DVD players in France
 

Are DVDs players in France (particularly Paris) compatible with those in the US? If I take DVDs from the US, will they play in DVD players in Paris? Thanks!

Good question. No, you may not be able to play DVDs from the US (region 1 encoded) in DVD players of other countries. DVDs are specifically designed to be viewed only in certain regions of the world.

Do you have a laptop? Taking that to France with you? You can "rip" your DVDs ahead of time to a computer and then not even have to worry about taking disks with you. A free program called Handbrake - from France, ironically - can do this for you:

https://handbrake.fr/

If you have a tablet, you may be able to copy the video files from Handbrake (I use MP4 format or M4V) to the tablet. If you have a laptop that has an HDMI port (like a DVD or Blu-Ray player) you can take an HDMI cable with you with the laptop and potentially plug your laptop into a TV in France and watch your movies that way.

No. They aren't compatable.

I have found that in some hotels you can have access to a DVD player. I don't know how many shops are left, if any, nowadays, but you used to be able to also rent DVD plays for a small amount of money. It's not something I've thought about on any of my more recent trips so I have no idea how easy that is anymore. I can easily pass on that.

Nowadays, if you have all the bells and whistles on your phone, computer or device (which I don't) you might not need to use a DVD.

Europe is zone 2 for DVDs. North America is zone 1. American DVD's will not play in Europe. Even in a computer, the computer will tell you that you can play a maximum of 3 DVDs from another zone before the whole system locks down.

Depends on the DVD player - generally the cheaper the player the more likely it will be to play anything "out of the box". Many will be hackable using the remote control (Google the model number with "hack" added). Major brands tend not to be hackable unless you have a *special* remote or in some cases replacing the controlling ROM

Thanks, everybody!! GREAT responses -- really appreciate your input!!

It should also be pointed out that porn movies are generally unlocked for all zones.

I'm not here to add to the discussion about DVD players in France, but I have to say your post got my attention because of your name!

I'm also a kwood and 1955 happens to be my year too!

>It should also be pointed out that porn movies are generally unlocked for all zones.< That's a good one, kerouac!

We're able to play DVD's from the EU (Spain and France) on a Mac without regard to the zones. But no, your DVD's will not play on a DVD player in Europe.