.: Frequently Asked Questions
.: DVD Region Codes and Countries
When a DVD player is manufactured for a particular country or geographical region it is assigned a region code. This means that the player will only allow playback of DVD discs that are released by the distribution companies in that region. For example, a disc purchased in America will not play on a machine purchased in Europe. Certain manufacturers have put backdoor routes into their players to allow the region locking to be defeated. Whether this is deliberate or a simple method of configuring a player after manufacturing is open to opinion.
There are eight DVD regions available with the world is split into six regions. Region seven is spare whilst region eight is to be used by in-flight airline movies and other modes of mass transport. Computer users may appreciate why there are eight regions, with a simple bit-mask used to determine the region of both the player and DVD discs.
Most handset hacked or chipped players can only play discs from region one to six although some companies claim that their modifications will open up all regions. With most in-flight movies being heavily censored to avoid offending the wide diversity of passengers there won't be much demand for these discs.
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. So-called "Region 0" and "ALL" discs are meant to be playable worldwide.
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Region 1 United States, Canada, Bermuda, U.S. territories Most titles are released here first and they tend to have better features. This discrepancy between the regions drives the player chipping market, especially in Europe and Australia. In an attempt to thwart these player hacks certain film distribution companies are using a technology called RCE (Region Coding Enhanced). |
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Region 2 Europe (except Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus), Middle East, Egypt, Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Greenland European region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1" to "D4". "D1" are United Kingdom–only releases; "D2" and "D3" are not sold in the UK and Ireland; "D4" are distributed throughout Europe. DVDs sold in Japan use the region 2 code, while Macau and Taiwan use the region 3 code. DVDs sold in the Baltic States use both region 2 and 5 codes. The grouping of these countries and continents is a strange one. Most region two encoded discs are also encoded to play on region four manufactured machines. |
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Region 3 Southeast Asia, South Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Macau Hong Kong has historically used Region 3 and has added region 6 since the reunification with People's Republic of China, now using both. DVDs sold in Japan use the region 2 code, while Macau and Taiwan use the region 3 code. |
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Region 4 Mexico, Central America, South America, Oceania DVDs in Hispanophone Latin America use both the region 1 and region 4 codes. |
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Region 5 India, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa (except Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho), Central and South Asia, Mongolia, North Korea. DVDs sold in the Baltic States use both region 2 and 5 codes. Most DVDs in India combine the region 2, region 4, and region 5 codes; Indian Disney discs contain only the region 3 code. |
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Region 6 People's Republic of China Region 0 (playable in all regions except 7 and 8) is widely used by China and the Philippines. |
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Region 7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs and "media copies" of pre-releases in Asia) |
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Region 8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc. |
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Region 0 Informal term meaning "worldwide". Region 0 is not an official setting; discs that bear the region 0 symbol either have no flag set or have regions 1–6 flags set. The term "Region 0" also describes the DVD players designed or modified to incorporate Regions 1–6, thereby providing compatibility with most discs, regardless of region. 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". In turn, region-free players have all eight flags set, similar to Region ALL DVDs. Many also include RCE breaks, to skip repeating menus or bypass static images. |
Information reproduced from the DVD regions article on Wikipedia
.: Blu-Ray Region Codes and Countries
As with the implementation of region codes for DVDs, Blu-ray Disc players sold in a specific geographical region are designed to play only discs authorized by the content provider for that region. This is intended to permit content providers (motion picture studios, etc.) the ability to support product differences in content, price, release date, etc., by region. According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, "all Blu-ray Disc players...(and) Blu-ray Disc-equipped computer systems are required to support regional coding." However, "Use of region playback codes is optional for content providers...". Some current estimates suggest 70% of available [movie] Blu-ray Discs from the major studios are region-code-free and can therefore be played on any Blu-ray Disc player, in any region.
Movie studios have different region coding policies. Among major U.S. studios, Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios have released all of their titles region-free. Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. have released most of their titles region-free. Lionsgate and Walt Disney Pictures have released a mix of region-free and region-coded titles. 20th Century Fox and MGM have released most of their titles region-coded.
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Region A Includes most North, Central and South American and Southeast Asian countries plus the Republic of China (Taiwan), Japan, Hong Kong, Macau and Korea. |
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Region B Includes most European, African and southwest Asian countries plus Australia and New Zealand. |
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Region C Contains the remaining central and south Asian countries, as well as the People's Republic of China and Russia. |
Information reproduced from the Blu-ray regions article on Wikipedia
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