problem may be that the tv's over there will not manage PAL,as their standard is NTSC I believe (although I could be very, very wrong)



I think PAL and NTSC only apply to video casettes players, not the TV itself (could be wrong also) , dont think this is applicable to DVD;s, but as the majority of DVD players are multi region anyway, they will work, thats why we have multi region players. Of course some of the older ones will not be multi region.


>> Edited by Vipers on Friday 30th September 23:24

>> Edited by Vipers on Friday 30th September 23:25

mikef

6,158 posts

281 months

Friday 30th September 2005
quotequote all
Vipers said:
I think PAL and NTSC only apply to video casettes players, not the TV itself


It's all video equipment - among other differences NTSC picture has 525 lines at 29.97 frames per second, PAL picture has 625 at 25 fps

Vipers said:
dont think this is applicable to DVD;s

DVDs are either NTSC or PAL, like video tapes and console games
Vipers said:
but as the majority of DVD players are multi region anyway

That's a different thing - the region refers to a digital flag saying which geographical region the DVD is licensed for. It's not the same as the broadcast standard, although for obvious reasons Region 1 (US/Canada) DVDs are encoded in NTSC, and so on

Vipers said:
they will work, thats why we have multi region players

European players can read NTSC, US players can't read PAL except for a couple of exotic multistandard brands like LiteOn. You can tweak most DVD players to ignore the region flag, but most US players still won't be able to decode PAL

Edited to add - All this from the tedious experience of converting video in both directions during years living in the US

>> Edited by mikef on Saturday 1st October 00:04

father ted

3,069 posts

277 months

Saturday 1st October 2005
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Just been researching this myself......i need a 'Hack' for a JVC TH-SW9.......apparently i can rent the reset tool for £19.99 and my player will be multi-region ,cool.


....i'm forced into this cos FOX are not forthcoming with a R2 release date for The Shield series 3

mcflurry

9,190 posts

283 months

Saturday 1st October 2005
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99% of films come out better/first in Region 1 so there is less point in an American having a multi region.

(and DVD shrink will remove the region encoding if necessary anyway)

mikef

6,158 posts

281 months

Saturday 1st October 2005
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Alternatively, these folks will rent you a remote programmed to unlock the region hard coding in your DVD player
www.dvdcodes.net