DVD Region coding

[GulPlum]

LeeMunLim03 wrote:
>There is a reigon dvd player that will play all dvd's from different
>countries!!  Its a hefty price too!!

Err... mine does that, and it cost the "hefty" sum of £80 (about $125). 
Lots of makes are even cheaper than that.

Almost all DVD players can be "multi-regionalised") and it's not difficult. 
In most cases, it's done in software with the use of the remote control. 
There are web sites which provide nothing but instructions for this, brand 
by brand and model by model.

Some players have the region hard-coded into the MPEG decoder chip and 
replacement chips are generally not hard to find. Some makes (e.g. Sony) 
manufacture their own decoder chips and thus region-free chips aren't 
available without making the investment in a decent brand a waste of time 
and money.

Incidentally, in themselves, multi-regional players are perfectly legal. It 
is also perfectly legal for me (as a UK resident, and thus Region 2) to own 
disks from other regions (I have several US or Region 1 DVDs). What's 
illegal is for a shop to sell over the counter (i.e. in person) disks from 
another Region. Which isn't a problem, of course, thanks to the internet 
and online ordering. It is also illegal for a shop to sell over the counter 
multi-regional players. But it's not illegal for them to include simple 
instructions on how to make the machine multi-regional. :-)

The whole thing about dividing the world up into regions is about 
distributors keeping off each others' toes. For instance, a studio like 
Warner Brothers has separate subsidiary companies in different countries 
which "sell" WB products locally. So, e.g. Warner Brothers UK wouldn't take 
kindly to Warner Brothers Australia selling its products on its turf.

Because most electronics companies are completely independent of the 
studios and distributors which make and sell the films on DVD, they're 
happy about selling multi-regional machines, and frequently include a 
leaflet with instructions in the box. A BIG exception to this is Sony, 
which also owns Columbia Pictures, several record labels and other media 
interests. It is therefore to their advantage to make it VERY difficult to 
overcome the region coding.

The moral of the tale: vertical integration doesn't work in consumers' 
bests interests.