Cool News
UK DVD Debacle
Thanks to a UK reader for this, according to the Independent, Britain's largest supermarket chain, Tesco, is asking Warner Home Video to do away with DVD region coding altogether. Why? Well, the reasons are obvious, but Tesco's particular beef (no UK mad-cow pun intended) is that region coding inflates DVD pricing (which it does).
It seems that Tesco has a record of taking issue with manufacturers as well, as Levi Strauss and Sony have also faced their efforts to reduce pricing, but the whole DVD issue seems to have come to the forefront when information came out that a DVD player they were selling, the Wharfdale DVD-750, could be easily modified by consumers to play all regions. Accordingly, demand for the unit, which is relatively inexpensive, has skyrocketed, which Tesco reasonably takes as a sign that people are sick and tired of region coding. Tesco was selling the player in two stores, but they're now selling them in more than 400.
Region free DVD players have been around for a while, just search the web for "code free" and you'll get a slew of places. I myself own one, and I love the convenience of being able to buy and watch European and Japanese DVDs that I couldn't otherwise watch, but it's a shame that 1) more people aren't aware that they have the option, and 2) this stuff is necessary in the first place. If anyone in the UK has any more news on this, I'd love to hear it, and I'd like to wish Tesco all the luck in the world, even though I think their chances are slim to none of success. DVD coding is one of my very LEAST favorite things about the home A/V world.
Check out the original article at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/indy-buy/Shopping/tesco180200.shtml.
-El Cosmico
mail me at:elcosmico@austin.rr.com
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I think it sounds amazing that people even have a problem with the region codes. Where I live I just ignore the "official" releases in region 2 and buy my films in one of many, many places where they sell region 1s. I don't know if they aren't many of those places in the UK but it would surprise me if there wasn't.
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Yeah, I was in the UK this summer and Tesco's was raising hell over Association Football clubs overcharging for jerseys for fans. Tesco's really cares about the bottom line, friends.
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Feb 18, 2000 7:52:28 PM CST
Harry, I love you and all, but you keep misusing the word "Debac
by loki trickster
This is more of a DVD debate. A debacle is a "disaster" or a "fiasco". It'd be a debacle if, in response to the call for uncoded players, the DVD players left England entirely in punishment, or mounted a blitzkrieg on their offices, or something along those lines. Just a minor correction from the nerdy geek (or am I a geeky nerd...). -Loki
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I know where you're coming from, Loki Trickster, but I think region coding in and of itself is a disaster...then again, I guess that's debatable too.
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Well, then the UK thing is an anti-debacle...isn't it? Someone's finally speaking out against the tyranny of the encoders. Of course, my lecturing over the use of the word "debacle" is condescending and pedantic...so I withdraw the critique. Keep up the good work. -Loki
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If anyone in the US believes having a code free DVD player will give you instant access to the worlds DVD's, listen to this first. Overseas DVD's are different besides having a different region code. As an example,when you are in Europe its simple with a code free player to watch Region 1 DVD's on a PAL TV. There are 3 different parts to the video signal between the US and European formats.
COLOR,SCAN LINES,and FRAMES per second. A DVD player made for international use can handle the playback of NTSC DVD's with region 0 listed.Less than 5% of all DVD's have no code restriction and will easily play in a non modified DVD international player.This principle works the same as Multisystem VHS equipment. Europe has the convinence of watching US tapes and DVD's on a normal PAL television because the DVD player or Multi- VHS changes the color first Within the design of a Pal TV, it has Multi sync capabilities simular to a PC monitor to straighten out the rest of the picture(scan and frames). Of course when the player is modified ,it can handle any DVD. But when it comes to the design of a US TV, the design of the circuitry can only handle our existing frame rate and scan lines. It would be nice if it could work the other way around.
BOTTOM LINE : If you live in region 1 and you want to see overseas DVD's from Europe, YOU MUST BUY A MULTISYSTEM TV as well as a code free DVD player. These TV 's are expensive, they are not easy to tune in TV stations (unless you know what you are doing, especially cable) and rarely have decoding for MTS stereo. ps: They
dont even have closed captioning. So dont run out and buy one unless you know first the ammount of bucks you need to shell out. first -
TRON's comments about the problems that would exist due to PAL vs NTSC, even with a Region-Free DVD player, are right on the mark. But I wanted to give some insight into why Tesco's...crusade...will fail no matter what. "Region Coding" started getting big in the videogame industry as far back as the original Nintendo NES (1985 US release) and Sega Genesis ('89 US) via changing the shape of the end of the cartridge for Japan vs US versions of the consoles. When the Sega-CD came out in '92, it couldn't use the same process due to the media being Compact Disc. Thus electronic region coding was, if not born, then at least widely utilized for the 1st time. I was in the videogame retail industry at the time & got the opportunity to ask the then-Vice Pres of Sega USA as to why this was necessary. He explained that, for example, one company might sign a license with a studio for the US videogame rights to Batman, but that the Japanese rights may be owned by a different game company entirely. The Europe rights by a 3rd. Etc. Witness "Tetris", which led to Atari's mistaken idea they had US home rights to the title when actually Nintendo had it (indeed). I was told that studios were increasingly worried about being able to enforce area-by-area legal rights to film titles made into a home games (and, in the videogame industry, popular arcade titles by companies that weren't Nintendo or Sega were also a concern for home versions). Sega saw that other companies had already signed deals for game rights to popular film titles in some regions but not all of them, and wanted to show WB & other studios that if they got the rest of the rights then they could enforce them region-by-region via a lockout chip encased in the unit itself. I found out later that the SNES, released a year before, actually used both methods of the altered cart shape and the chip in the unit. Needless to say, both were able to be bypassed by black market devices, as has every other region chip since then. However, the studios love the idea so much that the concept made it into DVD players. Look in the future for attempts to spread the concept into other entertainment sections, including computers and stereos. Since films are increasingly made by one studio and distributed by another, and the distribution may change (even in theatres) from region to region, home rights to films will be similarly distributed among different companies. Therefore, region coding is in the best interest of the studios to protect their rights to make money. If you were able to buy that Region 2 copy of Fantasia right now, Disney would not have the option to sell a Region 1 copy's rights to MGM for a trillion dollars. That, of course, would never happen. But I use it as an example of the kind of deal-making that studios use it for. Getting rid of region coding would be, to the movie studios, as dumb and unprofitable as giving up all copyrights to their titles. It just won't happen; it's way too lucrative to the studios! (Forgive the length and rambling of this explanation; after all it's 5 in the morning here & I'm also dealing with an up-too-early 2 year old! )
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would be the Apex AD600A from Circuit City among other places. Uses a simple menu hack--no need to modify any hardware. And it converts playback from PAL and NTSC at the touch of a button on any t.v. For you musicphiles it plays MP3s as well. Under $200, cheap but nice output. Here's a link for more info:
http://www.nerd-out.com/apex/ -
First off, living in the overpriced UK, I don't own one.....though I do have a collection of over 3000 videotapes, so maybe my view is a little biased.
I'm not ABOUT to argue the fact that the picture quality is excellent.........BUT, is the DVD revolution as all encompassing as "they" would have us believe.
In a recent report I read, it was said that only 4 million U.S. homes have a DVD player, compared with 97 million VCRs. "They" would have us believe they're everywhere.
I still think I'll hold on to my cash for a while, in case this goes the way of the Phillips 2000 system, the Sinclair C5 and the Dodo !
Oh.......VHS tapes, CDs, Cassettes, automobiles, apparel ad infinitum are all more expensive here.....it's actually cheaper to buy online from the US and pay shipping. -
Hotspur,
I don't think that you are aware of the situation here in the UK.
It is illegal to sell any Video or DVD in the UK that has not been certified by the British Board of Film Classification with the appropriate certificate printed, in the correct places, on both the sleeve and the disc / tape.
Of course R1 DVDs fail this test!
Also a recent court case has just set the precendent that it is illegal, i.e. a breach of copyright law, for a UK based company to act as an agent and import R1 DVDs into the UK on behalf of their customers.
It is still legal to personally import R1 DVDs but UK Customs and Ecxise can, and do, abitrarily confiscate any material they consider obscene e.g. The Evil Dead, Emmanuel etc ...
Mind you, in the UK a one hour documentary about the clitoris, complete with close up shots, can be shown on network TV at 10pm.
If however you recorded it and the police had cause to search your home, they would almost definitely confiscate it as obscene!
Luckily the police have to convince a jury that material is obscene. With customs the burden of proof is on you to prove it is NOT obscene.
Welcome to the land of the free ...
I advise anyone interested in censorship in the UK to take a look at http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk
Andy -
Who the f..k will own a region 2
player when there is nothing on many of their discs.
I have a multi region player and lives in Sweden, but always buys region 1 discs. -
To argue with the fact that there are more households with VCRs than with DVD players ist not really fair. First of all: VCRs are no new technologie. Second: The recordable DVD (and device) is not yet ready for the average consumer. Third: We live in a time where one technologie hunts the next and by now there are already discs that hold 20 times as much data and players that can cook you a tv dinner while playing a movie backwards. No new media will get the same chance the video tape got. The real benefit of the DVD isn't just the picture quality of the mpeg2 standard. The sound quality, different languages, trailers, a making of, isolated soundtracks, ... and don't get me started with the PC ;)
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WOW !!!! I stand corrected, I guess that 3.8% of the market in three years must be REALLY breathtaking, huh ?
I still think I'll keep company with other technophobes like Spielberg & Lucas, who have YET to support DVD.
Okay, the 8-track pun was good.......a bit too close to reality really, see I still think vinyl is cool.........no....really ! -
you're right. I didn't know about those rules you have in the UK. I live in Denmark and in my town I have several stores to choose between if I wan't to buy region 1 DVDs and most of them have all region 1 movies released. The Danish DVD distributors don't like it at all but they can't do anything about it. I guess that's the land of the free then...
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RobynP - what I'm seeing right now for DVD is the same situation I saw about 12 years ago with CD vs LP. At the retail tape/DVD store in the mall, about 1-2 years ago they didn't carry DVDs. They started early '99 with a small section. This area has expanded so that it takes the whole center area of the store. This is the same trend with CD's in the late '80's where they were first found in a small section of record stores, then expanded to take over the bulk of the stores and pushed LPs to a small area in the back of shops until LPs were discontinued. Blockbuster video just started renting DVDs in my area in September (about the time I got my DVD player - told myself early last year that when Matrix came out on DVD I'd have to break down and get a DVD player. Blockbuster starting DVD rentals then was just a happy coincidence.) It's still a small part of the store, but will most likely get larger. Until recordable DVD's are available at affordable prices there will still be a place for VHS, but once they're out and affordable (and a standard has been settled on) I imagine that VHS will disappear within 5 years of that time.
I've got a different situation from the people in England - they're in region 2 but want to play region 1 DVDs. I'm in the US but would like to occasionally get some region 2 DVDs that haven't been released in America, especially if a lot of the older BBC and ITV series that have been released on VHS before are updated and released on DVD - seems that it takes forever for them to be released in America
(and buying PAL tapes in an auction when I only have an NTSC player wouldn't be worthwhile - DVD's format should be able to eliminate this problem that's annoyed me for years).
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Yes yes...you may have a very BIG collection of DVDs and I'm happy for you and all, BUT I'm going to try and explain MY opinion and I hope that you'll see and agree with what I'm ranting about.
(I live in Australia by the way...so I basically own strictly US releases - only because for about a year and half, the Australia DVD industry only provided around 10 titles. Then when they finally decided to release more movies, they decided to try and cheat people by providing a Dolby 2.0 track while advertising it as a Dolby 5.1 track...this happened to a lot of titles. So now I stick with US discs because, 1) they're released more often and consistently and promptly 2) they're of a higher quality in picture/sound/& features 3) because there's a difference in the number of titles offered [by the thousands])
Anywayz, to my point...I have a fairly large collection of video tapes too (no where near as many as you), but I am notorious for watching my movies over and over again. Predominently cartoons (I'm into cartoons...I'm just a big kid I s'pose)...but the reality is, video tapes do NOT endure the wear and tear that is me! I'm not rough with my stuff, nor do I mistreat my stuff...I have a clean video player which is not allowed to be used with anything but my tapes, which btw, I do NOT circulate amongst ANYBODY - call me stingy! So all in all, but equipment is in good nick. But I got tired of buying 4 copies of each cartoon just so that once I wear one tape out, I'll still have another to watch! This has happened to most of my cartoons...I have watched particular vids so many times that the sound track or the picture goes wonky. This is where the DVD (and LD etc...) are worth while. If you really like your movies and you tend to watch them over and over again (and it sounds like you are someone who loves to watch movies over - with such a large collection and all), then there is no worry that you'll wear your movie out in a flash (if ever).
Do you get my drift?
Ok...so I maynot have converted anyone, but I (personally) think that that's a valid and decent excuse to make a switch...for practicality anywayz. Isn't it? -
Another reason for regional coding is staggered released dates of movies in different parts of the world. In some cased the video and DVD have been released in the US before its released in theatres in some places. At that point if you someone in another part of the world had the choice of going out to the movies or just buy a perfect dvd copy and watch at their leisure at home, well you can see the problem.
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and what a huge problem it is...the consumer actually gets a chance to make a choice that benefits him/her the most rather than bending to the whim of a company (which, granted, does own the rights and does deserve to profit from said rights...). Region Coding only hurts the customer. -Loki
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I notice that a lot of the talkbacks ,explaining the purpose of region codes , might be under the impression that , the Dvds released in Britain are pretty much the same as the USA versions, but come out a few months later.And wonder why we dont just waite .This isnt the case. The Uk versions are {until very recently} devoid of almost all the *extras* , that were on the original American versions!As an example Starship troopers , had just the film and a menu and that was it!Some have even been released as *flipper* versions {you have to turn the disk over 10 minutes before the end} for no obvious bloody reason.Plus the usa disks actually play a lot better.British disks have been riddled with problems.Half our machines cant even play the Matrix{The follow the white rabbit concept, really fucked things up, at this end }This situation has improved of late , , but it tends to only be big budget releases that get any extras if theyre lucky.
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I recenly posted details on why you cannot play Region 2 discs on NTSC televisions, I may be mistaken. Apparently it was broght to my attention that a Chineese import cheap player called APEX , shipped to Canada and smuggled across the border to the US at Circuit City has a hidden menu to be code free and can convert signals using the hidden menu and deactivate the Macrovision for only 170.00. Now I don't personally have any current need for region 2 and beyond but a close friend has a friend that bought one and my friend who sold Multisystem equipment with me for the past 9-10 years said he saw it work. The model is AD600a APEX brand. But for 170.00 you cant loose.Now at this moment I dont know what the hidden combination of buttons are to access the hidden menu,nor what all the settings do even if it doesnt convert overseas discs ,Ill be happy to remove the macrovision. For region conversion ,I will believe it when I see it. Another code free player that the store that I will soon be out of work is a Pioneer
DVK 101 ? I think the number is correct has a hidden menu and it goes for about 450.00 does override region code but you do have to constantly change the region code when switching back and forth unless it had region 0 setting(never tried that, just thought of the possibility) But I never found out if the unit we were selling had conversion fron pal to Us frame rate, And modification is displayed at one site on the net for deactivation of Macrovision. -
Beyond the region encoding issue, the DVD thing could have a bad effect on the distibution of films with very limited markets. At the moment some film get released in some countries on a VHS run of only a couple of thousand copies. These are for lesser known old movies or esoteric art films. Making a decent DVD master (and when I say decent I don't mean as good as DVD can be) is very expensive, so it will be beyond the ability of these small distributors to market those kind of films, so Dotor Eldritch, I wouldn't hold your breath for those older BBC and ITV series, maybe a few prestige costume dramas and the odd Coronation Street Special...
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The main complain in the UK is that films are available in region 1 before they are available in region 2. This has always been true, even on VHS. region coding did not create this situation, it has always existed.
Even if region coding were removed, UK law would still prevent region 1 (or 3 thru 6 for that matter) DVD's being sold in the UK, so where is the market for multi-region players?
Answer: in a minority of the overall DVD market place. That minority still makes up the majority of the current DVD market in the UK, but will soon be swamped by "Joe Consumer" who really doesn't give a damn about regions (Joe Consumer has been more than happy with VHS with it's PAL/NTSC region coding and staggered release dates etc etc).
The reason Tescos have done so well in selling their DVD players is that they are CHEAP!
Example: Toshiba 2109, retails in the US for $249. In the UK, the same model costs -
My real reason for wanting US as opposed to UK/Zone 2 DVDs is because of the routine censorship that hundreds of films have to undergo to be allowed distribution within the UK. It's currently impossible to legally obtain an uncut version of either Terminator 2, True Lies or The Abyss (to name just three of thousands of major releases that have been butchered by the BBFC over the years). Even for theatrical release, cuts are imposed on a daily basis (see the UK cinema cut- and BOY do I mean 'cut' of Lethal Weapon 4 and you'll know what I mean) to protect the ordinary cinemagoer from being corrupted by hollywood. This applies to all categories of film, even the '18' certificate, that prohibits ANY person under the age of eighteen from seeing the film - parental consent or no. The UK government LOVES its censorship and so plays an active role in suppressing consumer choice in these matters.
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Well the BBFC have only just allowed Clockwork Orange in
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