Is there such a thing as a zone-free DVD disc?
Terry Jones
HIGHLY HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION....Is it possible to create a DVD disc
that will play on machines in any region? If the 'powers that be'
gave up on the regions, could they produce such as disc?
I love the idea of DVD and look forward to owning one.
I'm tempted to buy an imported region one player now but two things
are stopping me: 1: I won't be able to wander into HMV and buy discs
for it. 2: If the bl**dy thing goes wrong I won't be able to get it
fixed.
But.... if I wait for region 2 software, region 2 doesn't take off?
Industry 'pundits' suggest that the regional coding won't last long
anyhow so what good would my region 2 player be to me then?
Or should I buy a modified multi-region machine?
Chances are that you'll be able to buy players for a couple of
hundred quit in two years time so it may not be worth losing sleep
over.
What do you think?
Terry
Symanski
Terry Jones wrote:
> HIGHLY HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION....Is it possible to create a DVD disc
> that will play on machines in any region? If the 'powers that be'
> gave up on the regions, could they produce such as disc?
Yip, its called region 0.
> I'm tempted to buy an imported region one player now but two things
> are stopping me: 1: I won't be able to wander into HMV and buy discs
> for it. 2: If the bl**dy thing goes wrong I won't be able to get it
> fixed.
www.dvdcity.com will pay half the return cost. Its where I'm thinking
of getting the Panasonic A110.
You should be able to get films imported ok, through Ken Cranes, or
through Laser Enterprises (my fav two stores!)
> Or should I buy a modified multi-region machine?
Not convinced on "region free" players myself.... If 10% of current
discs don't play on them just now, then its easy for the studios etc to
ensure that all future discs don't play!
J.
Richard Hopkins
Terry Jones wrote in message <352a5e32....@news.dial.pipex.com>...
>HIGHLY HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION....Is it possible to create a DVD disc
>that will play on machines in any region? If the 'powers that be'
>gave up on the regions, could they produce such as disc?
Yes - there are already some 'regionless' discs available from some of the
smaller US publishers.
I wouldn't bet on the major studios giving up on it anytime soon however...
Richard Hopkins
(Replace .nospam with .com in auto-reply address)
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Now here's one for the spammers: tony...@labor.org.uk
Alexand...@hadiko.de
Hi Terry,
>Is it possible to create a DVD disc
>that will play on machines in any region?
Of course.
The software on the disc *can* ask the player for its region code,
but it does not have to.
There are are a lot of code-free discs in the US. Go to www.dvdexpress.com
and browse e.g. in the concerts section. DVD-Express shows region code
on their web sites. Sony Music/Epic makes very good
music-DVDs (Ever heard Michael Jackson in Dolby Digital 5.1ch??) and they
never carry a region code.
Lumivision for example even _boasts_ with the fact that their DVDs are
compatible worldwide. I have an IMAX movie here, "Africa - The Serengeti",
with 8 (eight) language tracks all in DD 5.1ch. They can sell this disc
to in every region of the world. Very clever, isn't it!
>Or should I buy a modified multi-region machine?
Buy one with hard-wired region coding. This works fine. You have a lever
or something to switch the regioncode on the chip inside the player.
US DVDs are *so amazing*, you will dump you entire VHS collection at once! ;-)
Ride on, Alexander.
---
Alexander Lange, Karlsruhe, Germany * E-Mail: Alexand...@hadiko.de
*** Grün ist der Wechsel *** Bundestagswahl 27.09.98 ***
Jules
Yes I have a few
Terry Jones <terry...@iname.com> wrote in article
<352a5e32....@news.dial.pipex.com>...
> HIGHLY HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION....Is it possible to create a DVD disc
> that will play on machines in any region? If the 'powers that be'
> gave up on the regions, could they produce such as disc?
>
> I love the idea of DVD and look forward to owning one.
>
> I'm tempted to buy an imported region one player now but two things
> are stopping me: 1: I won't be able to wander into HMV and buy discs
> for it. 2: If the bl**dy thing goes wrong I won't be able to get it
> fixed.
>
> But.... if I wait for region 2 software, region 2 doesn't take off?
> Industry 'pundits' suggest that the regional coding won't last long
> anyhow so what good would my region 2 player be to me then?
>
> Or should I buy a modified multi-region machine?
>
Duncan Harvey
Many of the Orion discs (released by Image?) are region zero
(allegedly) as are the Beatles films for some reason. If your TV can
display NTSC buy a region 1 player, region 2 is doomed.
And as for players costing £200 in a couple of years, try the
Panasonic A110 available for $350 in the USA complete with DTS digital
out! and thats available now!! (ordered one today as my second
player)
Can you really see such players being on sale in the UK for this price
- nope thought not!
Duncan
Lewis Jardine
WHERE?
And what is carriage?
Cheers
Lewis
Gavin Hall
Lewis Jardine wrote:
Here's a site http://www.earthstations.com/cgi-local/shop.pl/page=frame.html
Although whether they ship to the UK is another matter.
Gavin