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Buying Guide Home Region coding and video standards Recommendations Customs duties Region 1 (US) Region 4 (Australia) Region 2 (Japan) Region 2 (UK) Region 2 (Europe) Region 3/0 (HK and Indonesia) Oxford Anime Vision |
A note on DVD Region codes and NTSC/PAL video standardsDVD Region codesDVDs have what are known as region codes. This is a code applied by the manufacturer to attempt to ensure that DVDs produced in one part of the world don't get sold in other parts. A `normal' DVD player will only be able to play discs from the country it was designed for. The important codes to note are:
To watch DVDs from another region you will need a multi-region DVD player. Many, many DVD players can be made multi-region either by a remote control code or by a hardware upgrade. There are also many places that sell players pre-modified. You'll really need to search the net for your specific player if you want to unlock the region. If you are yet to buy a player and are looking for a cheap but good multiregion player, I recommend this one. PC DVD drives can almost always be made region-free. For a complete guide to watching dvds from around the world on your PC, go to this excellent web site. PAL/NTSC video standardsThe video on DVD discs will either be encoded in NTSC format or PAL format depending upon the country of origin:
It is important to ensure that your DVD player/TV will be able to cope with the format of the disc you have bought. PC DVD software will work with either format, so no problems there. For a UK setup to play NTSC discs, you will need either one of two setups. Firstly, a DVD player that will convert NTSC to PAL or PAL-60 and a fairly modern but normal TV. Secondly, a DVD player that outputs in NTSC only but a more expensive/specialised TV that can playback NTSC video. You will need to check your DVD player/TV instructions to check if you can play NTSC discs. A UK setup will be fine with Australian discs, providing you can play the region the disc is set for, as above. |