DVD region code
Each DVD-Video disc contains one or more region codes, denoting the area(s) of the world in which distribution and playback are intended. The commercial DVD player specification dictates that a player must only play discs that contain its region code. In theory, this allows the motion picture studios to control the various aspects of a release (including content, date and price) region-by-region. In practice, many DVD players allow playback of any disc, or can be modified to do so. Entirely independent of encryption, region coding pertains to regional lockout, which originated in the video game industry.
Region codes and countries
| Region code | Area |
|---|---|
| 0 | Informal term meaning "playable in all regions" |
| 1 | Bermuda, Canada, United States and U.S. territories |
| 2 | The Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland |
| 3 | Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan |
| 4 | Australia, New Zealand, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania and South America |
| 5 | The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia and North Korea |
| 6 | Mainland China |
| 7 | Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs, and "media-copies" of pre-releases in Asia) |
| 8 | International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc. |
DVDs sold in the Baltic States use both 2 and 5 codes. DVDs sold in Japan use 2 code and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use 3 code, but 0 code(Playable in all regions) is widely used by Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
European Region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1" through "D4." "D1" identifies a UK-only release. "D2" and "D3" identify European DVDs that are not sold in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. "D4" identifies DVDs that are distributed throughout Europe.
Any combination of regions can be applied to a single disc. For example, a DVD designated Region 2/4 is suitable for playback in Western Europe, Oceania and any other Region 2 or Region 4 area. A so-called "Region 0" disc (actually coded Region 1/2/3/4/5/6) is meant to be playable worldwide. CSS decrypting software (such as DVD Decrypter, AnyDVD, and DVD Shrink) allows a region-specific DVD to be copied as an all-region DVD. It also removes Macrovision, Content Scrambling System (CSS), and disabled user operations (UOPs).
The term "Region 0" also describes DVD players that were designed or modified to incorporate Regions 1–6 simultaneously, thereby providing compatibility with virtually any disc, irrespective of region[s]. This apparent solution was popular in the early days of the DVD format, but studios quickly responded by adjusting discs to refuse to play in such machines. This system is known as "Regional Coding Enhancement" or RCE.
Nowadays, many "multi-region" DVD players defeat regional lockout and RCE by automatically identifying and matching a disc's region code and/or allowing the user to manually select a particular region. Others simply bypass the region code check entirely. Some manufacturers of DVD players now freely supply information on how to disable regional lockout, and on some recent models, it appears to be disabled by default.
Region Code Enhanced
Also known as just 'RCE'. This was a retroactive attempt to prevent the playing of one region's disks in another region, even if the disk was played in a region free player. In practice, the scheme was only ever deployed on a handful of Region 1 disks. The disk contained the main programme material region coded as region 1. But it also contained a short video loop of a map of the world showing the regions, which was coded as region 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The idea was that when the disk was played in a non region 1 player, the player would default to playing the material for its native region. This played the map which it was impossible to escape from, as the user controls were disabled.
However, the designers of the scheme failed to fully understand the mechanism by which region free players worked, and thus a workaround was quickly found. A region free player tries to play a disk using the last region that worked with the previously inserted disk. If it can't play the disk, then it tries another region until one is found that works. RCE could thus be defeated by briefly playing a 'normal' region 1 disk, and then inserting the RCE protected region 1 disk, which would now play. RCE did cause a few problems with genuine region 1 players.
Legal concerns
Region codes were officially implemented to restrict the sale of titles to designated regions, so that, for example, a DVD could be released in the United States before the movie was released to the cinemas in Europe.
Region codes violate the international copyright treaty [1], Article 4[2], which equates electronic media with that of other literary works such as books, with the copy owner having the right to buy, read, and sell the material anywhere in the world, as well as Article 10 [3], which prohibits the introduction of national legislation that limits copy owners normal use.
Many view region code enforcement as a violation of WTO free trade agreements or competition law.[citation needed] The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned that DVD players that enforce region coding may violate the Trade Practices Act.[4] The government of New Zealand has also made a similar ruling.[5] This, in practice, means that all DVD players sold in their territories have to be Region 0.
Region coding was betrayed when very old material was released with full region coding - there being no requirement to restrict sales to certain countries.[citation needed] Even DVDs of UK produced television programmes are released in the US coded as Region 1 and in the rest of the world coded as regions 2-5 (Region 6 was always omitted due to fears of mass piracy in China). [citation needed] It is widely held, even by the EU, that region coding was solely an attempt to enforce price differentials.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Treaties and Contracting Parties: WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)
- ^ WIPO Copyright Treaty: Article 4
- ^ WIPO Copyright Treaty: Article 10
- ^ Restricting DVD's illegal: ACCC The Australian IT. March 27, 2001. Retrieved May 11, 2006
- ^ DVD-ROM drives. Retrieved May 11, 2006
See also
- DVD player
- DVD Copy Control Association
- Regional lockout
- Blu-ray Region codes
- Broadcast television systems (NTSC, PAL, etc.)
External links
- DVD Player Hack List
- Unlock your DVD player, a site with unlock codes for numerous DVD players.
- VLC by VideoLan is a media player (only for computer DVD drives) that overrides regional protection.
- The Firmware Page is the portal of a community that offers different ways to have region free computer DVD drives; it offers new firmware for virtually all computer DVD drives and media players that bypass regional protection and CSS.
- DVD Reviewer - Multi-Region Hack for Domestic DVD Players includes hacks for many DVD players.