DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique designed to allow film distributors
to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according
to the region. This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD
players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region. The American DVD Copy Control
Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the regional-playback
control system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially
available, and many DVD players can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all
discs. DVDs may use one code, a combination of codes,
every code or no codes.
Region codes and countries DVDs sold in the Baltic states use both region
2 and 5 codes. Region 0 is widely used by China and the Philippines.
DVDs in Hispanophone Latin America use both the region 1 and region 4 codes. Most DVDs
in India combine the region 2, region 4, and region 5 codes; Indian Disney discs contain
only the region 3 code. European region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1"
to "D4". These are the United Kingdom–only releases; "D2" and "D3" are not sold in the
UK and Ireland; "D4" are distributed throughout Europe.
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.
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". Region-code enhanced
Region-code enhanced, also known as just "RCE" or "REA", was a retroactive attempt to prevent
the playing of one region's discs in another region, even if the disc was played in a region-free
player. The scheme was deployed on only a handful of discs. The disc contained the main
program material region coded as region 1. But it also contained a short video loop of
a map of the world showing the regions, which was coded as region 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The
intention was that when the disc was played in a non-region 1 player, the player would
default to playing the material for its native region. This played the aforementioned video
loop of a map, which was impossible to escape from, as the user controls were disabled.
However, the scheme was fundamentally flawed, as a region-free player tries to play a disc
using the last region that worked with the previously inserted disc. If it cannot play
the disc, then it tries another region until one is found that works. RCE could thus be
defeated by briefly playing a "normal" region 1 disc, and then inserting the RCE protected
region 1 disc, which would now play. RCE caused a few problems with genuine region 1 players.
As of 2007 many "multi-region" DVD players defeated regional lockout and RCE by automatically
identifying and matching a disc's region code and/or allowing the user to manually select
a particular region. Some manufacturers of DVD players now freely supply information
on how to disable regional lockout, and on some recent models, it appears to be disabled
by default. Computer programs such as DVD Shrink can make copies of region-coded DVDs
without RCE restriction. Purpose
Another purpose is controlling release dates. A practice of movie marketing threatened by
the advent of digital home video is to release a movie to cinemas, and then for general sale,
later in some countries than in others. This is common partly because releasing a movie
at the same time worldwide can be prohibitively expensive. Videotapes were inherently regional
since formats had to match those of the encoding system used by television stations in that
particular region, such as NTSC and PAL, although from early 1990s PAL machines increasingly
offered NTSC playback. DVDs are less restricted in this sense, and region coding allows movie
studios to better control the global release dates of DVDs.
One other purpose of region coding is to prevent release of movies that could be offensive
in such regions for cultural, religious, and political reasons. Region coding helps prevent
release of such films in sensitive territories. Finally, the copyright in some titles has
different owners in different territories. Region coding allows copyright holders to
prevent a DVD from being purchased from a region from which they do not derive royalties.
PAL/SECAM vs. NTSC DVDs are also formatted for use on two conflicting
regional television systems: 480i/60 Hz and 576i/50 Hz, which in analog contexts are
often referred to as 525/60 and 625/50 respectively. Strictly speaking, PAL and SECAM are analog
color television signal formats which have no relevance in the digital domain. However,
the DVD system was originally designed to encode the information necessary to reproduce
signals in these formats, and the terms continue to be used as a method of identifying refresh
rates and vertical resolution. However, an "NTSC", "PAL" or "SECAM" DVD player that has
one or more analog composite video output will only produce NTSC, PAL or SECAM signals,
respectively, from those outputs, and may only play DVDs identified with the corresponding
format. NTSC is the analog TV format historically
associated with the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Taiwan,
and other countries. PAL is the analog color TV format historically associated with most
of Europe, most of Africa, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, North Korea, and other
countries. SECAM, while using the same resolution and refresh rate as PAL, is a distinct format
which uses a very different system of color encoding. Some DVD players can only play discs
identified as NTSC, PAL or SECAM, while others can play multiple standards.
In general, it is easier for consumers in PAL/SECAM countries to view NTSC DVDs than
vice versa. Almost all DVD players sold in PAL/SECAM countries are capable of playing
both kinds of discs, and most modern PAL TVs can handle the converted signal.† However,
most NTSC players cannot play PAL discs, and most NTSC TVs do not accept 576i video signals
as used on PAL/SECAM DVDs. Those in NTSC countries, such as the United States, generally require
both a region-free, multi-standard player and a multi-standard television to view PAL
discs, or a converter box, whereas those in PAL countries generally require only a region-free
player to view NTSC discs. There are also differences in pixel aspect ratio and display
frame rate. Again, NTSC discs can be played on most DVD systems worldwide, while PAL discs
play on very few players outside of PAL/SECAM countries.
Most computer-based DVD software and hardware can play both NTSC and PAL video and both
audio standards. ^† NTSC discs may be output from a PAL DVD
player in three different ways: using a non-chroma encoded format such as
RGB SCART or YPBPR component video. using PAL 60 encoded composite video/S-Video—a
"hybrid" system which uses NTSC's 525/60 line format along with PAL's chroma subcarrier
using NTSC encoded composite video/S-Video. Implementations of region codes
Standalone DVD players Usually a configuration flag is set in each
player's firmware at the factory. This flag holds the region number that the machine is
allowed to play. Region-free players are DVD players shipped without the ability to enforce
regional lockout, or without this flag set. However, if the player is not region-free,
it can often be unlocked with an unlock code entered via the remote control. This code
simply allows the user to change the factory-set configuration flag to another region, or to
the special region "0". Once unlocked this way, the DVD player allows the owner to watch
DVDs from any region. Many websites exist on the Internet offering these codes, often
known informally as hacks. Many websites provide instructions for different models of standalone
DVD players, to hack, and their factory codes. Computer DVD drives
Older DVD drives use RPC-1 firmware, which means the drive allows DVDs from any region
to play. Newer drives use RPC-2 firmware, which enforces the DVD region coding at the
hardware level. These drives can often be reflashed or hacked with RPC-1 firmware, effectively
making the drive region-free. This may void the drive warranty.
Some drives may come set as region-free, so the user is expected to assign their region
when they buy it. In this case, some DVD programs may prompt the user to select a region, while
others may actually assign the region automatically based on the locale set in the operating system.
In most computer drives, users are allowed to change the region code up to five times.
If the number of allowances reaches zero, the region last used will be permanent even
if the drive is transferred to another computer. This limit is built into the drive's controller
software, called firmware. Resetting the firmware count can be done with first- or third-party
software tools, or by reflashing to RPC-1 firmware.
Since some software does not work correctly with RPC-1 drives, there is also the option
of reflashing the drive with a so-called auto-reset firmware. This firmware appears as RPC-2 firmware
to software, but will reset the region changes counter whenever power is cycled, reverting
to the state of a drive that has never had its region code changed.
Software DVD players Most freeware and open source DVD players,
such as VLC, ignore region coding. VLC, for example, does not attempt to enforce region
coding; however, it requires access to the DVD's raw data to overcome CSS encryption,
and such access may not be available on some drives with RPC-2 firmware when playing a
disc from a different region than the region to which the drive is locked. Most commercial
players are locked to a region code, but can be easily changed with software.
Other software, known as DVD region killers, transparently remove the DVD region code from
the software player. Some can also work around locked RPC-2 firmware.
Circumvention The region coding of a DVD can be circumvented
by making a copy that adds flags for all region codes, creating an all-region DVD. DVD backup
software can do this, and some can also remove Macrovision, CSS, and disabled user operations.
In common region-locked DVDs, the region code is stored in the file "VIDEO_TS.IFO", byte
offsets 34 and 35. The eight regions each correspond to a value which is a power of
2: Region 1 corresponds to 1, Region 2 to 2, Region 3 to 4, and so on through Region
8, which corresponds to 128. The values of each region that the disc is not encoded for
are added together to give the value in the file. For example, a disc that is encoded
for Region 1 but not Regions 2–8 will have the value 2+4+8+16+32+64+128=254. A disc encoded
for Regions 1, 2 and 4 will have the value 4+16+32+64+128=244. A region-free or RCE-protected
DVD will carry the value zero, since no regions are excluded.
Video game consoles The Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation
3 consoles are all region-locked for DVD playback. The PlayStation 2 can be modified to have
its regional-locking disabled through the use of modchips. Although region locked on
film DVDs and film Blu-ray Discs, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are region free
for video games. Blu-ray Disc region codes
Blu-ray Discs use a much simpler region-code system than DVD with only three regions, labeled
A, B and C. UMD region codes
For the UMD, a disc type used for the PlayStation Portable, UMD movies are region-locked, and
use roughly the same regions as DVDs do, but UMD video games are region-free.
Criticism and legal concerns Region-code enforcement has been discussed
as a possible violation of World Trade Organization free trade agreements or competition law.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned that DVD players that enforce region-coding
may violate their Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Under New Zealand copyright law,
DVD region codes and the mechanisms in DVD players to enforce them have no legal protection.
The practice has also been criticized by the European Commission which as of 2001 March
14 is investigating whether the resulting price discrimination amounts to a violation
of EU competition law. The Washington Post has highlighted how DVD
region-coding has been a major inconvenience for travelers who wish to legally purchase
DVDs abroad and return with them to their countries of origin, students of foreign languages,
immigrants who want to watch films from their homeland and foreign film enthusiasts. Another
criticism is that region-coding allows for local censorship. For example, the Region
1 DVD of the drama film Eyes Wide Shut, directed by Stanley Kubrick, contains the digital manipulations
necessary for the film to secure an MPAA R-rating, whereas these manipulations are not evident
in non–region 1 discs. See also
Broadcast television systems DVD Copy Control Association
Regional lockout
References
External links DVD region information with regards to RCE
from Home Theater Info Region Coding - Explanations & Help from The
DVDCodes Source DVD Code Region Mapping from The Home of DVD
Unlocks Amazon.co.uk DVD Regions guide
Multi Region Guide