8mm Forum: DVD Region coding from USA

This is topic DVD Region coding from USA in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 11, 2009, 06:30 AM:

I have a few DVDs from America which I bought some years ago.

Just recently I purchased the three-disc set of "The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection" and was surprised to see it was marked as Region 1.

Can anyone tell me how long this coding has appeared on USA disc packaging?

All my earlier disks had no such marking.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on October 11, 2009, 07:30 AM:

I've had a DVD player since the beginning (first outside of Japan release was early 1997) and everything was already Region coded. Although some discs didn't bear the marking, most of the ones I've kept from this time feature a little "1" inside an elipse somewhere on their back credits.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 11, 2009, 08:42 AM:

You and I must have jumped in on the bandwagon about the same time Jean!

I bought my first, a Phillips/Magnavox DVD player in 1997, (first movie I bought? I think it was "Bean: The Movie", followed by "Runaway Train"), and by gosh, that first DVD player still works after all these years, while a number of other players have bit the dust over time.

Your right, that "region" stuff started from the very beginning.
I thought that they still put it on every case or somewhere on the disc.

I prefer "region free" discs!

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on October 11, 2009, 08:46 AM:

You can make your discs "Region Free" by copying them using certain software.
Martin

Posted by peter booth (Member # 242) on October 11, 2009, 10:04 AM:

Hi Maurice,I have a few Region 1 dvd's and they are all marked 1,as I have a multiregion player I have no problems.I have just bought South Pacific and The Good The Bad The Ugly on Blu-Ray from America and these are region free.
Best wishes,
Peter.

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on October 11, 2009, 10:24 AM:

Region coding was part of the original specification for DVD. In order to get the content providers on board, the standards had to be written to meet their requirements. Originally DVD were going to be independent of PAL and NTSC and the player would output the proper signal, that concept was restricted (there are some players which can do this, but they have to be hacked and don't conform to the DVD standard when hacked.)

There were many reasons behind region coding. It all has to do with rights and payments. Studios often don't hold workwide rights to a picture. Rights are sold to distributors in other parts of the world and if the discs were universal and region free, those contracts would be impacted and the studios would lose that revenue stream which is often up front money against earnings.

Also contracts with performers and labor unions are paid on supplemental markets as well. And those contracts could be invoked with a single play in a market where the studio didn't intend to relase the product for some time with another distributor. This also happens with television and there are people who monitor re-runs of shows so that the unions can audit the studios payments.

So all these considerations were incorporated into the DVD specifications. Some of the labor union contracts have been modified over the years, but there is still a big legal hurdle for many productions to go "region free."

John

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 11, 2009, 10:24 AM:

Thank you Gentlemen for your comments from which I note that Region 1 discs have always been so marked.

Perhaps, then, my old discs were region free as there are no markings?

I apologise that my posting is the wrong section, perhaps Kev or Doug can transfer it to GENERAL YAK for me please.

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on October 11, 2009, 03:29 PM:

But lets face it the region coding is specifically because of the US market. The US sellers did NOT want people to buy imported DVD's which is why players in the US are region specific where as most anywhere else in the world they are region free. It is the same sort of greed that goes along with the planned obsolescence business plan. They want a model where they can resell you the same material every 10 years or so. Many of the companies have the rights to things in the US but NOT worldwide, so if you buy a DVD from the UK, they don't get paid. That being said they are more than happy for those in the UK to buy US dvd's which will play on the region free players.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 12, 2009, 02:45 AM:

Hello, Dino

How are the 9.5mm films?

All DVD players sold here in the UK are Region 2. If bought from a very specialised dealer you may get the chance of having it converted to multi-region, but at an extra price.

I am aware of the reasons for region coding. Answers here on the Forum have digressed from my question:- When did USA discs become marked as Region 1?

It appears that they have always been marked as Region 1.

As I said, my early discs which are not marked, are perhaps region free.

Posted by Antoine Orsero (Member # 41) on October 12, 2009, 06:52 AM:

Hi,

Jean-Marc,
I also have two DVD players of different brands and they read all DVDs from all regions!

That's why I bought a lot of Walt Disney DVD in the USA!

[Smile]

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on October 12, 2009, 12:09 PM:

Maurice they are great...especially the home guard one.....Oh and sorry, yes the discs were always region 1, it was actually a couple of years before they started showing region 0...

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on October 12, 2009, 01:16 PM:

Maurice they are great...especially the home guard one.....Oh and sorry, yes the discs were always region 1, it was actually a couple of years before they started showing region 0...

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