What is a DVD Region Lock?

Thrilled that you got that British comedy DVD set at an online auction for a rock-bottom price, even if you had to convert currency to pay for it? You DVD purchase may not be such a bargain after all since you probably can’t play it on your DVD player.

DVD movies provide viewers with excellent picture and audio quality, and due to high-volume demand for such quality, DVD production costs are lower and availability is higher than ever before-a plus for all you movie fans. But because distributing the same DVD to the entire world at once would be impractical (and so, less profitable) the movie industry separates the world DVD market into six regions so distributors can focus on one or two areas at a time. That’s why a movie released in the United States and Canada in the summer may not be released in other parts of the world until autumn, winter, or even a year later.

A ”DVD Region Lock” is technology on DVD players that prevents those who live in one region from successfully viewing a DVD movie that was produced and distributed for a different region. Although you could purchase a DVD movie in the United States and mail it to someone in China ten months before the DVD is released there, the DVD will not play on the recipient's Region 6 DVD player.

The geographical regions are:

Region 1 - United States and Canada

Region 2 - Japan , Europe, South Africa , Middle East, and Greenland

Region 3 - S. Korea, Taiwan , Hong Kong, and Parts of Asia

Region 4 - Australia , New Zealand , Latin America, and Mexico

Region 5 - Eastern Europe , Russia , India , Africa

Region 6 - China

Region 0 - This will work on all other regions; Region 0 DVDs can be played worldwide but are still subject to PAL discs and NTSC compatibility

What does this mean to you? If you only view DVDs produced for the region you live in, knowing which DVD player software can handle which regional codes is unimportant. But if you ever purchase and view DVDs across regions it is wise to keep current on region coding methods because industry standards change. You want to be sure that your DVDs and your DVD players always match so that you can view movies trouble-free. Those who frequently purchase across regions often attempt to overcome this viewing problem with Code Free DVD players.

Code Free players are DVD players that have been altered to bypass the Region Lock restriction. In response to their popularity, the movie industry has created a new secure layer of coding called RCE (Regional Code Enhancement). RCE prevents some of the latest Region 1 DVD releases from playing on Code-Free DVD players.

Even if you use a Code-Free DVD player you still may run into problems playing DVDs that have been produced for Japan or Great Britain. These countries often use unique standards, such as NTSC (National Television Standards Committee), PAL (Phase Alternating Line) and SECAM (Sequential Color Memory). These standards dictate differing display lines-per-resolution than those of Region 1.

For example:

• NTSC up to 525 lines of resolution
• PAL up to 625 lines of resolution
• SECAM up to 625 lines of resolution and 25 frames per second

So, if your DVD player and your DVD movies do not always come from the same region, you may not be able to view your movies due to industry-implemented locks and differing national standards. So be alert when you purchase from the world marketplace; always check region codes before you purchase DVDs online.