galelstorm

Well, upon hobbitthefoodlover's great suggestion, I orderd this DVD from the UK Amazon site not knowing that DVD's are regionally coded, so when I excitedly went to watch it last night my DVD player said "check regional code". Amazon UK was great, explained in detail about regional DVD coding and refunded my money but I was really looking forward to watching this prior to our trip next month. Does anyone know of a copy that might be available here in the States that is playable here? Next, I'm going to hit the library to see if I can at least get the book. Any help, as always is greatly appreciated.

hobbitthefoodlover

My Dell computer was bought in America. I started to watch the DVD on the train ride from Switzerland into Venice. Originally my computer would not play due to regional differences.

But once I changed my setting on my computer, it actually recognized the DVD.

Changing the "region" on my laptop made the difference for me. Play around your laptop to find the change "region" button. If I can figure it out, (I almost flunked typing class and am a late computer user), you can do too.

Right now, I am in the the Caribbeans and can still watch it w/o changing anything.

galelstorm

Hi hobbit-that would be "if" I had a laptop. I wonder if you can change something so easily on your home DVD player? Anyway since I sit at a computer all day I'd love to relax and watch this in the comforts of home! ( a little popcorn, etc.)

alanRow

Google the model of your DVD player followed by "dvd region hack".

If you are lucky then a few simple key presses will be all you need to do, if you are unlucky you would do better going down to Walmart, getting the model numbers of all their cheap DVD players then googling them as before - then buying the cheapest one you can find.

You can also use software like DVDSHRINK which will copy a DVD to hard drive then allows you to burn a copy under any region code

galelstorm

Oh alanRow, now we're talking! Thank you and wish me luck! Hopefully my limited DVD knowledge will not prevent my success.

Gordon_R

It's not just the region code problem though. UK DVDs are recorded in PAL format, not comptible with the NTSC standard used in the USA. So even if you get as far as having a multi-region DVD player, you do need to check that your TV is compatible with PAL. At least here in the UK, most modern/hi-end LCD/plasma TVs are fine with both PAL and NTSC.

galelstorm

Gordon_R-you are right, of course. I read that on Amazon's response early this morning and didn't print it out for reference. So I will run a check on the model of our flat screen TV as well in make sure that it is compatible with the PAL format, not just NTSC, correct?

laurie_ann

If you figure it out to play on US DVD and US TV, can you please post here? I loved that DVD (I bought it when I lived in London) and would love to be able to recommend it here for others but only if I can give it with very precise directions.

galelstorm

laurie_ann - Of course I will post, providing I can figure it out, so that others may enjoy as well! And I will document as I go along to give accurate steps in doing so.

julia_t

I have the opposite problem, living in the UK and having PAL/Region 2/Europe DVD players.

However my PC allows me to change the region (but only a limited number of times). So now my PC is set up to watch DVDs from the US, and I watch all other regions on the DVD player proper.

I don't worry any more, I just get the DVD and know it will play somewhere! It's just that watching it on the PC in the dining room is not so comfy as watching it from the comfort of the sofa or bed LOL!

Gordon_R

How old's your telly Julia? I have two TVs in my house that are NTSC compatible and 1 multi-region DVD. We've bought several hard-to-come-by NTSC DVDs from Amazon.com and trips to the US and they play just fine on our set-up.

julia_t

Oh my TVs are ancient, huge great things (even the 14 incher in the bedroom is quite big enough when 'tucked' into the corner) - no slimline flatscreen HD models here as yet! But with our primitive set-up we can watch DVDs from anywhere in the world so I don't really care. When the TVs die they will be replaced with up-to-the-minute stuff, but for now it's not a problem. As long the SkyPlus works that's all that matters!

Peter_S_Aus

Galel,
Buy the book anyway. We bought a copy while we were in Venice. OK, it is a bit heavy to haul around as a guide book, but it gives a different aspect to Venice.
The Ca' de Mosto still stands on the Grand Canal, two hundred yards upstream from the Rialto on the right hand side. It is covered in scaffold - or was, six months ago. Find the Corte de Leon on your map - it is a tiny campo right behind the Ca' de Mosto, and it is fun to get up close to probably the oldest pallazo on the Grand Canal.

Enjoy. (We us his cookbook a lot too. Hauled it to Venice with us.)

TommieG

Some cheap dvd-players are always 'region-free'. So they will play all dvd's.

Plus I have got a portable dvd-player for in the car (Nextbase), and this one will also play all dvd's.