How do i decieve my DVD player?

[SaberKitty]

ok, so i'm addicted to the West Wing. it's a great show and a couple of weeks ago the first two seasons of the show came out in the uk, but only the first did in the us. so, i went over to amazon.co.uk and oredered the dvds.

they just arrived and guess what- on the nice bigscreen tv in the basement, where there's a big comfy couch and soround sound that makes explosions sound pretty nifty- yeah, it doesn't work. it tells me that i'm not in britain and that it sucks to be me.

so i'm now sitting at a computer with one working speaker, in a chair that's broken and the dvd software told me that if i change the country i'm in twice more that it'll be permanent.

so... how do i decieve my really cool dvd player so i can watch the really cool dvds on a really comfy couch?

-sk

[Neo]

We've been having the same problem in German class with the German Dubbed version of The Matrix, which was purchased in Germany. Still haven't figured out how to work it though.

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_{Elayne Corleone: oh so like i am now your love slave and stuff}

[RSA]

you can usually change the country setting on the player, but i think there's a limit to how many times you can do so

[mudbuck]

Reset and Reinstall, unless the program also limits that.

[Death Mage]

Google for region removers.

[sk]

this dvd player is the kind that hooks up to my tv- it's a dvd/vcr actually- not the kind that hooks into a computer

*googles*

[Buzzsaw]

Can you contact the place you purchased it from and get some assistance? That or contacting the manufacturer are the worst case scenarios.

What brand is this particular DVD recorder? Panasonic? Also, what is the model?

[MacadamiamaN]

Death Mage is right. However to modify your VCR's region settings you probably have to be an expert.

They also sell region-free DVD players, but they're relatively expensive. Here's one that's relatively cheap, if you don't mind not having a brand name or anything. That website also specializes in selling other region-free DVD players.

[pikachamp]

what's the point of DVD players not letting your watch foriegn DVDs?

[sk]

it's a panasonic - i do't really know what kid it is but there are some big words on it. they include: doublefeature, 4 head hi-fi, and some other gobldygook.
i can't buy a new one, especially just to watch these spiffy dvds...

what are the odds i'm just gonna have to watch all 44 episodes on the comp?

-sk

[Neo]

What's the point of limiting how many times you change your region?

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_{Elayne Corleone: oh so like i am now your love slave and stuff}

[Lepton]

To piss off people.

[Mercuria]

what's the point of having regions if you can bypass it with settings?

... it's all stupid... who cares if someone brings a dvd overseas? it's not like they didn't still earn royalties...

[Lepton]

I'm perturbed that you agreed with me... :-P

Movie studios and distributors realize that they can make more money by releasing movies (and other stuff) into different regions at stagered intervals. In order to protect this, the distributors of DVDs have been bullied into adopting a system that ensures that the residents of one area are not able to watch the DVD of a movie while it is still in theatres in their region. By "been bullied" I mean volunteered.

[extropalopakettle]

What is the incentive for the DVD player manufacturers to build the players so that they only play DVDs encoded for a particular region?

[mudbuck]

If they set it to one pernament region, then they have to buy another DVD player to get another region's. It's almost like Sony making PS2 with fragile-as-pencil-lead disk scanners.

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VG and DVD,
They are not the same acronym.
Vote no on Playstation 2 and X-Box

[Death Mage]

Region encoding was a method to cut down on piracy. most movie piracy comes from places like Hong Kong, incluing piracy for North America and Europe. By making that area have a different region than other spots, they supposedly cut down on piracy somewhat.

But of course it, like all other forms of copy protection, was cracked.

[MacadamiamaN]

I don't think it was for piracy... Lepton's explanation makes more sense.

[Internet Stranger]

You also forget about regional pricing. They can charge fat rich Americans more than they can to jungle natives in Africa. So obviously they wouldnt want anyone else to buy their products for their special reserved African native price, hence the regional pricing.

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"I didn't know she was your sister I swear!"

www.InternetStranger.com

[Mercuria]

heh... if it were for piracy... they could just pirate regionless dvds...

[Vinny]

SK, if it's a store bought DVD player, you can't, unless you know how to take it apart, snips the right wires, and wire-in a new decoder (black box), which you can only get from black market (like Canada).

Pretty much, you're screwed.

[jesternl]

There's some resources out there to help you unlock your DVD player, but not all can be unlocked.
What is the make AND model number of your DVD player?

[Samadhi]

[Death Mage]

Anyone who can change their VCR's DVD region settings is absolutly an expert.

[Will]

I do it all the time. The point is because of competition. I mean would you want some foregin stuff played in your dvd player. And it is the way with cd games you can't play x box inside of playstation 2 and vise versa its the way its made.

[Samadhi]

DM: Sure. And next you'll tell me that troubleshooting down to the component level is expert.

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To help combat doubts, try sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "La la la la la la" repeatedly.

[extropalopakettle]

[Buzzsaw]

I needed to read up on DVD's. Thanks, extro.

[Werebear]

A friend of mine worked in Thailand for a few months, and I got a package from him... it was Monsters, Inc. and the first Harry Potter movie.

...Of course, both had been released in the movie theaters less than a month before... *evil grin*

Good thing my DVD player played both region 1 and region 2 DVDs, or I would have been out of luck. However, encoding does limit piracy to a small extent, as well as trying to make sure you can't buy DVDs in one country and ship them to another to sell at profit.

[Death Mage]

Thanks for the link Extro! The site that I knew that had that FAQ shut downa while ago and I havn't been able to find it since.