Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Will European DVD/CD movies play on our DVD systems here in the US and Canada??

Will European DVD/CD movies play on our DVD systems here in the US and Canada??

Old Nov 10th, 2004, 03:49 PM
  #21  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 659
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I have a PAL DVD that I bought which won't play on my DVD player since I'm in region 1, however the DVD says "MAY not work on DVD players in other countries", if I try to play it will it ruin the disc? My brother has a player that will play it but he lives 1000 miles away so I won't be viewing it too often.
tudorprincess is offline  
Old Nov 10th, 2004, 03:55 PM
  #22  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 43,534
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 1 Post
I sent a vid of Robert Redford film, "Day of the Condor" to my host in Montolieu who was a big fan of his, and they wrote back it couldn't be played. Here it costs $40 to get the vid adapted.
cigalechanta is offline  
Old Nov 10th, 2004, 07:53 PM
  #23  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 23,073
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
tudorprincess - As explained by others, there are two issues. One is the region code. Second is the format. The two are unrelated. Your PAL DVD will not play on a NTSC DVD player - which is what most of us get in the US.

The disc cannot be ruined. A DVD is read-only, so it cannot be damaged on ruined by playing it on an imcompatible machine. You just can't watch what's on it.
rkkwan is offline  
Old Nov 10th, 2004, 10:33 PM
  #24  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 9,922
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The regional encoding regime is probably doomed, for all practical purposes. Certainly here in Australia cheap Chinese DVD players are multiregion, and I believe that many retailers are routinely disabling regional encoding at point of sale, because informed consumers won't buy it. Being cheap by nature I bought a US$50 DVD player, incidentally, and it works well enough for me.

As a general observation, America's adherence to its own technical standards for TV and telecoms (especially cellphones), to say nothing of old British weights and measures, must be costing American consumers. In the PAL/NTSC case the US standard predated the international (read European) standard, but that's now academic. IMO, for what it's worth (not much, I admit) you guys should be pushing for a less isolationist position.

To complicate the situation, now we have China, the emerging economic superpower, developing its own standards in order to avoid paying royalties to companies like Dolby. It's a bugger.
Neil_Oz is offline  
Old Nov 11th, 2004, 01:47 AM
  #25  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
So there it is.
Whenever you find a seemingly "bad" idea, it points to the dollar. I've said this all along.
Some of the reasons for having different formats include higher profitability. Along the way, comes the drive to minimize copying of DVDs, CDs, etc.
Anyway, it's in Revelations, if you've read The Book, lately.
TripleSecDelay is offline  
Old Nov 11th, 2004, 01:49 AM
  #26  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 802
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm afraid that I can't remember the site address but when I first got my DVD player, I did a google search, inputting the make and model, and found the site which tells you how to modify your machine to play ALL region DVDs. It's a really simple process - and it's just an irritation that they set up machines to only play one format. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with money...!
Tallulah is offline  
Old Nov 11th, 2004, 01:59 AM
  #27  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 9,922
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
TripleSecDelay, to save me the trouble of re-reading that rather lurid book (I hate having my blood pressure raised unnecessarily), could you give me a hint ... chapter and verse, so to speak?
Neil_Oz is offline  
Old Nov 11th, 2004, 03:12 AM
  #28  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 541
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
DVD players which wont play disks from other regions can usually be changed to do this via unofficial engineering "back doors".
When multi-region players first came out the sales of single-region players plummetted, until the instructions for opening their back doors mysteriously emerged on the net.
You could have knocked us over with a feather, claimed the manufacturers.
My computer plays DVDs using an old version of intervideo winDVD which allows you to set the region code.
zippo is offline  
Old Nov 11th, 2004, 05:14 AM
  #29  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,873
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
This is exactly the same issue with video tapes - different formats. You techies can correct me if I'm wrong -- but even if your DVD (or VHS) machine could play it, you couldn't watch because the TV systems are different.

Almost every DVD or VHS I've wanted to buy in Europe was available in both formats -- not always but most of the time.
janis is offline  
Old Nov 11th, 2004, 09:08 AM
  #30  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 23,073
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Neil - Actually, it's NTSC that's winning the format war, as more and more consumers around the world are getting players/TVs that can play NTSC; even if their national broadcasters are sticking with PAL/SECAM.

US consumers don't have to pay extra on their TV or DVD player or VCR for the extra circuitry. And for those small percentage of consumers who have a need to watch PAL/SECAM discs/tapes, there are plenty of online merchants who sell players that do. I don't see how the general American consumers have been hurt at all by us sticking to NTSC.

The region code is an entirely different matter. It's forced upon by the movie studios, who were trying to continue their arcane movie/video distribution system. I don't think the major player-manufacturer likes that idea either, but unfortunately, they agreed to it.
rkkwan is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
kwood1955
Europe
8
Feb 28th, 2015 07:08 PM
gambader
Europe
20
Jan 3rd, 2006 01:05 PM
ToniJustine
Europe
14
Apr 22nd, 2005 10:26 AM
annieladd
Europe
28
Aug 29th, 2004 04:46 PM
jilldmd
Europe
5
May 6th, 2003 10:30 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -